THE TRIUMPH OF THE SABBATH.
By George A. Snyder
WE have seen that the Sabbath was ordained as a memorial of the Creator's perfect work before sin existed in the human heart, and that the reason assigned for Sabbath observance was that God's creative power might be thus continually kept before the minds of His creatures. We have also seen that after sin is eradicated from the heart by creative power, we have additional reason for observing the Sabbath, because we know more about the working of creative power than we did before. The more we know of God's power to create within us new hearts, the greater reason we have for keeping the Sabbath as a memorial of that power. From this it is evident that when creative power shall have finally triumphed over all sin, and the plague-spot of a polluted earth shall have been purified by fire and re-created in the beauty of holiness, the reason for Sabbath observance will be stronger than ever. When the great Shepherd shall bring back this wandering world and restore it to the fold, and we shall behold a perfect creation, untarnished by the touch of sin, we will “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” as it returns each week on the wings of eternity, because we shall recognize that throughout the vast domain of the Creator His power is unquestioned; that planets, suns, and systems wheel on forever, unobstructed by the shadow of evil. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66: 22, 23. The Sabbath, like the Lord of the Sabbath, has been maligned, betrayed, and crucified, and like Him it rises again, “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” We will love our Saviour more throughout eternity when we see the print of the nails in His hands, and remember the awful agony that rent His soul on Calvary. So the Sabbath will shine all the brighter in the sunlight of eternity because of the very storms of satanic wrath it has withstood while passing through the shadows of time. Once when the destiny of a nation was in the balance, a brave officer gathered his shattered company into a gap that had been torn in the midst of the fortifications, and stood in a rain of fire until re-enforcements turned the tide of battle, and the long lines of the enemy, surging higher and higher up the slopes of the ridge, were seen to break like the waves on the beach. Where are the brave men who will stand in the gap that has been torn in the heart of God's holy law, until the Master comes with re-enforcements? “Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” “Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things, . . . and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. . . . And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.” Eze. 13:5; 22:26-30. The battle of the day of the Lord is on. Thousands are refusing to stand in the gap, and are trampling upon God's holy day. A few are heeding the call, and turning their feet away from trampling on the Sabbath. To such the Lord says: “Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight; . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; . . . for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”