SERMON ON THE SABBATH by N. Summerbell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 11, 1877

SERMON ON THE SABBATH.

By N. Summerbell

Among the most blessed treasures of grace is the Sabbath, the seventh day, for a day of rest and refreshment. The toiling millions, with bended back and weary hands, look forward to the Sabbath as a day of rest, of release from toil; a day of relief from care; a day when the rough garments may be laid aside, and the clean and better be used; a day when they need not rise before daylight, but may rest all day; a day when the father may be at home with his family, and the apprentice be at home with his parents and brothers and sisters; a day of cheer, of church, of reading, of rest, and of improvement. We can conceive of the importance of this day to the toiling millions, when we consider that on account of its religious character, it has been for thousands of years respected by all nations and observed by all classes; so that soldiers had rest, and sailors had rest, and servants had rest, and slaves had rest, and the toiling millions, bond and free, had rest. Say not, They could have it without a Sabbath; we know better. Take away the reverence for the day, and capitalists would soon demand seven days' work to the week, and men with starving families would soon offer to work seven days to the week; and more work would be done for less reward, and capitalists would be enriched and working men be made poorer, because the toilers would be robbed of the rest that God gave them. Say not that it would be preserved for recreation: that would soon cease under pinching poverty; and the toiling millions would be oppressed more and more.

In the text we have the origin of the Sabbath, and the nature of it. It had its origin with God in Eden. It comes down to us from the sinless age. It is found first as one of the three paradise laws; viz., marriage, labor, rest. In Eden God gives the Sabbath, and the command and the example of its observance. God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified and hallowed it. Thus you see that it is not a Jewish Sabbath, for it antedates all Jews. But as Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man,”—made in the beginning for all our race. When Israel was chosen as a church, God gave them the Sabbath enshrined in the decalogue of eternal laws. There were ten commandments set as a cabinet of jewels, a central one of which was the Sabbath. While this proves its preciousness, it by no means proves it Jewish. As well call all the rest Jewish and reject the decalogue—yea, reject Christ, and the apostles, and the Scriptures, for all these are liable to the same charge on the same principles. Appealing to prejudice to please the unprincipled is a sign of subtlety, but not of candor or fairness. And we should be careful how we unchain the lion; for the man whom we teach to-day to despise the fourth commandment may to-morrow despise the sixth to our cost.

DID CHRIST DO IT AWAY?

Jesus did away some laws, such as were peculiar to the Hebrew nation—laws pertaining to their state and kingdom, laws of the priesthood and temporal penalties; but he did not do away with the ten commandments, nor the laws of labor, and Sabbath, and marriage. Jesus said, I came not to do away the law. And St. Paul said, Do we make void the law? By no means. Yea; we establish the law. It was the custom of Christ to keep the Sabbath. Luke 4:16. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Jesus said that he (Christ) is the “Lord of the Sabbath day.”

If, therefore, we oppose the Sabbath, we oppose the Lord of the Sabbath; if we neglect the Sabbath, we neglect the custom of Christ; if we do away the Sabbath, we do away God's gift to man: but if we observe the Sabbath, we do as Jesus did, as God commands, and as the good of men requires; if we favor it, we build up righteousness; if we oppose it, we minister to sin; if we desecrate it, we desecrate what God has sanctioned, and if we do it away, we rob the race of one of the best blessings of Heaven. The words of Jesus concerning doing good on the Sabbath day, simply meant that we should keep it in its true intent, as he taught them by appealing to the example of the priest and of David; that is, he proved to them that he was introducing no new view of the Sabbath, and that he was so far from being its destroyer, that he proclaimed himself its Lord and guardian.

THE DISCIPLES.

The disciples followed the Master's “custom,” and the women (Luke 23:56) would not proceed to anoint the body of Jesus, but “rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment.”

MANNER OF ST. PAUL.

As it was Jesus' custom to observe the Sabbath, so it was St. Paul's “manner” (Acts 17:2); for it is recorded that as his manner was, he preached to them every Sabbath day. This he did at Philippi, at Thessalonica, at Corinth, at Berea, at Athens, and wherever he preached. While no other day is named except a few times, we can find proof in the New Testament that the apostles preached on more than one hundred Sabbath days.

MEANING OF SABBATH.

The true meaning of the Sabbath is a day sanctified to rest and hallowed happiness,—a type of Heaven. See the fourth chapter of Hebrews. On this day there is relief from toil, as in Heaven; a resurrection from defilement, and a purification, and dressing in better garments, as in Heaven; a day with family, of meeting friends, of rest and refreshment, of cultivation of the mind and worship of God, as in Heaven. Every seventh day God gives the weary a foretaste of the rest of Heaven. The weary limbs recline, the bent back rises, the care-furrowed countenance relapses to smiles, the weary fingers straighten, the father is at home, millions upon millions rest, millions upon millions worship. The earth is at peace; the songs of Heaven are heard, and all this blessing returns every seventh day. Beware how you rob the poor man of his Sabbath.

OBJECTION.

Paul makes no difference in days. Paul was speaking not of the weekly Sabbath, but of other days, such as are now called holy days. See the common rest-days, or sabbaths, of the Jewish religion. Men should not quote these words of Paul and apply them to our Sabbath, while they yet claim to retain some little respect for the day; that is, while they practically deny that “every day is alike.”—Rev. N. Summerbell, in Cincinnati Commercial.