Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-04-22

htts MTs NOIldck lHs
terprets it for the
Baptists.
In pursuance of design the APPEAL has
long had in view, we present to our readers
this morning notes of two sermons delivered
on Sunday last, both OF which we commend
especially to those who have not heard them.
The first, from Rev. DR.. Boggs, has
been heard with pleasure and, no doubt,
profit by many OF our citizens, and dlnerlng
from him though we may IN some partlcu-
lars en- the subject of which he treats, yet we
are anxious that he shall be heard by the
APPEAL congregation:
.'PerDetuity Of the Sabbath"
The following are the notes of sermon
delivered in the Second Presbyterian church
on Sunday afternoon, by DIR. Boggs, pastor:
Remember the Sabbath day." etc.-[Exodus
II, Sill.
These words teach US that it is the will of
God that all men who receive the bible shall
consecrate to Him one day IN seven as sea-
son of religious rest and worship. This car
ries us far beyond the province of civil gov
eminent, which deals chiefly, if not eXclu-
sively, with the temporal welfare Of men. The
church, and not the state, is Gods witness
for this ancient and holy Institution In its
higher, spiritual aspect Doubtless the state
may feel bound to treat the day as holiday,
and provide for the public good by closing
such places of business as would work evil
or tend to disturb chr tians in their worship,
at home or in public, but this law of God
deals with man as immortal, and as account
able to God at the last day.
The moral law, consisting of the ten COM
mandments, was given to Moses and the Is
-raelites, not for themselves only, but for all
men, The law of the Sabbath is an essential
part of the ten commandments, and there
fore it is of perpetual obligation. Into the
ten commandments nothing was admitted OF
typical, ceremonial or political nature,
nothing peculiar to the Jew as such, but only
such regulations as prescribe mans duty to
God or mans duty to man. The law IN ten
CO commandments was enacted with peculiar
solemnity. The words were pro-
nounced audiby by God, and then
en9raven by Him on 40 tablets of stone to
be laid reverently away in the holy Ark, I'M
derneath the mercy seat, which was under
stood to be Gods throne, as if to Indicate
that they were the very basis of religion.
The fourth commandment belongs to the
first table of the moral law, prescribing our
immediate duties to God, and therefore the
most sacred, if comparison be admissible.
| The first commandment names the person
| whom we are TO worship, the second and
| third prescribe the mode OF worship without
images or pictures, with reverence and fear).
The fourth names special time for worship,
and especially for united worship. The rea-
sons by which this commandment are en-
forced are peculiar in no sense to the Jew
| God being the creator and therefore the Lord
of Gentle as well as Jew. And the Gentle
| appears by name In this one OF the Jew.
| The 'Stranger" is our representative in that
very law, fairly implying that we should obey
it whenever we have opportunity to know it..
| God claims the peculiar conservation of one
entire day from all men. All men may not
| be able to consecrate the same exact twenty
| four hours as a Sabbath to God. The first
day of the week and the seventh day of the
| week do not indicate the same exact twenty
| four hours by any mode of reckoning that
are now or ever have been IN use among
| men. If time be reckoned from sunset to
sunset as the Hebrews tried to do, the sunset
varies at every point upon a circle
running east and west. If In mod
ern fashion we use ''sidereal time, and
count from midnight to midnight
still midnight and moon" are not the
same for any two points on a circle of latI-
| tude. And as you move north or south from
| the equator, the periods of light and dark
ness change ut every step from twelve hours
bath law, as it stands In the decalogue, Is
free from all such complications. 1t calls for
] one-seventh part of our time. Six days of
! work and one of religious rest, is the law.
| And President Edwards, regarded in Europe
as the greatest intellect of America as well
as one of the hottest men that ever lived, long
/ ago noticed that the wording OF the law does
net, Of itself, locate the religious observance
on enc or the other of the seven days; she
seventh" has reference olly to the preceding
six days." he thinks. And l see not how
, his reasoning can be set aside. The old tes-
lament worshiper knew, indeed, to observe
the day we call Saturday. But he got his in
. formation, says the ilustrious expositor, out
side of this commandment. 1t is not ALSO
J lutely certain that he really knew the precise
twenty-four hours which followed after the
creation of man. This is not by any means
novel doctrine. It is not peculiar to any
sect or church. All churches, so far as |
know, continue to teach the ten command
ments, as the moral law, the law of God.
All churches do not happen to insert into the
forms of teaching the beautiful words of the
Episcopal service, but the fact of their so
teaching the ten commandments implies the
same thing that she expresses. As each
commandment IL read by the minister of the
Episcopal church. the people are taught to
| respond in the brief prayer, Lord have
mercy upon US and incline our hearts to keep
this law" Thus she teaches ali her chlldr9n
that the Sabbath is of perpetual obligation
otherwise that prayer wonld be a meaning
less form, piece of acting, a1d that before
Gods very face. Individuals connected with
different churches may and do reason against
the Sabbath, but they also reason against
what they have beeu taught By their own
churches. Against this Interpretation it has
been urged that it is a sign of weakness to
be going back to the old testament for au-
thority to govern men In new testament
times; that the Sabbath law was evidently
Jewish institution and that it expired with
the lavish dfaNPnE tIOn g. Nv bataVar not
reatf1rmed in the new testament is abro-
gated" We reply that we are in nowise
ashamed to be going back to the old tesla
ment. We find ourselves in the best OF
company. Christ loved to go back to it for
everything. He resisted Satan in his soil
tary temptation by words from the old tesla
ment. He expounded the old testament in
his Sermon on the Mount He silenced cav
ling Sadducees by citing the old
testament. He overwhelmed the Scribes
and Pharisees by the same authority. He
claimed that all his actions were but
fulfillment of old testament scriptures. And
then he died with the very words of the old
testament on his lips His apostles follow
his example literally and constantly. ''All
scripture is given by inspiration of God and
is profitable" they said; "for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
WOrks. NO HlnI IIOu dpOSGleS OF SUCH r0FO-
lutionary maxims as that all the old testa-
ment is abrogated unless re-enacted in the
new. Nothing of the kind. They proved
the new testament by the old, and taught
that christianity in all its parts. both law and
gospel, was only the full development of old
testament Judaism. A late distinguished
writer, DIR. Whately, archbishop of the Epis-
copal church in ireland, maintains the propo
sltion that such porh ms of the decalogue as
are not re-enacted in the new testament are
abrogated and of no binding force. The
Sabbath law falls under that head, he says,
and is therefore abrogated. Now, leave to
you to settle the question, if you can, for the
good of the doctor, how he could reconcile
his reasoning with the manifest teaching of
his venerable church and with the prayer
that he had repeated from his childhood and
taught others to repeat after the fourth COM
mandment, Lord have mercy upon US and
incline our hearts to keep this
law" But as to his argument, he
finds a basis for it in the preface
to the ten commandments-'I am the Lord
thy God which brought thee ~ out of the
land of Egypt, oIt of the house of bondage"
These words limit the application of the de-
oaln01a think m tha Ia1ue co. nant;lac