The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-08-21

Puritans, tradition being one of the chief grounds
on which they revolted from the Church Of Rome
Their argument Is that the Bible Is complete
and perfect code Of faith and morals and
that nothing can be added to or diminished
therefrom, and that the exhortation to "prOve
all things by the standard of the Scriptures, and
hold fast that which is good" Is addressed to
every Christian. But where in the Scriptures do
they find any warrant for the Puritanical observ-
ance Of Sunday? No doubt in the twentieth
chapter of Exodus, in The law promulgated from
Mount Sinai through Moses to the Jews, the
rigid observance of the Sabbath, or seventh day,
is commanded among vast number of other Or
diDaDces and observances which were abrogated
by Christ, who came to give new law to his
followers. It is certain that Abraham, "the
friend of God" and "the father of the faithful"
observed no Sabbath; neither did Isaac nor Jacob.
And Christians now again are freed from this Oh
servauce. The Jewish religion was one which con-
sisted entirely of ceremonies ana types These
foreshadowed Christ and bis religion, and were
declared by him to be at an end. When the sub
srance came the shadows were no longer of any
use. Else why do not Christians practise cir
cumcision? Christ violated the strict Jewish
Sabbath himself by going into the fields and
gathering corn, and declaring 'that the Sabbath
was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath"
He also directed the healed cripple to carry his
couch on the Sabbath. The command says,
Thou shalt do no manner of work, neither
thou, nor thy man servant, nor thy maid
servant" which in the original is ''male slave
and female slave" and the Puritans, who contend
for this ancient observance of the Sabbath, ought
to contend also for the ancient institution of
slavery, which is thus found in connection with
it. In point of fact they did support the doc
trine Of slavery in Massachusetts by such texts
as long as the institution was profitable to them
Now, the carrying Of bed was some manner
Of work; therefore, Christ commanded the man
to violate the Jewish Sabbath, which for
Even collecting wood for fuel on the Sabbath
was pronounced by God himself to be worthy of
death, and from the fifteenth chapter of Num-
bers we learn that a man who was found
gathering sticks on the Sabbath day was
brought before Moses, who consulted the Lord,
and the Lord commanded him to be put to
death, and all the congregation stoned him till
be died. This was the penalty ordained by
God. Are those who insist upon the observance
Of Sabbath like that Of the Jews prepared to
infict the penalty of death for its violation?
The Puritans of New England two hundred
years ago were more consistent, for they inAict-
ed the death penalty, provided the offence was
committed "presumptuously."
Again, in the thirteenth chapter of Nehemiah,
threading winepresses on the Sabbath and
bringing in sheaves and lading asses, and selling
fish, are all denounced re breaches of the Sab
bath. Now Constantine, in the year 32I, before
Christianity was yet changed Or corrupted, made
alaw that Sunday should be kept as day OF rest
In all cities and towns, but be allowed the coun.
try people to 90 their agricultural work on
day is one of the exceptions made by modern
legislation about Sunday. So that in the time of
Constantine Sunday was not kept with Jewish
strictnese, Dor do the Puritans themselves now
60 keep it. Yet they pretend that the Sabbath
given 10 the Jews is part of the moral law, aud
is of perpetual obligation. How can that be
moral law and of perpetual force which is not
founded in the nature Of things? All days are
holy ankle by nature and in the sight of God,
ard the one day was set apart among the Jews
Gully as portion Of the ritual obligatory on
them. Ii there is anything sacred in the seventh
DAY, why is not that day still observed, instead
Of changing it to the first day of the week. called
Sunday? There is no authority in the
Bible for the change, and if it was part
OF the moral law and of perpetual
obligation, it could not be changed. The charac-
ter of the celebration of Sunday among the
early Christians was entirely different from that
Of the celebration of the Sabbath. It was the
day on which Christ rose from the dead, and on
that account was holy day-a day of festivity
and joy-whereas the Jewish Sabbath was day
Of gloom. Sunday does not appear to be kept
by any divine command, and only gradually
grew into custom, till at last Constantine gave
it the sanction Of law, not "a Jewish or Puri-
tanica observance, but such as it is observed all
over Christendom, except in the United States,
where alone Christians follow the Jews. We're
the observance Of Sunday of that importance
which the Sabbath Committee" of this city and
the Puritans attach to it, it would not be left
in doubt in the New Testament, nor to the
uncertainty of tradition. There would be plain,
direct command, such as that which God gave
the children of Israel. Now there is nothing of
this kind in the Gospels, Acts of Apostles,
Epistles or Apocalypse. 1t is not pretended
that there is any command.
We come, therefore, to the same conclusion as
ST. Paul, who declares the reverencing of certain
days as invested with holy character to be
superstitious return to the weak and beggarly
elements Of Jewish bondage, from which Christ
came to deliver his people. And shall the inha-
bitants Of this enlightened Empire City permit
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