p. 16 | MUST CHOOSE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 2, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 26.

MUST CHOOSE.

The Lord by the prophet Joel declares that in the last days there will be “multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:14. We are now in that hour, and multitudes are weighing for eternity, truth, and unpopularity on the one side, and error, tradition, and popularity on the other.

Concerning no question is this more evident than that of the Sabbath. Whether men shall accept God’s word or man’s tradition, divine law or civil law, is a question agitating the millions, and to blind men to the true issue almost every effort is put forth. We have an instance of this in an editorial in the New York Observer (Presbyterian) of June 11:—

“The American people have come to a point where they must choose between Sunday and Sabbath. We do not mean by this statement to imply any indorsement of the narrow and essentially Judaizing views of those good brethren who argue for seventh-day observance. Such historical considerations as seem to support their contention can be met argument for argument, with a preponderating presumption and pressure in favor of the observance of that day in the week as our Sabbath on which the Lord shed a perpetual resurrection glory. Christianity does not go by calendar. As Christians we are not the slaves of Judaistic programs or time bills.”

All of which would be very good if back of it were the truth of God. And yet the question is indeed between Sunday and Sabbath. Not, as the Observer would put it, between Sunday a holiday, and the same day a holy day; for the simple fact is that Sunday was never made a holy day by Him alone who can make days holy. The scriptural “argument” for Sunday is, at its very best, purely presumption but it has been shown to be fallacious, times without number. It not only lacks positive evidence, but it has positive evidence against it, in precept, prophecy, history, and the perfect example of Jesus Christ. It is because of this and this alone that the “pressure” argument of civil law is used. It is that argument that many Sunday people hope to make preponderatingly strong. And yet while ridiculing the idea of the seventh day, and declaring that “Christianity does not go by calendar,” the Observer shows the usual consistency(?) of Sunday advocates, by contending for a particular day in the “calendar,” and the “time bills” of Roman tradition.

Nevertheless, the truth of God stands. The issue is between the Sunday and the Sabbath,—the Sunday of paganism, of the Papacy, of hoary tradition,—and the Sabbath of the Lord our God, the seventh day, the Lord’s day, the memorial and sign of the power of Jesus Christ, Creator and Redeemer. The decision is between God and man, between the word and tradition, between the law of God and civil law, between Christ and anti-christ, between love and force. Men may seek to obscure the issue, but they can not extinguish it. The Observer gives an illustration of this in a note in the very issue from which the above is taken. It says:—

“Truth is indestructible. There is never any the less of it, tho it be disregarded. The commandments of God, which are founded upon his immutably righteous character, partake of this lasting quality of truth. Therefore, the little boy was wrong who thought that if he broke one of the ten commandments then ‘there’d be nine.’ Truth may be dislocated from its position of regency over man’s affections, but it can not be destroyed.”

True, men may disregard the fourth commandment, but it is there forever, confirmed by the eternal word and the holy example of Jesus Christ. Besides, you must choose; why not choose for God and life everlasting?