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The Sabbath and Man

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Mar 16, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 11.

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The Sabbath and Man

By Cyrus Simmons

CYRUS SIMMONS
“The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. It was good for man, or God would not have made it for him. “Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” Ex. 31:13. The Sabbath was made for man, and enjoined to be kept in order to preserve a knowledge of God in the world. If the Sabbath had always been kept, it is safe to say that an infidel, an atheist, or a heathen would never have been known. A knowledge of God is essential to salvation. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3. The importance of keeping the Sabbath needs no further demonstration.
The Lord speaks in prophecy of a day power that would arise that would “think” to change his law. Dan. 7:25. The papacy admits that it has changed the law of God by substituting the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, and it claims that it has the power to do so, declaring at the same time that no authority for the change can be found in the Bible. Since the observance of the Sabbath is a means by which we know God, and to know God is to have eternal life, should we not be exceedingly mindful that we are keeping the very day of God’s appointment? If we keep a day that has been set apart by man, that nowhere in the sacred pages receives divine recognition as the Sabbath, are we not commandment-breakers, and in a position to lose eternal life? The question may naturally be propounded, “How do we know that we know God?” For our edification it is answered: “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” 1 John 2:3. Can we keep the commandments acceptably to God by observing nine of them and breaking the Sabbath, or by keeping Sunday for the Sabbath? That none may be deceived on this point the Lord thus speaks: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10.
What language can be stronger and plainer than the following: “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 2:4. There is no escape from this statement. All ten of the precepts of the decalogue are obligatory, including the seventh-day Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
Wonderful light is illuminating the world, revealing that a true knowledge of God, and eternal life, are inseparable from the observance of the true Sabbath.