THE JUDGE REGARDED ONE REASON SUFFICIENT
By R. C. P.
The Law Is Clear — The One Reason Is Invincible — Why Multiply Words?
On one occasion, in a railway carriage in the state of Michigan, an intelligent looking man remarked to a Seventh-day Adventist minister: “Now, pastor, I have you just where I want you. I wish you to tell me why you, and the people you represent, observe Saturday instead of Sunday as the Sabbath.” The reply was given by courteously reading from Ex. 20: 8-11, as follows: “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 manservant, nor thy maidservant, 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.” The minister remarked, after reading the command of God: “That is the first reason I will give you why we keep the seventh day instead of the first,—God in His law commands us to do so. The second reason is —” THE LAW SUFFICIENT AND PLAIN
At that point, the jurist interrupted, saying, “Please let me take your Bible.” It was handed to him, and he read the commandment over very slowly several times to himself. Finally he said: “In one respect you remind me of an attorney I once knew who had a case to defend in court. As frequently as the case was called, he would manage in some way to get it postponed. At last the patience of the court was exhausted, and the judge inquired of the attorney why he asked for postponement, as he had had ample time to prepare his case, and the opposing parties were anxious for the trial. “The attorney replied that there was an important witness it was necessary for him to have, whom he could not then obtain. “The judge earnestly inquired where the witness was, and why he was not there. “The attorney replied that there were several reasons why the witness was not present. The first was, he was dead; and the second was — “‘Well, hold,’ said the judge. ‘If the man is dead, that is sufficient reason why he is not here. We do not care to hear your second reason.’” Then, with his black, piercing eyes fixed upon the minister, the jurist said: “I ask you for your reasons for keeping the seventh day, or Saturday, for the Sabbath; and in reply, you turn and read a law of God Himself, spoken by His own voice, and chiseled by His own hand upon the granite quarried from the rock-ribbed side of Sinai. And now you propose to give me a second reason. SHOULD NEVER ASK A SECOND REASON
“My young friend, no man who believes God or God’s word, ever ought to ask for a second reason. Think of it! In the bosom of the only law God ever gave His creatures, that law which is justly regarded as not only the law, but the constitution from which all the legislation of God proceeded—in that law, He tells all His creatures to keep the seventh day, or Saturday, as the Sabbath. I repeat, No one who believes God or His word, can escape from your conclusions; and no second reason is admissible.” The inquirer was a judge of one of the state supreme courts. He did not speak as a theologian, but as a jurist. Being free from religious prejudices, he spoke the convictions of a mind trained to logical reasoning and logical conclusion. He spoke the inward convictions that every man must have when he looks into God’s law, and reads what Jehovah commands. In the prophecy of Isaiah, the Lord declares that the Sabbath given to man in an unfallen state will not only remain until the kingdom of Christ shall be established in the earth renewed, but will continue eternally in the new earth when the kingdom is restored: “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. There is therefore no need for any one to misunderstand which day God recognizes as the Sabbath in the present dispensation. He made one Sabbath to be His recognized rest through all eternity. He has never changed it. It will be His recognized rest when the earth is renewed; and He is calling upon His people to prepare to stand before the law of His kingdom, to pass the test of the Judgment, that they may be subjects of that kingdom. That law says: “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 do363any work.” This command of God, with all the others of the ten, demands obedience of us now, and will be the test of our loyalty to God when we seek admission to His kingdom. No voluntary substitution of any kind will answer in place of simple obedience to the command of God. King Saul tried it, but it cost him his kingdom and his life. The Lord sent to him the message: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Sam. 15: 22, 23. Since God is unchangeable, the lesson here given is as important to-day as in the past. There is no promise of life except in the pathway of obedience. “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22: 14. R. C. P.