The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1881-08-09
An Interesting Sermon by
Rev. A. d. Stevens. Last
Night.
Good and Wholesome Advice
to Every Lover of Right
and Law.
A Full and Complete Report of a
Sermon of Unusual Interest
and Value to all Glasses
of People.

of People.
Below will bc found the sermon deliv-
cred by Rev. \. ii. Stevens, at the First
Cumberland Presbyterian church last night
Ii is interesting and we'll WORTHY of a care
ful peru.al.
DISSERTATION OF THE SABBATH.
Remember the sabbath day, 10 keep u holy -
Ex. .ts.
The Sabbath is Il positive institution
Ii IL the oldest and most sacred of all the
religious ordinances.
IL comes from Eden and from Sinai, en-
during the lapse III wears - no human in
siirution has ever done. The laws OF
Rome, the mistress I'll the world. who
swayed the >cep,re Of nations arr no where
To b. found in their concrete form.
But this ordinance OF God is still with
us in all its power and salutary influence.
The Sabbath was given To our first pa-
r~nts-to the entire race
;od made this day sor, OF peculiar
blessing to man, to be devoted Pre-emi-
nently To the cultivation OF our moral en-
cellence. Ii was not To be confined TO any
particular people. because if one man
needs it, ali do.
GOd did not place us under obligations
To- devote One-seventh oi our time To rest
and His service, simply for amusement or
because He could, but because il was best
for us, morally and physically, and the
man who rcpudiates this fact must suffer
the consequences.
Like the individual who violates some
law OF health, in dissipation, ruins him.
sell and entails disease upon his pOsterity.
and then grOwls about the hardness Of fate
and the badness of his luck.
The physical reasons for the observance
Oi this day should be considered apart
from the moral.
Too much work is just a. bad and as
great a sin, ~ not enough. Man and beast
must have this rest. in order to prolong life
and good health. Experience aitests the
fact that NOR. is accomplished when one
seventh ri the time is given Ia rest.
The recurrence Of day and night, and
the necessity for repOse seem TO indicate
that rest enters as much into the present
system of things as labor.
Indeed, many III the plants in the vegs-
table Kingdom have their nights and days
Just Us man. They rest in one and labor
i'm the other.
The Biblical reasons are most abundant
The number seven was sacred among the
Hebrews.
God rested ON the seventh dav.
The command to enter into the ark was
given seven days before the flood came.
Seven DAYS elapsed between the sending
forth Of the two doves.
Joseph devoted seven DAYS To the mourn
ing for his father.
The feast OF the tabernacles was OF i
weeks duration.
The Sabbatical year came every seventh
and the wear OF Jubilee at the end OF seven
times seven wears.
The christian sabbath is to be specially
honorc,l under the new dispensa,iOn, and
il Is the first day vi the week.
First. Christ arose on that day.
Second, OH that day our Lord appeared
to his apostles.
Third, on this day occurred the feast OF
PcntecOSt.
Fourth, the primitive christians observ-
I'll this day
Filth, the early fathers refer to this as
the day Sc, apart for religious worship.
But there are political and social reas-
0ns for this.
The christian sabbath is one OF the great
corner stones OF our national prosperity.
II is golden thread OF sacredness that
runs through all our civil laws.
Every lawyer and law writer must re-
cognize the fact.
History teaches Us that ii is dangerous
for any nation to abolish this day.
The communism Of France want no chris
tian sabbath. the socialism Of Germany
desecrates this day, and the nihilism OF
Russia finds in it barrier To- the lawless-
ness III Its principles.
II We of America want these evils re-
peated, strike from our laws and blot from
our midst this holy day. The world is
! slow to learn that godliness is profitable
in all things. In this school We are all
very dull students, but sometimes its les
sons are taught US by very sad and bitter
experience. No moral physical law and
| moral precept ever cOn6icted.
No critic can find any friction between
the two As we'll try to find discord in
| the revolutions OF the planets. They are
both from God, they constitute harmony.
1t is the duty of every citizen Of this
great commonwealth, it matters not to
whose church, order or fraternity he
may belong, or whether he belongs to any,
to throw his influence decidedly upon the
side Of God, humanity and the Observance
of this day. 1t is our imperative duty To-
assist the civil authorities in enforcing any
laws that look To any reformation in this
particular.
Every christian and patriot should stand
unfiinchingly by those principles, not SIM
ply for the good OF the church, but for the
good OF the nation.
As We love the land in which We live,
let us remember the sabbath day to keepit
holy.
MONEY TO LOAN