Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1853-08-14
4aiLp Qnian american
Sabbath Dissertation.


endowed living sotl; and God had looked forth
upon the creatures he had made and pronounced all
every good Then, "the morning stars sang to-
gether, and all the sons of God shouted for ioy'-
Then scenes of alteration were transacted in heav-
en-, byangel and archangel, to the Great Jehovah,
the Incomprehensible Architect of the universe,
for this latest achievement of his power and wis
dom, and this new accession to his natural domin-
ion God rested from his creative labors; and man,
a reasoning, intelligent. worshpping being for the
| first time then, beheld the wonderful works of his
| Creator, and contemplated him in all the magnif-
cent array of animate and inanmate nature around
] him. And under these circumstances realizing as
he did the first impulses Of healthfal and happy
life with pure and perfect heart, with keen and
penetrating understanding, with an instructive adj
mration aud love of the beautiful and the good
was it possible that man. under these circumstances
could devote the first day of his earthly existence
otherwise than to the worship of Him who was
Supreme in all his thoughts and affections? God
rested from his labors, and blessed and halowed
the day on which he thus rested; and man could
not infringe on the sacredness of that rest to enter
immediately upon the pruning and dressing Of that
sumptUous garden in which Infinite Bengnity had
placed him. No, no; the first day of his existence
must have been blessed, holy, Sabbath day. How
many Sabbaths of this description were enjoyed in
Eden, we know not.
But alasi man soon fell from his pristine integ-
rity aud happiness. Iniquity prevailed over him;
and as consequence, he, with all his posterity,
was involved in deprayity and sin. The law of God
then became a burden to his soul, and the Sabbath
ceased to be delight Selfshness was eonstitu=
ted the ruling principle of his thoughts feelings and
actions and his subsequent history was history Of
dark and universal rebellion against the Sovereign
Of the universe. The language of the human heart
then was "Who is the Lord that he should rule
over us?--the Lord, that we should obey him?'-
And scarcely had the all-prevailing waters of the
deluge subsidized, by which God in his wrath, bro't
awful destruction upon the wicked, when the de-
scendants of the righteous Noah relapsed into the
same pollution Of guilt which had distinguished
their antediluvan predecessors. They did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, and his worship
was oppressive in their estimation. The laws of
jehovah holy, just and good were repudiated as ar
btrary and intolerable, aud God himself was soon
excluded from their minds for the miserable substi-
tute of idols. "Gross darkness covered the peo-
pie"
Therefore to preserve him seed to do him ser
vice, in the midst of this rebeious race God chose
Abraham for himself, and constituted him the "fath
er of the faithful" The children of this noble pa
trarch then became peculiar people in the world,
and to them, eventually, written by Gods own fin
GER tablets of stone, in signifcancy of the per-
petuity of their obligation, was presented that in
imitable code of moral precepts the ten command
ments, embracing the whole duty of man to God
and of man to his fellow man.
Of this code, thus communicated, the precept re
quiring the observance of one day in seven as holy
to the Lord occupies position near to its center,
evidencng that it is not the least important of the
commandments with which it is associated--if, in
deed, one commandment can, in any sense, be es-
teemed more important than another. This precept
is but transcript of that law in reference to the
seventh portion Of our time, which was promulga-
ted to man from the beginning, and was then in
seribed upon his heart-which has been obligatory
upon him in all sueceedin ages, and is destined to
be obligatory upon him to the end of time.
Sabbath desecratiOn is a sin of no trihing mo-
ment. 1t is rebellion against Jehovah, and conse-
quences portentous as eternity are suspended upon
it, The prophet Nehemiah, in the name and by
the inspiration of the Lord declares that it is an
eril thing to profane the Sabbath day, and the in
quiry is instituted what evil thing is it, or in what
does the evil of Sabbath profanity consist?
We will attempt an answer: 1t is violation of
I Gods positive command to remember the Sabbath
day and keep it holy" it is disregard and con-
tempt of his viii and authority as thus expressed
/ for our government and therefore comes in ofan-
sive collision with the source of all law and har
mony, and of all perfection and happiness, 1t is
actuated by the most ungrateful selfshness, appro-
priating to secular pursuits, or carnal enjoyments
| that small portion of our time which God has re-
served as sacred to his worship, and for the cutva
ton of our spiritual natures for higher and hoer
uses than those which are wordly-fOr blessed
1 and glorious Immortality, while God has so gener-
ously given us six days ont of the seven to be de
voted to the ordinary avecations of life.
The Israelites were possessed of a distinguishing
I privilege in the fact that God had given to them
/ the Sabbath. But they, in their ignorance and
wickcdness did not appreciate the blessing. They
became natien of Sabbath-breakers, and what
was the consequence? The judgments Of God visi-
ted them His favOrs and protection were withheld,
and the Babylonians came and carried them away
into distant and long captivity. Sabbath desccra-
ton was one of the principal sins for which they
thus suffered. To this fact Nehemiah referred
when he uttered the words of our motto. The Jews
had Just been restored to their covenanted lands
their city rebuilt, and the temple and its worship
recovered from ruins, and reinstated But directly
the very same sins for which they had just ceased
to suffer began to be COMMONLY perpetrated among
them. Then Nehemiah COMMENDED with the mobiles
! of Judah, and said unto them What evil thing il
this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day.
Did not your fathers thus and did not our God bring
all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet "
1 bring more and more wrath upon Israel BY profan
ing the Sabbath" Other prophets participate,
with Nehemiah in denouneing, in the name of God
this evil jeremiah, in warning the citizens of Je
rusalem against its preparation, says, fhus sait
the Lord if We viii not hearken unto me, to hallov