Morality of the Sabbath.
By D. M. Canright
WE will now consider the objections which are urged to show that the Sabbath is not a moral precept. We are willing to give them their full weight, confident that they can all be fairly answered. I. All moral principles are discoverable by the light of nature; but the keeping of the seventh day holy is not discoverable by the light of nature or reason without a direct revelation from God; therefore it is not moral. The answer to this objection is two fold. First, it assumes what is not true in the case of the other moral commandments; and, secondly, it denies what is true concerning the principle of Sabbatic observance. 1. The first commandment says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The great principle here taught is that men shall worship God. This principle has been universally recognized by all nations as ye see in the fact that all do have some god or gods which they worship. Phrenology shows that man is organized to worship a supreme being. He has the organ of veneration, the only legitimate use of which is to worship the Supreme being. Hence all nations have manifested the same inclination to worship some god. Thus far all is easy and plain. But the commandment demands more than this. It requires that men shall worship the true God and no other. Now, have men by reason and the light of nature alone been able to find the true God without a revelation? No, indeed. The history of the world shows just the opposite. Only a few of the human race have ever known the true God, and these only by a direct revelation as given in the Bible. The language of Paul is directly to the point. "For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1 Cor. 1: 21. Of the heathen he says: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Rom. 1: 22, 23. This is what men have done who had only the light of nature. None of them have ever been able to find the true God. Facts bear out this statement to the letter. The learned Dr. Horne says, "In fact without such revelation, the history of past ages has shown that mere reason cannot attain to a certain knowledge of the will or law of God." "While some philosophers asserted the being of a God, others openly denied it; others, again, embraced, or pretended to embrace the notion of a multiplicity of gods." "Thus, in Tartary, the Philippine islands, and among the savage nations of Africa, the objects of worship are the sun, moon, and stars, the four elements, and serpents; at Tonquin, the several quarters of the earth; in Guinea, birds, fishes, and even mountains; and almost everywhere, evil spirits. Together with idolatrous worship, sorcery, divination, and magic, almost universally prevail. In Hindostan, indeed, the polytheism is of the grossest kind, not fewer than three hundred and thirty millions of deities claiming the adoration of their worshipers." Horn's Introduction, Vol. I. pp. 16, 21. The truth then is just this: Quite generally all men have felt that they should worship some god; but in selecting which it should be, the light of nature has failed them entirely, so that upon this point there has been the greatest confusion and most have failed to find the true God. None have done it without a revelation. Just the same thing exactly is true of the Sabbath. That precept is based upon the principle that men should devote a portion of their time as holy to the service of God. As we have proved, man's physical and mental organization shows that he ought to have a regular rest day. All nations with scarcely an exception, have recognized this principle by setting apart certain days as holy to the Deity. By tradition from creation most of these have selected a seventh day, while all have had some holy days more or less during the year. Says a recent author, "Traces of sacred days of some sort, though varying in frequency in different countries, may be discovered in many Pagan nations, the exceptions being limited to certain tribes sunk, like the aborigines of New Holland, to a very low point in the social scale. "The Phoenicians, according to Porphyry, 'consecrated the seventh day as holy.' Before Mohammed's time, the Saracens kept their Sabbath on Friday, and from them he and his followers adopted the custom. It is stated by Purchas, that the natives of Pegu had a weekly day on which they assembled to receive instruction from a class of men appointed for that purpose. The Pagan Slavonians held a weekly festival. In the greater part of Guinea, a seventh day—Tuesday—is set apart to religious worship. . . . The Burman feasts are held at the full and change of the moon. According to another authority, the quarters are also observed as festivals. A sacrifice was celebrated by the Mexicans every month. . . . The inhabitants of Madagascar and of Senegambia, on the other hand, preferred the time of new moon for their devotions. One of the principal stated festivals in the South Sea Islands—the pae atna—was held every three months. The Babylonians celebrate, with great magnificence, five days of the year. . . . . The people of Calabar were wont, on their Sabbath, to approach the Supreme Being (Avasi) in prayer. . . . The Ashantees on their sacred day, worship their fetiches, and circumcise their children. . . . The Greeks and Romans, according to Aretius, consecrated Saturday to rest, conceiving it unfit for civil actions and warlike affairs, but suited for contemplation. "The necessity of a weekly day of rest to the prosperity and even preservation of religion in the world has been proclaimed by the almost universal voice of mankind. Jews and Christians have ever elevated a seventh day to holy uses. Mohammedanism has always appropriated Friday to public devotion and instruction. Paganism, holding sacred in many instances the same proportion of time, has in no instance dropped all periodical festivals, till its people have well nigh lost the conception of an object of worship. That so many, in regions and periods widely remote from each other, have observed a Sabbath, or some analogous arrangement, is a strong testimony to its religious necessity." The Sabbath Viewed in the Light of Reason, Revelation, and History, by James Gilfillan. pp. 359, 363, 200. Mr. Cox remarks: "The hebdomadal revolution of time generally admitted in the world is also a great testimony to the original institution of the Sabbath. Of old it was catholic (universal) and is at present received among those nations whose converse was not begun until of late with any of those parts of the world where there is a light gone forth in these things from the Scriptures. All nations, I say, in all ages, have from time immemorial, made the revolution of seven days to be the first stated period of time. And this observance is still continued throughout the world, unless amongst them who in other things are openly degenerated from the law of nature; as those barbarous Indians, who have no computation of times, but by sleeps, moons, and winters. The measure of time by a day and night, is pointed out to the sense by the diurnal course of the sun; lunar months, and solar years, are of an unavoidable observation unto all rational creatures. Whence, therefore, all men have reckoned time by days, months, and years, is obvious unto all. But whence the hebdomadal revolution, or weekly period of time should make its entrance, and obtain a catholic admittance, no man can give an account but with respect to some impressions on the minds of men from the constitution and law of our natures, with the tradition of a Sabbatical rest instituted from the foundation of the world." Works, p. 278. Calmet says: "Manasseh Ben Israel assures us that according to the tradition of the ancients, Abraham and his posterity, having preserved the memory of creation, observed the Sabbath also in consequence of natural law to that purpose. It is also believed that the religion of the seventh day is preserved among the pagans; and that the observance of this day is as old as the world itself. Almost all the philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day holy." The Asiatic Journal says: "The prime minister of the Empire affirms that the Sabbath was anciently observed by the Chinese in conformity to the directions of the king." Archbishop Usher says: "The very Gentiles, both civil and barbarous, both ancient and of later days, as it were by a universal kind of tradition, retained the distinction of the seventh days of the week." Works, Part I, Ch. 4. "The seventh day is sacred." Hesiod. (B. C. 870.) "Then came the seventh day that is sacred." Homer, (B. C. 907). "It was the seventh day wherein all things were finished." Homer Linus says the same. "Bad omens detained me on the sacred day of Saturn." Tibulus. "The sacredness of one of the seven days was generally admitted by all." "Let it suffice; however, in a matter on which there is so general an agreement, to present the words of four eminent authors:— 'The septenary arrangement of days,' says Scaliger, 'was in use among the Orientals from the remotest antiquity.' 'We have reason to believe,' observes president de Gognet, 'that the institution of that period of seven days, called a week, was the first step taken by mankind in dividing and measuring their time. We find from time immemorial, the use of this period among all nations, without any variation in the form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and, in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of a week, consisting of seven days. We find the same custom among the ancient Romans, Gauls, Britons, Germans, the nations of the North, and of America. According to Laplace, 'the week is perhaps the most ancient and incontestible monument of human knowledge.' "It would appear that the Chinese, who now have no Sabbath, at one time honored the seventh day of the week." The Sabbath by Gilfillan, p. 364, 365, 360. By these testimonies, which might be extended to almost any length, we see that all nations in all ages have recognized and honored certain days, and most of them one day in seven, as sacred time. If any have not held a weekly sacred day, they have still had some holy days during the year which were sacred to their gods. All have their holidays, festival days, &c. How shall we account for this remarkable fact? It must have come either from a revelation or from nature. If from a revelation, it must have been given by God to the father of the race from whom all have received it. This would admit all that we claim for the early origin of the Sabbath institution. Even then there must have been something in man's nature requiring such an institution in order to have perpetuated the memory and practice of it so long and so universally. But if this has sprung from the natural promptings of man's own nature, then it shows that the Sabbath, like all moral precepts, is founded upon a universal want of our race, and hence it is moral. But it is further objected that the Sabbath is partly moral and partly ceremonial. It is moral so far as it relates to giving a certain day to God. Thus far there is a universal agreement of all nations. But it is ceremonial so far as it defines just what particular day or portion of time shall be kept holy. This is claimed to be proved by the fact that, by the light of nature alone, no man could possibly determine which day of the seven was the true Sabbath. It is asked, What is there in nature to distinguish the seventh day from the other days of the week? Nothing. Hence it is not so important just which day we keep, provided that we keep one in seven. But the same reasoning would prove that the first commandment was also partly moral and partly ceremonial. That men should worship some God is readily discerned by nature itself and in this all have ever agreed. But as to just who is the true God, none can decide without a revelation. On this point there has been the greatest diversity. Some have chosen one as the true God and some another, till there are millions of different gods worshipped by men. This proves that it is immaterial which god you worship provided you worship some one god! But who dare admit such a conclusion? Yet it is founded upon exactly the same mode of reasoning that is followed in arguing against a definite Sabbath day. It is founded upon the false assumption that all moral principles are discoverable by the light of nature. We have already shown that this is not true in the case of the first commandment. Look at the second. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." All claim that this precept is moral in the highest sense. It forbids us to make any thing to represent God and so worship him through his image. But this is just the thing that all nations who have had only the light of nature and reason to teach them, have always thought was the most acceptable way to worship the Deity. Hence, with scarcely an exception, all men in all ages and nations have made and used images in worshipping their gods. Probably no one religious practice has been so universal as this. Indeed, notwithstanding all that God has said against this in the Bible, many of those who believe and reverence that book have been constantly inclined to do just what is here forbidden. Witness the Jews in the Old Testament, the Catholics, Greeks, &c., in the gospel age. And this is done, too, with a religious sense of duty to God. Here is a moral precept, then, which never has been discovered by the light of nature or reason. The best judgment of mankind unaided by a revelation, has been directly opposed to this commandment. All heathen nations have used images, built magnificent temples to them, made rich offerings to them, made laws to protect them, and have considered it the highest sacrilege to molest them. If we had no better evidence from the light of nature and the general consent of mankind in favor of the fourth commandment, our opponents might well triumph over us from this stand point. D. M. CANRIGHT.
(To be Continued.)