''The Sabbath was made for man.'' Mark 2:27. This scripture leaves no question in the mind of the honest inquirer after truth as to the binding obligation of God's hallowed rest-day. Christ is the Author of the above language. He does not say that the Sabbath was made for the red man, or the colored man, or the Frenchman, or the Englishman, or the Jew man, or the Gentile man, or any other limited portion of the race of mankind; but the Sabbath was made for man—the entire race of mankind. There is no more reason for restricting the word man in the above text, in his relation to the binding claims of the Sabbath, to the Jew man, than there is for restricting the word man in the text, ''The woman was made for man,'' to the Jews only. To argue that the Jews only were in right entitled to the privileges of the marriage relation, upon the basis of this scripture, would be regarded as too absurd to receive serious consideration.
Are They Men?
It therefore follows that the only question necessary to settle, in order to determine the binding claims of the Sabbath upon any people, is, Are they men? If they belong to the race of mankind the Master says the Sabbath was made for them. The Sabbath, like all God's laws, was made for man. It was not against him, but promotive of his highest good.
God's original law is summed up by the Master in these words:
''Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.''
Every law of God and every prophetic utterance of Holy Writ hangs upon this principle of love to God and love to man.
Love Is the Basis.
This gives us the divine philosophy of God's laws. None of them are arbitrary. He gave none of them for the purpose of the condemnation of ar~~ of His creatures.
Why did He command the relation of love between Himself and His creatures and between man and his fellow man?—It was because love is the only basis of happiness. ''There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment.'' He therefore gave all of His laws based upon love to insure happiness to all who would receive and live them. No man was truly happy from cherishing hatred toward God or his fellow man. Happiness is always the fruit of love. Perfect happiness can therefore be produced only by perfect obedience to all of the divine law of love. The only way into this perfection of Christian experience is thru Christ, who is the door. He says, ''I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.''
That we may be absolutely certain that the Sabbath of the Old Testament has been perpetuated in the New Testament so that the Sabbath originally instituted in Eden is still the Sabbath to-day, we shall trace it from its institution to the close of the New Testament.
It is a principle of law in tracing a statute that the original statute must first be found, and the statute must then be traced thru the later revised statutes to see if there has been any revision or repeal of the statute. If there has been no revision or repeal, the original statute still stands. We should be as rational in tracing a statute of the divine law as we are in tracing a statute of civil law. Following this principle, which all men declare to be sound, let us trace the Sabbath statute that we may be unquestionably fair in reaching our conclusions with reference to the perpetuity of the Sabbath to our time.
The first introduction of the Sabbath is found in Gen. 2:1-3. After laboring six days in the work of creation, it is said:
''And on the seventh day God ended 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 sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.''
Who Wrought in Creation?
The God that wrought in the work of creation, rested and blessed and sanctified, or appointed, the Sabbath as a day of rest. By whom, then, was the work of creation wrought? In Colossians, chapter one, verses 12-17, the Son of God is plainly declared to be the Creator. Verses 13 and 14 speak of ''the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption thru His blood.'' Verse 16 says, ''By Him were all things created.'' The 17th verse says, ''And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.'' This was God the Son, or Christ, of whom it is declared that He created all things.
Some have been troubled because it says in Genesis, in giving the account of creation, that ''in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.'' They conclude that this must refer to the Father. It should be remembered that the Son bears the same name as the Father. In the first chapter of Hebrews, verses 1-3, the Son of God is again declared to be the One thru whom God the Father performed the work of creation. The 8th verse reads, ''But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.'' The title God is here definitely applied to the Son of God. It is therefore clear that the Son of God is the One thru whom the work of creation is wrought. The title God applies as properly to Christ as to God the Father. Hence Christ is the God who created, and at the end of the six days of creation rested on, and blessed and appointed the Sabbath.
The Christian Sabbath.
From its very institution, therefore, the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath was Christ's rest-day, or the Christian Sabbath. Since the seventh day of the week is the day upon which Christ rested at the close of creation week; and the seventh day of the first week was made the Sabbath by the act of Christ in resting upon that day, blessing that day, and sanctifying, or appointing, that day as the Sabbath for coming time; and our text declares, ''The Sabbath was made6for man;'' it follows that so long as the race of man continues, and as universally as man is found thruout all time, the seventh day, which is the Christian Sabbath, is made for his observance, as a day of rest and worship. There could be but one act that could nullify this obligation, and that would be the revision or repeal of the Sabbath statute.
The Original Law.
The twentieth chapter of Exodus gives the law of God as spoken directly by the voice of God upon Mount Sinai. In the very midst of the law is found the Sabbath commandment. It reads:
''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, . . . 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.''
Here we find the original law of the Sabbath. It refers us to the time of creation for its institution. It declares that it was made by the Creator, who was Christ, resting on the seventh day at the close of six literal days which were ruled by the sun, and made up of day and night. See also Genesis 1. And when it was made, He blessed and hallowed it.
Has Christ changed it or revised or repealed this statute? If not, according to the above-stated principle of law in tracing a statute, the original law still stands.
Prophesied to Magnify.
The 42d chapter of Isaiah opens with a beautiful prophetic description of the character of Christ. Verse 21, speaking also prophetically, says, ''The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.'' The 40th Psalm, verses 7 and 8, declares His relation to this law at His coming as follows: ''Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart''—the very opposite of a repeal or revision of the law.
In the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of Matthew, His inaugural address, He lays out the principles of His administration and His kingdom. In chapter 5:17-19, He plainly presents His relation to the law. His first statement is very clear, ''Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets.'' Some one was evidently in danger of thinking that He came to destroy the law or the prophets, but in the very first mention He makes of the law, He corrects this erroneous thought. He then emphatically adds, ''I am not come to destroy.'' The 19th verse presents the conclusion from this premise: ''Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.''
There can be no misunderstanding this statement. The Master here first declares that He did not come to destroy the law. He then announces His disfavor upon any one who fails to teach every precept of the law, and concludes with the highest commendation to those who do and teach them. He thus surely fulfils the prophecy by magnifying the law and making it honorable. That He is speaking this of the law given at Sinai, of which the Sabbath statute is a part, there can be no question; for in verses 21 and 27, He quotes two of the commands of that law in confirmation of the fact that it is the law in which these commands are found of which these statements are made. We can not therefore hope to find either a revision or repeal of any command of this law. To satisfy every inquirer, however, there is one other place we may properly inquire if there has been any such revision or repeal. Have the Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles recorded any such thing? If such a revision or repeal had occurred, it must have been there recorded. Let us, therefore, examine the Gospels with a view to informing ourselves as to the record of the Gospels on the perpetuity of the Sabbath.
Judge Freemont Wood,
Who Presided at the Haywood Trial—See Last Page.
Sunday in the Gospels and Epistles.
Matthew says, ''In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.'' This record confirms the fact that the original Sabbath statute is still in force. Mark says, ''When the Sabbath was past, . . . very early in the morning of the first day of the week.'' Here again the seventh, and not the first day of the week is declared still to be the Sabbath. There is no revision or repeal here. John mentions the first day of the week in the 20th chapter of his Gospel in verses 1 and 9, but he does not even hint a revision or repeal of the original Sabbath-command. In the 5th chapter he emphatically states, in verses 16 and 18, that the same day the Jews regarded as the Sabbath is still the Christian Sabbath.
Paul, in 1 Cor. 16:2 and Acts 20:7, mentions the first day of the week, but in neither case does he intimate that that first day of the week has now had conferred upon it the title of the Sabbath, or Lord's day. It is merely called the first day of the week. There is no intimation of a transference of the Sabbath to that day. The book of Acts abounds with references to the Sabbath, but that Sabbath day is in every case the seventh day. There is no intimation in any case of either a transference of the day or a repeal of the Sabbath command.
But One More.
There remains but one more scripture that mentions the first day of the week in the New Testament. That scripture is in Luke 24:1. If there had been a transference of the day or a repeal of the Sabbath statute, we must find it here. But this scripture merely says:
''Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.''
There is no evidence of a repeal or revision here. To the contrary, there is the plain declaration in chapter 23, verse 56, that the original Sabbath-command still stands:
''And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.''
What language could be more forceful? What day is to be observed by Christians? The answer is unmistakable. It is the Sabbath according to the original commandment. ''The Sabbath was made for man.'' ''Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy''—the Sabbath ''according to the commandment.''
Which day does that command enjoin? ''The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.'' There has been no repeal or revision of this statute. God's original law of the Sabbath still stands. Shall we obey and live?
The Christian Endeavor Convention
By John S. Wightman
"Christian Citizenship" a Leading Issue
By John S. Wightman
I MUST not fail to note the entry of the labor question into the discussions of the International Conference of the Christian Endeavor Society, and the important role it played. It was instantly recognized that this important and world-wide question of our modern times could no longer be kept from entering the domain of the religious, and from receiving the respectful and careful consideration of the church as to the best and final solution of, perhaps, the most serious problem of the age. It was Rev. Charles Stelzle, superintendent Department of Church and Labor of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, New York, who interjected the question with his address, "The Laboring Man and the Church of the Carpenter." It was one of the stirring addresses of the convention, delivered by a man intensely in earnest; and it received due recognition, both by the delegates and the public press of Seattle, as a matter that must be dealt with by the church. To show that it is the church that is, in fact, reaching out to secure the forces of the labor movement, I need only to quote a portion of Mr. Stelzle's speech. He said:
"Some day the church will awake to the fact that the labor movement IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT MOVEMENT OF MODERN TIMES. When I speak of the labor movement, I do not refer exclusively to the labor-unions. There are some people who imagine that if the labor-unions could be abolished, the labor question would be settled. If every labor-union in existence should be wiped out to-day, the labor question would still be present; and, I believe, in a more aggravated form than we have to-day. There are forces organized which are comprised in the labor movement. IT INCLUDES THE TWENTY-FIVE MILLION SOCIALISTS OF THE WORLD; IT EMBRACES THE EIGHT MILLION TRADE-UNIONISTS OF EVERY LAND, THREE MILLION OF WHOM ARE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA; it includes the movement among the Russian peasants; it includes the social movement in Germany; it includes the movements we are hearing about among the people in Italy, in Belgium, in Australia, as well as the social unrest which exists in our country. This is the era of the common man. When the hour strikes that shall proclaim the victory of the common people, this is the question which will confront us as a church: Will they be inspired by a high religious ideal given them by the church of Jesus Christ, or will they go on to even nobler and better things independent of the church, because of the consciousness that they have won all in spite of the church?—for win they will. No human power can prevent it, and no divine power will. This, then, is the labor movement that confronts the church of Jesus Christ to-day."
"There is so much religion in the labor movement and so much social spirit in the church, that some day it will become a question as to whether the church will capture the labor movement, or whether the labor movement will capture the church.
"There are four fundamental facts in this connection to which I desire to call your attention:
"First, working people almost universally honor Jesus Christ as their Friend and Leader, and most of them believe in His divinity. Secondly, working people are naturally religious, even tho their religion is not always expressed in the most orthodox manner.
Thirdly, the labor question is fundamentally a moral and a religious problem. History has prophesied it. Our best labor leaders are coming to recognize it. Present reform measures which working men are hearing most about to-day, indicate it. Fourthly, there has rarely been a time in the history of the labor movement when working people have responded more readily to the appeal of the church than they do to-day.
"For these reasons, the church is already supreme in the matter of capturing the labor movement for Christ. Some day God will raise up a prophet who shall again win to himself the masses of the people. That day shall reveal whether the church will capture the labor movement, or whether the labor movement will capture the church."
As in many instances great labor-unions have sent delegates to great religious conventions, and as many of the leaders in the labor movements have publicly contended that the support and help of the united forces of the religious bodies should be sought and, if possible, obtained,—to the end that labor may become victorious in its long-drawn struggle with capital,—and inasmuch as in every religious gathering like this one of Christian Endeavor organized labor has its strong advocates and champions not a few, who plead that the forces of the churches should be thrown upon the side, and in the defense of, organized labor and its demands against the greed and avarice of organized capital, who can fail to see, and is it not fair to presume, that soon or late these two vast forces—the forces of the church and the forces of united labor—will, in some way, come together. It may remain to be seen, as Mr. Stelzle declares, whether "the church will capture the labor movement, or whether the labor movement will capture the church." One thing is certain, and that is that the church and the labor movement are rapidly nearing the point where they shall see a common cause. And when they do, will they not unite? Will they not link their respective forces together in one vast federated power that will demand and secure governmental recognition? Nothing is easier. No event of the near future seems more certain than the federation of the church power and the labor movement. It will be remembered that Mr. Samuel Gompers, president of the Federation of Labor, stated, as reported in the Buffalo Sunday Courier, that he trembled for the safety of the American Government and for the revolution that might come if ever the Federal power attempted to crush the labor movement. Mr. Stelzle is quite right. "The labor movement is the most significant movement of modern times;" and when once these two great representatives of religious faith and of public opinion shall amalgamate, confederate their powers, and focus their combined strength upon the sphere of the civil government, what may we expect—rather, what may we not expect—from the workings and influence of such a mighty dynamic force! Mr. Stelzle has set a wave of thought agoing amongst Christian Endeavorers that can not be arrested. His remarks revealed a touchstone of power—power for the church—that will not be lost sight of.
Amos R. Wells.
The Patriots' League.
Good citizenship is a good thing. None may deny that good government results from good citizenship and every legitimate means of securing a better citizenship. Every laudable effort to reach one step nearer the standard of ideal citizenship should receive the hearty approval and support of every citizen desirous of a better and more improved system of government. But Christian citizenship is quite another thing from good citizenship, and the terms may mean vastly different conditions; yet to the Christian Endeavor Society, good citizenship is Christian citizenship; rather, good citizenship must necessarily be Christian citizenship. With them the terms are compatible. They are used interchangeably. Analyzed, Christian citizenship is good citizenship; hence, good citizenship would be Christian citizenship. As Doctor Clark stated in the very beginning of the conference: "Christian Endeavor stands for good citizenship; and I believe this will be noted as preeminently the good-citizenship convention."
Speaking upon the subject of "Good Citizenship," Dr. Alexander Francis, pastor of the British-American Church, St. Petersburg, Russia, called attention to the difficulty of securing a common standard of citizenship in a nation like America, where population was so diverse in race and religion; what a huge problem it seemed to be where individual occupations and interests so widely differed. There are common bonds, such as those created by law, custom, and executive government, but they are not original factors in the cohesion of a people in the same degree as such natural ties as7community of race, of language, of religion. Because of the tremendous and rapid changes owing to an immense immigration here from everywhere, these latter ties "of race, of language, of religion," must be recreated; and to effect this problem is a political, moral, and natural, not to say a human, necessity. "To find a common denominator," said Doctor Francis, "which shall solve the problem of your cosmopolitan and complicated life—that is the need of the hour of this nation. And, therefore, the Christian Endeavor proposes to form a Patriots' League, whose aim shall be to awaken and train the civic conscience in each of its members and in the nation at large. Right citizenship in political relations involves reverence for law and the demand for its enforcement.
"Citizenship endeavor, to be fully successful, must be Christian Endeavor. Organic Christianity has often proved to be a divisive force; but by the spirit of Christ—the true religion of Jesus Christ—the human as well as the divine harmony may be restored to mankind. Right relations make good citizens; and only the power of Christ can destroy the sin which disrupts and prevents harmonious relations, . . . so civics, economics, and politics must be related to Christ. Now the ballot is the one final and absolute vehicle of political expression in a modern democracy." Doctor Francis invoked strongly the aid of the ballot that religious ties might be recreated, and declared that obedience to new laws, as well as the old established laws, was absolutely necessary, whatever the sovereign will of the people might be; and "dianegard for these laws is not merely lawlessness, but immorality, deserving to be visited by severe social condemnation." Thus the discussion of the problem of good citizenship begun with a plea for the Christian feature of good citizenship, the use of the ballot, the training of the "civic conscience," uniformity of opinion, recreation of religious ties and the "finding of a common denominator" to solve the problem and the need of the hour of this nation. And to accomplish this metamorphosis in the affairs of a nation, the Patriots' League is the agency, and the ballot is the vehicle. So civics, economics, and politics might properly be "related to Christ!" Just what that "common denominator" is to be, remains to be seen. It can, however, hardly be anything other than a religious common denominator, for no other kind of a denominator could obtain in the "complicated" political and commercial life. And it is as plainly to be seen that it must be a religious common denominator upon which all denominations, however they may differ in the main, may easily agree.
But what is the Patriots' League, and how is it to operate upon the public civic life? What does this League—launched at the Seattle convention, and having for its first member President Theodore Roosevelt by consent of his letter of June 2, receiving the prayers and benedictions of the many pastors from all over our land, and accepted with the loud "huzzas" of the many thousands of delegates—what does this auxiliary to the great Christian Endeavor movement mean to do? Here is the platform of the League, as adopted by the trustees of the United Society, and unanimously accepted by the convention:
"The Christian Endeavor Patriots' League is an enrolment of those whose aim is the promotion of civic righteousness and national welfare. It is the purpose of the League to take up courageously the duties of a Christian citizen. Its members will seek a knowledge of public affairs, of the laws, needs, and possibilities of their town, their State, and the United States. They will labor for the election of good and efficient office holders, for the observance of existing laws, for the adoption of improved laws, for the encouragement and aid of patriots, and the downfall of all enemies of the country. They will seek to promote the cause of temperance and personal purity, the betterment of municipal politics, the improvement of the conditions of labor, a rational use of the Lord's day for rest and worship. All this they determine to do in the measure of their opportunities and powers, under the guidance and in the strength of Jesus Christ."
If there is any doubt that all this designed in the Christian Endeavor Patriots' League is to be secured by the use of the ballot, and brought in "thru the gateway of politics," and in no other way, the address of Prof. Amos R. Wells, educational secretary of the United Society and managing editor of the Christian Endeavor World, Boston, Mass., will clear away that doubt and leave the political object and political methods of the League to stand out in bold relief. Following are his remarks:
"With this platform as a basis, the Christian Endeavor Patriots' League is left free to take up in any locality just the work that the members and their pastors feel to be most needed.
"Primarily, that work will be everywhere, as is fitting for young people, study and investigation. THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR PATRIOT MUST FIRST KNOW THE LAWS, THE POLITICAL CUSTOMS, AND THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF HIS TOWN, COUNTY, STATE, AND THE NATION, BEFORE HE CAN DO ANYTHING TO BETTER THEM. The Patriots' League will become, we hope, the school of the young citizen and prospective voter.
"What is this Christian Endeavor Patriots' League?—In a word, it is to consist of all that are willing to study and work for a better country. While Christian Endeavorers will naturally make up the greater part of its membership, it will welcome to its ranks all that are in sympathy with its purposes and will labor toward its ends. The Chris-8(Continued on Page 11.)
The Christian Endeavor Convention.
(Continued from Page 7.)
Von Ogden Vogt, General Secretary United Society of Christian Endeavor.
Roads, as far back as 1829, recognized the danger to be apprehended in these movements to make men good by law, forwarded by zealous yet misguided reformers, and said:
'Extensive religious combinations to effect a political object are, in the opinion of the committee, always dangerous. . . . All religious despotism commences by combination and influence; and when that influence begins to operate upon the political institutions of a country, the civil power soon bends under it, and the catastrophe of other nations furnishes an awful warning of the consequence.'
"A nation's greatest need," said Rev. Oliver W. Stewart, of Chicago, "is patriotic zeal more than a fighting spirit. Of unmeasured value to a country is a citizenship with proper conception of the interrelation of citizen and government. When one wrongs the government, he wrongs his neighbor; when he cheats the government, he cheats his neighbor. Then it would be remembered that the law is the will of the people to be respected and obeyed, not because it is right, for it may not be, but because it is the will of the people and its violation and injury wrong our fellow men."
Said Dr. E. H. Delk, of Philadelphia:
"Not until every churchman goes to the ballot box with the same high devotional duty with which he goes to the communion table—God grant that our women may do it after a while!—will we have a Christian citizenship."
"Enforcement of Law" was the subject of Dr. Hugh K. Walker, D.D., of Los Angeles, Cal. In the "Training in American Citizenship" meeting, he said:
"It is easy to get people to put upon the statute books laws that are best for the interests of the community, but not so easy to have them enforced. A campaign of enthusiasm is needed. It is our duty to see that the laws are enforced. It is just as wrong to keep out of politics as it is to keep out of religion. Equally as wrong to neglect the civic as the religious affairs of our country. Officials must enforce the laws. To get them to do it—let me tell you how: keep patiently picking at them, keep persistently prodding them, and then keep constantly praising them. The greatest evil is unenforced law. We must have courage in this holy warfare. We must fight our enemies here at home, and joining hands with those across the sea, bring out the enforcement of law, and peace to all men."
Thus it appears that the Christian Endeavor Society, in its organized Patriots' League, has definitely and finally set sail upon the great political sea, with all its treacherous shoals and reefs, and the thousand and one unknown dangers of a long and stormy voyage. And in all this, Christian Endeavor is repeating, and must necessarily repeat, the history of Rome. And time, with unerring certainty, and in the lime-light of heaven-born prophecies, will reveal the progress, and the final results.
JOHN S. WIGHTMAN.
Seattle, Wash., July 17, 1907.
Federation of Catholic Societies, Indianapolis, Ind., July 14 to 17.
The Sabbath a Perpetual Monument.
AT the close of creation's week the Lord set up a monument to commemorate what He had done. It was not a monument of marble slabs or granite blocks, but something far more endurable. He established a monumental institution that was to be builded into the memory of each and every loyal subject for all time to come.
The inspired utterance that makes known this monument to the sons of men is in the following language:
"And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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."
First there is the statement that "the heavens and the earth were finished." Then the Lord "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made." And, having rested on the seventh day, "God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." Then He gives the reason why He blessed the seventh day. He says it was "because that in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."
The facts of creation are things that are forever fixed in the indestructible, indelible, and unchangeable tablets of the past. In the language of His own word let it be said:
"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God hath done it, that men should fear before Him." Eccl. 3:14.
What the Lord has done is done forever. That is the clear statement of fact that is in the above text. And since God knows all the future just as well as he knows all the past, it is plain that it is perfectly easy for Him to do all His work so that it may stand forever.
Then since what the Lord does is done forever, and since He created the earth, and gave the Sabbath as a memorial of that creation, it should be plain to any one that the Sabbath institution is to stand forever. And since He gave a definite day (the day on which He Himself rested from His creative work) as this memorial, it should be easy for any one to see that this day can never be changed to any other day of the week, and still remain as the memorial of God's creation.
What up-lifting blessing there is in Sabbath-keeping when we keep the day as the memorial of God's power to create. As the Sabbath comes to us, we look out upon the great realm of creation and call to mind that our Father in heaven made it all. The towering mountains, the vast plains, the mighty ocean, the beautiful trees and flowers, all the animal creation, and everything that we see about us, represent the work of Jehovah; and the Sabbath day is the monumental institution of the Lord's own planting that He has given to us as a weekly reminder of His power, and that He is our Creator.
The Sabbath commandment, if there was no other evidence, is sufficient in itself to show that the Lord instituted the weekly day of rest. And the Sabbath commandment is explicit in saying that He established this rest-day, "because that in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." The reason for the "because" of the Sabbath commandment is just the same to-day as it was when the first Sabbath was kept by Jehovah Himself at the close of creation week. The Sabbath is needed even more now than then to call the attention of the people continually to the fact that we have a Creator to preserve us and to receive our worship.
The nature of the sabbatical institution is such that any one should see at a glance that it must be perpetual. And if there were left any doubt in regard to this, the commandment itself, as already shown in the foregoing paragraphs, should set the subject at rest clear beyond the possibility of a peradventure.
God has placed His Sabbath commandment right in the very bosom of His law, and in the great judgment day every inhabitant of this earth will have to answer to the plain, clear, and reasonable requirement. T.
