p. 4 | The Sabbath by E. L. Cardey

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 8, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 14.

The Sabbath

By E. L. Cardey

IV. Present-Day Agitation Regarding the Sabbath

A s in all past ages, when a great reform was at hand the church and the world were agitated and stirred regarding the needed reform, so to-day all classes are agitated respecting "Sabbath observance." Preparatory to the great reformation occasioned by the first coming of Christ, there was world-wide distrust of the established religions. The historian says:

"The enfeebled world was tottering on its foundations when Christianity appeared. The national religions which had satisfied the parents, no longer proved sufficient for their children. The new generation could not repose contented within the ancient forms. . . . A great void was occasioned in the religion of the world. . . . In Europe, Asia, and Africa, there was but one vast empire, and the human race began to feel its universality and unity." (D'Aubigné's "History of the Reformation," book 1, page 33.)

Then, when men were ready to listen to the new teaching, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. In a few short years, His teaching had made many converts among all nations of the earth. Even China heard the sound of that message.

Again, in the midnight hour of the Dark Ages, when all Europe bowed in humble submission before the Church of Rome, when the surface of society appeared tranquil, when men were seemingly contented to believe and worship as they were commanded — even then the fire of human liberty was at a white heat, and it needed but the touch of Luther's teaching to set it ablaze; and soon the Reformation had enveloped all Europe, yes, all the world. On God's timepiece, the hour had arrived to break the shackles of error and superstition; and preparatory to that work, many agitations had prepared the minds of men to receive the message of Luther. D'Aubigné says:

"Thus everywhere, from high to low, was heard a hollow murmur, forerunner of the thunderbolt that was soon to fall. Germany appeared ripe for the appointed task of the sixteenth century. Providence, in its slow progress, had prepared everything; and even the passions which God condemns, were directed by His almighty hand to the accomplishment of His designs." (Id., page 83.)

Another Reformation at Hand

We have arrived at another epoch-making period in the history of the world. The surface of society appears placid to the casual observer, but a closer inspection reveals the great agitation underneath. To come to the point at once, we believe that a great conflict awaits the world, and the point of test in that conflict will be the authority of God versus human traditions in religious teaching. We will go farther, and say that God's test of authority in ages past — the seventh-day Sabbath — will be the test of loyalty to His authority again. As it was in the days of Elijah, when Israel was called upon to take their stand for God or for Baal, so again not alone one nation but the whole world will be brought to a place where a decision must be made for or against God. In vision, the prophet Isaiah saw the work of God coming to a close in the world. He saw a message — one message — going to all nations, and around that ensign all "Israel" would take their stand. The world surely needs now, such a message, an "ensign" to lead the "hosts of the Lord" through the labyrinth of errors in the world to-day. See Isa. 11: 11-16.

In evidence that we are in the midst of conditions that are rapidly placing the church and the world in a position where they must listen to some voice of authority, we call attention to the "lukewarm" church. On every hand is seen and felt the lack of spiritual zeal. The prayer-meeting is poorly attended. The regular church service is but little better, and the spirit of pleasure and amusement has invaded the sacred place of the sanctuary. The social, the supper, the entertainment, seem to be the only means left the church to attract the people.

Wherein lies the cause of this present lack of interest in spiritual things? The authority of the Scriptures, as a full and sufficient guide for faith and practise, is not being taught as it once was. The infirmity of the church is the result of the weak, sickly teaching we hear from the pulpit and the religious press, and that from men in high authority. As an example, notice the following:

"Where does the Bible come from? — From the same source whence all other worth-while books come — out of the soul of humanity is humanity's struggle to give expression to its divine ideals. . . . The question of inspiration confronts us when we think of the source from which the Bible came. Now, there are some things I do not know. One of them is what inspiration is. Neither does any one else know what it is. Anyway, men are inspired, and not the writings, not black marks upon a page. And so far as I can determine, all the term can reasonably suggest is that men write at times from a highly vitalized inward impulse." — Prof. T. E. Rankin, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the "Homiletic Review," August, 1912, pp. 91, 92.

Men high in church circles no longer believe the plain declaration of the Scriptures regarding creation. Note this sample utterance:

"Take the incomparable stories of the temptation and fall at the beginning of Genesis, with their speaking serpent, their miraculous trees, their God who walks about His garden in the cool of the day and speaks face to face to Adam as to His friend. Are we to take all this literally as an historical account of the introduction of sin into our human world? And if so, what guarantee can we possibly have that these things actually happened as they are related? For manifestly the experiences of the first human beings lie far beyond the reach of human memory or tradition. . . . Is it not equally competent, and far more consonant with all we know of literature and history, to regard these narratives as embodying very ancient mythical material?" — "Homiletic Review" for December, 1912, p. 443, by Prof. John E. McFadden, Glasgow.

How can the church expect to have "the power of God unto salvation" as found in the gospel, when it will not and does not accept the Book that contains the gospel? What folly to say that the Bible is the best book in the world, but is not inspired, while it claims to be a direct revelation from God! The Bible writers were either what they claimed to be, or they were the greatest liars the world ever contained; for in nearly every case they claim that God spoke by and through them. But if they are false witnesses, how could they write the most spiritual, most sublime book man ever read?

Seeking Power Outside the Gospel

The church, having lost the "power of the gospel," is seeking for power elsewhere. The Federation of Churches was brought about to fill that very need. At its first session, held November, 1905, in New York City, one of the speakers made this significant statement:

"I trust that one of the practical results of this conference will be the organization of a force that law-breakers and law-makers will respect and heed when great questions of morals are involved. . . . It is our province, in the name of our supreme King, and seeking the good of mankind, to ask rulers to respect the code of our kingdom. . . . This federation will compel an audience, and it will speak with power, if it will put aside its differences and make its agreement its argument."

Associated with this movement are the Lord's Day Alliance, National Reform Association, and Sabbath Leagues, etc. These operate in every state in the Union, and in other forms in the entire world, all clamoring for power, for authority, for influence over the masses.

The main point in this subject is this: The vital issue in all these movements and organizations is sabbath (Sunday) laws. The agitation has at last enlisted the sympathies of politicians, and one of the planks in the Chicago platform of the National Progressive Party reads: "We advocate one day's rest in seven." Does not all this show that there is agitation regarding a sabbath?

In other circles of life much is said about the divine claims of the Sabbath of the law of God. In the New York Times, Sunday, December 22, 1912, there appeared a remarkable article entitled "Islam, on the Eve of Christmas, Sends a Message to Christianity." We quote the following:

"I have traveled far and wide. . . . And what have I learned? — That there is not a single Christian country where the Founder of Christianity is not set aside and the honor and respect due to the God He worshiped denied. I mean the first-day sabbath. As a son of Islam I have never under

stood why the Christian world does not keep the true Christian Sabbath — the Sabbath that was kept by the Founder of Christianity, the Sabbath which He ordered to be kept until the end of time, the crack of doom, until the day when the heavens should vanish as smoke, until 'earth grow old and the sun grow cold and the stars shall cease to be!' Who dared decree that the seventh day should no longer be the Sabbath? Was it Constantine, that infamous wretch who smothered his wife in a steam bath, who killed his own son, who slew his nephew, who fooled his people — pagan and pseudo-Christian alike? Was it the clerics who composed that Council of Nice? I have read of it! . . . When in a few short days the Christian world will bend in homage to Him who kept the seventh-day Sabbath, to Him who never would have tolerated the insult to His divine Father to set aside His command that the seventh-day is the Sabbath, to Him who commanded that the law and the prophets should be obeyed to every jot or tittle — I say, when the Christian world bends its knee at next Noel, or Christmas, shall not all true Christian men and Christian women say: It is time that we vindicate the honor of Him whom we revere and keep the Sabbath which He Himself kept, follow His example, and obey the lessons of His life so He lived it? Is it not time that we should go back to the original Sabbath? or shall we continue to respect more a Constantine or faulty clerics? Whom shall we respect — Jesus or Constantine? Whom shall we obey — the prophets of the Bible or the clerics of Nice? Oft, as I have wandered in many lands, I have thought of these and other such developments of Christianity. When will men and women begin to think for themselves?"

The Institution Standing for Jehovah's Authority

There is need of power and authority in the church, but God's power can not and will not come so long as the professed church rejects the institution that stands for the authority of Jehovah. Anciently the seventh-day Sabbath was the test of loyalty between God and His people. Eze. 20: 12, 20. If the honor which is due the seventh day has not been transferred by divine authority to another day — and it has not — then the seventh-day Sabbath still retains that distinction. This being true, is it not a plain rejection of the authority of God, and the exaltation of the commandments of men, to encourage by precept or example, the transfer, by the power of law, of the authority of the seventh-day Sabbath to another day, and make that "other day" the test of religious faith? This the sabbath reformers are doing. They have said that "Sunday is the bulwarks of American Christianity."

Then, are we stating more than the facts, when we say that this present Sabbath agitation will bring the people to a place where they must decide for one day or the other? But remember, dear reader, on that decision hangs eternity. The agitation for more strict sabbath (Sunday) observance is world-wide. In the nature of the case, the demand for a decision between the false and the true Sabbath will also be world-wide. In fact, the prophecies of the Word declare that the seventh-day Sabbath shall be a test of loyalty to God in the last days of earth's history. But of this we will speak further in another article.

The call is clear, the signs are evident; you and I must yield obedience to God and His law, and pray for strength to resist the commandments and traditions of men, and accept His authority only as revealed in His Word.