WHY THIS AGITATION? by R. F. Cottrell

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 25, 1880

WHY THIS AGITATION?

By R. F. Cottrell

How do we account for the present agitation upon the subject of the Sabbath? Why are questions concerning the Sabbath coming to the front everywhere? It has been supposed and taken for granted that Jesus Christ and his apostles settled all questions concerning the day and its observance more than eighteen hundred years ago. That they made the first day of the week, now commonly called Sunday, the Sabbath in the place of the seventh day of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue; so that all who would keep the commandments of God's moral law should keep the first day as the Christian Sabbath.

It is truly surprising that an institution so well settled so long ago, should be brought in question after so many ages; and that proof should be demanded to vindicate its claims as an institution of divine revelation. But so it is. When the advocates of a stricter observance of Sunday press its claims, and call for legal enactments to enforce its observance, they are told by their opponents, in the language of a celebrated church historian, that the observance of Sunday was "always only a human ordinance;" and therefore none should be compelled to observe it who do not choose it.

And besides this, thousands are arising all over the world, leaving the observance of Sunday as a sacred day and returning to the ancient Sabbath, the day set apart at the creation, the seventh day of the fourth commandment, which they religiously keep in obedience to that law of God. How strange that it should be so at this late date. What does it mean? This is certainly a question of importance, demanding investigation. We give some suggestions which may lead to a truthful solution.

According to an ancient prophecy there was to arise, in time then future, a notable power that should "speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws." See Dan. 7:25. Nothing but a bold and blasphemous power could fulfill this prediction. And that he should think to change times and laws ordained of God, is evidence of itself that these times and laws are unchangeable. Yet Christ and his apostles are charged by many a professed Christian with having changed the Sabbath from the original day to the first day of the week.

But the Roman popedom has fulfilled every specification of the prophecy. And the rulers of the Roman Church expressly claim to have "substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority." This is their own language; and the history of the church from the third to the sixth century, its divisions respecting the original Sabbath, the gradually increased patronage of the first day, until it supplanted the ancient Sabbath by the decree of popish councils, amply prove the truth of the assertion.

Now the reason why the Sabbath question forces itself upon the attention of the people at the present time, is because the time has come for another prophecy of the Scriptures to have its fulfillment, a prophecy which contains the last warning from Heaven against the power of apostasy, and destined to bring the people of God into a position where it can truly be said of them, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." See Rev. 14:9-12. The fulfillment of this prophecy is intended to counteract the blasphemous work of the Roman apostasy, and restore the commandments of God as given by his own voice and written by his own finger.

The living God is fulfilling this word of his promise. The time is come, and the work is being done. The people are to be enlightened. Wicked tradition must be unmasked; and every wave of agitation on the subject of the Sabbath, whether political or religious, helps forward this work. It is out of the power of man to stop it. Every effort to quell the tumult only increases it. It cannot be postponed longer. When God says, "Let there be light," darkness must retire, however unwilling to yield. It is by his providence that the holders of false tradition cannot be wise enough to hold their place. The demand for civil law to sustain them only aids in bringing the people to the light of truth. The sandy foundation of the Sunday Sabbath is being discovered; and the loyal and true are searching for that institution which is founded on the rock of the word of God.

The present time is most solemn and momentous. Who can realize it as it is? The last message of warning to mankind is in progress. God is testing the people. The eternal decisions of the Judgment are pending. The people are being developed who, in their patience, will be found keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, when the crowned Son of man shall appear upon the white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth. Who will be ready to be gathered into the heavenly garner? This is all-important question which we as individuals have an agency in deciding. May God help us in the needful preparation. R. F. COTTRELL.