"WELL, Mr. Barker, and how did you get along with your employers when they learned that you were not going to work any more, on the Sabbath?" asked Mr. Summers, as the three friends gathered once more in his sitting-room. "Are you out of work?"

"No; not yet, at any rate," answered Mr. Barker. "I had a rather unpleasant interview with the manager over it, but so far I have not been discharged."

‘‘What did he say to you?" inquired Mr. Rogers.

"First it seemed to puzzle him. The idea of not working on the seventh day was a complete surprise to him. He wanted to know if I had become a Jew. I told him, No; I was going to keep the Sabbath because I could see no other way of continuing to be a Christian. Then he asked if I had consulted a minister about -it. I told him I had done so, but could get no relief or satisfaction that way, and that, whatever a minister said, I should have to decide finally by what the Bible said. Then he said he feared I was losing my reason and getting religious mania. I said I trusted not. He hoped I would do nothing rash, and I said I had studied and prayed over the matter very carefully, and thought I had been rather too cautious than otherwise. Finally, he began to get annoyed, said it was a great nuisance with so much work on hand just now, and he supposed I should have to have my own way, but I must lose my time while I was away from work. He said if I wasn’t such a careful workman he wouldn’t have kept me, and hoped I wouldn’t go putting the same idea into the heads of the other men."

"Well, you’ve been very lucky," said Mr. Rogers. "I certainly thought you would have been out of a job by now."

"I don’t look upon it as luck," said Mr. Barker. "I have committed my way to the Lord, and I expect Him to provide for me in one way or another. If it had rested with the manager alone, I have no doubt he would have discharged me, but God can move the heart of a king, so I suppose He knows how to influence a manager’s decisions. But I have been thinking about you as much as of myself, Mr. Rogers. I am hoping we shall walk together in this experience, the same as we have done in so many others."

"I can’t see yet," was the answer, "that Christians are expected to keep the Sabbath. If I saw it I would, of course, obey at once; but I have been studying further into the matter, and I think you have made a mistake in the step you have taken."

"If I have I will retrace it," said Mr. Barker. "What have you found out?"

"Well, I have been talking with one or two about this Sabbath question, and I had some tracts given to me that bear directly on the subject. They are based on the Bible, too, and they show that the Sabbath is now abolished, and it does not matter which day we keep."

"That’s strange," said Mr. Barker. "If the Sabbath is abolished, it would surely be wrong to keep any day. But who abolished it, and when?"

"I don’t know," said Mr. Rogers, "but Paul tells us it was abolished in his epistle to the Colossians. Here it is, chapter two, verses sixteen and seventeen: ‘Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.’ That shows that the Sabbath has passed away with the meats and drinks and holy-days, which were a shadow of Christ."

"But," said Mr. Barker, "didn’t we find Christ charging His disciples/ to pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath, for some forty years after His resurrection? There must have been a Sabbath during that time. How, then, could the Sabbath have been abolished at the cross?"

"More than that," put in Mr. Summers, "do not forget that the Sabbath is to be observed for ever in the new earth, according to the prophet Isaiah. So it cannot be a shadow of things to come. There is nothing ‘to come’ after the Sabbath passes away, for it is never to pass away."

"Then, too," said Mr. Barker, "didn’t we learn that the Sabbath was first given in Eden? How can you class it with the types which were given to Israel? There was no promise of a Savior when the Sabbath was instituted, for man had not fallen at that time, and so there was no need of a Savior."

"Yes, I believe we did agree about all those things," said Mr. Rogers, "but how can you get away from Paul’s words to the Colossians? They seem plain enough."

"They are perfectly plain," replied Mr. Summers, "but so are the facts we have just mentioned. Consequently, there must be an equally plain explanation of the apostle’s words, and I think you will admit in a moment that this is as clear and plain as all the rest.

"First," he continued, "is the Sabbath a shadow?"

"Doesn’t Paul say it is?" inquired Mr. Rogers.

"No," answered Mr. Summers. "He speaks of Sabbath days, which he classes with meats and drinks and feasts as types and shadows, but the weekly Sabbath of the fourth commandment is not in that class at all. If you listen to the fourth commandment, it bids you remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and then tells which is the Sabbath day, and how and why it became holy. We are referred by the commandment back to the day on which God rested after His six days of creative work.

"Well," said Mr. Rogers, "I wish you would show me from the Bible what other kinds of Sabbaths there were, that you say Paul is referring to. I never heard of any but the kind you have been speaking of."

"I will with pleasure," said Mr. Summers. "Mr. Barker, will you please read from the twenty-third of Leviticus, verse twenty-four?"

Mr. Barker turned to the passage, and read these words: "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation."

"Now will you please read to us, Mr. Rogers, what you find in the thirty-second verse about the day of atonement?" asked Mr. Summers. Mr. Rogers read: "It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall you celebrate your Sabbath."

"Thank you," said Mr. Summers. "If you will read the thirty ninth verse you will find two more Sabbaths mentioned, and there is no question at all that these were all typical Sabbaths, shadows of things to come. So I hope you can see, Mr. Rogers, that Paul’s words to the Colossians, which cannot possibly refer to the weekly Sabbath made for man, given to him at creation, to be observed world without end, are clearly a reference to the ceremonial Sabbaths."

"I must admit that your explanation seems quite reasonable," said Mr. Rogers.

"Not only reasonable, but entirely scriptural," added Mr. Barker.

"If one did not know these facts, he might be led to think that Paul was opposed to the rest of the Bible on the Sabbath question. But now that difficulty is cleared away."

"Have you any other difficulties to put before us?" asked Mr. Summers.

"Yes," replied Mr. Rogers. "There is a text in the fourteenth of Romans which seems to me to make very light indeed of the Sabbath, or any other sacred day. Even allowing that the Sabbath is a holy day, according to Paul it makes very little difference whether we keep it or not. Let me read you his words: ‘One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regards the day, regards it unto the Lord; and he that regards not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.’ So if I think it is all right to keep Sunday, while you think you ought to keep the seventh day, what is the difference between us?"

"Are you not jumping to a conclusion without carefully weighing the apostle’s words?" remarked Mr. Summers. "It seems to me there is more in them than you represent."

"Then tell us what it is," said Mr. Rogers.

"In the first place," said Mr. Summers, "you must not overlook the condition of the man whose observance or non-observance of a day is unto the Lord. ‘Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.’ What does ‘fully persuaded’ mean?"

I suppose it means perfectly positive that he’s right," replied Mr. Rogers.

"Yes," said Mr. Summers, "it must certainly mean that. Now suppose for a moment that the case about which Paul is writing is a conflict between the respective merits of Sabbath and Sunday. I am pretty sure it wasn’t, but suppose, I say, for a moment that it was. When is a man to feel satisfied that he is doing right in Sabbath keeping or Sunday-keeping? When is he ‘fully persuaded in his own mind’? For a Christian disciple that involves finding out what the will of the Lord is. Now I put, it to you, Mr. Rogers. We have been over this question already, and have seen what the Bible says about the Sabbath and about the first day of the week. You bring up this verse, now, in the epistle to the Romans to justify you in the observance of Sunday. I ask you to tell me candidly which passage of Scripture it is that has led you to feel ‘perfectly positive’ in your own mind that it is God’s will that you should keep the first day of the week."

"I don’t think I could give you one," admitted Mr. Rogers, in dubious tones.

"Then," said Mr. Summers, "you can’t be fully persuaded in your own mind that God wants you to keep Sunday, or you would have at least one clear text to that effect. Now, if I may, I will put the question to Mr. Barker, if he is ‘fully persuaded’ in his own mind that he ought to keep the Sabbath, and what has fully persuaded him."

"I can answer the question very, clearly," replied Mr. Barker. "I am perfectly positive that it is God’s will for me to keep the Sabbath, and I have His own Word again and again to that effect. Shall I give you some examples, Mr. Rogers?"

"No, you needn’t," was the answer. "I know if it comes to quoting Scripture you have the best of the argument. But I think Mr. Summers is making too much of the words ‘fully persuaded."

"I only applied your own definition of them," said Mr. Summers. "Surely we must read the words of the Scriptures carefully, and give them their full weight of meaning. If you read the conclusion of the chapter, you will see that Paul lays great stress upon the importance of being fully persuaded. He says, on another question: ‘Happy is he that condemned not himself in that thing which he allowed. And he that doubts is damned if he eat, because he eats not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.’ So, you see, if your course is not one of faith, without any doubt in it, it is a sinful course."

"How can a man always know exactly whether a thing is right or not?" asked Mr. Rogers.

"If a thing is right he can know it from God’s Word, which is given to be a lamp unto our feet," answered Mr. Summers. "If a man has to depend upon himself for guidance he will often be in uncertainty, but if he walks by faith in the Word, the promise is that the path of the just shines more and more unto the perfect day. That certainly means that his pathway will not be marked by doubt and ignorance. But let us look at the text once more. Does it say a man will be all right in what he does, provided he is fully persuaded in his own mind?"

"I thought it meant that," answered Mr. Rogers.

"It doesn’t say so," remarked Mr. Barker. "This passage looks to me very much like the one we have just been reading in the epistle to the Colossians. Both say that one man is not to judge another."

"That is so," said Mr. Summers. "Paul is putting the believers in Rome straight on the matter of church relationship. When they disagree on minor matters, one is not to judge another, but every man is to make up his own mind, and then bear the responsibility of his own decision. He must give account of himself to the Lord: no-one else can do that for him: therefore he must decide his own course, and leave his brethren to decide their own. ‘Why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more.’ So, you see, Paul does not say a man is right in the course he takes provided he is fully persuaded in his own mind, but that it is the Lord to whom he must give account, and not his brethren, for the decision he arrives at in matters of doubtful disputation.

"Then there is another thing to be borne in mind," continued Mr. Summers, "and that is, that the matters which Paul is referring to in this fourteenth chapter of the epistle to the Romans are ‘doubtful disputations.’ That shows very clearly that he is not here referring to the Sabbath."

"How do you know that?" inquired Mr. Rogers.

"Because the Sabbath is not doubtful, nor a proper subject of disputation," replied Mr. Summers. "God has revealed His will very clearly indeed on that point. It is a question of sin, and we are not left in any doubt as to what is sin and what is not. Paul tells us again and again: ‘By the law is the knowledge of sin.’ Whatever was contrary to the Ten Commandments was sin. Do you think, Mr. Rogers, that if Paul saw any man breaking one of God’s commandments, he would call it a matter of ‘doubtful disputation,’ and say he ought to be fully persuaded in his own mind about the correctness of his course?"

"I should say not," was the reply.

"Then," continued Mr. Summers, "you may be certain that when you find Paul speaking of the observance of certain days as to be classed among ‘doubtful disputations,’ concerning which every man must be fully persuaded in his own mind, he is not referring to the Sabbath, which is enjoined upon us by God Himself in His holy law, and the non-observance of which is sin."

"I must admit," said Mr. Rogers, "that Paul is evidently not referring to the fourth commandment in his epistle to the Romans. Of course, the law was given to show right and wrong, but then, Christians are not under the law; they are under grace. You must not try to bring them back under bondage."

"Then you regard obedience to the fourth commandment as bondage?" inquired Mr. Summers.

"It looks very much like it to me," replied Mr. Rogers.

"Do you feel the same about the other commandments?" asked Mr. Summers. "Do you feel that your hands are tied because the law says: ‘Thou shall not steal,’ and that it is a violation of your Christian liberty to impose upon you such irksome restraints as ‘Thou shall not kill,’ and ‘Thou shall not commit adultery’?"

"You are making fun of me," protested Mr. Rogers, but Mr. Summers replied:

"Indeed, I am not. It is too serious a matter to jest about; I am only following up your own statements a little. If your position looks absurd when we are dealing with the sixth and seventh and eighth commandments, must it not be just as remote from wholesome doctrine when applied to the fourth?"

"Well, everybody recognizes honesty and chastity as necessary to Christian living, but the Sabbath is different. People can be good Christians without keeping that," answered Mr. Rogers.

"Perhaps they can in their own estimation," replied Mr. Summers. "But isn’t the Lord Himself the best judge of that? You remember what James says about those who set themselves up in judgment on God’s law. It is in his fourth chapter, eleventh verse. I like the revised rendering: ‘If thou judges the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. One only is the Lawgiver and Judge.’ Do you feel competent to set the Lawgiver right, Mr. Rogers?"

"Of course I don’t," was the answer.

"Then, too, you remember what Paul says about the disposition that does not submit itself to the law which God has spoken," continued Mr. Summers. "You can read it for us, please, Mr. Barker, from the eighth of Romans, verse seven."

Mr. Barker turned to the text and read these words: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

"Now, then, you can see," said Mr. Summers, "what it is that feels God’s commandment to be a yoke of bondage: it is the carnal mind.

But that itself is the worst kind of bondage, as Peter says: ‘While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.’ And you remember Christ’s own words: ‘He that commits sin is the servant of sin.’ So whenever a man feels that the law of God is for him a yoke of bondage, it must be that the carnal mind rules him.

When he escapes from that bondage, he will be able to say like the Psalmist: ‘I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts."

"But that was in the Old Testament days," objected Mr. Rogers; "we are under grace now."

"So was the apostle James when he wrote of the Ten Commandments as the ‘royal law,’ and the ‘law of liberty," Mr. Summers replied.

"Jesus Christ did not find His Father’s commandments a yoke of bondage. The Psalmist foretold that He would say: ‘I delight to do Thy will, 0 My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart,’ as you can read in the fortieth Psalm. He walked in perfect liberty, and He makes us ‘free indeed’ with the same liberty. But He kept the Sabbath according to His Father’s commandment."

"But why does Paul say we are not under the law, but under grace?" asked Mr. Rogers, with a puzzled look.

"Because we get righteousness, not by our obedience to the law, but by God’s free gift," answered Mr. Summers. "All our righteousness is as filthy rags. We must be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. But being clothed, we are not to walk in our own ways, which are sinful, but in God’s ways, through the same grace that brings forgiveness. You must not reason that because you are not under the law, but under grace, therefore you are free to disobey the law. That would be an insult to grace. What does Paul say immediately after his statement that we are not under law but under grace? ‘What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."

"Or in other words," put in Mr. Barker, "shall we break the Sabbath because we are not under the law, but under grace? Won’t you quote the apostle now, Mr. Rogers, and say with all your heart: ‘God forbid’?"

"I must think it over," was the answer.

oooOOOooo 　

"Do you have any further questions, Mr. Rogers, with regard to the Sabbath?" asked Mr. Summers, as the three friends once more assembled for their weekly study.

"No. I am through with raising difficulties," answered Mr. Rogers. "I see the Sabbath now in a new light, and by God’s help I am going to keep it henceforth."

"Thank the Lord!" exclaimed Mr. Barker.

"I am truly glad to hear you say so," said Mr. Summers. "It is a step you will never regret. It will doubtless bring you hardships, but hardships endured for Christ’s sake are the most valuable experiences we can have. No man will ever feel that he has had too many when the Savior comes. But tell us what led to your decision. I have been fearing of late that you were making up your mind in the opposite direction."

"I was," said Mr. Rogers. "I made up my mind not to come here again after our last study together. I had been trying to find some way of escape from the fourth commandment, but every difficulty I. brought up you met, plainly and fairly, with the Bible, until I could see that it was no good fighting against it. But instead of giving up, I felt a spirit of rebellion rising in my heart against the Bible, and God, and everything that belonged to religion. It seemed to me that it was not fair to let such burdens come upon men that were willing to live a Christian life, and I half made up my mind not to give any more thought to religion, but live as others did, and look after my own interests, and enjoy myself. I did not want to pray or read my Bible, or have any more to do with it. But the Lord was merciful to me.

When I went to bed I couldn’t sleep. My mind kept running over my past life. I thought of my conversion, and how happy I was then to know that Jesus was my Savior, and that my sins were all forgiven. I wished I could be as happy again. Then I remembered how I used to think that if ever persecution should come again, I would go to the stake rather than deny my Savior. Yet here was I turning back, after setting my hand to the plough, to avoid trouble.

And I began to see what I was turning my back upon, and how the devil was winning me back and putting the old enmity against God in my heart again. I couldn’t stand that thought. I got out of bed and knelt down, and prayed that God would be merciful to me a sinner, and take not His Holy Spirit from me. I told Him if He wanted me to keep the Sabbath to show me so, and I would do it if I had to starve. I got up from my knees and took my Bible, and turned on the light to see what God would say to me. These were the words that came to me: ‘But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.’ That said to me that God wanted me to be done with disobedience, and do whatever He told me in His Word. So I told Him I would be obedient, and would not break His commandment. And now I want you both to pray for me, for I feel my own weakness. I shudder to think of what would have become of me if the Lord had not stretched out His hand to save me."

"Indeed, we will pray for you," said Mr. Barker. "I have been doing so already, for I could appreciate your position. But the Lord who has begun a good work in us will carry it forward till it is finished."

"For my part," said Mr. Summers, "I am very thankful that you have come to your decision in this way. I could see that the truth was getting the better of you intellectually, but that is a minor consideration. Unless the Spirit of God convicts us of truth, we cannot receive it as it is in Jesus. Now you will always feel that it was God Himself who persuaded you, and you will’ know how only others can be convinced."

"Yes," said Mr. Rogers, "I can see better than I could my need of divine strength. I felt self-sufficient, competent to decide for myself, but I see I needed God’s help before I could decide aright. I must be led by the Holy Spirit if I am to be guided into truth. I stumble of myself, and am afraid to go forward by faith."

"You will learn good lessons out of this experience," said Mr. Summers. "This step has been the making of many a Christian. Before the test came, they regarded themselves as thorough Christians, and felt that no trial could daunt their faith, but they saw their own weakness when this Sabbath truth was revealed to them. Yet those who went forward, in fear and trembling rather than with the buoyant faith they once thought they had, found to their surprise that God’s Word was reliable, that God Himself was the living God, that He did answer prayer, and that it was perfectly safe to actually trust His promise, even for daily bread. It was a new life for them when they got that experience, and God was a new God to them, and His Word a new and living Book. They would declare in after days that they wouldn’t have lost the test of their faith for anything, for the test demonstrated that religion was real, and that the God of Abraham was still the same to those who believed Him today."

"One thought that came up in my mind a good deal when I would think about the Sabbath," said Mr. Rogers, "was that if I should keep it, that would mean being cut off from all kinds of Christian work. However, I am going to be obedient to God, and leave the consequences, whatever they may be, with Him."

"That is the right attitude for the servant of God," answered Mr. Summers. "But you need not fear for a moment that because you are obeying the light that God has given you, you are going to be cut off from His service. Some who profess to be His servants may not want you to work with them, but there will still be plenty to do if you really desire to serve the Master."

"But what could I teach people?" asked Mr. Rogers. "That is another puzzle. If I teach them about the Sabbath, that may make them think it is hopeless for them to dream about becoming Christians."

"You must give to others what God has given you," answered Mr. Summers. "We are to make known the Gospel of salvation; that is our glorious commission; so we need never to be afraid to point out sin by the searching light of God’s law, because we have a Gospel that is able to save unto the uttermost. The deeper the conviction of sin, the more thoroughly can the work of grace be done. Sabbath keeping is not another gospel; but it does give point to the old Gospel when a man accepts the Lord’s standard of righteousness with all his heart.

When you know, by the law, what is sin, you have a clear testimony for the sinner; and while you show him his fault, you can at the same time tell of the blood that cleanses from all sin."

"It seems to me," said Mr. Barker, "that the Sabbath-keeper is the very man to deal faithfully with the backslider. If you find a man going wrong, you know he has been neglecting prayer or Bible study, but it isn’t always easy to make him see the sin of such a course. He thinks it’s all right if he claims that he hasn’t time for reading or private prayer. ‘Haven’t got the time,’ is nearly always the excuse for neglected spiritual duties. Now the Lord has commanded men to take one-seventh of their time for worship, but when I kept Sunday I could never fasten a man down to that. Everybody you met had a different idea of how Sunday was meant to be observed. Some thought the day was intended for rest, and they took it largely in bed.

Some claimed it was for recreation by way of games and excursions. Some thought if they went to church once, that was religion enough. And no-one could speak to them with authority, because if you quoted the fourth commandment everybody could answer that that spoke of the seventh day, and they regarded it as virtually obsolete. But now I am not afraid to tell people that there is a Sabbath, and that they cannot expect to prosper spiritually unless they honor it; I can tell them which hours are holy, and that it is a sin to desecrate them. And I can say, ‘Thus said the Lord,’ when I talk to them."

"Yes," said Mr. Summers, "when a man is consistent with his own religious profession, he can always speak more positively to others.

Sabbath-keeping means gain, not loss, of influence to the Christian worker. And that leads me to a thought which I do not believe we have touched on before. You know well that the Church of Rome is becoming very active again in this country, not only in our district, but in many others."

"Yes," said Mr. Rogers, "there’s no doubt about that."

"Well," continued Mr. Summers, "who is going to stand up against the errors of Roman teaching and confront them with the Bible, and deliver men and women from the falsehoods which that church teaches? So-called Protestants are in most cases powerless to do this much-needed work, and I will tell you why.

"The only weapon that can be successfully employed against error," he went on to explain, "is the sword of the Spirit, ‘which is the Word of God.’ The way to meet Roman falsehood is to preach Bible truth. The Church of Rome recognizes this, and her aim has steadily been to destroy or discredit the Bible. Again and again her emissaries have publicly burned the Scriptures and prohibited the possession of them, and when this policy was impossible, they have sought to stand between the Bible and the people by saying that the Scriptures could only be understood when explained by the priest. The great Reformation of the sixteenth century was due to the spread of Bible truth among the people. You remember what the battle-cry of the Reformers was, don’t you?"

"‘The Bible and the Bible only," replied Mr. Barker. "Wycliffe and Tyndale and Luther all made that their motto."

"Yes," replied Mr. Summers, "it was the study and teaching of the Bible that overthrew indulgences, and penances, and justification by works, and many other false doctrines. What weapon must we use if the old victory is to be repeated in these days of peril?"

"It must be the Bible again," answered Mr. Rogers.

"True enough," answered Mr. Summers, "but here arises a difficulty which I have seen myself again and again. Some Protestant minister or teacher sets out to expose the error of Roman teaching by comparing it with the Bible. He succeeds in showing its unscriptural character, but when he thinks he has put the adversary to shame, his opponent turns upon him and says: ‘You talk about the Bible and the Bible only, and say that men must be guided by the Word and not by the church: yet you yourself reject the Word and obey the church by keeping Sunday, a day which is not sanctified by the Bible, but by the church. If you insist that the Bible and the Bible only is the proper rule for the Christian, then you must keep the seventh day holy, for that is the Sabbath of the Bible, and not the first. Unless you do so, you have no right to charge me with going contrary to the Bible and the following tradition."

"What does the Protestant say to that?" asked Mr. Rogers.

"He cannot say anything," was the reply. "He may try to get out of the dilemma, but he cannot so long as he keeps Sunday. For it is very manifest that there is no Bible authority for keeping Sunday holy. The utmost that can be claimed for Sunday is that the church, at some time or other, set it apart as a day to be observed. But if the church can make one innovation, contrary to the Scriptures, she can make another, and there is no drawing the line until you have accepted all the innovations of the church. Whenever the Protestant protests against one of these innovations, the Romanist turns upon him with the charge of inconsistency, and declares that he has no right to talk of ‘the Bible and the Bible only’ until he himself is faithful to his own standard. Thus the Protestant’s mouth is stopped, and so far as he is concerned, there is nothing to prevent Rome from getting her own way and leading everybody back into darkness."

"Do the Roman Catholics really make use of that argument?" asked Mr. Rogers.

"Yes," replied Mr. Summers. "I have heard their public speakers use it several times, and it is frequently repeated in publications. It is even taught to the children in their catechisms. I have one here." Mr. Summers went to a bookshelf as he spoke, and took down a little book, "Listen to this:

"Q. By whom was it (the Sabbath) changed?

"A. By the governors of the church....

"Q. How prove, you that the church has power to command feasts and holidays?

"A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.

"Q. How prove you that?

"A. Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the others by her commanded, they again deny in fact the same power."

"And here again is what a French bishop has said about the position of Protestants:

"It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, transferred this rest to the Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the church."

"Now you can see that the Lord cannot permit Rome to-put to silence in this way those who ought to be giving a faithful testimony to the truths for which Protestantism stands, and that is why He is raising up men now who cannot be put to silence by the taunt that they do not act out their own belief; men who, when Rome says to them: ‘If you are Bible Christians, why don’t you keep the seventh day holy?’ will be able to reply: ‘We do, as Bible Christians, keep the seventh day."

"What do you suppose the Romanist will say to people like that?" asked Mr. Barker.

"I don't know," answered Mr. Summers, "but I know the embarrassment will be on his side then. He will not be able to escape the fact that he is opposed to the Bible, for he cannot parry the fact by a sly thrust at his human opponent, and he will have to face the sword of the Spirit. Now you can see what I meant by my statement that the so-called Protestant is not prepared to stand today against the attacks of Rome. There is a weakness in his armor, and the enemy knows where it is. Only the Protestant who will be true to his principles, and will turn from the day appointed by the church to the day appointed by God Himself, will be able to stand up firmly for his faith, and oppose the onslaught of Rome with the old Protestant battle-cry: 'The Bible and the Bible only."

"Do you think there will be many," inquired Mr. Rogers, "who will turn from the Sunday and keep the Bible Sabbath?"

"Indeed," replied Mr. Summers, "there is at this present time a great reformation taking place on this point, and those who really love the Lord, when they come to understand the issues involved, are deciding at any cost to obey His commandment. When the standard of truth was uplifted in the sixteenth century, there was no lack of loyal response. At first many hesitated; the old influence was strong upon them, and it was no small thing to break from the traditions of centuries, but in spite of all, there were many who became obedient to the light God had given. And so it is proving again."

"I suppose there is nothing in the Bible about such a reformation?" inquired Mr. Rogers.

"Indeed, there is," replied Mr. Summers. "There are many scriptures which show plainly that when the Lord comes, He will find a tested but faithful people, who have been cleansed and freed from every sin, and who are obedient to all of God's commandments. Here is one in the twelfth of Revelation, verse seventeen. Read it for us, Mr. Barker."

Mr. Barker turned up the passage, and read: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

"If you read the whole of this chapter," said Mr. Summers, "you will find that it deals with a long and bitter warfare on the part of the dragon, or Satan, and his agencies, against the woman, representing the church. The struggle is traced down to the end, and in the verse to which we have just listened, we find the remnant of the woman's seed described. The word `remnant' means `remainder,' and certainly indicates the last of the seed, or the individuals who compose the church of Christ in its closing stage. How does John speak of this remnant, Mr. Rogers?"

"They keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," was the answer.

"Then they must be observers of the seventh-day Sabbath, must they not?" asked Mr. Summers. "For they could not be described as keeping the commandments of God unless they were. And notice, it is not until the remnant is reached that God’s people are characterized by such obedience to His commandments. Cast your mind back over the history of the church during the last seventeen or eighteen hundred years. You can describe the saints as martyrs to their faith, and by many other honorable terms, but it would be impossible truthfully to say that they were distinctively keepers of God’s commandments."

"I suppose they thought they were," said Mr. Barker.

"No doubt," answered Mr. Summers, "and if they had seen the light on the Sabbath they would have been as true to that as they were to other truths that God revealed to them; but very few of them saw it. Some did, and were obedient, but the great mass did not. So although the revelator, speaking of those faithful witnesses during the long period of papal supremacy, could say, as in Revelation 13:10: ‘Here is the patience and the faith of the saints,’ he could not then add, ‘and they that keep the commandments of God.’ There are many references in the book of Revelation to the saints and their experiences during the rule of the Papacy, but there are only two places where the saints are said to be keepers of the commandments of God, and both of those places refer to the church in the last days. One of those passages Mr. Barker has read to us, and now I will ask him to read the other. He will find it in the fourteenth chapter, verse twelve."

Mr. Barker took up his Bible, and read the following words: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

"Thank you," said Mr. Summers. "You can be certain that these words apply to the people of God in their last earthly experience, for two verses on you read of the coming of the Lord to reap the harvest of the earth. So you see, when the Lord comes to gather His saints, those saints will be keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. In other words, they will be Sabbath-keeping Christians, and since this will be true of all the saints at the time spoken of by John, it is evident that a great reformation on the point of Sabbath-keeping must precede the advent of the Lord.

"There is another point which is worthy of careful attention in this fourteenth chapter of Revelation," continued Mr. Summers, "and that is that the Sabbath will evidently be the central point around which the last controversy of the church will move."

"Please tell us how you find that out," said Mr. Rogers, eagerly.

"We have just read the twelfth verse," said Mr. Summers, "and that tells us that the saints who are prepared for the appearing of Christ will be distinguished by the fact that they keep all of God's commandments. But before John wrote that verse he had just described three messages, from their contents evidently the last given to the world. The first of these messages proclaims the everlasting Gospel, tells men that the hour of God's judgment is come, and calls upon all to worship the Creator. Now how, have we found, did the Creator appoint that He should be worshipped?"

"By remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy," answered Mr. Barker. "The Sabbath is the great memorial of creative power. In the fourth commandment the Lord Himself states His reason for ordaining the Sabbath: `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."

"Very well," said Mr. Summers; "then when we are bidden to worship the Creator, it certainly means that one thing, at least, which is required of us is to keep the Sabbath. That, then, is to be a prominent part of the preaching of the everlasting Gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people in the days when the hour of God's judgment is come. That is clear, isn't it?"

"It seems plain enough," said Mr. Rogers. "So the keeping of the Sabbath is to be presented before men, with a loud voice, in every nation."

"Yes, the prophecy certainly states that," replied Mr. Summers. "But that is not all. You will see that a second angel delivers a message, in which it is declared that Babylon is fallen. We haven't the time to go into this prophecy fully just now, to see what Babylon stands for, and what is meant by its fall, but you will recognize at once that Babylon stands for that spirit which leads men to lift themselves up and defy God. It is evident, then, that at this very time, when the message from heaven is calling men to exalt the Creator, there is a strong movement on the earth to exalt the creature. Now we have seen that men are to worship the Creator by honoring His Sabbath. How will Babylon, representing an organized rebellion on the part of the creature, conduct her campaign against God? Will it not be by demanding honor for itself in the observance of the spurious Sabbath, which it has set up as a mark of its authority over the consciences of men?"

"There is certainly a strong movement at present to extend the observance of the Sunday," remarked Mr. Barker, "just at the very time when God is calling attention to the true Sabbath."

"Yes, that is the situation," said Mr. Summers. "If we refer to the prophecy of Daniel, which describes the career of the Papacy, we shall find that one of the principal objects of its attack is the law of God. Will you both turn to the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel? You will see that four great beasts are shown to the prophet, and that these represent the four great predominating empires of the world’s history, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Out of the last, ten kingdoms arise, and among those grows up a kingdom different from all the others. In the course of the book of Daniel, the three first empires are named. But although the fourth is not named, there is no possible question as to which world-wide power it was that followed Greece. Everyone knows that it was the great Roman Empire. And just as certainly everyone may know what power it was that rose among the nations which divided the old Roman Empire. It was the Church of Rome. That church claimed and exercised all the power of the emperors, and even more. And history fully justifies the language in which Daniel foretells, by revelation, the course of the Church of Rome. Mr. Rogers, will you read us the twenty-fifth verse of this seventh of Daniel?"

Mr. Rogers accordingly read these words: "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."

"Now," said Mr. Summers, "the question is, Have these words been fulfilled? Every Protestant will say, Yes, and it is difficult to see how any reader of European history can say otherwise. The Papacy has certainly spoken great words against the Most High, by the claims to divine honor which it has made, by the titles it has taken to itself, days of peace it is high time there was a reformation, a turning from the papal rest-day to the Bible Sabbath."

"That seems reasonable from Daniel’s words," said Mr. Barker. "The saints and the laws were only given into the hands of the Papacy for a limited time, and if that time has expired, the laws and the saints ought both to experience the results of the change."

"There will be a change," said Mr. Summers, "in the lives of all who really and truly are delivered from the Papacy and give God’s Word its proper place. But there are unfortunately many who count themselves Protestants who are not standing solidly and squarely on the Protestant platform, and unless they do more faithful work in making the Bible, and the Bible only, the rule of their lives, they will surely slip back again into the clutches of the Papacy. For that power is regaining much of its old influence. Even under the name and guise of Protestantism the same old papal principles are re-asserting themselves. The churches are reaching out again after worldly power, and seeking to employ the arm of the State for the furtherance of religion. And the very point on which the Church and the State are re-making their fatal alliance is the same old point that distinguishes the Papacy, the change of the law of God. The churches, by their own supposed authority, have in the past put the first day of the week in the place of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and now they are uniting in a call upon the State for legislation to compel the observance of their special rest-day, the first day of the week. Thus we are visibly nearing the crisis of which we read a few moments ago, in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. Men are now being required to choose whether they will cast in their lot with God and His Word, or with fallen Babylon that lifts itself up against God. On the one hand, God calls for men to obey His commandment: on the other, men are demanding obedience to a human law which conflicts with the divine statutes. And this contest is to be waged at the very time when the hour of judgment is reached, and human destinies are being irrevocably decided, and that by the standard of the divine law in the judgment above. In view of this situation, a third message is sent forth to every living creature, declaring the solemn character of the crisis, and charging every soul, on pain of destruction, to reject the commandments of men and receive the commandments of God. Read the words in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation and the ninth verse: ‘If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation."‘

"What are the beast and the image?" asked Mr. Rogers.

"The beast is the symbol of the Papacy, which is dealt" with at length in the thirteenth chapter," answered Mr. Summers. "The image of the beast is a duplicate of the Papacy which is to be formed in the last days. Men will be deceived into creating a duplicate of the Papacy, without understanding what they are really doing. When the image is formed, however, it soon shows itself alive, and begins to act and speak with the old papal spirit. These two, the Papacy and its double, have a certain mark which they seek to enforce, while God pronounces swift and terrible judgment on all who receive it. We have already seen by its own statement that that which the Papacy claims as its mark of authority is its change in the law of God. And today we actually see the professed Protestant churches uniting with the Church of Rome to compel by law the observance of Sunday. Without realizing it, Protestantism is becoming in this very way an image or copy, of the Papacy, and the two are already beginning to act in unison. Here then, are the facts, too plain to be questioned.

The point for every man to decide is, whether he will obey God or the beast. He can worship the Creator by keeping the sign of the Creator’s power: he can worship the Papacy by keeping the Sunday which’ is the sign of its boasted authority. Every man must choose between the seal of God and the mark of the beast.

"But it is late, and we must close. I cannot tell you how glad I am that you have both decided to cast your lot on the side of God’s commandments. You will have tribulation in the world; and will probably have to face the wrath of the dragon, but you will not have to drink the wine of the wrath of God. The Sabbath brings only blessing from Him. But you can see what I meant by saying that the Sabbath would be the subject of the last great controversy. The Bible Sabbath stands for the principles of heaven, giving to God and man their proper place, The Sunday institution stands for the principles of the Papacy, perverting the relation between the creature and the Creator. It will be as true of the final issue between the Sabbath and the Sunday, in view of all that lies back of both, as it ever was in the history of human probation, that there is set before men for them to choose, life and death, blessing and cursing. May it be our privilege to lead many to choose the better portion!"