DISCOURSE ON THE SABBATH.
By Seth Williston
[The following is an extract from a discourse by Seth Williston, written in 1813. It may be just to state that he advocates a transfer of sanctification from the seventh to the first day of the week, though this does not affect the force of his remarks in regard to the institution, moral nature and perpetuity of the weekly Sabbath of the fourth commandment.] “THE Scriptures,” or, as it is literally, the writings, do evidently in this place mean those holy writings, which we call the word of God. The Old Testament scriptures were written before the coming of Christ. To these he repeatedly referred for the proof of his Messiahship, and of his doctrines. Jesus Christ most certainly treated those writings as being the inspired word of God, and a perfect standard of truth; by which everything relating to him and his kingdom, should be tried and determined. The holy scriptures, including both Testaments, make a rich store-house, from which the man of God is thoroughly furnished to every good work. Here he may learn what to believe about God, his law, his government, and his grace. Here he may learn the whole of his duty, both towards God, his fellow-men, and himself. If he is ever at loss on any point, let him immediately repair to those divine oracles, and he will here become acquainted with the decisions of Him who cannot err. Let him studiously and prayerfully search the scriptures, even as they search the mines for silver, and as they dig for hid treasures, and he will not fail to find instruction. This passage has not been chosen at this time, with a view to prove the divine inspiration of the scriptures; or to show the importance of reading them; or to point out the manner in which this duty should be performed, though these things would naturally grow out of the text; but it is my design in this, and in several succeeding Discourses, to obey the command of Christ in the text, to “search the scriptures,” and to confine the search to one particular point, viz., the weekly Sabbath. By going through with the Bible, with our eye fixed upon this one object, we shall be likely to obtain more distinct views of it, than we should, if our attention were divided among a variety of objects. The inspiration of the scriptures will be taken for granted; and the importance of hearing what God himself has said about his Sabbath, cannot be disputed. Let us, my hearers, in the very outset of these Discourses, feel how solemn a thing it is to come to inquire at the oracles of the living God. A humble and a solemn frame of mind becomes us while making these inquiries, and while we listen to hear what God the Lord shall speak. Let it be remembered, that we are come to inquire on a very practical subject. If the Lord has made a Sabbath, he has made it to be remembered, and to be171kept holy. Therefore let us hear the will of God with an obedient ear. The scheme of the following Discourses is, to search the Bible from the beginning to the end, to see what the Sabbath is—what it is to sanctify it, and what it is to profane and pollute it—and to become acquainted with the scripture history of the sanctification, and profanation of the Sabbath, that we may learn the feelings of the Divine-Law-giver towards both; and that we may discover their different influence on the state of religion in general, and on the interests and prosperity of nations. None of those passages, which are considered as capable of materially aiding us in these inquiries, will be designedly passed over. After a new text on the subject is introduced, it is proposed to make such remarks and practical observations, as are suggested by it; and then proceed to the next in order, which treats on the subject of the holy Sabbath. Without any further introductory remarks, suffer me to enter on my proposed plan, accompanied with your fervent prayers, that both the preacher, and his hearers, may be led into the truth; and that through the truth we may be sanctified. The first information which we have about the weekly Sabbath, is Gen. ii, 2, 3. “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh-day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made.” On this passage it may be observed, 1. That the weekly Sabbath is not a human institution. It was God, the Creator of the world, who instituted it. 2. He gave sanction to the institution by his own example. Six days did the Creator work; but on the seventh-day he rested from all his work. 3. The weekly Sabbath is a very early institution. It was appointed and observed at the end of the very first week of time. It is no part of the law of ceremonies, which law was occasioned by the entrance of sin; for the Sabbath was established before sin had entered, and would have been obligatory on Adam and his offspring if sin had not been known among them. Therefore the abolition of the law of ceremonies does not affect the weekly Sabbath, though it does away those sabbatical institutions, which originated with the ceremonial law. These Sabbaths, which were purely Jewish, in their original, must have been the sabbath referred to by the apostle in his epistle to the Galatians, chap. iv, 10, 11: “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.” This distinction between days, made by the ceremonial law, must have been what Paul had in view, Rom. xiv, 5, 6. “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike.” On the passage before us we proceed to observe, 4. That God did two things to the Sabbath, to distinguish it from the other days of the week; 1st. He sanctified it, and 2ndly. He blessed it. The Lord has made the Sabbath a holy day; and when we keep it holy to the Lord, he makes it a day of blessing; i. e., a day in which he will, in a peculiar sense, meet with us and bless us; and cause the sanctified day to be very useful to our best, our immortal interests. Objection. But how can time be sanctified? how can a day be holy? Ans. 1st. It is the language which God himself uses, and therefore cannot be foolish. 2ndly. No one supposes that time itself is capable of holy affections: nor does the holiness of the Sabbath consist in our having holy affections on that day. Such affections we are required to have every day in the week; and such affections Adam and Eve had continually until they fell; but even then they were required to sanctify the seventh day, in distinction from the other days. Holy affections are implied in an acceptable sanctification of the Sabbath; but this is not all. We answer, 3dly. The holiness of time consists in its being separated from secular business and worldly concerns to the immediate service of God. The temple was called a holy place, because, in distinction from other houses, it was the Lord's house; it was the house of prayer. It was profaned by being made a house of merchandise, as well as by being made a den of thieves. In the same sense in which the temple was a holy place, the Sabbath is a holy day—a day separated from the business and avocations of this life, to the service of God in devotional exercises and religious duties. “And it came to pass, that on the sixth-day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade, and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth-day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.” On this passage we observe, 1. That the apostasy has not done away the obligation to sanctify the weekly Sabbath. The same hallowed day, of which we read before the fall of man, we here find again; and it still remains a holy day. 2. From this passage we learn, that it is our duty to remember during the week, that the Sabbath is coming, and be so prepared for it, as not to be obliged to earn, or look up, or be engaged in any great labor in preparing our food on this day. The portion of the manna, which was to be the food of the Sabbath, they were directed to gather, and bake, or seethe, on the day which preceded it. It is lawful to eat on the Sabbath as we do on other days; but not to gather. 3. The Lord's great concern for his holy day was strikingly manifested by his giving a double portion of the manna on the preceding day, and withholding it on that day; and by his preserving that which was laid up the day before from breeding worms and becoming loathsome, as it did when it was at other times kept over night. 4. We are taught by this portion of Scripture, that we need not be afraid of being impoverished by a holy resting one day every week. “See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days.” Let it never be forgotten, that it is the LORD who has given us the Sabbath. And let it be remembered, that it is the same Lord that gives us our bread, and who supplies all our needs: We may therefore rest assured, that six days in the week are sufficient to procure the bread of seven. To disbelieve this, is to deny the providence of the Lord of the Sabbath, and is deeply tinctured with atheism. 5. We see that men are prone to seek gain on the Sabbath-day by doing the work of the week, notwithstanding they may have been strictly cautioned against it. Some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather. The Lord was greatly displeased with the disobedient and covetous spirit which they manifested. “And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” Let us now turn our attention to the fourth commandment. It is contained in Ex. xx. 8–11. “Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Observe, 1. The weekly Sabbath is placed among the ten commandments, which are the summary of the moral law. In this respect it is honored above the sabbatical years; or the three annual feasts, the new moons, and such like institutions. These commandments were written with the finger of God on tables of stone, to denote their preciousness, importance, and durability. It showed that these commandments were to last to the end, without waxing old and vanishing away. The command to sanctify one day in the week, has the same honorable place, as the command to worship Jehovah alone; or as the command to honor our parents, and the command to do no murder. Objection. It cannot in itself be wrong to work on one day, more than to work on another; therefore the requirement to keep holy one particular day in the week, cannot be of a moral nature. Let the objector remember, that the other nine commands of the decalogue are evidently of a moral nature, and this, which enjoins the observance of a weekly Sabbath, was placed among them by the Divine Law-giver himself; neither ought we to suppose, that it was an oversight in him to place it where he did. He who lays his hand on the Sabbath, to drive it out from among the perpetually binding laws of God, let him beware what he does. Let him review the matter—let him not think that in this he is doing God service! A word more on the moral nature of the Sabbath. The first commandment teaches, that we are under moral and indispensable obligation to love God supremely. The second commandment requires, that we worship him, and him alone. If it is our duty to love and worship our Creator, it is a matter of moral obligation to take some time from other concerns for this worship. It is essential to a godly life, that some portion of time every day should be redeemed from secular duties for the duties of devotion; and the all-wise God has seen, that it was absolutely necessary for the best good of the human race, and especially for the promotion of godliness, that one day in seven should be a day of worship. The obligation to keep holy the Sabbath, is as great as the obligation to seek the preservation and advancement of the cause of true religion in the world. 2. You notice, that the commandment, requiring the observance of the Sabbath, is introduced with the caution not to forget it—“Remember the Sabbath day.” It should be remembered all the week, that after so many days the Sabbath will return again; and we should feel ourselves bound to shape our business through the week, so as to be in the best manner prepared for its return. And the caution at the beginning of the commandment, requires us to know when the holy day has returned, and to conduct ourselves accordingly. 3. In looking over the commandment we notice, that all our work must be done in the six days before the Sabbath. By our work, is not meant works of darkness (which are forbidden on all days,) but secular work, pertaining to things of this life. 4. Notice, On the Sabbath we may not do any work, i. e., any kind of this secular business. It would have made the commandment too long, if all kinds of worldly employments had been particularized; but they are all included—they are all forbidden to be done on the consecrated day. “Thou shalt not do any work.” 5. It cannot but be noticed, that the commandment binds us to use all our influence and authority, to preserve the Sabbath from being profaned by others. If we have sons and daughters, men-servants and maid-servants, horses, or cattle, we are required to see to it, that the Sabbath is not profaned by any of them. 6. This commandment seems to imply, that keeping holy the seventh day was an acknowledgment of God, as the Creator of the world; and of consequence, that the refusing to keep it holy, would be a denial of the God who is above. Let this thought weigh on all our minds. When we conduct as though there were no weekly Sabbath, we conduct as though there were no God—no Creator of the world.