The Handbook of the Sabbath

— continued —

The keeping of the Sabbath promotes the same end in another way, by directing attention to Jehovah, not merely as the Creator, but as the Preserver and Benefactor of men. Not only is it true that “of Him are all things,” but equally true that “by Him are all things.” He is not only the Former of our bodies and the Father of our spirits, but “in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). He keeps the breath in our nostrils, the blood flowing in our veins, and the spirit of life within us. He not only piled up the mountains and scooped out the valleys, made the channel for the river, and the bed for the sea, but He maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and the corn to spring in the valleys. His rivers run among the hills. He visiteth the earth and watereth it. He maketh it soft with showers, and He blesseth the springing of it. The earth is full of the riches of His goodness. So is that great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, and where goeth that leviathan which He hath made to play therein. These all wait upon Him, and he giveth them their meat. What He giveth, they, in ways of his appointment, gather. And when He withholdeth, they die. He openeth his hand and supplieth the wants of every living thing. “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things” (Romans 11:36).

The Sabbath was designed to make men feel this, and lead them to act accordingly; to treat Jehovah as their Maker, Preserver, and Benefactor; and render to Him the obedience which their relations to him require.

But to His own He has special claims, over and above those which result from creation, preservation, and the bestowment of all temporal favors. When they by rebellion were lost — when there was no eye to pity and no arm to save — then His eye pitied and His arm brought salvation. He laid help upon One who is mighty, and who came to take away sins by the sacrifice of Himself. Though He was rich, for their sakes He became poor, that they, through his poverty, might be rich. He was wounded for their transgressions, and bruised for their iniquities. The chastisement of their peace was upon Him, and by His stripes they are healed. He bare their sins in His own body on the tree; entered the holy place with His blood, and obtained eternal redemption for them. Nor did He merely die for their sins. He rose again for their justification. And He now lives, and makes intercession for them, and offers them all the blessings of his salvation, without money and without price. Whosoever will may come to Him, and them that come He will in no wise cast out. Though their sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. From all their filthiness and their idols He will cleanse them. A new heart will He give them, and a new spirit put within them. He will take away the heart of stone, and give them a heart of flesh. He will be their God, and they shall be His people.

Surely they are not their own. They did not create themselves. They do not preserve themselves. They are not the authors of the blessings which they enjoy. Above all, they “are bought with a price,” and “redeemed not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ,” who loved them, and gave Himself for them, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Such are some of the truths which the Sabbath inculcates. It commemorates the work of God, as Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and Redeemer. It is the day which the Lord has made for this purpose, and which He blesses to this end. It also points to a rising Savior, a finished redemption, deliverance, through grace, from an eternal hell, and exaltation to an eternal heaven. And it is a powerful means of leading men to live not unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again; and thus to glorify Him in body and spirit, which are preeminently His. They are His by creation, His by preservation, and His by all the blessings which they enjoy.

Thus the Sabbath was designed to commemorate and enforce THE RIGHTS OF GOD — those which result from creation, preservation, and redemption.

His right to men, to all which they possess, or can obtain, and to all things, is higher and more perfect than does or can belong to any other being. His rights are original, independent, eternal. His are the kingdom, the power, and the glory. His the absolute ownership, the rightful possession, and the just final disposal of all things. For He hath created all, and for His pleasure they are and were created. And His pleasure is always right, always perfect, and promotive of the highest good of all who obey Him.

One conclusion which results from the above-mentioned truths, and to which we invite universal attention, is, whatever Jehovah does, or suffers to be done, He wrongs no one.

Though His way be in the great deep, His goings past finding out, and the reasons of His dealings to mortals are not known, yet He has reasons — good reasons, the best reasons — reasons which, like himself, are perfect, and which, when published, will lead all the good to cry, “ Alleluia ! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

When He lets the winds out of His fists, and they sweep the ocean, break the pride of navies, and sink the treasures of a thousand hearts, He wrongs no one. When He suffers a fire to be kindled, and men see their all go up in smoke, He wrongs no one.

If, with His providential finger, He touch the currency or the commerce of a country, and all is in confusion, and the wise men, the great, and the mighty men who try to adjust it, dash one against another like the waves of the sea, and accumulated millions vanish, He wrongs no one. Though He turn the fruitful field into a wilderness, and the mart of nations into a desert, He wrongs no one. When He comes and lays His hand on that little child who has just opened its eyes on creation, and it closes them and passes away, He does not wrong even her who gave it birth; “ for the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken” only His own. And though He doeth His pleasure in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth, and with all things throughout the universe, He doeth all things well.

Thus the Sabbath was appointed to make men feel, and lead them to say in view of all that God does, “It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good” (1 Samuel 3:18). “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18). “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15).

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