THE HOLY SABBATH, Its Beginning, its Close, and its Observance
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THE HOLY SABBATH, Its Beginning, its Close, and its Observance.
By James White
The sun is God’s great time-keeper. And that the day closes with the setting of the sun both Testaments agree in affirming. But the question comes up, When can it be said that the sun is set? Is it when it has passed down out of sight? Certainly not. For, in a mountainous country, should the disappearance of the sun mark the end of the day, then it would close in the valley thirty minutes sooner than it would just up the mountain, only a half mile distant. These facts were illustrated a few years since in the State of Vermont. In the same church lived two Seventh-day Adventists, one in the valley below, and one up the mountain half a mile distant. When the sun passed down behind the mountain, out of sight to the brother in the valley, he harnessed his horse and drove slowly up the mountain to the house of his brother, on business, and judge of his embarrassment to find the sun fifteen minutes high. There is a period called twilight, longer in the valley than on the plains, to which we call the attention of the reader. The day cannot commence at the commencement of twilight, the length of which is governed by the condition of the earth’s surface. We point you to the close of the twilight, to the introduction of the darkness, for the close of the day. It is said, in the record of creation, that “God divided the light from the darkness.” He “called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.” The twenty-four-hour day is made up of the night, or dark part, and the day, or the light part. The Sabbath, then, begins with the darkness. But he who begins the Sabbath as soon as the sun passes down out of sight, while it is sufficiently light to read and transact business, has the twenty-four-hour day made up, first, of a period of light from fifteen to forty-five minutes in length; secondly, the period of the darkness of night; and, thirdly, the period of daylight, reaching to the disappearance of the sun again. But God has the day made up of two parts only; first, the evening, or darkness; and, secondly, the morning, or the light. “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” This is equivalent to saying the darkness and the light constitute the day. Therefore the Sabbath commences, not at the disappearance of the sun, but with the darkness of the night. With the foregoing agree the words of the prophet: “And it came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gate, should be shut.” Neh. 13 : 19. The gates of Jerusalem were to be shut before the Sabbath, as an act of preparation on the sixth day for the proper observance of the seventh. And as a signal when to close the gates, they should begin to be dark. At this point the sun has not only passed down so that the mountains, Ps. 125 : 2, cut off the sun’s direct rays from the gates of the city, but the bright orb of day is sinking so low that its rays are fading from the ethereal heavens above, and are ceasing to reflect light upon the gates of the city. And yet the Sabbath has not fully come. The sun rules the day. The close of the current day, and the commencement of the succeeding one, is marked by the setting sun. When, then, is it sunset? Answer: When the sun has passed so far down that its rays do not reach the ethereal heavens above and reflect upon the earth; or, when twilight ceases, alike in the valley, on the mountain, and on the plains; when it is dark. Then the evening, the dark part of the day, and the morning, the light part of the day, constitute the twenty-four-hour day. And let the people say, Amen. We also earnestly exhort the brethren to return to the proper observance of the Sabbath. The sixth day of the week is the preparation day for the holy Sabbath, both for the sisters in doors, and the brethren out on their farms, or in their shops. The cooking of food to be eaten on the Sabbath should all be done on the sixth day. And the changes of clothing should be in complete preparation, and the house should be set in order by the light of the sun on sixth-day afternoon. “This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord, Bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe.” Ex. 16 : 23. The brethren should leave their work in their fields or elsewhere on sixth-day afternoon in season to return home, do their chores, black boots, bathe, and change their clothing, all by the light of the sun. And the entire family should be in complete readiness, around the family altar, Bible in hand, to commence family worship while God’s great time-keeper, the sun, lingers above the western horizon. And let the season of reading the Sacred Scriptures, and prayers from the entire family, cover the period of twilight, making sure the commencement of the Sabbath. With what delight will holy angels, who joyfully do the will of God, and keep his commandments, look down upon families who are in such a posture, waiting the advent of the holy Sabbath. Likewise, to make safe and sure the close of the Sabbath, family worship should be introduced while it is yet sufficiently light to read the Scriptures, and should be continued until the close of the Sabbath, and the new week begins. In this way we may with holy reverence wait upon the close of the Sabbath, as we would wait upon a dear friend out of our doors, whom we have entertained joyfully twenty-four hours. “Closing Sabbath! Ah! how soon
Have thy sacred moments passed;
Sorely shines the morn, the noon,
Ere the evening brings thy last.” These lines express the true spirit of the Sabbath. As a people, we are fearfully backslidden from its scriptural observance. The Lord appeals to us by his prophet in these words, which doubtless have a special application to our time: “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; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 58 : 13, 14. Notice the vital points:— 1. We are to turn away our feet from doing our own pleasure on the Sabbath. It is the pleasure of some to feast in a gluttonous manner and sleep away the hours of the Lord’s holy day, while others take pleasure in things equally opposed to the design of the Sabbath. 2. We should regard the observance of the Sabbath a delight. The truly converted man, who loves the Lord, and delights to honor his institutions, will delight in the strict observance of his Lord’s Sabbath. 3. The Sabbath “is the holy of the Lord, honorable.” The great God has given us the first six days of the week, and reserved one to himself. It is the Lord’s Sabbath, not ours. God blessed his rest-day, and made it holy. And it is honorable in the sight of all Heaven for man, for whom it was made, to revere God’s hallowed rest-day. 4. We are to honor the great God, in not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words, on his holy Sabbath. The entire day is the Lord’s and should be sacredly observed to his honor and glory. Our ways, our pleasures, and our words, however proper on the first six days of the week, must be put aside on the seventh, as fully as we put aside our work. Having laid all these by we may on the Sabbath come very near to God, and enjoy delights in his presence, which are almost infinitely higher than Sabbath observance can afford those who spend the day in a slothful, self-indulgent manner. If fasting be a Christian duty at all, it is most proper on the Sabbath. Sabbath headaches, and sleepiness in meeting on that day, are generally the results of over-eating. Gluttonous eating, and careless talking on the Sabbath are abominations in the sight of God, in those who profess to revere his Sabbath. The writer deals faithfully with his own soul in the matter of imperceptibly falling into the habit of engaging in conversation upon common matters on the Sabbath, and humbly confesses his own sins, as well as the sins of his people. “Six days shalt thou labor,” says the commandment of God, “and do all thy work.” We may do our secular work on the first six days of the week. We may also speak our own words relative to common matters on these secular days. But on the day which is called the holy of the Lord, it is no less a sin to speak our own words than it is to do our own work. 5. It is no common blessing that is offered to those who return to the Lord, and to the proper5observance of his Sabbath. (1) They will delight in the Lord. (2) They will be exceedingly triumphant in the mighty God of Jacob, represented by riding upon the high places of the earth. (3) They will be fed with the heritage of Jacob. Christ speaks of the wise servant who gives meat to the household of faith in due season. In this sense will true disciples, who are cherishing the hope of the soon coming of Christ, not only feast upon the glorious theme of the inheritance of the saints in light, to be given to the obedient and trusting, but like Jacob they will prevail with God, and inherit the blessing here, when they have fully returned unto the Lord by confession of their sins, and by strict obedience to his word. Dear brethren, the Lord has not changed, to leave us in our present weakness; but we have departed from him, as described in the first verse of the very next chapter. And we solemnly believe that the prophet of God looked forward to our time, and to our people, when he said: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” In returning unto the Lord we shall find pardon, peace, access to God in prayer, joy in the Holy Ghost, and success in all our efforts to bring men and women to Christ and his truth.