THE Decalogue has almost invariably been considered by all Christian people the holy, the immutable, law of God. Only as respects the Sabbath, has question been raised. That has been the one bone of contention in the great Ten Words. To get rid of that, men have been willing to abolish the Decalogue; but without important exception they have professed to believe that every precept save the fourth has been reenacted. Such a course should cause the whole Christian world to pause and ask, Why? Why should men endeavor to get rid of the Sabbath? Was it not given of Jehovah in the beginning? Is it not founded in a need of man's nature? Is it not the one day above all others around which cluster the great facts of the creative Godhead? Then why abolish it?—Evidently from the one sole reason that men have found themselves observing a different day and they seek to justify their observance rather than change their course. Not for one moment would we seek to justify such a course as this in the financial world. Just and conscientious persons would not continue to pass a counterfeit note when its genuineness was disproved. Why should men pursue a different course in religious matters, in matters of eternal moment? Why should men relegate to the Jews the day which God gave in the beginning for the race? Position in the Decalogue.
Note the position of the Sabbath in the Decalogue. Its setting in the great constitution was of God. He Himself wrote the Ten Commandments in the order which has come down to us. If He had placed the Sabbath precept, as has been pointed out, at the very beginning of the law, it might have been argued that it was no part of that document. If it had been found at the close, men might have reasoned that it belonged with other ceremonial precepts. But at neither beginning nor end of the Decalogue do we find it. Rather, right in the heart of the Ten Words is it placed, guarded by the impregnable walls of three immutable precepts in front, and of six at the rear, so that men must tear from the law these precepts before they can lay sacrilegious hands upon the law regarding the Sabbath. Thus God has guarded it behind and before, and showed by its very position that the Sabbath is of the same holy, immutable character as the other nine moral precepts. To this a passage in Nehemiah (9:13, 14) refers: "Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and MADEST KNOWN UNTO THEM THY HOLY SABBATH." Now it was not at Mount Sinai that the Sabbath, or rest-day first came to Israel. They knew it previous to this when the manna fell. Exodus 16. They were inclined to then regard it as a matter of their convenience; but God "made known" to them in His holy law that the Sabbath was immutable and eternal, resting on the same basis as every other immutable precept of that divine code. Why not so accept it? AND this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." "The door of heaven is always open for the prayers of God's people." We call to mind the prayer of Hezekiah as he spread out the letter of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, before the Lord, and in his utter helplessness, but in all the earnestness of his soul, plead that God would vindicate His cause and put to flight the army of the Assyrians, the leader of which had so boldly and blasphemously defied the God of Israel. The result?—The angel of the Lord "smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand." "Frail art thou, O man, as a babble on the breaker,
Weak, and governed by externals, like a poor
bird caught in the storm;
Yet thy momentary breath can still the raging
waters,
Thy hand can touch a lever that may move the
world.
O Merciful, we strike eternal covenant with Thee,
For man may take for his ally the King that
ruleth kings;
How strong, yet how most weak; in utter poverty,
how most rich,
What possible omnipotence to good is dormant in
a man!
Prayer is a creature's strength, his very breath
and being;
Prayer is the golden key that can open the wicket
of Mercy;
Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of Omnipotence." Away down in idolatrous Babylon, in the king's palace, holding a position of honor and trust in the king's court, we see a man of God, greatly beloved, a man who knew what it meant actually to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Hear him, as with fasting and sackcloth and ashes, he confesses his sins and the sins of the people, and pleads with God to forgive and have mercy. Does he receive the assurance? Listen to his own testimony: "And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel; . . . yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel . . . touched me, . . . and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved; therefore understand the matter." God does not always answer immediately. Other agencies are often at work. "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord." Again Daniel prayed. Three long weeks he waited and prayed. Was his faith rewarded? At the end of that season of heart-searching and prayer, a hand touched him and said to him, "O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, . . . fear not, . . . for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard. . . . But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but, lo, Michael . . . came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand." Then "will I return to fight with the prince of Persia." "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Time and words fail us to tell of other wonders of prayer recorded in the Old Testament, but we may read them there, how "Abraham's servant prays, Rebekah appears; Jacob wrestles and prays, and prevails with Christ, Esau's mind is wonderfully turned from the revengeful purpose he had harbored for twenty years. Moses prays, Amalek is discomfited; Joshua prays, Achan is overcome; Hannah prays, Samuel is born; David prays, Ahithophel hangs himself; Asa prays, a victory is gained; Jehoshaphat cries to God, God turns away his foes. Mordecai and Esther and the Jews fast and pray, Haman is hanged on his own gallows in three days; Nehemiah darts a prayer, the king's heart is softened in a minute. Elijah prays, a drought of three years succeeds; Elijah prays, rain descends apace; Elisha prays, Jorden is divided; Elisha prays, a child is brought back to life;"—because prayer reaches the heart of the Infinite. Did the mind of Alfred Tennyson, in times more modern, overstate it when he said: "More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of." As Dr. Daniel March has beautifully said, "We must not think that God was more interested in the world in ancient times when He spoke by miracles and prophets and apostles than He is now when He speaks by His written word and His holy providence. The heart of the Infinite Father never yearned toward His earthly children with a deeper and more tender compassion than now. There never was a time when God was doing more to govern, to instruct, and to save the world, than He is doing now. We need only add the faith of the patriarchs to the science of the philosophers, and we shall find Bethels in the city and in the solitude, Mahanaims in every day's march of the journey of life."