VAIN WORSHIP by D. J. Frisbie

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 6, 1876

VAIN WORSHIP.

By D. J. Frisbie

“But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9.

Never was this passage of Scripture more forcibly impressed upon my mind than recently while listening to a discourse delivered by a Baptist minister.

His subject was a good one, it being the perfection of God’s law. In order to show that the commandments could not be improved by man he read the first one, and commented upon its justness and perfection. He also read the second and third commandments, making appropriate remarks. No fault could be found with the views which he presented on these commandments. But when he came to the fourth, he merely quoted the first clause, then went on to state how many there were all over the land that were on that beautiful Sabbath (Sunday) morning sending up their songs of praise to God.

He spoke with considerable eloquence, and said if God had left us to choose a day of worship, what confusion there would be, as some would be keeping one day and some another. In order to illustrate what confusion this would produce, he related a circumstance which came under his observation while attending a meeting one Sunday, somewhere in the East. While they were engaged in service they were very much annoyed by hearing the noise of a mowing machine near by, and upon inquiry he learned that there was a company near by who kept Saturday.

The thought occurred to my mind that this must be the reason he did not read the whole of the fourth commandment, as he had of the three preceding ones; for if he had, his congregation could have seen at once that the seventh day was the Sabbath of the Lord, and therefore this little company to which he had alluded were keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; and not those that were keeping Sunday.

In saying God had not left us to choose a day to suit our own convenience, he said truly. “God has commanded us to keep the seventh day holy; and if some through tradition make void the law of God, and still persist in trampling under foot the day that God has set apart to be kept holy, the sad result of confusion arising therefrom must be chargeable to them, and not to those that are keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.”

MRS. D. J. FRISBIE.

Chelsea, Mich., March 21, 1876.