The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-10-10
From the Oiago ~. u Witness
Sabbath Observance.
PHnADELrHIA, July 4, 1874.

Sabbath Observance.
In the middle Of a controversy UPON the sab
bath question we take the opportunity Of present
ing our readers with a few Of the facts Of history
concerning the day. So much i being said. and
60 ignOrantly, upon both sides, that q few histOri-
cal notes cannot be without interest. For the
fret five centuries Of Christianity no writer ven
lures TO claim a Divine obligation for the Fourth
Commandment, or 10 identify the Sabbath with
the Lords Day. JUSTIN Martyr says Christians
met together upon the First Day because - on it
God d~ispelled the darkness and the original state
Of things, and formed the world" The fathers
before Abraham himself, and his sons up to the
days Of Moses, pleased God without keeping
Sabbath. Ireneus declared that the Sabbath,
like the whole Jewish law, was symbolical. Ter
tullian says" lie who argues for Sabbath
keeping and circumcision must show that Adam
and Abel, and the just Of old time, observed
these things. We have nothing to do with Sab
baths or other Jewish festivals, much less with
those Of the heathen." Origen says, - II is one
Of the marks Of the perfect Christian TO keep the
Lords Day. As for the Sabbath, it has passed
away as a matter Of obligation" Cyprian, Com
mOdian, Clement, of Alexandria, Dionysius, and
Milito, all wrote to much the same purpose
during the first two centuries. The celebrated
edict Of Constantine ran as follows "On the
venerable day Of the sun, let the magistrates and
the people residing in cities rest, and let all
workshops be closed. In the country, however,
persons engaged in the work of cultivation may
freely and lawfully continue their pursuits,
because it often happens that another day is not
so suitable for grain growing or for vine planting;
lest by neglecting the proper moments for such
operations the bounty of heaven should be lost"
Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, A.. d. 32o,
clearly enforces the fact that the Sabbath, the
end Of the old creation, has set in. Macarius,
4. ID. $50, spiritualizes the Sabbath, which he
calls a purely Jewish institution. They who
rest from sin, keep a true, delightsome, and
FL S.LE.sL =" IN--1 A IN az CnuG 40 Tpr1
thou not out Of the way to Samaritanism or
Judaism. Reject all Observance of Sabbaths,
and call not meats which are really matters Of
Indifference, common, or unclean.' Gregory, \.
D.. 372, says of the Sabbath that it was part of
the old law, and to be classed with the other or
dinances of that law, circumcision, distinction of
meats, sacrifices, and the like. ChrysOstom SOL
emily warns Christians against Z" Sabbatizing
with the Jews. The Sabbath, as an observance,
is now abolished, the first day of the week is to
be honored.' To quote the words Of an eminent
authority, " in no clearly genuine passage that L
can discover, or in any public document, ecclesi-
astical or civil, is the Fourth Commandment
to as the ground of the obligation to
observe the Lords Day. In no passage is there
anything like a reference to the Creation words,
as the ground of the obligation to observe it. In
no passage is there anything like the confusion
the seventh day and the one day in
seven Of which we have heard so much in Eng
land since y. D.. 1895. In no passage is there
anV mint OF the transfer OF the CdDDdtn TO the
Lords Day, or of the planting Of the Lords
Day on the ruins of the Sabbath, these fctions of
modern times"
The oatena Of evidence we have quoted proves
very clearly that in those ages which are usually
the purer ones, the obligation Of the
Fourth Commandment was not even dreamed Of.
From the eighth to the fifteenth century a gradual
Identification of the Sabbath with the Lords
Day set in, though even in those dark ages there
we're Lot wanting bold hearts and vigorous pens
10 distinguish and define. Still, as time passed on,
{ is clear that there was a general tendency to
confuse the two things. We have one learned
writer telling US, Z" that if a musician wait upon
gentleman 70 recreate his mind with music, and
hey are agreed upon certain wages, he sins in
ase he plays or sings to him on Holy Days, in
ludirg the Lords Day, but not if his reward be
or depend only upon the bounty Of the
jarties who enjoy his music. \ cook that on a
Holy Day is hired TO make a feast or to dress a
commits a mortal sin, but not if he be
tired by the month or year. Meat may be
ressed upon the Lords Day, but to wash dishes
5 unlawful 4 man that travels on Holy Days to
special shrine or saint commits no sin, but he
Ommits a sin if he returns home upon those
Such puerilities are indeed the necessary
Consequence of attempting to govern the observ-
Of a Christian festival by the rules given for
ceremonial Jewish observance. They have been
he stOck-in-trade Of those not inaptly called
moral invertebrates, who are unable 10 rule
heir conduct without a precision in their laws of
which may rival the tedious prolixity of
conveyance, and initiate the minuteness Of a
ledi@yal casuist.
To give one more quotation, from Thorndike
OF the principles of Christian truth" Speak
ng of the Saturday-Sabbath Christians he says:
And surely those simple people who of late
lines have taken upon them to keep Saturday,
it were in truth and effect no less than re-
ouncing of their Christianity, yet in reason did
10 more than pursue the grounds which their
had laid, and draw the conclusion
Ihich necessarily follows upon these premises
if the Fourth Commandment be in force,
hen either the Saturday is to be kept or the
era unra nerer ted 70 lean II -