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TWO WHYS

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 10, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 40.

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TWO WHYS.

By C. B. Rule

BY C. B. RULE.
1. Why I rest on the Sabbath, the seventh day: (a) I have the example of God himself. “And God did rest on the seventh day from all his works.” Heb. 4:4. See also Gen. 2:2; Ex. 20:11. (b) I have the example of Christ (Luke 4:16), and all the holy men of God from Genesis to Revelation. (c) I have the plain and positive command of God. Ex. 20:8-11. This command was confirmed by Christ. See Luke 16:17; Matt. 5:17-19. The “whosoever” of the latter text is so sweeping in its application that it includes the whole world, even as it does in John 3:16; Rev. 22:17. Will God condemn me for doing what he has done, and has never forbidden me to do? Will he condemn me for doing what he has positively commanded me to do? Will he condemn me for this, in view of Christ’s confirmation of this law, knowing that I have his own example at creation as well as that of Christ and the holy men of past ages? In the judgment will he condemn the Jews for breaking this commandment and condemn me for keeping it, when we are all judged by the same law? Rom. 2:12, 16.
2. Why I work on Sunday, the first day of the week. (a) It is not forbidden in God’s word from Genesis to Revelation; and yet God’s word thoroughly furnishes unto all good works. 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. Paul tells the elders of the church at Ephesus that he had “kept back nothing that was profitable,” and had “not shunned to declare” “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:20, 27), and yet he has nowhere said that Sunday-keeping is profitable or a part of the counsel of God. In view of this would the Lord condemn me for working on that day? (b) Would he condemn me for working on that day when we have neither record nor example of his using it any other way? Would he condemn me for doing what the good men of the past have done unreproved by him? The promise came to Abraham’s seed because he kept God’s commandments (Gen. 26:5), and we have no record that he rested Sunday. If we are Abraham’s seed, we will do the works of Abraham. John 8:39. (c) I have God’s command, and, at the very least, the privilege of working on the first day of the week. Ex. 20:9.
Which is the safer way—God’s word, command, example, or the traditions of men?