A Convenient Argument by R. F. Cottrell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 2, 1863

A Convenient Argument

By R. F. Cottrell

Runs thus: The Lord would not bless people in breaking his commandments. But he has blessed the church for centuries past in keeping the first day of the week instead of the Sabbath of the commandment. Therefore this practice is acceptable to God and is no breach of his law.

When men put forth this argument, as I witnessed a few hours since, I infer that it is the best argument they have to justify their practice. It is true that good men have kept the first day, and neglected the Sabbath. It was a sin of ignorance, nevertheless it was a sin. On account of their good motives, God blessed them, but in blessing them he did not approve of their sins, and make it safe for others, having the light, to transgress, knowingly, his commandments. God has blessed men notwithstanding their sins of ignorance, but he never blessed them in consequence of them.

But what is the evidence that the Lord has blessed Sunday-keeping? Are Sunday-keepers all in unity? Do they "all speak the same things," and are there "no divisions" among them? They talk of converting the world; but have they the essential and indispensable characteristic—the only thing that will cause the world to believe their testimony? "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Instead of this unity which is indispensable to make their testimony believed, they are blessed all into fragments, and the process of crumbling all in pieces, like some old cobblestone building, is almost daily going on.

Are their numbers the evidence that the Lord blesses them? Then Protestants ought to return to the "mother church," where Sunday-keeping, as a Christian institution originated; for she greatly outnumbers them. And then, if Mahometans and Pagans still outnumbered them, they could not claim, by this rule, that the Lord blessed them.

But so many have died in triumphant faith and hope, who always kept the first day as the Sabbath. God, the Judge of all, knows the motive of the heart. He knows every individual that has endeavored to live up to the best light he had. The word of God being true, knowledge is increasing, Dan. xii, 4, and the present generation will be judged by the increasing light. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John iii, 19.

What is the evidence that the Lord blesses you in Sunday-keeping?

I feel that he blesses me, and I am not a stranger to Christian experience. I know that I have been blessed of the Lord.

It is possible that you have enjoyed the Spirit of the Lord. But you never did while opposing the truth of his word, and fighting against enlightened conviction of duty. Must you be informed that there are more spirits than one in the world, and that God's Spirit is always in harmony with his word? And you are trying to prove by the witness of his Spirit; that his word, which says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath," is not true. The Devil may bless you in contradicting the word of the Lord, but the Spirit of God never will. "Try the spirits whether they are of God." 1 John iv, 1.

Many of the ancients were highly favored and blessed of God, as Noah, Abraham, and David. Yet they were guilty of some sins, even some of a grievous character. This does not prove that their sins were right, that is, that they were not sins, but virtues, because God blessed them.

Let us imagine the worshipers of Baal, in the time of Elijah the prophet, pleading justification for their practice.

We hear them say, "We do not break the commandments of God; for we worship the true God under the name of Baal." This is so near to keeping the true Sabbath on the first day of the week, what modern Christian will condemn them?

Again they say, "The Lord has always blessed our fathers in the worship of Baal, therefore it must be right. Just look at our numbers and prosperity. The prophets of Baal number four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves—the leaders of another orthodox denomination that eat at Israel's table, four hundred; in all, eight hundred and fifty highly honored leaders, and the mighty hosts of the common people that follow them! The worship of Baal, too, is an ancient practice. It is even referred to in the writings of Moses. A thing so long practiced must be right. The uniform, universal, and perpetual tradition of all ages and nations attests the antiquity of, and consequently the divine assent to, it. We know that the Lord blesses us. The sincerity and zeal of our leaders is attested by the fact that they are so much in earnest that they cut themselves with knives and lancets, so that the blood gushes out. Such is the power of our religion. We can trust in such a religion as this. God would not bless us so, were we breaking his commandments; therefore we are keeping them."