The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-08-21
T III f 8 ABB ATH.

Astronomical Origin OF sspt.n.ry Instatu-
tlons-,rhe Purit&nical Sabbath Disuroved
frOm the Bible.
fAoridged from the Westminster Review.]
One Of the pretences Of theological writers in favor Of the
claim OF divine origin Of the Sabbath and ono on which
they have laid great Stress that sepsenay dvaon Of
time only Of high antiquity but Of universal accept
trace Of original divine revelation dating
the "begnpug" Even the "Encyc'opedis Britannica"
which should know BETTER says that "the septenary dvi
sion Of time has from the earliest ages been uniformly OBJ
served all the Eastern world" and that the unl
formty of the actce cannot be accounted for except by
supposng that Constituted from the beginning and
handed down by tradition These pretences aad state.
ments have been accepted BY numbers without in
vestigaton as admitted truths but they are equally un-
founded and untrue, and evidences only Of universal
mpoeture on hand and nhmitAble credulty on the
other
Again From passage Genesis In which the first refer
ence to Sabbath occurs the inference has been drawn
no! at all warranted by the text that the parents OF
the human race were taught by God himself TO divide
time into weeks and 10 set apart seventh portion
day of rest and for religious purposes. co. would Of
follow that this institution some traces OF it.
would be found among all nations; and the impression
therefore, the mind Of large clsss Of persons is
very natural one, that however much Sabbath may
have fallen into dsuse, be dsregarded, the week
Of seven days has been kep. by all generations of
mankind from the days OF the creation and continues
be observed in every part OF the world. The fact,
however, 10 other wise.
The Greeks divided onthg into dcades or periods
OF ten days. bet they had Sundays sabbaths in our
Eense OF the word neither the tenth days any
others, although they had festivals IN honor Of various
gods on days dedicated TO them 50 the claim Of
versatility for the practice Of setog apart the seventh
day derives support from the practice OF Creeks
As for the Romans they had neither decides nor weeks
Of seven dsye but divided their months three rregu-
lar intervals, named after three fixed epocbs in
month called the cald the and the ides-a
pick system not necessary to be explained here but hav
Ing no trace Of being sepsenGy institution" II vas
not until in the third and fourth centuries that weeks
introduced in the Roman computations Of time a.
more convenient division than the caeds &C. They call
ed the days Of the week then introduced by the planetary
names Of dies Soils day Of the sun) dies Luna ay Of the
Mercury dies Jous. (dsy Of Jupi.srJ DIES vsne fdsy Of
venas), and dies Satuyns (day OF Saturn)
The astronomical character Of theee terms that
the adoption OF the seven days week blythe Romans
quite independent OF The jewish Christian religion snce
the Hebrew names were words signify ing day one day
two &c In word, the Roman names were borrowed
from the Indian dindoo calender, in the same way
that they have down TO from the same source
days Of the week called Son dag Noon daeo
1uis ddeg Wodnes or Woaen's doeg On toe German
CdtnSt1g) IRuTTes daeg, Ihors F1O0'
Sete,ne's ddsg, which preserve, very little
changed, TO ,be present time
II Is in India thea that must look for the original
seven DAY week. and there ad in the Ssnscrt
the language OF the hoy writings OF India the seyen
days, under the following Names
Sun day.
sina koon-dky.
| Ruadha. var .. Mercnrv asv
HnAspaae-var.. Jupiter day.
SuoiH Venus day.
The same terms may be traced through ali the dialects
OF India; and throughout HiDoosan may that
The word g sevsn" samystcal number which super
etliion continues to attach q hidden meaning
In proof Of this We might cise ess examples
The sun has seven eteeds the nils Of heaven are seven
In number tie soul OF the desa naverses difficult
pasees the days OF invitation scven pure rivers
low from parsdse the caste of the Brahmins seven
sections, etc In the same q perfect az
| well as mystic her among the Hebrews Wo read
not only that the seven DAYS and of
aieventb day ssboa,h, bu, Of seventh month Sabbath
seventh scar Sabost, ana Of times years
Sabbath or OF jubilee We animals entering
me ark By sevens of of famine seven years
Oh plenty or seven pii with !ru pes
ing the wallis Of jericho days OF Baasm command
ing seven affairs 90 be prepared for sacrifice OF seven
oxen and sevtn rams OF silver purified mes; OF re.
women taxing bold OF man. of a mao possessed bv
seven devils ana in the Revelations seven churches
seven candIescks Spirits stars seven la nps
seals, angels vias seven plaques &C.
ven thnnders and OF dragon with seven heads and
seven crowns upon his heads.
These aDaiogies show identity of origin uDon one
point common TO the faith OF India and Syrs do not
enable us 70 pronounce an opinion upon the relative
quy Of the religions In which this correspondence ia
found. The e.ymoogy Of the seven will however
explain the reason OF tie popular superstition attaching 70
H. ana 'hrow some gnt upon the origin of the institution
OF Sabbaths.
The hebrew eeven 0, written Saba or shoba and by
modern Jews 'hba,g signifies also age Sab gray head
ed. The Hebrew word which translate by the word
rest also Old age and Is doubtless derived nom
erudition Sabe Coptic IL sage Spanish ,aso French
sardn The Druidical priesu called Sobs Sabga.
nism was the Religion they taught The Celtic Sab aM
wac the day on winch the Sabs aesembe1 whence the
term sabtt, assembly, la history Q name con-
fined 10 the nocturnal assemblies sorcerers
! The Saba day ~as, therefore, the cay which the
''gray headed men, or "aged fstberso Of tribe were
in the habit Of assembling for council sacrifice rhe
would necessarily SO for the observance of the unsr
festivals OF Inda-would be Saba day periods Sdoa
seven just the came way as The moon he
came Identified with the period or lunstion which we
still call moon, or moOn-montb rne public business
transacted, and the religious solemues observed on the
Saba day. caused that day 10 be regarded as more i'm
portsn. day than any other and necessarily gave 70 the
number Saba, or seven, marked significance, which
made IL an appropriate anything that was COM
plete or perfect Afterwards with the assistance Of a.
irolcgca priests, grew into ortunate and sacred
From this exposition Of the origin Of the word
seven, VIII be seen that NO valid argument
10 the word seven In ancient times ss traditoparv
evidence Of divine institution We may observe,
further, that every figure in hs turn has played
it's part among different nations the object Of some
superstition Pythagoras is said TO have travelled
in Egypt, Chadea, Assyra and India imported from the
East into Greece the sym oocal mode Of lustranr the
properties Of numbers, and from bis time $500 C9 we
read in Greek authors Of seven the "venersbe or
ytbssoras revered the most was the ocf or four An
forming square, and the root Of universal scale of
numerston the influence Of which was shown in the
four seasonr the four elements the Intervals of the
teiracbord, the four cardinal points, 80 and in conse
quence OF which was proper 10 divide mathematics into
four branches ana arrange every subject into four dIv
sicns. We may trace the came idea In the symboIica
imagery Of the prophets. Ezekiel describes four
living creatures with four Sides four Wings four sces
four horns and affairs Of four cubs four tables and
the term forty or four tens presents itself throughout the
Jewish records perfect number, rather than a. a
term used in a strictly arthmetics sense. The flood
WAS upon the earth forty days. Moses mount
forty days; forty days and Nneveh overthrowp;
Christ the wilderness forty days; the Israehtee
were forty years in the wilderness "the had rest
forty &c. In modern times forty days composed
the philosophical month Of the achy mists and forty
days was held to be the proper period for quarantine
RE Chinese regard five perfect number than