The Fourth Commandment.
By Uriah Smith
But why are men unwilling to admit
That God's unaltered law is binding yet;
That neither all, nor yet a part is slain,
But unimpaired its precepts all remain?
'Tis simply this: The fourth command doth say,
The Sabbath comes upon the seventh day;
So they would cast the law itself aside,
To shun the day that God has sanctified. O Fourth Command! what trouble hast thou been,
Source of vexation to the sons of men!
How have they tugged and toiled, with various plans,
To break thy power, and shirk thy just demands!
Have chafed and fretted to secure their aim,
And render null and void thy obvious claim!
Vast circuits they through logic's field have run,
And found themselves at last where they begun!
Have loud proclaimed that day of rule was o'er,
And that the law was binding now no more!
Then brought forth reasons for their theories wiss,
Which fools might laugh at, maniacs despise!
Still true are thy demands, thy claims still good,
Though men would fain avoid them if they could.
All who regard them not must soon confess,
And reap the harvest of their sinfulness.
Firm and immutable as Heaven's decree
Thou e'er hast stood, and thou shalt ever be.
Among these holy laws thy place is known,
Which God's own finger graved upon the stone.
Still thy requirements hold that we must rest
Upon the seventh day, which God has blest;
His fixed decrees he ne'er will disarrange;
For God can never lie, and never change. —A Word for the Sabbath, by U. Smith.