p. 57 | AN UNEXPECTED PRIZE by Mrs. F. A. Reynolds

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 27, 1893

"AN UNEXPECTED PRIZE."

By Mrs. F. A. Reynolds

CHAPTER IX.—"MRS. MANTON'S LESSON."

"Next Sunday Mr. Gordon will be here," cried Hope, entering the house with her arms full of books. "I just saw Bertha Allen, and she says they had a letter from him to-day. School is out, and I am glad, for I am tired," she added with a sigh, throwing herself on the lounge.

"So am I," said Paul, "but I am interested in Mr. Gordon just now. I am glad he made us think about learning the ten commandments perfectly. Even if it was not our duty to know and obey them, it is interesting just to see how many ways there are of breaking God's law. And we all break it, either thoughtlessly or ignorantly."

"Yes," said Hope, "we've seen every commandment broken, unless it's—yes, even the fourth, for you remember the boys go fishing on Sunday."

"I think we every one of us break the fourth commandment every week," said Paul.

"I am afraid we do," said Mrs. Manton. "Sunday is not observed as strictly as when I was a child. I think it is wrong."

"But I don't mean that," said Paul. "I mean, I think we do not keep the day God said. I thought of it the day we made the first study of the commandments, but forgot to speak of it. Then one day when I was over at Arthur Glenn's the last time, I thought of it again, but that horrid murder drove everything else out of my head."

"What do you mean by the day, Paul?" asked his mother.

"Why, the fourth commandment says, 'But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.' Isn't Saturday the seventh day? Why don't we keep it? Why do keep Sunday, the first day?"

"Why, my child, don't you know Christ did away with all Jewish ceremonials when he came? The seventh day is the Jewish Sabbath. The day was changed to commemorate Christ's resurrection, and becomes our Christian sabbath."

"But it was God's Sabbath he told us to keep; mamma. He didn't say it was a Jewish Sabbath, and by and by he would give another. Besides, it's in the ten commandments, and you have told us they were for everybody and for all time; and the rest of them weren't changed, were they?"

"Why, no, of course not," replied Mrs. Manton thoughtfully.

"And, mamma," cried Hope eagerly, "did Christ change the day? Would he change a law God gave? Of course he didn't, for he said he came to fulfill the law. Does the Bible say he changed it? I don't remember."

"Neither do I just now," confessed Mrs. Manton.

Just then Mr. Manton came in, and the two turned on him.

"Papa, did Christ change the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day?" asked Paul.

"I wasn't there," observed Mr. Manton gravely.

"Now, papa, you are joking," cried Hope. "We want to know for sure."

"I am not joking, I assure you, and I want to know for sure. As the Bible does not mention a change, I have no way of knowing that Christ changed the day, seeing I was not there."

"But what do you think," urged both children.

"My opinion is that he did not change it, or the Bible writers would have mentioned it. He taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath. With all the fault the Jews found with him, they did not accuse him of setting up a new sabbath."

"Well," said Mrs. Manton, "I presume the apostles did it, and if they did, they probably did it knowing his will."

"I don't know as we are at liberty to presume at all," replied Mr. Manton. "The fact is, God said the seventh day, and he has never changed the day, as we have it anywhere recorded; no one else had a right to change it. If it had been changed according to divine sanction, it would have been recorded in his word, which gives his law. A law is in force until it is repealed by the same power that made it, so I take it the seventh day is really the right one to worship on."

"But I am sure," persisted Mrs. Manton, "that somewhere in the Bible Paul speaks of meeting on the first day."

"I think not in the nature of a command, or as taking the place of the Sabbath. He does say, in—let me see—Hope, hand me my Bible, please. Yes, here in First Corinthians, sixteenth chapter, second verse: 'Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.' But you see that says nothing about Sabbath. In fact, it is rather a business proposition; at the first of each week look back and see what you feel able and willing to give to the Lord's work."

"Well, but it does tell about meeting on the first day of the week," said Mrs. Manton.

"Yes, but so do we have meetings any day of the week—devotional meetings—yet these meetings do not make such days Sabbaths."

"But did the apostles keep the seventh day?" asked Mrs. Manton.

"They certainly did, for in Acts 16:13 it says, 'And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.'"

"Yes, but that might have been the first day, papa," said Paul.

"No, indeed, my son; you see the seventh day is always called Sabbath in the Bible, and the other days are designated by their numbers. You have read in the encyclopedia the meaning of the names of the days of the week. God called the seventh day the Sabbath; the names of the other days are of heathen origin. What does 'Sabbath' mean, Paul?"

Paul hesitated.

"Look in the Bible Dictionary," suggested Hope.

Paul read, "From a Hebrew word meaning to cease to do, to rest."

"Yes. Now, Hope, when was the Sabbath instituted?"

"In the beginning, when God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, he sanctified it."

"Yes, and called it a memorial in another place. He made it, apparently, for all mankind, for he had not then chosen out a separate people. When he did, he put into form

for them his law, which those who had feared him for ages had obeyed. Among the rest was the Sabbath law, which he was especially anxious they should obey, if one may judge by what was said."

"But Sunday, you know, commemorates the resurrection," said Mrs. Manton protestingly.

"Supposing it did, my dear, who told us to commemorate it by giving up the Sabbath, and taking another day?"

"But, mamma," interrupted Hope eagerly, "I thought baptism represents resurrection. I am sure I've seen somewhere that it means death to sin and rising to a new life."

"Yes," admitted her mother.

"Then why do we need a day to commemorate it?" asked the girl.

"We don't as I know of, but—but how did Sunday become the Sabbath, if it isn't right, and was not made so by Christ and his followers?"

"I can tell you, mamma," cried Paul. "That is what I heard at Arthur Glenn's. You see Arthur has to recite his catechism every day, and he has a book called 'Catholic Christian Instructed.' Well, when I went over he came to the door with that in his hand, and I said, 'Studying, Arthur?'"

"Yes, reading up for Father Carol's next visit," he said, and then he said: "What do you think I've just read, Paul? Look here and see how inconsistent you and all the Protestants are."

"He showed me the book and I read—I think I can repeat it almost word for word. The question was, 'Has the church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God,' and the answer was, 'Instead of the seventh day the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship, and these we are now obliged to keep, notwithstanding God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.'"

"Then he showed me another of their works that said that Sunday had been created by the Catholic Church, and Catholics believed the church had that right, but as Protestants professed to believe the Bible to be the only guide, they should keep the seventh day, as there is no authority there for the first day, and by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church above the Bible. I came home full of it, and at the gate heard of that murder, and since then school examinations have crowded everything else out."

"Then Sunday is a Catholic Church day," gasped Mrs. Manton, "and we have kept it instead of God's Sabbath."

"It is a day dedicated to the worship of the sun, too," added Mr. Manton, who rather enjoyed his conscientious wife's confusion. "Constantine the Great constituted it a church day, in the fourth century, and made it easy to keep it. I read all the subject up in the encyclopedias long ago."

"Edward, I am amazed at you," cried Mrs. Manton. "If you knew all that, how could you ever have reverenced Sunday? I, at least, have erred through ignorance. I was led to believe that the Sabbath had been bodily changed from the seventh to the first day when Christ died. It was a vague, mysterious transaction in my mind, but just as real. And there I was following custom instead of God's word. I ought to have known the Bible records no change!"

"Don't be too hard on yourself, wife," said Mr. Manton. "I knew, and still I followed custom. This talk has opened my eyes to a new thought. I have thought that God required only one day in seven, but I see plainly he says 'the seventh day.' Then I thought, too, that he would not care what day we kept, if—"

"Why, Papa Manton!" interrupted Paul. "Would you be pleased if I should take it upon myself to say I would clean the stable when I pleased instead of when you said? You tell me it is my business to do as I am told, without question; isn't that the way we are to obey God?"

"Yes, Paul, I agree with you."

"And that means—" said Mrs. Manton.

"We must keep the seventh day?" queried Hope.

"If ye love Me, keep My commandments," quoted Mr. Manton. (To be continued.)