December 13, 1897

“Imagining Difficulties” The Bible Echo 12, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

“O, I can’t sleep at night, I can’t sleep!”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 1

“Poor fellow, you must cease your overwork, and at once make use of soothing remedies!”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 2

“O, that will do no good; the trouble is not with me; I could sleep well if I had an opportunity, but there is no time in which to sleep; I can never sleep any more!”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 3

“Why not? How can that be?”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 4

“I have just learned that the earth is round, and that it isn’t night at all places on the earth at the same time, and that therefore it is impossible for people to sleep.”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 5

“Foolish fellow! Who has been telling you that?”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 6

“Nobody; but my pastor, who is a learned man, has told me that it is impossible to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, because it is not the seventh day all over the world at one time; and I have sense enough to see that if we can’t rest on the seventh day, then we can’t sleep on the seventh night; and if we can’t sleep on the seventh night, we can’t sleep on any other night. What shall I do?”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 7

“Do! why, go to bed to-night, when the night comes to you, and sleep where you are, instead of thinking you must sleep where you are not. Didn’t you sleep well last night?”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 8

“First-rate: never slept better in my life; but then you see I had not heard the parson’s theory.”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 9

“Well, don’t let a theory run away with the fact. The fact is, you can and do sleep every night when it comes to you; when the night is on the other side of the earth, you do not need to sleep. So with the Sabbath-the seventh day-which God made for man-for all men-to keep. Keep it when it comes to you; when it is not present with you, then you are not required to rest on it. Let your soul rest in the assurance that God has never given a commandment that it is not possible for all men everywhere to obey.”BEST December 13, 1897, par. 10

E. J. WAGGONER.