p. 7 | LOVE AND OBEDIENCE by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 27, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 35.

LOVE AND OBEDIENCE.

By G.

ONE of the popular slogans now being sounded in support of Sunday observance is this: “Love always gives more than law demands.” This is an admission that Sunday is not the Sabbath commanded by the law of God, and at the same time assumes that love is an unruly sentiment that disregards law. The professed love of a subject that assumes to do more than the law requires, when that extra service is in contravention of what the law does require, is not love at all; it is sheer presumption. Furthermore, it is a well-known fact that many Sunday observers, while professing to do so out of love and gratitude for a risen Saviour, do not give this service in addition to what the law demands, but instead of the law’s requirement.

“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” Deut. 10:12, 13. But Israel attempted to do more than the law required, and they so beclouded the commandments of God with their own traditions, expressions of their own righteousness, that the Lord said they had made His law of none effect.

The Lord sent King Saul and his army to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all that they had. The Israelites easily overcame their foes, and became so elated that they conceived the idea of a great sacrifice to the Lord. So they spared the best of the sheep and oxen for that purpose. They imagined that they would get great credit for a sacrifice of that which did not belong to them. The Lord had confiscated those flocks and herds, and had ordered them destroyed; but Israel would do more than was demanded, and thus show their love to God.

Saul, in spite of his imperative orders, consented to this extra service. But God did not so regard the unwarranted act. He said to Saul, “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. 15:2, 23.

All the works of supererogation instituted by the Papacy and its imitators,—the church-made festivals and holy days, penances and indulgences, the adoration of relics, and the memorials of so-called sacred places and occurrences,—concerning which God hath given no commandment, are all based on the false theory that “love always gives more than law demands.” But God has not left us ignorant as to how He regards such service. His plain declaration is, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. And John adds, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3. Love is obedience, and obedience is the manifestation of true love. God has plainly told us that He regards anything else as “rebellion” and “stubbornness,” which are equivalent to “witchcraft” and “idolatry.” G.