The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-12-20

Ia BONA that We may cell ptoVialon I
And the Sabbath, that wo opened the
warehouses, having only the cheating
and deceiying Of the poor IN view, Z The
festivals, the New Moon and tne sap-
bath, were celebrated, but not ior the
sake OF lie one, Codgnnd In honor q His
name. Homes, instead Of admonishing The
people 10 observe the Sabbath and the
festival days, all the prophets previous 70
Josiah unanimously pronounced mem
worthless and loathsome unto the holy
God.
Whence, then; did the Sabbath origin.
ate? lfcannot have been borrowed ION
the EgyptianS, since they knew
Of NO sabbath, and had their month di:
ylded into weeks Of ten days, as we hnd
a similar division Of Thu, month into three
parts among the Aryah nations, and into
In patts with the Chinese and the Mex.
lean people. The Babylonians and Asy-
fians only adopted the division Of the
month into weeks Of seven days, together
win The sacredness Of the number seven
with the old settlers Of ChAldea, and grad
ually spread It over Asia; and i 10 from
their monuments that we now learr, the
true origin Of the Sabbath. II was the
close Of each OF the four different phases
Of the moon during its teyOlutiont-the
seventh, the fourteenth, the twenty.hrsIt,
and the twenty.eighth day Of each month,
which they called the day oil stand.still,
-Isulum,"-and celebrated as days oil
raut TSabbathu.n Yet far from being 0
day OF sweet Joy aud recreation Tor ihe
people, Il was rather gloomy day, on
which the Royal High Priest was aeiI ,as.
allowed to wear his oaieial robe iot les-
islAting, nor to ride IN his chariot, nor 70
call an assembly for judgment, nor 70
annly any msiicine, nor TO eat cooked
meal neal and tindle Ere until the ensuing
A'f srhIs, seeing the Sabbath originally
oonaected with the heathenish moon tes-
dyal, we understand why It's obSery ance
was no, at all favored by the earlier OF
tho great propheticalwri,e but classed
among the usages connected with nature
worship. Indeed, the commandment not
to kindle any hre in private houses on
the Seventh Day and the custom OF lay
ing new shew.bread upon the holy table
on each Sabbath, still betray such al
origin. Gradually, however, the Sabbath
being celebrated as u day Of rest.by the
| people Of Israel, proved TO DO a greai
blessing unto all, and was therefore SCI
above all other iestivals by the succeed
Ing prophets and Legislators. Thus thu
writer OF Deuteronomy in the Ten Com
maudments, set in place Of those giyeI
in Exodus xxxiy., 1926, makes the Sab
bath u day Of deliyerance from seryitud!
unto man and beast, connecting II will
the deliyerance Of Israel from the Egyp
| tian bondage. And finally, when In th
Babylonian exile the Sabbath became
day Of spiritual elevation and Of instruc
ton unto the people, distinguishing !
from all other nations surrounding II
The day was declared by Hezekiel an
other Biblical writer's to be sign Q
covenant between Jahoe and His people
violation OF which was thenceiort
} threatened with determination. .. ~.
Still the sublime seer Of the Exll,
whose words became treasury oil con
fort unto the nations, wanted to extern
the blessings Of the Sabbath over a
, lands. Hence we hear him aunounc
! the time when from new moon TO ne
moon and from Sabbath 10 Sabbath a
flesh shall come to adore the Eterns
isaiah xiv, 23). And, inspired by thi
thought, the last composer Of the Pcnta
, teuch, both in the Decalogue Exodus X
and in the frat chapter Of Genesis, CT
twined the Sabbath with Creation itscl
not rciraining from representing God i
the image Of a human worker in order I
make man look up unto God as his sui
limo pattern. --.- .-.--.