Knowledge of the True God
By E. R. Seaman
THE following we copy from the Advent Herald, taken from the "London Quarterly Journal of Prophecy." "During the six days man was to show how he could serve and glorify God in the common duties of life; on the Sabbath he was to show how God was to be served and glorified by acts of direct and unmingled worship. This is the principle of the great Sabbath-institute—a principle which runs through all ages—more so than ever in these last days, when men are either denying religion altogether, or endeavoring to eject it from every-day life, and confine it to a peculiar region of its own. This seventh day God 'blest.' He uttered his mind concerning it, calling it a day of blessing, and in so doing, communicated to it (as it were) the power to impart blessing, that is, he made it the day in which he would specially give blessing. This is, then, the primary meaning and object of the Sabbath. It is the day on which God specially blesses man.—But more than this. It is added, he 'sanctified it.' He marked it off from all other days, as the tabernacle was marked off from all the tents of Israel. He drew a fence around it, which was not to be broken through. He set it apart for himself, just as he set the six days apart for man. It was to be his day, not man's, just as the altar was his altar, the laver his laver, not man's. And when, or where, or how has God's claim to a Sabbath been renounced? When has his setting apart been done away? Men speak and act as if this 'blessing,' this 'sanctification' of the day were a yoke not to be borne; as if the Sabbath were a curse, not a blessing; as if the Gospel had at length broken fetters forged in Eden by God for man! But no. The Sabbath was set up by God, and by him only can be taken down." Knowledge of the True God.
It was said of Paul, by certain Epicureans, and Stoics, that he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods. And when he found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, and wished to declare him in an intelligent manner, the Apostle could do it with no greater clearness than by quoting the language of the fourth commandment, the only one that informs us who the living and true God, to be worshiped is, viz: the Lord of heaven and earth, that made the earth and all things therein. No one will deny that the Athenians were infidel in the extreme. Acts xvii, 16. The city was wholly given to idolatry, therefore Paul's spirit was stirred within him, to present one of the greatest truths of God's word, and thereby give them right conceptions of the Great Creator. So we see the conclusion is irresistible that the knowledge of the true God is found alone in the reason for keeping the Sabbath. Mark the language and compare it well. 'For [because] in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day &c.'—Ex. xx. 11. If the race of Adam had always observed this institution, would there ever have been an infidel in the universe? If not, Has God abolished the only institution that commemorates the Creation, and recognizes the living and true God, that should be worshiped! If this be answered in the affirmative, then God has abolished a knowledge of himself in the earth. E. R. SEAMAN.
Rochester, N. Y., June 10th, 1852.