The Litchfield County post., 1827-09-06


~. and men who prOfess,R belief in the holy
scriptures, who deny th'l the Sabbath is now
a divine institution. They admit that Il was
obligatory on the jews to observe the sew
enth day, in consequence OF divine command.
But they contend that the institution ceased
with that dispensatiUn and vanished away
with the passover, the priesthood and temple
worship. They say, there is no authority
for the sabbath in the new testament, and
that Christ never enjOined or sanctioned it.
The question is of the utmost importance to
the prosperity of religion, and it is desirable
that the truth should be clearly understood.
This can be done; the argument is short; Il
the evidence conclusive.
We readily admit that Christ did not in
stitute or appoint the Christian sabbath, or
issue any command to observe one day in
seven as holy to the Lord. The plain rea-
son is, it was instituted long before; and it
was entirely unnecessary that he should re-
new the command. 1t is, sufficient on that
part of the subject, to show that Christ did
not abolish an institution which had long ex
listed before he came. Our proposition is,
That the Sabbath was instituted at the time
of the creation, and has been noticed and re-
cOgnized under successive dispensations but
that the law never has been repealed, nor the
institution abolished. 1t is placed, therefore,
on the same ground as law of the state,
whose enactment is coeval with the govern
ment itself. 1t stands on the statute book
from year to year, and from generation to
generation. One legislature after another is
constituted, performs its functions, and passes
away; but this law, remaining unrepealed,
retains its unaltered force; and no one calls
its authority into question for the reason that
the last or present legislature has not renew
ed the enactment. To make the matter more
evident, in relation to the Sabbath, several
propositions may be stated, and receive few
remarks by way of illustration.
/. The Bible is composed of series of
revelations, made at different times, through
period of fifteen hundred years. These
various portions harmonze together, and form
one consistent and perfect whole. g. The
old and new testaments, particularly, are so
connected and interviewer, both historically
and otherwise, that they must stand or fall
together. If either of them is false, the 9th
er cannot be true. If either Of them is true
the other cannot be false.
2. The subordinate agents, by whom the
revelations are made, were various; also, the
immediate objects for which revelations were
made; but God, interchangeable in his moral
attributes. and in the great purpose of his
government, is the Author of them all.
8. Under such government and such a
series of revelations, an enactment once made
is ever more in force unless it expire by its
own limitations, or by the nature If the case;
Or unless it be repealed or suspended in sub
sequent revelation, by the same authority
which enacted it. 49,
4. Some very ancient enactments may here
be named. which are yet in force. The Or
dinance which gave man dominion over all
interior animals, at the creation; the institu-
ton Of marriage, and prohibition Of poliga-
my, on the very day the first female was for
med; the gifts of Vegetables for food. at the
creation, and Of animal flesh after the food.
So Of the great law Of love to neighbors {;
concerning which many things show that the
antediluvians were not Ignorant though we
have on record no express earl aactment.
So Of the duty of children to ents, for
failing in which Ham was cursed. We cam.
not agree with those, who seem to think that
the old testament is obsolete. Is not all SCRIP
ture given by inspiration of God?
3. A new enactment, carrying former e.
nactment in some particulars, does not annul
the other portions, or affect them in any de-
gree. For the hardness of their hearts, God
permitted the jews to put away their wives,
for causes which were not sanctioned by the
ancient law, and which are not permitted UNI
der the gospel; but that fact does not render
divorces for sufficient cause unlawful. For
season God allowed even pious men to have
each two wives; but the original institution
is revived, under the gospel dispensation, in
all its pnrity and force, land every man is to be
the husband of but one wife.
0. Usually, an old Enactment does not need
to be renewedly enjoined, though its exlstance
may incidentally appear in hundred different
ways. Yet, If God sees fit to renew COM
lnand, to those who are dull of hearing, or
fOrgetful, that circumstances do not imply
that the former enactment had become dead
and useless. Though the parallel holds be-
tween the laws Of God and those of human
government; yet God in addition to legisla-
ton instructs, warns. entreats--and we should
expect line upon line, and precept upon pre-
cept, where occasion requires, more than hu-
man government. If Christ did not enjoin
an observance Of the Sabbath, 1t is no evil
aence that God does not now require it. If
Moses did enjoin it on the Jews, that Is no
evidence that it was a new institution in his
time.
z. The institution of the Sabbath, or set
ting apart tine seventh part of time for holy
services, is as ancient as the beginning of the
world. Gen. ii. 2, s. Sand on the seventh
day, God ended the work which he had
made: and he rested on the seventh day from
,~Sl- L. IL Il y n