The True Sabbath — A Chinese Illustration
By R. F. Cottrell
Recently we were staying at a native inn in a populous town on the banks of the Hsiang River, Hunan. In the guest-room of this inn, by the courtesy of the host, we were permitted to hold three services. These were attended by a few interested ones who have read some of our papers and tracts, as well as by some others who came in. At one of these meetings, our evangelist presented the claims of the true Sabbath. To impress his hearers with the importance of doing just what God commands, he used the following illustration:— “Suppose a friend should invite you to a feast which would be given to-morrow. On receiving the invitation, you send word that you will with pleasure accept this invitation. Afterward, as you think the matter over, you feel that you have some very important business to transact on the morrow, and you therefore go to-day; or, perchance, wait and go day after to-morrow. Would that answer?—No; never! “If you go to the house of your friend to-day or day after to-morrow, you will find no feast prepared; and if you eat at all, you will be compelled to eat common, every-day food; for on only one day is the feast prepared. Besides this, in taking such a course you offer an insult to the kind friend who has invited you. “My dear friends, our Heavenly Father, the Creator of heaven and earth, he who created us, and who sent his Son to die for us, has prepared for us a feast on the seventh day of every week. If you think to yourself that God is not particular, and that you can just as well enjoy this feast on the sixth day of the week, or on the first day of the week, you are greatly mistaken. The feast is provided upon one day only, and on that day only does the full blessing of God's Sabbath come to the worshipers. “If we choose to rest upon the sixth day of the week, or on the first day of the week, we shall obtain no special blessing; for only the common, every-day food is provided on those days. Besides this, since the Lord has set apart the seventh day as his holy day, if we try to come to him on the day before, or the day after the Sabbath, instead of pleasing him, we offer him a great insult. O, that we may each serve the Lord as he has told us we should, and receive his full blessing!” After the service, when I asked the evangelist how he came by this illustration, he replied that he had never heard it used by any one, and that it must have been the Holy Spirit that put it into his heart. It is less than five years since this man became a worshiper of the true God. As I heard this illustration, I felt like passing it on to our brethren and sisters in America. Anciently the showbread, or “bread of His presence,” was eaten by the priests Sabbath by Sabbath, a beautiful symbol to impress upon all minds the Christian's duty and privilege on the Sabbath day. God grant that we may each appreciate the blessedness of the Sabbath feast, and partake so fully of the bread of heaven that we may be strengthened for the great task that lies before us.