Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-05-02


Dor, must necessarily be goaded by covetous-
ness to the performance of deeds of violence
so the man who has no love of God in his
heart has no Sabbath in his practice.
1t will be found, on examination, that those
individuals who have unscriptural notions
with regard to the sacredness of the Sabbath,
are very loose in their morals. They belong
to that class Of professors which is neither
cold nor hot but lukewarm. Sin, in their
eyes, is not hideous monster, and they do
not regard the violation of Gods law as an
evil and bitter thing The manner in which
the Sabbath is observed, is a sure index to
Christian character We admit that in this,
as in everything else, there may be formality,
counterfeitng and hypocrisy. With this we
have, at present, nothing to do. All we say
is that the man who loves God, keeps his Sab
baths; and the man who remembers the Sab
bath day and keeps it holy unto the Lord bis
God, is good man, whatever may be his ap.
parent defects.
The question may be asked, (which day of
the week are we to sanctify or keep as Sab
bath to the Lord our God 7" Thisis subject
which perplexes many whom We have every
reason to believe love the Sabbath. It will
assist us in solving this question if we will re-.
member that the obligation to observe the
Sabbath has its origin in the express and posi-
tive command of God, and not in anything
peculiar about the day itself. In natural
point of view, there is no difference in the
days of the week. On all alike the winds
blow, the clouds rise, the lightnings fash, the
thunders roll, and the rains fall. The birds
sing, the fish sport in the waters, and the wild
goats leap from cliff to cliff on the Sabbath
as we'll as on any other day. The sun shines
as brightly on the Sabbath as it does on any
day in the week. No part of the grand ma.
chiuery of the universe is stopped; but all
goes on. Hence, we conclude that the Sab.
bath was made for man, and for man alone
Since God has not set a particular mark upon
any one of the days of the week, thereby
making it easy for US to distinguish it from
any and all of the other days, we conclude it
is not so much particular day that we are
required to observe as Sabbath, as one.sev.
enth of the whole time which he allots to US.
In other words, the division CT time which
God has made for US is Six days we are
given to labor for the maintenance of our
nh ue;oo1 oy;stan,o. hat tbo sore,th ma rouet
devote wholly to the worship of God. The
natural division of time is into days. This
division is caused by the revolution of the
earth on its own axis. Out of every one hum
dred and sixty-eight hours, we are required,
by the Sabbatical law, to observe twenty four
consecutive hours as Sabbath to the Lord
our God. When the day is to commence
whether at sundown, at midnight, or at sun.
rise-we are not informed. There is no posi-.
tive law on this point. National uniformity
on this point is conducive to individual piety.
Remembering that it is not so much par
ticular day of the week that God requires to
be observed as Sabbath, as one seventh of
the consecutive days of our temporal exist
ence, We proceed to remark that, under Old
Testament dispensation, the seventh day of
the week was observed as day of sacred
rest. The reason given for selecting the sew
enth day, rather than any other day of the
week, we have iu these words: "And God
blessed the seventh day, and sanct6ed it !;
because that in it he had rested from all his
work which God created and made" Gen.
2. 1t was this day which, in all proba.
bility, Cain and Abel observed, and it was
this day which the patriarchs and prophets to
the coming of Jesus of Nazareth observed.
Since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the
first day of the week has been observed as the
Sabbath in all Christian lands. Hence, it is
called the Christian Sabbath. Does any one
ask, "Have we any authority for making this
change'" We reply, "Yes." 1t will appear
to the attentive reader of the Old Testament
Scriptures, that the change was intimated by
many of the Jewish ceremonies. In regular
succession, the first day of the week follows
the seventh. In other words, if we were to
count regularly on, the first day which fol-.
lows the seventh, would be the eighth.
Now in the ritual of the Old Testament
service, we find that a very marked promi.
nence is given to the "eighth day." On the
eighth day, the children of the Jews we're
crcumcised; on the eighth day the cleansing
of lepers took place. Lev. xiv 10. On the
eighth day Aaron was consecrated High
Priest. Lev. ix:1 On the eighth day, the
burnt offering was accepted. Lev. xxii:27.
On the eight day the atonement was made for
the de6led Nazarite. Mum. vi: 10. On the
completion of Solomon's temple, the eighth
day was sanctifed. Chron. Wis And
in the days of Hezekiah, when the temple
was again sancti6ed, we find that it was on
the eighth day. 2 Chron. XXX: 17-2O. The
feast of tabernacles was on the fifteenth day
but, since seven and eight are fifteen. it was
on the eighth day. The wave offering was to
be presented on the eighth day. Leviticus
xiii: II. The year of Jubilee was the if:
tieth, and not the forty.ninth year of the
Sabbatic years. Leviticus XIV. 1t would be
wearisome to refer to all the passages of the
Old Testament in. which prominence is Civ
en- to the eighth day.
1t may be that the Jews did not fully un.
derstand why so many things were to be done
on the eighth day but when we look at these
things as interpreted in the New Testament
scriptures, we see at once that they pre6g-
ured change in the day to be observed rs