OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH.
[THE following article derives its interest not so much from the subject matter as from the source from whence it comes. It is from the Christian Chronicle; and we ask the reader to notice carefully the positions taken, and then ask himself the question how long the Chronicle would adhere to these positions if their legitimate sequences were urged upon it. Principles are here laid down which form an insurmountable bulwark around the immutability and perpetuity of the Sabbath, and are fatal to any change in the law and the consequent introduction of Sunday as the Sabbath; yet reasoning from past observations we think we offer no harsh judgment in saying that the Chronicle, if pressed upon the subject, would yield these principles, and abandon these positions, rather than give up the darling Sunday. We would however that they would continue right on in the following scriptural argument in which they run so well for a season.—ED.] THE Sabbath is as old as creation, and its observance as old as the first man created. God worked six days in succession in completing the world which we inhabit, with the firmament that overspreads it, and when the finishing touch was given to the whole and he pronounced it all good, he rested on the seventh day and sanctified it. As Adam was made in the image of God, placed in the garden of Paradise, and opened his eyes on the beauties of a new made world as they burst on his vision from above and beneath, it was the holy Sabbath day, when all creation was one symphony of praise, and the first man solitary and alone employed every power and energy in the worship of his great Maker. The holy calm and quiet of the first Sabbath were never forgotten by him, nor failed to call forth his devout contemplations, his purest and best worship, even amid the ruins of the fall that were ever about him. On that day his sacrifices from the flock and herd were offered and holy fire descended to signify their acceptance in heaven. The patriarchs did the same through all their generations and we challenge any theologian, with all his modern wisdom, to prove to the contrary. As the yoke of Egyptian bondage was struck from the neck of the Israelitish nation, and they were led out into the wilderness; as there God descended upon Mount Sinai, amid the blackness of darkness and the wildest displays of awe-stricken nature, and with his own finger wrote the tables of the law for the observance of the people through all future history, we find there the Sabbath written out in the most emphatic manner and in letters never to be effaced.—"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; six days shalt 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, nor 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; whereupon the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." This commandment is from God, is a part of the moral law, and stands as imperishable as that law. The Jews observed it through all their generations and any infractions were visited with the severest penalties. When Christ came he acknowledged its divine origin, its unqualified claim on the whole time, soul and energy, and rebuked only the traditions and perversions that had worked in and taken the place of its spirit. None treated the Jewish temple with more reverence; none taught the people with more respect to the place and the day than he. He aimed only to banish what was hypocritical, secular and debasing to the soul, and turned it into one great temple of divine worship, where sacrifices, prayers, hymns of praise and holy teachings alone should be witnessed. With him the Sabbath was sacred to divine worship and deeds of benevolence. It was always lawful to do good on the Sabbath day; and what a rebuke was this to those old sainted Pharisees who with their fastings, long prayers and endless forms of worship, could yet be guilty in spirit of trampling on the whole moral law. It is said by some that Christ often violated the law and taught his disciples to do the same. But there can be no greater mistake than declarations of this sort. As he was accused of this he declared in reply that he came not to destroy, but to fulfill it; and that one jot or tittle should never fail. The ceremonial law should cease, the traditions and perversions of the moral law should come to an end, but the moral law itself embracing Sinai's code should never be abolished. He came to fulfill, that is to illustrate its true meaning in his whole life and teachings, and to show to the world that that law which binds together the moral universe, is as permanent as the throne of God. Fix your eye on Christ, and see how he lived from first to last; hear his sublime words on the mount, and elsewhere as he spoke to the people, and there you may read the true meaning of that law which Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill.