THE REAL SABBATH | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1879

THE REAL SABBATH.

"To the Jews, as a united body, the Sabbath is a solemnly revealed law from Mount Sinai."—Dr. Salomon.

It is a conceded fact, that the Jews, more than any other nation mentioned in the history of the world, have proven that they could and would, and can and will, sacrifice their possessions and blood, body and life for an exalted idea. Were they not inspired by a truly divine spirit, how easy would it have been for them, at any of the stages of the Mediaeval ages and in all climes, without any exertions whatsoever, to ameliorate their dreadful condition, and in the twinkling of an eye be thoroughly relieved from torture and misery! To how many thousands among them, to whom life was a desert waste, did not the oppressor exhibit the glory of the world, and tell them: "All this will we give you if you will but go with us and do as we do,"—but they ever preferred to endure the most bitter suffering than be false to the covenant entered into by God with their forefathers at Sinai, for them and their offspring.

In all these periods of most oppressive misery, it was this, the most holy of the "Tokens of the Covenant," the "Sabbath," that gave them comfort, endowed them with courage and endurance, and filled their hearts, that oft did threat to break, with hopes of a brighter future. The word of God in Sacred Writ: (Exodus 31:13-18) "Above all, my sabbaths shall ye keep, for a sign it is between me and you throughout your generations. . . And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. Between me and the children of Israel it shall be a sign forever,"—was ever to them the cheerful and beneficent guide, through life's desert waste. This faithful monitor of Israel, the Holy Bible, spake to the tired and hunted down Jewish Pilgrim: Endure still further, but hope. Remember that Sabbath which thy Heavenly Father calls "My Sabbath" and keep that holy. Hold fast to this sign, with true faith for all times, for it is that which binds thee forever to thy Father and he will aye, He must help thee in thy time of need!" Verily it is not to be wondered at, if the Jew on this account, in spite of his helplessness, his sorrow, yes, even in those lands where Romish-Christian love of kind (?) placed him on a par with a cur;—and during those periods of time, when Romish-Christian charity robbed him of all, and left him misery and degradation, that even then, and thus circumstanced,—even happy,—than his tormentor, by reason of the celebration of his Sabbath every week.

Heinrich Heine, the German poet, has truly placed the Jew of that time in the position of the "Enchanted Prince," who for six days out of seven, was by "witches" power and magic, degraded to a cur,—but on the seventh, on which day witches have no power and magic no force—he is in truth and fact a "Royal Prince." Yes, actually—though it may seem incredible to many, it was the Sabbath that infused a second, divine soul into the Jew, which made him aspire, and raised him to hope for the aid and assistance of his God, and with this feeling of succor implanted in him he was enabled to be happy, and he sang and rejoiced on his Sabbath, knowing that other times and other men would come; that by the help of God, the dark firmament of bigotry would clear up and be enlightened, and at that time hate would be metamorphosed into love.

Has the Jew been disappointed in his belief in the Sabbath? I cheerfully entrust the answer to the dear reader of these lines. But at the times of this writing, there does not yet rule over all the universe the benignant light of the bright dawn of day; the clouds of fanaticism and of prejudice have not yet been dispersed. Truth is not yet universally hailed as a God given attribute, Human Equality is not yet practically conceded, and therefore the mission of the Jew in the walks of sublunary life is not yet completed;—but, until that goal be reached he will be found in the van for the defense of Truth with his limbs, his blood, and if need be, his life.

I do admit (and it grieves me sorely that it is a fact) that, at the present time, and in this country, there are very many of my coreligionists, who desecrate the Sabbath by manual and other labor. But dear reader, ask these Jews, whether they consent to give up completely, the real Sabbath, or to change it for Sunday,—and if there remains in the heart but a scintilla of their fathers' faith, then they will so firmly and determinedly say their nay, that you will never propound the query again.

My brethren in the faith know that they do wrong, know that they sin when disobeying this commandment of God, but seek to excuse themselves by circumstances of times and poverty, and the like;—that they hope and surely expect that their children, possibly they themselves do at a later time, will be in a condition to do what is right. It never occurs to them to have any doubt of the sanctity of this day; no, they send their wives and children to the House of God for the Sabbath devotions, their homes are sumptuously clad in holiday attire and no coarse labor is permitted on that day, not even by the servant of another faith; the board is spread more daintily, the coarse every-day fare gives place to dishes choice and delicate;—in short, the peace and hallowed joy of the Sabbath has entered into the house; but many do not carry with them their Sabbath nor its influences into the hum of business and of traffic.

If in these latter times you have heard the expression from such as you think are Jews, that it were better to celebrate the real Sabbath on the first day of the week, i. e. on Sunday,—don't take that as the true sentiment of the Israelite;—that is merely the renegade, of him that is ashamed of his race and of his illustrious ancestors; and of such thriftless and conscience-barren renegades, Judaism hath always had some.

The Jew, if ever so persistent in his disobedience of religious ceremonial, even if he habitually desecrate the Sabbath by labor and traffic, (and that is unfortunately a characteristic of the modern Jew), he is at the same time convinced and he knows, that to deny the sanctity of that day, is a crime committed against God and Israel; he knows that the Sabbath is not only a day of rest, (as the Sunday is to him) but it is a day sanctified by God, and given thus to the Jew, as a token of the covenant, for all mankind, and is one of the ten commandments for the purpose of being at sometime obeyed by all,—he knows further, that the Sabbath is the vital nerve of Judaism,—to give that up, or transfer it to the first day of the week, would be to cut up the nerve, to deny Israel's past and future, destroy the mission of Israel and forever bury Judaism in oblivion. Even the great reformer Luther, speaking of the Lord's Sabbath as a Christian, says: (Luther's Works, Leipsic, 1729, part iii., p. 643). "He that will make of the Sabbath a necessary commandment as is required of a work of God, he must, perforce keep holy the Saturday and not the Sunday, for Saturday was ordained as the Sabbath for the Jews, and not Sunday."

In addition to this, I should like to remind the reader that Jesus himself strictly kept the seventh-day Sabbath, as well as his apostles, and Jesus emphatically declared that he had not come for the purpose of changing a single iota of the law; and that the ten commandments (among which the law of the Sabbath occupies a prominent part), are equally obligatory upon Christian and Jew. And until and during a portion of the fifth century the Sabbath was jointly kept by Christian and Jew on the seventh day. And the rigid and stern austerity of the Jewish law of the Sabbath was applied to Sunday not before the eighth century! (Brockhaus Conv. Lex., Bk. x., p. 365. Compare also J. Meyer De Temp Sacr., etc., 2, 9, 10, §11, a multistamen Christianorum ecclesiis Sabbathum. Also, Benj. Otto, Dissertatio de flumine Sabbathico, in Ugolino Thesauro, antiqu. sacr. Tome 2. §10).

I am firm in the belief that Luther was also aware of this fact, and that, judging from his own words, he was willing to have the Sabbath put back to its original time, i. e. upon the correct seventh day, but he feared not only the wrath of the Catholics, but also his own adherents, who had but just been reft from the power of Rome, and were still inconsiderable in force and numbers, stigmatized as "Antichristians," who, if he, Luther, had pressed such proper observance of the Sabbath, would have considered him a secret adherent of Judaism, and would have pursued and punished him accordingly. He durst not do it for the time was not yet ripe, and by means of such a step, his whole object would have miscarried. That may also be the reason of his known and open antagonism of the Jews,—an antagonism used to divert a suspicion that he was seeking to disseminate Jewish ideas;—a suspicion, the least anticipation of which was anxiously awaited in Rome, to loose its full powers on this extraordinary man.

It is now truly the Israelite's duty to combat every attempt to transfer the Sabbath to a Sunday, if he does not want to dig his own grave, and he is really imbued with the hope that the coming generations will keep the Sabbath day more strictly and unanimously than us, and that even our Christian brethren, i. e. such of them as require candid truth, will become cognizant of the fact, that the Sabbath is not only set apart as a day of rest from labor, but also for the purposes of reasoning, mental occupation, and self-examination, and for such purposes has been sanctified by God as a token of the covenant between Him and his children for all times, and His Sabbath is therefore not that by human agency arbitrarily appointed first day, Sunday, but that seventh day, which since the commencement of time hath been by the Almighty so hallowed. "Thus hath said the Lord, keep ye justice, and do equity; for near is my salvation to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Happy is the mortal that ever doeth this and the son of man that ever layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath by not violating it and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. . . Also the sons of the stranger, . . every one that keepeth the Sabbath by not violating it, . . even these will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful . . for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations." Isaiah 56:1-7.

Rejoice, my cherished reader, for thou art upon the road that leads to Truth. And if thy neighbors scoff at thy position, thou hast but need for courage and endurance, for victory must be thine, as the goal is the Truth. The words of the prophet Isaiah (above) must soon reach fulfillment, if by thy acts thou dost contribute to accellerate that time; and as a proof that we are on the way of its fruition, remember that (what 25 years ago was considered impossible) a Jewish Rabbi has written this to his christian Brothers and Sisters, who celebrate the same Sabbath with him.