SABBATH OBSERVANCE BY LAW.
By Editor
A FRIEND in San Francisco, who has read with interest our appeal on the Sunday law, writes thus:— "The seventh day being the day that God did command to be kept holy, what are the objections to making it the universal day of rest?" We reply that there are no objections at all, provided all people are willing to regard it as a day of rest. On the contrary, it ought by all means to be universally regarded as the day of rest, because God has said, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work;" and this commandment is addressed to all the inhabitants of the earth. But, sad to say, all people do not regard the word of the Lord as of final authority, and they ignore his commandment for a way of their own devising. Someone will say, "Then why not pass a law compelling people to obey the commandment of the Lord?" That would not solve the difficulty, for it would be forced service, and there would be in it no love for God, nor regard for his word. So that if we once started out on the legal plan, we should have to pass another law compelling men to love the Lord! But though such a law might be passed, it would amount to nothing, for love is not love unless it comes spontaneously from the heart. The obvious conclusion is that the keeping of the Sabbath is purely an act of religious worship of God, and is not within human jurisdiction. God wants all men to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth; and he has commissioned men as ambassadors to beg their fellow-men to be reconciled to God; but he has given no one the authority to attempt the impossibility of forcing men to repent. So he wants all men to acknowledge him, and to show their homage by keeping his Sabbath; and he has committed to men the preaching of the word; but he has given no one authority to try to compel men hypocritically to acknowledge him by a form of service. It would indeed be a glorious thing if all men would obey the Lord; but all will not. Our duty is simply to obey him for ourselves, and to use our influence to persuade others to do likewise. Those who will not obey are answerable alone to God, from whom they will at the Judgment day receive the punishment which their rebellion merits.