Profession vs. Practise

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 15, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 11.

Profession vs. Practise.

A contributor to the Christian Statesman (National Reform organ) cites the following "Christian Citizenship Pledge" as defining the National Reform movement:

We, citizens of the United States whose names are underwritten, acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler of nations, and His law as the supreme standard of right and wrong; and we pledge ourselves to Him and to one another to study the laws of His kingdom; to obey His will as citizens in all things so far as known to us; and to use our influence and power, as citizens, to secure the acknowledgment of His authority and obedience to His will in all things by our nation and our government.

We learn from Ps. 40:7, 8 and John 5:30 with chapter 15:10, that God's will is His law, and that His will is also the will of Christ. Furthermore we learn from the Word of God and the example of Christ and His apostles that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." But the National Reform movement, while making a pretense of "obedience to His will in all things," is pre-eminently engaged in the work of enforcing the observance of another day as the Sabbath. Thus, instead of acknowledging Christ's authority in this matter, these professed reformers are using their utmost endeavor to have "our nation and our government" install a sabbath directly antagonistic to the Sabbath of the Lord, as expressly appointed by Him in the beginning (Gen. 2:2, 3), and embodied in His law (Ex. 20:8-11), which can not be altered (Matt. 5:17, 18; Luke 16:17).