"A Conversation"

Ellet J. Waggoner

A. My friend, why don’t you throw away that coat?
 
B. Throw it away! Why should I? It fits me, and is as good as new.

A. Yes, but you might throw it away just to show your independence. It’s yours, and you can do what you please with it.

B. That would be very foolish. Besides, this coat was made for me, and given to me, and it would be the height of ingratitude for me to throw it away. It was made especially for me, and I propose to keep it.

A. Well, my friend, I am bound to say that I think you show sound judgment and a good disposition in this matter. By the way, what about the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which we were talking the other day. Have you decided to keep it?

B. No, I don’t think it is necessary. I read that “the Sabbath was made for man,” and therefore we are free to do as we please with it.

A. Indeed! Do you know who made it?”

B. Oh, yes, I suppose the Lord made it. In fact the Bible says that He did.

A. True, and it says also, what you have just quoted, that it “was made for man.” Are you not a man?

B. Most certainly.

A. Then the Lord made the Sabbath for you, did He not?

B. I suppose so.

A. Then don’t you think that common gratitude, if nothing more, requires you to keep it? Your coat was made by a fellow man, and it will wear out in a little while, but you keep it because it was made for you; yet you reject the Sabbath for the same reason, although it was made by the Lord, and will last forever. With what confidence can you meet the Lord when He inquires how you have used His gift? Surely the Sabbath of the Lord is deserving of as much appreciation as a coat made by man. If the Sabbath was made for you, the best thing you can do is to keep it.
 
(The Present Truth 11, 23 (June 6, 1895), p. 354.)

"A Conversation"