Peace and Consolation in Sabbath Keeping
By Lewis Hicklin
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—I have been keeping the Sabbath a few months, and can truly say there is great peace and consolation in keeping the commandments of God. It was the clearness and beauty of the Sanctuary that led me fully into the present faith. How solemn the thought that our great High Priest is finishing the last great work of atonement in the holy of holies, and when that is finished, this earth will receive the plagues, that fill up the wrath of God. I examined the subject sometime before I could be entirely satisfied. It seemed clear that the early Christians kept some part of the first day as a religious festival. But it now seems equally clear that this festival was not the Sabbath of the Lord. I cannot now see even an inference in the New Testament to prove that the first day of the week is the Sabbath. Yet it is hard to get rid of traditions instilled for years. Last Sabbath I spent with the brethren at Salem, Steuben Co. Ind., and found them fully in the faith. My prayer is that we may all be kept from the hour of temptation, and delusions coming on all the earth, and have a refuge and hiding-place at the mercy seat of God. LEWIS HICKLIN.