The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-11-10
For the Central Presbyterian
THE SABBATH.

The injunction, Remember the Sab
bath day to keep it holy" grows, if pos
sible, more and more imperative. 1t is
here that the friends of truth in this
vast country have had committed to
them a mighty trust Let, therefore, the
individual, the household, and the
church cherish the Sabbath Let them
by example, as well as through precept,
cultivate in the minds of the people a re-
spect for the day A contrary course in
our own land, as elsewhere will issue in
general apathy and spiritual leanness.
For it is the opinion of widely known
and sagacious pastors, who have re-
Gently travelled extensively in Europe,
that to the dissertation of the " first day
of the week" more than to all other oc-
casions, can be traced the unbelief and
free-thinking which prevail on the con-
tinent.
The Sabbath was appointed to man in
Eden, and the reason assigned for its OBJ
servance to our first parents, will con-
tinue in force to the end of the world
But if the creature, amid the bloom and
purity of the garden, in his unfallen
state, needed a rest-a season for eleva-
ting contemplation, how much greater,
in this respect, are the needs of the
children of men who are now born to
toll, WEAKNESS, and sorrow, Gas the
sparks fly upward" Hence in such
writers as Plato, Hesiod, Homer, CALI
machus, Porphyry, Theophilus, Lucian,
Eusebius, and Clemens Alexandrinus,
we get traces of a Seventh day rest
even among the heather. Here then,
as elsewhere, we find that the deep, con-
scious yearnings of the soul yield testi-
mony for the Scriptures, while the per-
feet provision for mans physical and
spiritual wants, contained in the Bible,
demonstrates most clearly that the au-
thor of that Book" has searched us and
known s-"Knows our down sitting
and our uprising and understands our
thoughts. afar off.
With the Hebrew Sabbath is associated
the idea of repose and peaceful quiet,
but the Christian Rest" is a season of
activity and holy work in the Master
service. Prophets caught a glimpse OF
this when they foretold that /" from one
Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come
to worship before God" The apostle com
mands that the disciples should not
forsake the assembling of themselves to-
gether as the manner of some is.
Nations never rise above their gods.
For there is an intimate and indissolu-
BILE relation between the genius of gov
eminent and the faith of the people
governed. The religion of any country,
limits and conditions it's progress
China, for instance, accepted the teach
ings of Confucius as final, and hence the
Chinese have made no perceptible advance
in knowledge for two thousand years
For their chief teacher being a mere
man, when his as-necessarily i'm
perfect-were absorbed, there came a
pause. At the present moment, when
other nations 90 forward, the scholars
and literary men Of China confess to the
impossibility of transcending Confucius
in any particular The Chinese, there
fore, under existing circumstances, are
compelled to stand still. Even Greece
refrigerated irretrievably, when human
philosophy had done its utmost, and the
faith Of her great men beckoned nc
higher. The Jew, Of all the peoples
still preserves, after centuries of dis
persion, the badges of nationality, and
this unparalleled fact must be explained
solely upon the ground that the weary
footed wanderer," even in his desola.
tions, remembers the former things oil
old" These children Of Abraham, al
though misiRterpreting the prophets