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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
punction. You make the keeping of God’s law a matter of convenience,
obeying or disobeying as your business or inclination indicates. This is
not honoring the Sabbath as a sacred institution. You grieve the Spirit
of God and dishonor your Redeemer by pursuing this reckless course.
A partial observance of the Sabbath law is not accepted by the Lord
and has a worse effect upon the minds of sinners than if you made
no profession of being a Sabbathkeeper. They perceive that your life
contradicts your belief, and lose faith in Christianity. The Lord means
what He says, and man cannot set aside His commands with impunity.
The example of Adam and Eve in the garden should sufficiently warn
us against any disobedience of the divine law. The sin of our first
parents in listening to the specious temptations of the enemy brought
guilt and sorrow upon the world, and led the Son of God to leave the
royal courts of heaven and take a humble place on earth. He was
subjected to insult, rejection, and crucifixion by the very ones He
came to bless. What infinite expense attended that disobedience in the
Garden of Eden! The Majesty of heaven was sacrificed to save man
from the penalty of his crime.
God will not pass over any transgression of His law more lightly
now than in the day when He pronounced judgment against Adam.
The Saviour of the world raises His voice in protest against those who
regard the divine commandments with carelessness and indifference.
Said He: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least com-
mandments, and shall teach men so, He 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.” The teaching of our
lives is wholly for or against the truth. If your works seem to justify
the transgressor in his sin, if your influence makes light of breaking
the commandments of God, then you are not only guilty yourself, but
you are to a certain extent responsible for the consequent errors of
others.
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At the very beginning of the fourth precept, God said, “Remember,“
knowing that man, in the multitude of his cares and perplexities, would
be tempted to excuse himself from meeting the full requirements of
the law or, in the press of worldly business, would forget its sacred
importance. “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work,” the usual
business of life, for worldly profit or pleasure. These words are very
explicit; there can be no mistake. Brother K, how dare you venture to