Why I Keep the Sabbath.
By Francis Gould
OUT of the many reasons why I keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, I deduce the following: 1. God is an unchangeable being; his government is unchangeable, and his law immutable. He who takes the position that Christ, or an apostle, or the church, has, or ever has had, power to modify or change God's government, to abolish or change his moral law, takes a position we think, which has no foundation in truth. If God is unchangeable, the ten moral precepts being a transcript of the divine mind are perpetual and never-ending in their duration, and consequently are obligating upon the children of men now, and will be until probation closes. We think a few texts of Scripture will settle this question. God says, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” Ps. 89: 34. We ask, What covenant did God mean should be preserved unbroken? and what was the thing that went out of his lips, which should not be changed? Let us hear Moses: “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” Deut. 4: 12, 13. The ten commandments constitute the covenant which they were commanded to perform, and were the conditions on the part of the people. Not one of these ten conditions will ever be altered in the least degree; but they are made the conditions on which eternal life is suspended. So says the Saviour. See Matt. 19: 17. 2. I keep the Sabbath because it is a memorial of what the Creator did during the first week of time. He wrought six days. He rested on the seventh day. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20: 8–11. God wrought six days. We honor God by laboring six days and doing all our work. God rested on the seventh day. We honor God, and commemorate his rest day, by keeping the Sabbath. As we rest, and behold the heavens, the earth, or the sea, we behold the Creator's work. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Ps. 19: 1. Oh! give thanks to the Lord of lords; to him who alone doeth great wonders; to him that by wisdom made the heavens; to him that stretched out the earth above the waters; to him that made great lights; the sun to rule by day; the moon and stars to rule by night. Ps. 136: 3–9. This commemoration is to be perpetual. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66: 22, 23. 3. Another reason why I keep the Sabbath is, that God rested on the seventh day, and blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it; and this sanctity and blessing has never been transferred to another day. God has never transferred it. Christ has not done it. We have no Bible record that the apostles, or the primitive church, made a transfer. Consequently, the original Sabbath which was sanctified and blessed in Eden, remains unchanged. We are often asked why it is that Christendom with a few exceptions keep the first day of the week. We answer, The papal church has imposed upon us a counterfeit Sabbath. This is evident from Dan. 7: 25, which refers to the little horn power (the papacy) as wearing out the saints of the Most High, and thinking to change times and laws. When the Reformation began to dawn, Martin Luther and others through the light of the Bible saw the corruption of the papal church, and came out and protested against it. But they did not get all the light. They brought out many traditions and human institutions. Sunday-keeping was one of them. A breach has been made in the law of God. A golden link of that chain which binds man to God, has been taken away, and man has almost lost sight of the Sabbath of the Lord. But the Lord has promised to restore truth. The work is now going on. Under the third angel's message, the people of God are taking their true position. “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12. Let us arise, go up, and stand in the gaps, to make up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. Eze. 13: 5. FRANCIS GOULD.
Stowe, Vt.