X. THE SABBATH IS AS OLD AS THE EARTH ITSELF

• 1876. ST May 11, 1876 — God has given us His commandments, not only to believe in, but to obey. The great Jehovah, when He had laid the foundations of the earth, and dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty, and filled it with things useful to man, when He had created all the wonders of the land and sea, instituted the Sabbath and made it holy.
• 1884. ST Feb. 28, 1884 — The Sabbath was instituted at creation, when the foundations of the earth were laid, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
• 1888. GC 455 — Against this argument it was shown that the Sabbath and its observance were more ancient and widespread, even as old as the world itself, and bearing the sanction both of angels and of God. When the foundations of the earth were laid, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, there was laid the foundation of the Sabbath.
• 1890. RH July 15, 1890 — When the foundations of the earth were laid, then was laid the foundation of the Sabbath, and the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. . . . God gave His law, and in the fourth precept of the Decalogue is His Sabbath, the very day on which we have turned aside from worldly business in order to observe it as a memorial of the creation of the heaven and the earth.
• 1890. PP 336 — The Sabbath institution, which originated in Eden, is as old as the world itself.
• 1891. RH June 9, 1891 — God has commanded that the Sabbath be kept as a memorial of His creative power and work.
• 1893. ST April 24, 1893 — It [the Sabbath] is the commandment which He [God] made when the foundations of the earth were laid, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Away back in the world's history, before there were any people distinguished as Jews, He laid the foundations of His law, when he laid the foundations of the world.
• 1894. Ms. 10, 1894 — He made the lofty trees, and put the covering upon every flower. He gave to each one its tints, and the Lord of heaven made man and gave him the Sabbath. What for? For all the posterity of Adam. It was a gift to all his posterity.
      If man had always obeyed the fourth commandment there never would have been an infidel in the world, because it testified that the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that in them is; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
• 1894. ST Jan. 8, 1894 — The institution of the Sabbath was made when the foundation of the earth was laid, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. . . . It is the memorial of God's creative power, the reminder of His exalted work.
• 1894. ST Oct. 1, 1894 — In this reference to the law of Jehovah [1 John 2:7] He carries the mind back to the commandment which is a memorial of the creation of the world, when by His work on the six days, and His rest on the seventh, God laid the foundation for the Sabbath. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, God placed the fourth commandment in the bosom of the Decalogue.
• 1894. ST Nov. 12, 1894 — The Sabbath was made for all mankind, and was instituted in Eden before the fall of man. The Creator called it "My holy day." Christ announced Himself as "the Lord of the Sabbath." Beginning with creation, it is as old as the human race, and having been made for man it will exist as long as man shall exist.
• 1896. ST Feb. 13, 1896 — God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of His creative power and works, "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."
• 1896. Ms 15, 1896 — How shortsighted is the policy that is being brought in by the rulers in the land to restore to the man of sin his lost ascendancy! They are manifesting wonderful zeal in taking this spurious sabbath under the care and protection of their legislatures; but they know not what they are doing. They are placing upon a false sabbath divine honors, and when this is fully done, persecution will break forth upon those who observe the Sabbath that God gave in Eden as a memorial of His creative power.
• 1898. Ms 4a, 1898 — Error never becomes truth, though it may be hoary with age. God has spoken: "Six days shalt thou labour, 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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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" (Exodus 20:9-11). This day is God's great memorial, established to celebrate the work of creation. On this day God rested, sanctifying and blessing the day of His rest.
• 1898. TM 135, 136 — Human philosophy declares that an indefinite period of time was taken in the creation of the world. Does God state the matter thus? No; he says, "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days [not six indefinite periods of time; for then there would be no possible way for man to observe the day specified in the fourth commandment] the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Please read carefully the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. God says again, "Remember [do not forget] the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . 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."
      Yet with the living oracles before them, those who claim to preach the Word present the suppositions of human minds, the maxims and commandments of men. They make void the law of God by their traditions. The sophistry in regard to the world's being created in an indefinite period of time is one of Satan's falsehoods. God speaks to the human family in language they can comprehend. He does not leave the matter so indefinite that human beings can handle it according to their theories. When the Lord declares that He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, He means the day of twenty-four hours, which He has marked off by the rising and setting of the sun.
      God would not present the death sentence for a disregard of the Sabbath unless He had presented before men a clear understanding of the Sabbath. After He had created our world and man, He looked upon the work that He had done, and pronounced it very good. And when the foundation for the earth was laid, the foundation of the Sabbath was laid also. "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. In giving the Sabbath, God considered man's spiritual and physical health.
• 1898. ST April 7, 1898 — If man had always obeyed the fourth commandment, there would not now be an infidel or an atheist in our world. All would recognize and honor the power of the Creator. How vain will be the resistance of humanity against God. By His infinite power He called the earth into existence. With a word He could depopulate it, and return it to its original state, and with a word raise up a new race of beings.
• 1898. RH Aug. 30, 1898 — The Sabbath was given to all mankind to commemorate the work of creation. The great Jehovah, when He had laid the foundations of the earth, when He had dressed the whole world in its garb of beauty, and created all the wonders of the land and sea, instituted the Sabbath day and made it holy. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, the Sabbath was set apart as God's memorial. God sanctified and blessed the day in which He had rested from all His wondrous work.
• 1899. Letter 26, 1899 — After creating the world in six days, God rested on the seventh, making that day a memorial of His creation. While the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy He sanctified and blessed the seventh day.
• 1900. Letter 7, 1900 — Our work, under God's management and direction, has placed us where we can be distinguished as God determines in doing a special work in the world.
      Seventh-day Adventists are to be a people who keep the commandments of God. They are to be distinguished from the world by their observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. This day is God's memorial of creation. And the fourth commandment, which enjoins its observance, is the only one which points to God as the Creator of heaven and earth. Satan's work is to obliterate the memorial of creation. And in these days of intellectual skepticism, if we are not guarded, we shall imbibe skeptical ideas, and the Sabbath command, stating definitely who God is, will be overlooked and ignored.
      What is life? — standing memorial of the only true God. The work of creation can never be explained by science. What intellect is there that can explain the science of life? Can we wonder that the materialist has no place for the existence of God? The fourth commandment declares to the whole universe, to the worlds unfallen, and to the fallen world that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The evidence there given does not leave standing-room for skepticism.
• 1904. Ms. 12, 1904 — God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work" (Genesis 2:3). The Lord gave the seventh day to man as a day of rest and worship. It is His memorial of creation, bearing witness to the power of the everlasting God, who in six days created the heavens and the earth.
• 1911. ST Jan. 31, 1911 — When the law was given to Israel, the Sabbath was made especially prominent. It had been instituted in Eden as a memorial of God's creative works. After He had wrought six days, God rested on the seventh; and blessed and sanctified that day, setting it apart as a day of rest and worship for mankind. . . .
      The Sabbath should stand before the people in its moral power, answering its original design — to keep in remembrance the living God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
• 1912. ST July 9, 1912 — The seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial of the creative power of God. . . .
      What greater contempt could be cast upon the Lord God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, than is cast upon Him by ignoring the Sabbath, which He instituted, sanctified, and blessed, that it might ever be a memorial of His power as Creator?
• 1912. ST Sept. 3, 1912 — The prohibition of God in the garden of Eden was disregarded by Adam and Eve, and the most terrible consequences resulted. The Lord is placing the same test upon the human family today, and proving them by bringing to their attention the Sabbath, which is a memorial of God's creative power. In this memorial God testifies to the world and to heavenly intelligences that He made the world in six days, and rested . . . on the seventh day.
• 1915. ST Jan. 19, 1915 — God gave men the memorial of His creative power, that they might discern Him in the works of His hand.