The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-21 00:00:00

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

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Sir,—You have done good service to the cause of
truth in exposing the unscripturalness of applying
Jewish notions, and indeed worse than Jewish
notions, of the Sabbath, to the Christian Lord's-day.
That the New Testament knows absolutely nothing of
modern Sabbatarianism, may be affirmed without fear
of contradiction, by any passage, whether historical
or preceptive, which can be quoted from it. And any
one who has aeen in the habit of reading the earliest
writers of the Christian church, will know that they
all, when they advert to the subject, placed in the
strongest possible contrast the Jewish Sabbath of
rest from bodily labour, and the Christian rest from
vice and sin. It never entered their minds for several
ages that any deed, right on the other days of the
week, was wrong on the first day. I will not occupy
your columns by proving what every scholar must
know, and what others must take on credit. There
is, however, one view of the subject which has been
hardly. exhibited in your paper yet—a view requisite
to a complete representation of the matter, and which
may help to disarm opposition to what I deem indis-
putable truth. I mean the injurious influence which
Sabbatarianism has exerted upon Christianity, and the
good which might be expected to result from healthier
and more elevated views. First, then, Sabbatarianism
(I use the word for brevity) is a falling back from the
higher and more perfect views of Christianity, to the
lower and elementary ones of Judaism. Judaism was,
in Paul's view, a system of tutelage for minors, " till
the fulness of times should come." In this system
God took parts of things as a tribute, teaching his
right to the whole. Part of the land, part of its pro-
duce, part of the tribes, one spot, and one house, were
set apart to Ilim, to show that all were his. In like
manner, part of their time was set apart from secular
engagements, to teach them that God might claim it
entirely. Under the Christian dispensation all this is
reversed. "Ye are not your own," "He hath bought
us with his blood,"—,this is the foundation of New-
Testament legislation. Accordingly, we ourselves,
and everything belonging to us, are viewed as God's.
There is no land holier than the rest—no persons more
consecrated than others—(Archbishop Whateley has
beautifully shown this in his "No Priesthood in
Christianity but that of Christ")—there is no place
holier than others—no part of our property more
sacred than the rest ; " the earth is the Lord's, and
the fulness thereof." In like manner there is no time
more sacred by appointment than other time—all
time is equally sacred—" every day is alike." Every
action is either a duty or a sin ; if a duty in itself,
the day on which it is done we are nowhere taught
can make it a sin. Now, as our Lord testifies, "the
hour is come when men may in every place worship
the Father"—men might not at that time worship
him anywhere with the highest worship, it might be
done only in the temple. , Nor might they take any
day and rest upon it instead of the seventh—it would
have been death by the law., Now, on the contrary,
anywhere and on any day, worship is equally acceptable.
Judaism was a system_ of shadows—of beautifully
adapted artificial worship. Christianity is the reality
which flung its shadows forward in Judaism ; but
now that the Son of Righteousness has risen, the
mountain of the Lord's house appears on the top of
the mountains. Shadows are fled, and we know what
we worship." The rest of the old Sabbath beauti-
fully typified the rest of all nations when they shall
" learn the art of war no more,"—the rest of every
Christian mind, when, through the powerful grace of
Christ, the soul rests from its vain struggles for en-
joyment in sin, and acquiesces "in his yoke"—the
rest of those who " cease from their labours, and
their works follow them." The low Sabbatarian no-
tion has insensibly profaned six days out of seven.
If it has gained anything for one day, which is much
to be questioned, it is at a fearful cost to the rest.
Six days are thought less holy that one day may be
deemed holier. I fully agree in the fitness of the
first day for worship offered through a risen Saviour;
but, Sir, it is the worship which is sacred, not the
day. A. Christian assembly is no fiction, it is a so-
lemn reality. A multitude of minds thinking of—