Substitutes by R. F. Cottrell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 12, 1864

Substitutes.

By R. F. Cottrell

"ARE not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?" 2 Kings v, 12.

So said Naaman the leper, the captain of the host of the king of Syria, when Elisha the prophet had directed him to wash in Jordan seven times, with the promise that in so doing, he should be healed of his leprosy. He was induced, however, to comply with the directions of the prophet, and was cured of his leprosy. But who now believes that, had he taken his own way and gone and washed in those waters of Damascus, he would have been healed? No one. Not because there was any more virtue in the waters of Jordan to cure the leprosy, but because the word of the Lord had bidden him wash there. The virtue, as far as human agency was concerned, was in obeying the word of the Lord.

When Saul, the king of Israel, was commanded to destroy utterly the Amalekites, to leave nothing alive either of man or beast; and he took the notion that it would be a fine thing to save Agag the king alive to grace his triumphant return, and also that it would be a very pious thing to save some of the best of the sheep and oxen, for the purpose of offering a sacrifice to God of that which the Lord had delivered into his hand, and which had cost him nothing, and so have a splendid time of it, the word of the Lord to him was, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." His substitute was not accepted.

It is fashionable at the present day to offer to God a substitute for his holy Rest-day; and the remark is often heard, "I believe it makes no difference what day we keep, if one is kept as it ought to be." Are not Abana and Pharpar better than all the waters of Israel? Is not the work of redemption greater than the work of creation? Is not the claim of the day of the resurrection to our observance, greater than that of the Sabbath? may we not rest on it and be accepted?

The only reason why Naaman could not wash in the waters of Damascus and be clean, was that the Lord had not commanded him to do so, but had told him to wash in the Jordan. So the reason why resting on the first day of the week, or any other of the "six working days," is not acceptable to God, is because he never commanded it; but, on the contrary, he has commanded us to rest on the day on which he rested, namely, the seventh day.

It is bad enough to neglect to do what God has commanded us, without insulting him to his face by offering him a substitute. "Be astonished O ye heavens at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jer. ii, 12, 13.

R. F. Cottrell.