Importance of Obedience.
By S. T. Belden
The disobedience of Saul in sparing the best of the sheep and oxen and the lambs when he was told to utterly destroy them, was not a trifling thing. How sadly did he corrupt his way in his attempt to correct the words spoken by the Lord God of Israel.—I say he thought to correct this precept. Let us look at it and see if it does not cast this impression upon the mind. The Lord told him to slay utterly all that belonged to Amalek; but Saul thought it much better to save the best of the spoil to sacrifice unto the Lord. Would he have done thus, if he had not tho't it an improvement on the commandment? When feeble man gets wiser (in his own eyes) than God, it is time for him to have a fall. The conduct of Saul there met the disapprobation of God in a manner which should not soon be forgotten. The consequence was, that Saul was rejected from being king. Although he confessed his sin, it was not till after he knew he was rejected, and Samuel could no more worship with him as he had formerly. How true it is that the Great God cannot look upon sin with the least allowance. We may learn from this, what a care the Lord has for his word.—His works agree with his testimony, viz: "He hath magnified his word above all his name." I cannot pass from this part of the subject without noticing the bearing that it has upon people in our day.—The Apostle says, "What things were written aforetime were written for our learning." Let us see then if we can learn anything from it.—Perhaps we may better understand the force of it by illustrating it by the laws and by-laws of our land. In the government of these United States, there has to be certain fundamental principles by which to hold and govern them. There are also lesser laws attached, or formed, varying somewhat according to the circumstances under which the people live, called by-laws, and are limited, and subject to changes. But the constitution cannot be changed. The violation of these lesser laws, is in some cases passed over, and others are fully punished; but what will be done with the man who disregards the constitution? He will be of no esteem, and have no part with the honorable ones in government. So we will say with respect to the violation of any one of the fundamental principles of the Bible. He, according to the testimony of our Saviour, will be of no esteem in the reign of heaven. Matt. v, 19, Campbell's translation. Why is it that he has no part there? Because he has broken the laws, thus disregarding the government of Heaven. As I was noticing the strictness with which the transgression, even of the by-laws, was marked in the days of Saul, I would inquire, What less may we expect if we are found in transgression of the fundamental principles, which are the foundation of all others, throughout all ages and dispensations, and are subject to no change—being a perfect standard of right—coming directly from the true and living God, and are to judge us at the last day. Will not such persons be weighed in the balance, and found wanting? Dan. v, 27. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James ii, 10. Now we will see if people do not act worse, and more dishonest with the fourth commandment, which is one of the lively oracles, [Acts vii, 38.] than Saul did in the matter above mentioned, which might be considered, perhaps, as one of the lesser laws. God says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is; and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." But the people say it is just as well to keep the first day of the week if we only keep it unto the Lord, or as it ought to be kept. They would have us believe that we keep the fourth commandment by resting upon the first day of the week, instead of the seventh. If our object is only right, it is no matter if we do not keep the exact day. How much do such differ with Saul in the plea he offered for disobeying the commandment of God? Not a whit. But their sin is worse, inasmuch as the fourth commandment is based on the example of the Creator of heaven and earth; and because it is one of the great precepts of the law which cannot be destroyed, but may be either kept or desecrated every week. I wish here to notice the reason assigned why Saul should obey God, in this particular, so exactly, and the consequence of his disobeying: "Thus saith the Lord of host, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel when he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not." 1 Sam. xv, 2, 3. And because Saul did not execute his commandment, Samuel says to him, "the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul; and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel."—Verses 28, 29, 35. David was immediately "anointed in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him." Chap. xvi, 13, 14. This is a strikingly solemn account. I have dwelt upon it more than I intended, but as it shows the importance of obedience—the danger of trifling with God's commandment which is so common in our day; it may not be uninteresting or unprofitable to any of us. I wish now to notice the reason assigned, why the Sabbath should be kept, and the blessing promised to those who keep it according to the precept, with some of the inconsistencies of supposing that the law is abolished. The reason is this: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: therefore he blessed and hallowed it. The fourth commandment, requiring the observance of the seventh day of the week for the Sabbath of the Lord our God is plain. It was given at Creation and it is not in the power of man to show from the scripture that the blessing of its Author has ever been taken from that particular day since it was first instituted. The fact that he owned it for his Sabbath [Rest-day] when giving the law from Sinai, is evidence that the divine blessing had not been taken from it prior to this, as every honest man will admit. What language could be used to give this idea more distinctly, that he still claimed the seventh day as his holy day, than is implied in the fourth commandment. But the expression, "Remember the seventh day," and the reason assigned for their remembering it being because He had rested upon that day, is sufficient for any candid person to see where it was given, and that it was made for man to observe in memory of his Creator. It might, if possible be considered as doubly binding upon Israel inasmuch as God had wrought such mighty signs for their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. He brought them out and led them in the wilderness for that very purpose—that he might know what was in their heart, whether they would keep his commandments or no. Deut. viii, 3. Is not this the correct understanding of the expression used in Chap. v, 15, at which so many are willing to catch, and claim as evidence that the Sabbath was there instituted for the Jews only.—"And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." All that any one can make out of this text, to do their best, does not prove that the Sabbath was there instituted; for the institution of it is founded upon a different reason, and for a memorial of a different event. What consistency is there in supposing that the Sabbath was instituted at Mount Sinai—two months after they were delivered from Egypt, to commemorate that event, when the Lord gave them a fit memorial to commemorate that event right in the time of it, and commanded that it should be kept by them, annually. It does not fit at all, and it is not so. The fact that the Lord pronounces upon his people blessings if they would keep his Sabbath, is, in itself evidence that the day is still holy. He never tells people to keep a commandment, unless there is a commandment to keep. It would be folly for him to tell his people to keep anything sacred to his memory, when there was nothing to keep. If the blessing and sanctification which God put upon the Sabbath at Creation has passed from it, it is useless to talk of keeping it holy. But let us see if he has not pronounced a blessing upon his people if they keep the Sabbath, at a time when his salvation is near to be revealed. Isa. lvi, 1, 2; lviii, 13, 14. Those who really love the Sabbath, can read their experience, or experience the fulfillment of these precious promises. They often feel that their souls are like watered gardens, and like a spring whose waters fail not. And they can rest confidently upon the promise that is yet to be fulfilled. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City." Rev. xxii, 12.119 In erecting a structure, the first business of a wise man is to lay a good foundation; then he can safely build upon it. But says one, we will take away the foundation as soon as the building is raised, and it won't effect the building any; the building is just as good as it was when it stood on the foundation. According to the testimony of our Saviour, there is a foundation on which the Bible rests. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. xxii, 40. A person who thinks that these commandments are all abolished and the promises with what the prophets have written are all sure and not effected, is just as consistent as the man who should think his house would stand without a foundation. The ten commandments are all inseparably connected with these two; and if they are abolished we may as well throw away our Bible first as last, and base our hopes for immortality and eternal life on "fancy's flash and reason's ray;" for we have nothing better. If it is so it is a pity that those who profess Christianity have not found it out before, and not been these eighteen hundred years fighting as one beating the air. "If the foundations be destroyed what shall the righteous do?" Ps. xi, 3.
(To be continued.)