General Conference Daily Bulletin, vol. 1
March 8, 1897
“Studies in the Book of Hebrews. No.—16” General Conference Daily Bulletin 7, 17.
E. J. Waggoner
(Sunday Afternoon, Feb. 28, 1897.)
We will pass along in the reading of the book of Hebrews, and find perhaps as we do so, further ground for this statement, “I will put my trust in him.” We have already considered the first part of the third chapter. We can briefly cover the remainder. The thought in the first chapter is the faithfulness of Christ, and we by steadfast faith being made a part of his house:— GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 297.1
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their hearts; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 297.2
You will notice here we have verses seven to eleven in parentheses, so that it reads, “Wherefore take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” Moses was faithful in the house of God, but the others were unfaithful; they proved the Lord, they tempted him, they tried him, and saw his works for forty years, and yet they did not learn his ways. That was long enough for anybody to learn God’s ways. How do we learn the ways of any person? — By seeing what he does. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 297.3
They saw the Lord’s works for forty years, and yet they did not know his ways. That seems wonderful, does it not? Well, I have known people who have seen the ways and works of God for twice forty years, and yet they did not know his ways. It is a very common thing for people to see the works of God and yet not know his ways. The Lord has been showing his works to the people all the time. One of the things that seems so difficult, even right here among us, for the people to believe is that the Lord’s ways can be learned by looking at his works. If you cannot know him that way, how can you know him? And yet people will see the works of God before their eyes everywhere day after day, for forty years, and sometimes twice forty years, and never know the Lord’s ways. Let us learn the Lord’s ways. In his Word he says, My ways are not your ways; and yet we will get together and try to make ourselves believe that our way of doing a thing is the Lord’s way. Did you ever think of it? is there not a field of thought in this, that in the Lord’s works we are to learn his ways, his ways of working? That is, as we look out and see the works of the Lord everywhere, is there anything in that for us to learn as workers together with him? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.1
The Lord is very quiet in his work. Some of the most mighty works of the Lord are done in the most quiet and unnoticeable way. He does not always rend rocks and make the earth quake when he does a thing. He can do that when he wishes to. And yet the Lord can do just as mighty works without anybody feeling any tremor whatever. Take it in the springtime, when the whole earth is in motion by the coming-up plants. There is a power infinitely beyond measurement and beyond conception, the Lord himself working, and yet all is still and quiet. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.2
What was the result of the children of Israel seeing the works of God and yet not learning his ways? What followed as a consequence? — They did not enter into the rest. “So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.” Is the Lord arbitrary in any of his ways? — No. How do his laws originate? — They are his life. Does the Lord sit down and devise laws, and say, “This is what I will impose upon the people? This will be a good thing for them, and I will impose it upon them, and if they don’t do it I will cut them off?” — No. The Lord is life, and his life is law. His life is always the same, and it can never be any different from what it is. God’s law is as it is, just because he is, and he cannot be other than he is. Whosoever therefore, rejects his life, must as a necessary consequence have death. It cannot be otherwise. It is so because it is so. It is not arbitrary punishment put upon man, but there is nothing else that can be done. If a man will not have life, he must have death. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.3
What is the thing these people would have had, if they had in the works of God learned his ways? — They would have had rest. But since they would not learn his ways as they saw his works, the Lord says, You cannot have rest. They could not enter into his rest. It was an impossibility. “Wherefore take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day.” To-day is the only time given us. Yesterday does not exist, and there is no such day as to-morrow. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.4
When we come to what we designate to-morrow, it is to-day. The only time there is in the whole world is to-day. Whatever the day of the week, it is to-day always, to-day. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.5
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.6
Not that he would not let them; but they could not. We read on:— GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.7
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should come short of it. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.8
Whose rest had they the opportunity of entering into, and would not? — God’s. What was preached to us? — The gospel. What gospel? — The same as unto them. It is no new gospel. There is no room for talk about their having had no chance to hear the gospel. They had it first, and rejected it, and now the gospel is preached unto us as it was unto them; we have just as good a chance as they. When it was preached to them, why did it not profit them? “Not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” It was not joined by faith to them that heard. For who enter into the rest? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 298.9
(Voices) We who believe. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.1
We; when do we enter into rest? — When we believe. Into whose rest do we enter? — God’s rest. The reason why they did not enter in, is because rest comes by faith. They did not believe; therefore they could never rest. But we who believe do enter into rest. What is the proof that believers do enter into God’s rest? — The proof here given is, that God swore that the unbelievers should not enter in. That is the negative side of the oath. It is simply the reverse of the oath to Abraham, that he and his seed should enter into rest. In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis we have the promise, and in the twenty-second chapter we have the promise, confirmed by the oath, that the seed of Abraham should have rest from all their enemies. This oath was because of Abraham’s faith. So the oath has a double aspect. They who believe enter into rest, and they who do not believe cannot enter into God’s rest. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.2
They could not enter into rest, “although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” The statement is that they could not enter into God’s rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Here we find a seeming change of subjects from rest to works. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.3
(A voice) I would like to know what is the meaning of that word, “rest.” GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.4
Rest simply means rest; I do not know of any other meaning for the word. I think we all know by experience something of the meaning of rest, even if it be only by the desire for it. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.5
(A voice) But I am not a preacher. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.6
Well, you do not have to be a preacher in order to believe. We who believe enter into the rest. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.7
(A voice) The question in my mind is, Does it refer to the thousand years’ rest? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.8
It is God’s rest, and that is not merely for a thousand years, but for eternity. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.9
The works were finished from the foundation of the world. When the works were finished, what followed? — Rest. If a man has a work to do, and he finishes it, what must necessarily follow? — Rest. He can do nothing else. Man does not finish his work. Therefore, he finds no rest in his own work. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.10
Elder Frederickson. — Is this the same rest as where it says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.11
Whose rest are we talking about? — The Lord’s. Who says, Come unto me, and I will give you rest? — The Lord. Then it must be the same rest. When you come to one of these fundamental principles, believe it. Make it your own by faith, and cling to it, and believe it forever; then you can go through the Bible, and faith will lighten it up, all the time. We cannot fight or argue our way into an understanding of the Word of God; but just as the sun melts the ice, so we believe our way into an understanding of the Bible. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.12
God calls us to rest on the assurance that the rest is prepared, because the work is finished. When work is all done, and well done, then rest must follow, because there is nothing else to do. If there is more to do, then the work is not finished. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.13
We are taken back to the first chapter of Genesis, to see whether or not we believe what we cry out so much against the evolutionists for not believing — the simple story of creation. The first step in the proof that the rest is ready is that the works are finished. What is the evidence of it? — For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise: And God did rest on the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, they shall not enter into my rest. Who is it that speaks? — God. What is he talking about? — His rest. When did he rest? — When his works were finished. On what day did he rest? — The seventh day. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Sabbath means rest, so the Sabbath-day is the Lord’s rest. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.14
Take the fourth and fifth verses together:— GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.15
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.16
They cannot rest. They cannot keep the Sabbath day. Is not that what is said? They cannot rest because of unbelief. We which believe do enter into rest, because the works were finished, and therefore the works prepared, from the foundation of the world. God rested the seventh day from all his works. That is what he said of the seventh day in one place; in another place he said of it, “They shall not enter into his rest.” GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.17
Closing up the record of the work which God did during creation week in the first chapter of Genesis, — God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 299.18
God was pleased with it. He did not see where he could make it any better. It was perfect. Whatsoever God does is done forever. Nothing can be added to it, nothing taken from it. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 300.1
Now we are going to get rest. We are going to get the rest of the Lord. But the rest must necessarily be preceded by works — works of what character, what kind? — Works that are perfect, finished and complete. Take the scripture that we have here, “We which believe do enter into rest,” and compare it with what the Saviour said in the sixth chapter of John, in answer to the Pharisees’ question, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” Did he say, If you want to work the works of God, do some works? Did he say, If you will believe, you can do the works of God? — Oh, no. He said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” God has never told anybody to do his works, because God knows enough to know that nobody else can do his work. It is only men who put themselves in the place of God that say, “We can do anything that the Lord can do; we can do work, and do it just as good as God can do it; we can be justified by works; we can do works that will stand by the side of God’s work, and he can’t tell the difference.” God knows enough to know that there is no other being in the universe that can do his works, and he does not ask us to do them. But “this is the work of God; that ye believe in him whom he hath sent.” Now, is there any contradiction in these texts, namely, “This is the work of God, that ye believe;” and “We which believe do enter into rest?” — No. Why? — Because the work is done; and when you get the work of God, you get the work that is finished, and therefore you have rest. Therefore by believing we get rest in the perfect, the finished, work of God. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 300.2
Let us notice the text referred to a moment ago:— GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 300.3
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest.” GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 300.4
Find rest in meekness and lowliness, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Therefore that which worries us, and tires us, is this pride of life that makes us think that we can and must do everything ourselves. But we can’t do it, and that is why it tires us. Suppose we have a piece of work given us to do, and we have labored at it faithfully, and then when we have finished it, we find a botched job. Can you ever get any satisfaction out of it? Do you ever get any rest from it? — No; you do not rest over it, because you are held to do that work, and you can’t rest at night because you think, Now I have to do that work over again. And when you do it over again, even then it is not good. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 300.5
Who is there that wholly finishes and completes all his daily round of work. Who is it that finishes it perfectly, so that he can look back upon it in perfect satisfaction, and take absolute rest and enjoyment in looking at it. Is there anybody? — No. We can’t get it done. The best work we can do, there is something that is wrong about it, something that is a failure, something that is incomplete; and that is what tires us. Don’t you know that it is a simple fact that it is not the work that men do, so much as the work that they cannot do, that tires them? It is the work they try to do and fail to accomplish that tires them. Not only do we not get our work all done, but we don’t do it perfectly even as far as we go, and that is what tires us out. You know there are thousands and thousands of men that say, just ordinary work given to men, ordinary men’s work, I can’t finish it; do the best I can, I can’t finish it. But when they talk about God’s work, O, they can do that well enough. Is not there something unreasonable about that? They acknowledge that they cannot do their own work as it ought to be done, but they feel fully competent to do God’s work. But what are God’s works? — His work is what he does, and everything that he does is right, and therefore righteousness. It is very common for people to think that they can do right; but righteousness is God’s work, and the man who can’t do his own work, must not suppose that he can do God’s work. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 300.6
We are heavy laden with sin, and that which wearies us is our vain attempt to work out righteousness. So long as we keep at that work, our work must be incomplete; and so of course we don’t find rest. Who is there that has not said, “Now, if I had that to do over again —?” and then follows a list of improvements that he would make. A man makes a machine, and it is no sooner done than he begins to see where he can improve on it the next time. But the first time that God did his work, it was just as good as it was possible to be done. He could not see anything incomplete about it. It was all right. He did not wish that he could do it over again. It was all done, and well done; therefore the only thing that could follow was rest. How had God done his work in the first place? — By his Word. “He spake, and it was.” And he could rest in confidence in his own Word. He had confidence that the Word which created could uphold, so he rested, and took satisfaction in looking at the work he had done. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 300.7
The Lord made man also just as good as he knew how to make him, and we read in Genesis 2:15,— GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.1
And the Lord took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.2
If we had a strictly literal rendering of that, it would be, “He caused him to rest in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep.” God gave man work to do in Eden, so that work is no part of the curse. It was work upon the land, too. That is the only kind of work God gave to man. He put him in the garden of Eden to work, but he caused him to rest there. The whole world was given man, but the garden of Eden was the place which was his home. He caused him to rest there, to dress it, and to keep it. Now mark, he didn’t have to make the garden. God made it, and man had only to keep. When we see how he came to lose it, we can see how he was to keep it. His sin was unbelief. He didn’t believe God, therefore he lost the perfect work of God. How, then, could he have kept it? Just by belief. “This is the work of God, that ye believe.” So long as he believed, so long he would keep the garden and have it for his own: so long would he have the perfect work of God, so long he would have rest in that garden. No matter how much he worked, if he worked from morning till night, he never got tired. That is the beauty of God’s work. Because the work was all finished, it was all perfect and complete, therefore in keeping that work he did not get tired. Here was a work finished and given to him, and all he had to do was to rest in it and keep it as it was. His very work was rest. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.3
Now, in the second chapter of Ephesians we have a word about salvation. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.4
For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.5
Not of whose works? — Not our works. Why? — “Lest any man should boast.” But it is of works, nevertheless. “For we are his workmanship.” So it is works after all. But whose works? — God’s works. But there is no chance for God to boast over God. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” That was the case with Adam when God made him. He was created in Christ Jesus for good works. Who made them? — God. And he made them for the purpose that he might walk in them and enjoy them. Now, the gospel is to bring us back, is that we may have that rest in the finished and perfect works of God. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.6
When God had his work all finished and complete, what did he do? — He rested from all his works. But that rest, that work, was the new earth. God’s rest, then, pertains to the new earth. The Sabbath on which God rested was the Sabbath of the new earth, of Eden, — Eden rest. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.7
We will take all the verses in Hebrews 4 in order presently, but we have not time to-day. So we pass to the ninth verse. Just that simple statement, “There remaineth a rest.” Many read it as though it said there will come a rest to the people of God. But what does the word “remain” mean? — Something that is left; something that still exists from a previous time. When the rest was given to man, the whole earth was new. There was no curse upon it. Now sin has come, and the earth has become old, and is cursed; but nevertheless there remains a rest to the people of God. That rest comes from Eden. Eden has never had any curse upon it. Man’s sin brought curse upon the earth, but drove him out of Eden. There is one spot pertaining to the earth which was never touched by the curse. Eden is now in heaven, the paradise of God, where God’s throne is; and Christ himself is there, the man Christ Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned as man with glory and honor, and set over the works of God’s hand in Eden: and he is the one who says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.8
The rest in Eden was Sabbath rest. The Sabbath is a bit of Eden that remains to us until Eden is restored again; and he who keeps the Sabbath as God keeps it, as God gave it to be kept, has the rest that the Lord Jesus Christ has in heaven. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.9
But how can one keep it? — By faith. Because rest means work finished, and the work is God’s work. God himself finished it. Then we could not do it if we should try. So there are two reasons why we could not do the work: in the first place, only God can do God’s work; and in the second place, it is already done, so when you get there you do not find anything to do. It is done already. Now when God rested from it, what presumption for man to try to do it! Therefore the thing being finished, we get it by faith. Now he says to some, You cannot enter into my rest, because they do not believe and cease from their own works by taking his. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 301.10
(Voices) How, then, are we to be workers together with God? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.1
By resting in him. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.2
(Another voice) That verse referred to in Matthew says, Come unto me all ye that labor, and I will give you rest; and the next verse says, Take my yoke upon you. Does that mean work? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.3
Yes; certainly. But he says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” What is his burden? — He carries the whole world. But he carries it easily. Now he says, Learn of Me. If you carry the burden, what does it do? — It galls your shoulders, and makes you tired and irritable and fretful. He says, Do not do that way. Learn of me. He works, but it does not worry him. Now who is going to complain about work if it does not worry him — work that you can do and not get tired doing? Who is going to complain about it? It is a pleasure to do that. There is solid enjoyment in it. There is large satisfaction, and that is what the Lord wants us to have. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.4
We have been talking about the message for a long time, and when we speak of the third angel’s message, then everybody thinks about the Sabbath. But a little while ago we read that justification by faith was the message, and many people have thought that if we preached justification by faith, we could say nothing about the Lord’s coming or the Sabbath. Why, brethren, we want to learn the message. Let us see how many here have heard people say when you preach the Sabbath, “Yes, but you know that we are not justified by works.” Have you not all heard that? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.5
(Voices) Yes. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.6
And they thought that proved that we should not keep the Sabbath, not realizing that there is a great difference between rest and works. The Sabbath is rest, not a work. Sabbath-keeping is not justification by works, but justification by rest — by rest in the finished work of God in Christ. The Sabbath is rest. It is God’s rest. It is perfect rest. It is rest that justifies because it is rest that brings perfect works, God’s works. Our works are good for nothing. We cannot do anything. “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” “We are his workmanship.” GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.7
Somebody says, “Well, I don’t believe it is necessary for me to keep the Sabbath. The Lord says to such an one, You cannot keep it, for only those who believe enter into rest. Mark this, brethren, the Sabbath is such a glorious thing that when people see it, they delight in it; and we do the Lord an injustice, and the people an injustice, when we present it in such a way that they think that it is a burden, a task. It is not something the Lord has imposed upon people, but a benefit that he has conferred on them. What man is there in all this world that complains because he is obliged to rest? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.8
Then, instead of its being a hard thing, especially for the laboring class, to keep the Sabbath, it is a blessing for them. It is the laboring man’s friend. It is rest. It is the thing that will bring him out of all his difficulties quicker than any political party or any labor party ever dreamed of helping him out of them. And this is the reason why Seventh-day Adventists of all people in the world, have absolutely nothing to do with any political party in existence. Their platforms are quack remedies, and God does not want us to deal in them. He wants us to deal in that which is true. Political parties claim to be the friend of the working men; they claim that they will make better times, that they will make it easier for the people. That is what they are all working for. Now the Lord comes in with his gospel, which promises us all rest; which promises every man his own garden spot, and not only his own garden spot, but every man the inheritance of the whole earth, and all men an inheritance in the whole world in such a way that there will be no question about property rights, but every man will have free inheritance and absolute rest, a wealth without limit. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.9
Rest, rest in labor, better than any labor party ever thought possible; for the best thing we can think of is to shorten the hours of labor, so that man can have more time for rest. But God promises to give a man rest all the time he is working. That is better. And this we can be absolutely sure will be brought about in a much shorter time than any politician ever dreamed that his schemes could be brought to completion. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 302.10
Who is there that, knowing such a thing, will be such a fool as to spend his time over that which promises him nothing. Why should we waste our time on something which at the best is nothing but a quack remedy, when we have something that will solve every difficulty under heaven? GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.1
Now mark, Sabbath-keeping is rest, God’s rest, because his work is finished, completed. What kind of works are God’s works? — Perfect works. And how do we get these works? — By faith. So Sabbath-keeping means faith. It means righteousness by faith. Then that is the message. Righteousness by faith is the message. There are lots of people who believe in righteousness by faith in Christ, but who do not see anything about the Sabbath. Now what we have to show them is that Sabbath-keeping means the perfection of God’s work, and therefore the perfection of rest in him by faith. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.2
Now take the finished work. What does the cross of Christ do for men? — “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” So in the cross of Christ we see a new creation. That is what the cross does. The preaching of Christ is to them that perish, foolishness, but to those who are saved it is the power of God. Where do we see the power of God manifested. — In the creation, in the things he has made. So the power of Christ is the power of creation, creative power. Now the perfect work of God, this new creation, was lost by sin. Sabbath-keeping commemorates God’s works, not as we see them now, but God’s perfect work. But the curse came and destroyed them. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse, being made a curse for us” in the suffering of death. On the cross Christ redeems us from the curse by bringing to us the works without the curse, the perfect work of God. Therefore when Christ was nailed upon the cross, what were the last words he uttered? — “It is finished.” What? — The new creation. It is all complete. So coming to the cross we have the perfection of God’s new creation in Christ. But the Sabbath is a commemoration of the new creation. Therefore the Sabbath is the sign of the perfect rest, nay, it is the very rest itself, which God gives us in Christ. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.3
Just one more text that we can read to-day before we close. In the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah:— GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.4
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.5
What does Eden mean? — Delight, pleasure. The Sabbath comes from Eden, and is a part of Eden, and therefore it is a delight. In it we get the very same delightful rest that God had in the beginning in looking at his own perfect work. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.6
We have only begun to study the Sabbath to-day. To-morrow, if the Lord will, we shall see further into the details of what Sabbath-keeping means, what it is, and then we can understand better what our work as Seventh-day Adventists, what the work of the Lord is, what the message is. But I think anybody here can see that the third angel’s message is righteousness by faith; for the Sabbath is righteousness by faith; for by it a man comes into God’s works, and those works are perfect. Therefore he gets rest by faith. But the man who does not believe the Lord, cannot get rest. Is it then possible for a man to keep the Sabbath and not believe the Lord implicitly? — No, sir. He stops work on the last day of the week, and that is all that can be said of him. If he does not believe God, then he cannot keep the Sabbath. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.7
Now just one thing more to show this clearly. He who does not believe the Lord, what does he say about God? — He has made him a liar. Of course, not absolutely, actually, a liar, for God cannot lie. But the man who says that God is a liar, is himself a liar. Now, will the man who is a liar make a very good Sabbath-keeper? There is no other way to keep the Sabbath, except to believe the Lord. GCB/GCDB March 8, 1897, page 303.8