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God’s Holy Day

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jan 12, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 2.

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“God’s Holy Day”

THIS is the expression which Dr. J. G. Butler repeatedly applied to Sunday in his sermon on “Sabbath Observance” at the Luther Place Memorial church in this city on Sunday, January 2. Here are some extracts from the sermon:—
It is not a holiday, though greatly abused by multitudes who neglect God’s house and trample upon God’s day.
This great government of ours should always stand for God’s holy day. We can not afford to have men in the departments of the government working and deprived of their rest day.
Every man needs a day of rest, even the overworked newspaper men, and no doubt there are people to-day lounging at home and reading the Sunday paper who ought to be in the house of God.
Ancient Israel went down as a nation trampling upon God’s Sabbath. It is for the patriotic Christian citizen to emphasize God’s holy day in his life and in his home, in business and in government, that the blessing of heaven may abide upon our Christian republic.
From the whole tenor of Dr. Butler’s sermon it is perfectly evident that the sentiment which he represents would not be satisfied with laws prohibiting labor on Sunday if the people still regarded it as a holiday, and not as a holy day. It is true that he refers to the need of rest on the part of “the overworked newspaper men” and “the weary, worn breadwinner,” but those who put forward this plea in behalf of Sunday would not be satisfied unless “the overworked newspaper men” and “the weary, worn breadwinner” should take their rest on one particular day, and in one particular way. The spirit which demands a Sunday law in order to protect the day will never rest content until it has carried this demand to its logical conclusion,—the effort to compel men to regard Sunday as “God’s holy day.” This is the real issue which will shortly come to the front, and the message of the true Sabbath and its significance is designed to prepare the people to meet the issue intelligently. It is time to give to this generation God’s message for this generation.