Dialogue Between Two Neighbors
By Mary A. Morton
Who Is Responsible for the Change? — One Thinks It Was Christ — The Other Disclaims It “How strange it seems,” remarked Mrs. Salters, who had dropped in at the home of her friend Mrs. Martin. “I am all in a bustle at home, preparing for Sunday; and here you are with everything in order and dressed for church. Why is it? Did you always keep Saturday?” “No, indeed,” replied Mrs. Martin. “I was brought up to keep Sunday, and used this day to prepare for it, as you do now.” “Then why did you change?” queried her neighbor. “I should feel very guilty if I worked on Sunday.” “I changed,” said Mrs. Martin, “because I found that I was breaking the fourth commandment every time I worked on the seventh day of the week, for that is the day God calls His Sabbath.” “Yes, I know, but that was under the old dispensation. The Sabbath has been changed since then.” “Who changed it?” asked Mrs. Martin. “Christ Himself,” was the reply. “Where do we learn this?” “Well, I can’t tell just where it is,” Mrs. Salters replied, “but Elder Gray says it is plainly taught in the Bible.” “I think he is mistaken,” said Mrs. Martin, “for Christ never contradicts Himself, and I read that He honored His Father’s commandments, and kept them.” “O, yes, in a general way; but Elder Gray says that under the new dispensation, we are not under the law, but under grace, and that the law was abolished, destroyed, nailed to the cross, and is not binding on us any more. I do not understand just how it is, but of course he does.” “No, I am sure you do not understand, and he does not understand his fearful responsibility, or he would not dare to teach such a thing. Christ denies this in plain words. Let us read what He says about it.” And taking up the Bible she had laid down, Mrs. Martin opened it at Matthew 5, and began to read at the seventeenth verse: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” “We see, from this, that Christ knew that in the latter days, some would say He had changed His Father’s law; and He denies it in plain terms, so that His disciples need not be deceived on that point.” Since hearing the first words, Mrs. Salters had been sitting in deep thought. Now she looked up and said, “Please read the first verse over again.” Mrs. Martin did so, and waited for the question she was sure would come. “Can it be that Christ says these words?” “You can read for yourself,” said Mrs. Martin, giving her the book. “Christ foresaw that in the latter days, there would be teachers who would not only break the fourth commandment, but also teach that He was responsible for it; and He denies the charge, and declares that not even a jot or a tittle of the law shall fail till all—both the law and the prophets—are fulfilled.” “Now we all agree that the prophecies reach down to the end of the world. Hence with this declaration of Christ before me, I dare not claim that the law is abolished. So the only thing for me to do was to step out and keep the Sabbath of the law.” “Well, I have never given these things much thought,” her neighbor replied, “but I certainly will look the matter up, and will be glad to talk with you again. I must say Good-by, and thank you for this talk.” “Good-by.” And as Mrs. Martin accompanied her caller to the door she sent up a silent prayer that her eyes might be opened to see this precious truth, and that she might be constrained to obey it.