Remember by W. M. Healey

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Aug 15, 1878

Remember.

By W. M. Healey

How this word should ring in our ears. It is nearly equivalent to the word of Jesus, "watch." We should remember the name of the Lord our God. Ps. 20 : 7. Remember the shortness of time given us to prepare to meet God. Ps. 89 : 47. In pleasure let us remember the days of darkness. Eccl. 12 : 1. Remember to break not his covenant. Jer. 14 : 21. Let us do all this, that the Lord in wrath may remember mercy. Hab. 3 : 2.

The Lord in giving his holy law tells us to ☞ "remember the Sabbath." He knew that man would be in danger of forgetting this great memorial of the true God; and when the commandment is written it begins with the word "remember." This shows it was an existing institution at that time; for they could not remember that which they did not know. We read that the seventh day is the Sabbath, by this we know which day of the week it is. But when does the day begin and end? In the first chapter of Genesis we read that the days of creation week began with the evening. In Lev. 23 : 32 we read, "From even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." But at what hour does the even begin? This is answered in the direction given about uncleanness. Those who had touched the carcass of an unclean beast were "unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean." Lev. 22 : 6-7. The even then is at sundown, and the Sabbath begins at that time.

We think God was very good in having the Sabbath begin at sundown, instead of at any particular hour of the day. Suppose he had commenced it at six o'clock, as some suppose, it would have been much more difficult to remember. In latitudes far from the equator the hour of six o'clock would, in winter, come long after dark, and if one did not have a watch or clock at hand, he might make a mistake of an hour or so. And in the mid-summer, if busily engaged, he would be liable to forget the exact hour. But the setting sun will surely remind him of the approach of God's holy day; thus the Lord helps us to keep his sacred law. But how could men remember the approach of the Sabbath if it began at midnight, the time most Sunday-keepers commence their day, when, ordinarily, men would be asleep? But the command to remember in this case, is no more inconsistent than the Sunday institution itself.

Let us remember God's memorial to keep it holy, and be very careful not to do as I have known some to, work up to the time of darkness on Friday night and call that sunset; but on the next day as soon as the sun has disappeared behind the top of the highest hill, say, There, the sun is down, the Sabbath has closed. Let us give God a full day, and "call the Sabbath a delight." Isa. 58, 13.

Read Nehemiah 13 : 15-21, and remember. W. M. HEALEY.