Why So Few Sabbatarians?

First edited edition by Kevin Butler

“Because we know God says: “The Seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord,” we keep it. However sabbath keeping is not the assurance of our success.

“Why so few Sabbatarians?” As a newcomer to Seventh Day Baptists, Rev. Madison Harry (see Pearls from the Past, page 12) asked this question in 1890. Harry went on to pose more questions and posit even more answers and theories. His article, “Why has not God blessed Sabbath-keeping Christians more?” appeared in The Sabbath Recorder on August 28, 1890. A revised version became a separate American Sabbath Tract Society booklet in 1894. The following is from his introduction: “Why has not God blessed Sabbath-keeping Christians more?”

This is both a perplexing and painful question to all who “delight in The law of God, after the inward man.” The meager success of Sabbatarians deters many from joining with us, though convinced of the scriptural foundation of our position, and not a few have abandoned our cause on that account. This is a sad and depressing fact. Why is it? Is it God’s will it should be so? How much of our little success is necessary or unavoidable, and how much is due to our inefficiency as an aggressive power and evangelizing agency? This is a practical question. If it is due to the first cause wholly, then we are blameless. If in any degree to the latter, then “sin lieth at the door.” We surely, if possible, should know how this matter stands. How much of our meager success is necessary and unavoidable?”

(this article is an excerpt from the August-September 1999 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 13, click this link: https://biblesabbath.org/tss/478/tss_478.pdf