The Sabbath in Continental Europe.
By John Nevins Andrews
The friends of the Bible Sabbath are not numerous in Europe, though there is reason to believe that nearly or quite all the countries of the continent have some who hallow the day of the Creator's rest. But if they are not strong in numbers they are mighty in the strength which is given through the truth. They hallow the day observed by the Creator in giving an example to mankind, and observed also by the Son of God while he dwelt among mankind; the day observed also by all inspired men throughout the Scriptures, and the only weekly Sabbath ever observed by any of them. They do this in obedience to the fourth commandment of the law of God, which law stands firmer than heaven and earth, as Christ has testified. This moral law of God is no temporary law; for the Saviour declares that even a jot or a tittle shall not pass from it till the heavens and the earth shall pass, which will not be till the day of Judgment. This royal law from the King of heaven is so sacred that whoever violates one of its precepts is counted guilty of violating the whole code. Matt. 5:18. It is true that as the result of the predicted apostasy the nations have been made drunk with the wine of Babylon, which is false doctrine, and out of this cup even good men have sipped the doctrine of the change of the Sabbath, and now observe a day never commanded in the Bible, but only sustained by the tradition of the elders, and made convenient because of general practice. Even from the days of their fathers have men gone astray from God's ordinances, and have not kept them. They have transgressed his law, changed his ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant. One man with God's sacred truth so plain and so mighty can stand before a thousand who are sustained only by tradition and the commandments of men, and two may put ten thousand to flight. The strength of the contending hosts is thus very different from what at first view it appears. In every age since God gave man the example, there have been reverent observers of his sacred memorial—not simply for rest from toil, but to commemorate the creation of the heavens and the earth. They have always been a minority, but they have held in trust a most sacred treasure—the Sabbath of the Lord their God. There are Sabbath-keeping Christians in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Bohemia, Hungary, and Italy. Probably also in the other countries of Europe there are some who observe the day enjoined in the commandment, though we have as yet no definite knowledge of them. In Southern Russia there are many Sabbath-keeping Christians, and they date back at least one hundred years before the great Reformation. In the vicinity of Elberfeld, Germany, are some fifty Christians who hallow the seventh day. Eld. James Ertzenberger is now laboring in that field. In Western Switzerland there are about seventy Sabbath-keeping Christians. They are making earnest efforts to bring this great truth concerning the Sabbath of the Lord to the knowledge of the people of Europe. How long shall it be that men who fear God will stand on the side of error? How long will they continue to trample beneath their feet the memorial of the great Creator? How long will they halt between duty and convenience? The present is the time when God will cause men to show what is in their hearts. Reader, what do you think of the fourth commandment, and what are you doing with respect to what it commands? —J. N. Andrews, in Sabbath Memorial.