1909

March 31, 1909

Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy

EGW 

Letters have come to me from several persons with the request that I should write in regard to the manner in which we should observe the Sabbath. We have the Bible plain and clear upon this subject. We should not leave the work of the six working days to be done on the Sabbath. Through Moses the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Tomorrow is the rest day of the holy Sabbath of the Lord; bake that which you will bake today, and seethe that which ye will seethe, and that which is left lay up to keep until the morning.” “The manna was like coriander seed, and the color like bdellium. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in the mills or beat with a mortar and baked it in pans and made cakes of it.” Thus there was something to be done in the preparing even of the heaven-sent bread for the children of Israel. This was a test for them. God desired to see whether or not they would keep the Sabbath holy. The Lord told the children of Israel that this work must be done on the preparation day—Friday. On that day they were to bake that which they would bake and seethe that which they would seethe. LUH March 31, 1909, par. 1

The word of God comes down through the ages to this time. This direction from the lips of Jehovah is for our spiritual interest, or it would not have been spoken. God would have the Sabbath kept as a day of rest and spiritual devotion. Any careless inattention in reference to this is displeasing to Him. LUH March 31, 1909, par. 2

The Bible is a perfect guide; and if its pages are carefully studied with hearts willing to understand, no one need err upon this question. Here is presented with great clearness the duties and obligations of man to his God and to his fellow-man. The word of God obeyed will not degrade him. It will elevate the mind and soften the heart, and give peace and gladness to the soul. The Word obeyed never leads to the forgetfulness of God, but to remembrance of Him. In its pages are distinctly marked out the relations we sustain to each other and to God. LUH March 31, 1909, par. 3

Immorality and ignorance prevail in the world, but it is because the carnal heart chooses darkness rather than light. The light shines from the written word, in bright clear rays, and if ignorance now exists, it is because men do not for themselves become diligent students of the pages of knowledge that they may become intelligent. The intelligent mind is one of Heaven's most precious gifts. It is beyond estimate, and God demands the full improvement of this talent. LUH March 31, 1909, par. 4

The Bible is a guide in the management of children, and if parents desire, they may find a course marked out for the education and training of their children, that they may make no blunders. If the rules laid down for parental authority were employed, the workers would not be called upon so often to settle church trials, and be made to weep and mourn over the perversity of those members of the church who seem uncontrollable, because, when they were children, they followed their own way, and have brought into their religious experience their unbending will. But when this Guide is followed, parents, instead of giving ultimate indulgence to their children, will use more of the chastening rod; instead of being blind to their faults, and perverted tempers, and alive only to their virtues, they will have a clear discernment, and will look upon these things in the light of the Bible. They will know that they must command their children in the right way. If parents, instead of abusing their children and provoking them to wrath by their uncontrollable tempers, would see in the word of God that they must learn as children in the school of Christ, the lessons of self-control, of meekness and lowliness of heart, there would not be so great inconsistencies revealed in the government of children in professedly Christian families. Threatenings, scoldings, and blows are dealt under the control of blind passion. And then, when they are not out of patience or in a passion, they go to the other extreme, caressing, kissing, and indulging them in everything they had forbidden. Many parents who are called the best of men and women are thus educating their children to become transgressors of the law of God, to be inmates of the prisons and alms-houses. They bring them up with passions unrestrained, tempers ungoverned, and with but little pains-taking effort on their part to educate them in moral principles. Could such parents look into the future, and see the path into which they are placing the feet of their children, they would come to their senses before it is too late, before the evil that has been left uncorrected has become moulded and fashioned into their character; but they allowed them to be controlled by the enemy of man. Satan is their chosen leader. It is while men sleep that the enemy sows tares in the heart. The Lord bade Moses enjoin upon the Israelites that they would teach their children the commandments of God, when they should rise up and when they should sit down, when they go out and when they come in, and when they should walk with them by the way. The many now who are bemoaning the waywardness of their children have only themselves to blame. But let these look to their Bibles, and see what God enjoins upon them as parents and guardians. Let them take up their long-neglected duty. They need to humble themselves and to repent before God for their neglect to follow His directions in the training of their children. They need to change their own course of action and follow the Bible strictly and carefully as their guide and counsellor. LUH March 31, 1909, par. 5

(To be continued.)