A Theological Puzzle by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 2, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 14.

A Theological Puzzle.

By Editor

THE Sunday question is an endless puzzle to its advocates. Speaking of the ministerial meeting in San Francisco at which the subject of the Sabbath was discussed, and wherein the Sunday received some deadly wounds at the hands of its friends, a D. D. remarked to us that he wished the ministers would make a point or keep silent. But that is impossible. They cannot make a point, because there is no Scripture proof in favor of the Sunday; this they confess. Of course their reasons for keeping the Sunday are as various as the minds which devise them, and each contradicts the others. And they cannot keep silent, for it is confessedly one of the most prominent questions of the day, and "will not down." On one side the advocates of Jehovah's Sabbath, the Creator's rest-day, are pressing to the attention of the world the claims of the divinely-blessed institution, enforcing the claims by the plainest Bible testimony. On the other side is a multitude of adherents to "the venerable day of the sun," each with his own "unanswerable argument," peculiar to himself, and destructive to those of his associates. But they have one bond of union; a mutual determination to stand by, and to observe the Sunday, without regard to reasons or to consequences.

And they are not only determined to keep the Sunday, but they are determined to compel everybody else to keep it, whether they believe in it or not. They declare that it is a Christian institution; some go so far as to say that it is "the very foundation of our holy religion." Now they do not pretend that they can compel unbelievers to become Christians; this is not their aim; they know that that is impossible. Their object is—not to actually make men Christians, but—to make them act as though they were Christians! And when the church is fully wedded to the world, and the world is compelled to act the hypocrite under laws dictated by the church, then will come the millennium; then the world will be convinced that "this is a Christian nation!" Then the ministers will have an easy time; their avocation will be only pleasant and restful. For what if men will not accept the Christian faith? they can compel them to Christian works! And, with the strong arm of civil power to back them up, this will be a means to "indicate to the world that this is a Christian nation," more easy and effective than the slow and tedious process of converting them by the preaching of the cross of Christ.