THE HOLY SABBATH OF THE LORD.
By B. F. Snook
I. The obligation of the Sabbath is moral. By moral we mean that which is right in the very nature of things. 1st. Man's nature demands a time of rest for him. The mental and physical constitution of man is such that he must have a time of rest. Without it he must break down. Without it he cannot live. By constant labor the muscular system becomes weakened and cannot by contracting and detracting support action. Here is a never failing reason in the very man himself calling for a Sabbath. But the mind needs rest as well as the body, and cannot do without it. Here then is another reason for a Sabbath, which will hold good as long as man has a mind. Man is a social and religious being, and as such demands a time for the especial exercise of these ingredients of his nature. Hence we have here another good reason why man should have a Sabbath; and these reasons will last as long as man is a social and religious being. God demands the worship and adoration of his people. This they cannot give him (as he desires) in spirit and truth with the cares and burdens of worldly concerns upon their minds. Therefore in order that they may comply with this desire of their Creator, sanctified and holy time is of necessity required. Also the beasts of burden which labor for man's good need and deserve a time of rest. So with the down trodden slave, who under the painful lash of his overseer toils from morn till night. Who would dare say that he does not need a time of rest from his severe oppression, and laborious drudgery? No one, we presume, but the soulless and unfeeling robber who extorts his labor and puts the proceeds thereof into his own purse. In view of the foregoing reasons, can any enlightened mind conceive the idea that it would be otherwise than right according to the nature of man that he should have a Sabbath? It cannot. Therefore it is morally right that we have a Sabbath, and consequently wrong that we should not. The very idea is unreasonable and merits the severest rebuke. Does reason say that God would create man with requirements in his nature for a Sabbath, and never make provisions for the satisfaction of such requirements? Such reason would say that God gave man ears to hear with, and a desire to hear, but never gave him any sounds to hear; and that he gave him eyes to see with, and a desire to see, but gave him no objects to see; also that man was so constituted that he is dependent upon eating that he may live, yet God never has provided anything for him to eat. Reason always says that God has made provision for every natural want of his creatures, and inasmuch as his creatures naturally want a time of rest, reason says that God has made such provisions; for when there is a desire or want in nature for anything, God has provided the blessing corresponding to the desire. Having proved that man's nature demands that he should have a Sabbath or a time of rest, we will next inquire how much time, or what portion of time does man naturally require for rest? In answer to this we say, 1st. He who made man knows his nature. 2nd. He knows his wants. 3rd. He has therefore provided or made a Sabbath for his wants. 4th. The time involved in the Sabbath institution which he has made for man is all that the natural wants of man call for. 5th. God sanctified and blessed the seventh day [Gen. ii, 3], which is the Sabbath [Ex. xx, 10.] for man. Mark ii. 27. Therefore the day on which God rested, which he blessed and sanctified and hallowed meets every want of man, physically, mentally, socially, and religiously. Who dare take a contrary position? Let us now notice the great Sabbath law: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Ex. xx. 8. This command binds the obligation to keep the day. But we have seen that the obligation to keep the day does not grow out of the command; for the obligation existed, and the day was kept before the command was given. Ex. xvi, 30. The command was not therefore, given to make or create an obligation to keep the day, but was given because the obligation to keep the day already existed, and was right in the nature of things. This proves that the Sabbath law is moral, that it has a foundation in natural right, and that it will last as long as its natural basis. The next question in connection is, For whom was the Sabbath made, or on whom is the Sabbath obligation binding? This is a plain question and easily answered when we look to the sacred word of God. But when we hear men attempt to reconcile the word of God to their opinions, we are left in an inextricable difficulty from which we can only be delivered by casting their word away from us, as the Little Horn of Daniel vii, has cast God's word away from him. Before referring to the infallible record on this question, we will notice the position of many, that the Sabbath was made only for the Jews. Among those advocating this antiscriptural position is elder A. Campbell of Bethany, Va. He says, "The Sabbath was exclusively the property of the Jews." Christian Baptist, p. 44. He also calls it the Jewish Sabbath. Debate with Green, p. 303. Father Campbell is a great man, and has done much as a reformer. But we think in these expressions he ought to reform himself. We think it little becomes a people who plead for a pure speech, and who profess to call Bible things by Bible names, to be heard calling the Sabbath of the Lord the old Jewish Sabbath. Is there any purity of speech here? Is this calling Bible things by Bible names. Elder C. never saw the phrase Jewish Sabbath in the Bible, neither the phrase Lord's day applied to the first day of the week, as he and the Disciples universally apply it. Notwithstanding he says the first day of the week is the Lord's day, and that the Sabbath is Jewish. Elder C. is a great theologian, and well deserves great honor; but no one should honor him enough to accept any such unscriptural terms, or believe the Sabbath of the Lord is Jewish because he says so. But where did elder C. learn that the Sabbath was made exclusively for the Jews? In the Bible? If so, in what book, chapter and verse? He never learned it from God's holy Book. There is no such scripture there, neither is there any scripture there that can be tortured and perverted to prove any such position. Again, why does he use the word exclusively? We would not charge it upon the venerable elder that he by this expression gives licence to sin, but we think that is its natural bearing. He says the Sabbath is the property of the Jews. But when a greater than he speaks, he says, The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Again Jesus testifies that the Sabbath was made for man, not the Jew as such, not the Gentile as such, but for both as men. Is the Jew a man? If so the Sabbath was made for him. Is the Gentile a man? If so the Sabbath was made for him also. But are not the natural wants for a Sabbath peculiar to man in general? They are. If so, therefore the Sabbath made for the supply of those wants, is made for all men. But if the Sabbath is Jewish, and belongs only to the Jews, then they must be the only people whose natures demand a time of rest. If not, all besides themselves are left without a provision for which their nature pants, for which they have an unceasing desire. This is preposterous. Having noticed the foregoing objection, and shown its unreasonable and unscriptural character, we are now ready to examine the scriptural evidence some further on the position of the Sabbath's being made for man. 1. The Sabbath was made for man. Mark ii, 27. 2. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man (not the Jews merely) that layeth hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it. Isa. lvi, 2. 3. God said, Let us make man (not a Jew). Gen. i, 26. 4. God formed man of the dust of the ground. Chap. ii, 7. 5. It is not good that man should be alone. Chap. ii, 18. 6. But the woman for the man. 1 Cor. xi, 9. Wonder if man in these texts means Jew exclusively. If so the woman is as exclusively his, as the Sabbath; for the woman was made for the same class that the Sabbath was made for. We presume many who hate the Lord's holy day would rather keep it, than carry their argument against it, to its legitimate results and live without her, who was made only for the Jew if the above argument is worth anything. But the word man in each text is general and applies to all men which proves unanswerably that the sabbath obligation is binding on all men.