THE REAL TROUBLE ABOUT SABBATH OBSERVANCE.
By William N. Glenn
TAKING all the stereotyped Sunday arguments together, they amount to a bold insinuation that the Creator's judgment was at fault when he set apart the seventh day as the Sabbath. The only thing that the Sunday preachers and writers admit was right about instituting the Sabbath was the act of establishing such an institution. They are condescending enough to allow that that part of the transaction was right. But the Lord was all wrong in the object of the Sabbath, as well as in the choice of which day it should be. These men, who set themselves up to amend the Lord's work, would have the Sabbath based upon the ground that man's physical nature needs a day of rest every week; or that the Saviour rose from the tomb on that day; or that the majority of people prefer that day; or in order to cut loose from the Jewish institutions;—anything but the reason designated by the Creator himself, namely: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." Then, as to the specific day, according to these Sunday worshipers, the time doesn't suit all. Well,—it was so faulty that it was done away with altogether; it was such a peculiar day that everybody all around the world couldn't keep it at once. Then a specific day is not wanted anyhow, only the seventh part of time; it doesn't make any difference what particular seventh part, but it must not be the seventh day, that's Jewish, etc., etc. We must have a uniform day, so that all can rest at the same time for convenience. It must be a day that will suit the majority. Furthermore, it ought to be a day on which it is wrong to keep saloons open, and on which it is wrong to have hoodlum picnics, and such like outrages. And all things considered, there is just one day that fills the bill, and that is Sunday. So we must have a Sunday law, and bring everyone down to that specific seventh part of time,—for it has lately been discovered that the Lord made a mistake in numbering, and the first day is really the true seventh day. It is indeed wonderfully surprising how many mistakes he did make in starting that Sabbath institution. But a few pertinent questions may not be amiss in this connection, just for the sake of getting to the bottom of the real trouble:— If man's physical nature needs a day of rest every week, why can't he rest on the day the Creator set apart? If we must keep a Sabbath for any reason, why not keep it for the reason the Lord has given in the commandment? If it doesn't make any difference which day we keep, why not keep the day the Lord designated? If it is necessary to have a regular day of worship for all classes, why is not the seventh day as regular as any other day? If one day is to be designated as the Lord's day, why not the one which he himself calls his day, and sanctified it to that purpose? In short, why not keep the commandments as the Lord gave them, Sabbath-day and all? There is just one reply that can truthfully be given, and that is found in Rom. 8:7: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." That shows just where the trouble lies; and after all the blasphemous insinuations about the law of God, and all the trivial excuses for not keeping his Sabbath, it brings to light the real incentive for setting up a rival institution, and calling for tyrannical laws to sustain it.