A Dangerous Responsibility
By C. M. S.
THERE is a peculiar kind of theological teaching in the following from the Ram's Horn, of Chicago. It is worthy of note only because it is the expression of a belief that is very prevalent at the present time:— Every day is a holy day to the right kind of Christian. Sunday calls for no higher standard of conduct than Monday or Wednesday. By common consent and through divine injunction, we are forbidden to do certain things on the Sabbath, but they are tasks which are not in themselves wrong, but because they interfere with Sabbath rest and worship. Sunday is not universally observed as the Sabbath. The Greeks observe Monday; the Persians, Tuesday; the Assyrians, Wednesday; the Egyptians, Thursday; the Turks, Friday; the Jews, Saturday; and the Christians, Sunday. Thus a perpetual Sabbath is being celebrated on earth. The important thing is not the particular day, but the giving one seventh of our time to rest and worship. It is indeed true that “Sunday calls for no higher standard of conduct than Monday or Wednesday.” In the first place, the Bible nowhere recognizes Sunday as a holy or sacred day; and in the second place, God has nowhere taught us in his Word that we are to be better one day than another. We can not impute any such teaching to the Lord of the Sabbath day. But he who tries to make a Sabbath of every day is just as far in the wrong as he who imagines he must be better on Sunday or on the Sabbath than on any other day. The Sabbatic institution was established as a memorial of creation, was blessed and sanctified by the Creator for the purpose of a memorial; he set it before the race and commanded its observance as a memorial, a day of worship. The founder of that institution “rested, and was refreshed.” So we are to find rest and refreshment. He blessed and hallowed it for a purpose and we totally ignore that purpose when we set up our own choice of a day for a Sabbath, or try to make a Sabbath of our own out of all the days of the week. The writer of the above extract overlooks the fact that God gave the Sabbath as a perpetual reminder of himself and his completed work. The Bible says upon that point:— And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested155from all his work which God had created and made. Gen. 2:3. God did not rest on every day in the week from all his work; nor did he bless and sanctify every day in the week, because that in them all he had rested from all his work which he had created and made. Therefore all the days of the week could not be Sabbaths. He did not rest on any single day of the first six days of the week, nor did he sanctify and bless any single one of the first six days of the week. Therefore it is impossible that any one of the first six days of the week should be the Sabbath of the Lord. The extract says: “Thus a perpetual Sabbath is being celebrated on earth;” and that because each day of the week is being observed by some people. That is not true in the light of God's Word. It is but another illustration of the babel of confusion into which the world has permitted itself to drift by departing from the Word of God. The fire-worshiping Persian is not keeping a Sabbath to the Lord by performing his fire-worship on Tuesday; the whirling dervish is not keeping a Sabbath to the Lord God by performing his brain-befogging gyrations on Thursday; and the Roman Catholic is not keeping a Sabbath to the Lord Jehovah by going through religious rites and ceremonies on the day which the ancient pagan world dedicated to the worship of the sun-god. Nor are Protestants keeping a Sabbath to Jehovah by following the Roman Church in this and trampling upon the only Sabbath which Jehovah ever recognized as his or ever gave to men to keep. “The important thing,” the above extract says, “is not the particular day, but the giving one seventh of our time to rest and worship.” On whose authority can any man make such a statement? Nowhere in God's Word is any man given authority to change the statutes and ordinances of the Lord. God declares, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” Ps. 89:34. What is God's covenant? In Ex. 34:16 the Lord calls the Sabbath “a perpetual covenant.” What was it that went forth out of his lips?—“And God spake all these words,” saying. What are “these words” which Jehovah spoke with his own lips? They follow immediately, they are the ten commandments, in the bosom of which rests the fourth, the Sabbath commandment. God's own promise, then, is that he will not break that Sabbath “covenant,” nor alter his Sabbath commandment. Thus it stands, and will stand forever. It is a fearful thing to take upon one's self the responsibility of attempting to change the commandments and ordinances of God. Some of the ancient Israelites thought it made no difference about the particular day of the Sabbath, and they paid for their thoughtlessness with their lives. Some thought it made no difference if ordinary fire was used in the sanctuary service. They were slain. It is just as unholy business now as it was then to tamper with God's law and his requirements when thousands of souls are in the balances deciding for eternity. “Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:18, 19. C. M. S.