A Test of Loyalty by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 8, 1912

A Test of Loyalty

By C. M. S.

It is a fact that there is no divine command for the keeping of Sunday as a sabbath. It is a fact that there is no divine command for the keeping of any day as a sabbath, save only the seventh day of the week. Candid Christians are now admitting these facts, while still they cling to the Sunday institution, hoping that their careful observance of this other day will be accepted by the Giver of the Sabbath in place of the day which he appointed and blessed for that purpose.

When God established the Sabbatical institution, he had a purpose in view. That purpose is well stated in the record of the establishment of the institution. "And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made." Gen. 2:2, 3.

Americans have set apart the fourth day of July as Independence day, because on that day independence was declared. No man has yet arisen with sufficient temerity or self-assertiveness to advise that we celebrate independence on the fourth day of any other month, or on any other day of that month.

Some of the States have set apart certain days which they designate as admission

day, commemorating the accomplished fact of their admission into the Union. No one thinks of changing the celebration to some other day.

Once in every year a day rolls around which each person looks upon as the anniversary of his birth; and very frequently his friends remember it with him and help him celebrate it. We never heard of any one celebrating his birth on any other day than the actual anniversary of that occasion.

The reason that no attempt is ever made to change these celebrations is that they commemorate accomplished facts. The facts can not be changed; therefore no one ever thinks of trying to alter the day of their celebration. Now let us look again at God's own reason for the establishment of a Sabbath. "On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made."

There is an accomplished fact, accomplished by Jehovah himself; and there is the particular day which he set apart to commemorate that event. He not only set it apart for that purpose, but he "hallowed" it, he "blessed the seventh day," "because that in it he rested." Now man, who will not presume to change even the commemorative days of merely human accomplishments, has dared to attempt to change the Sabbatical institution from the day that commemorates God's rest and a completed creation to a day which commemorates nothing of the kind. Man has sought to change the celebration from the day which was blessed, hallowed, sanctified, by Jehovah himself, to a day upon which no blessing of Jehovah has ever rested.

The blessing which God pronounced upon the seventh day has never been withdrawn by the One who only could withdraw it. The command to keep that day has never been repealed by the One who alone has the authority to repeal it. The law of which that command is a part has been declared by Jehovah himself to be a perpetual law; and being a perpetual law, every precept of it must be perpetual. Not only that, but God has never appointed any other day to take the place of the true Sabbath, or to take a place alongside it to divide Sabbatical honors with it.

God pronounced a blessing not only upon the Sabbath, but also upon those who would keep it. Isa. 58:13, 14. Christ enjoyed that blessing; for he kept that day and taught his followers the unchanging obligation of the Sabbath of the decalogue in these words: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fail." Luke 16:17. Heaven and earth have not yet passed away; therefore the law of God still stands. In the midst of that law stands the Sabbath—and it still stands.

It is useless to seek to ease our conscience while disobeying that command, and claim to be obeying the command in spirit while keeping another day. We do not thus play fast and loose with mere human institutions. And surely God's commands and institutions are not of such insignificant importance that we can put our own desires and inclinations in the place of them with the assurance that God will accept them at our hands in the place of obedience. If we choose that course rather than the course which he has set for us, we may know of a surety that one day God will ask of us the embarrassing question, "Who hath required this at your hand?" That question was asked of old of one who had forsaken the law of God (Isa. 1:10-20). The people had set up institutions of their own, and made sacrifices while walking in disobedience to the commands of God; and he tells them in the most straightforward language that all these substitutions are as nothing in his sight; that obedience to his requirements is the essential thing. God's test, as there expressed, is, "If ye be willing and obedient."

We can not substitute human institutions for God's institutions, and have that substitution approved by him. Christ says, "Every plant which my Heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13. No one can rightly claim that God or Jesus Christ established the Sunday sabbath. It will be rooted up by the Father himself. How much better to be yielding allegiance to God in the observance of his requirements than to be placing our trust in a human institution, knowing, as we must if we believe his Word, that such a course can not have his approval. Only by obedience can we prove our allegiance.

C. M. S.