The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1900-02-23

From patriotic, social, moral and re-
ligiOus considerations, the question OF
Sabbath observance Is a living and vital
Issue. Whosoever would keep this nation
foremost as representing the glory and
power of Christian civilization; whose
ever would preserve strength, purity and
health in American social life; whatsoever
would guard and elevate morals; who
soeVer would honor the God of our
fathers and the Saviour of our OVID souls
in abort, whatsoever would seek the high
est possible good of mankind in all
spheres of life-that Individual must OBJ
serve and promote the observance of the
holy Sabbath day. God, nature, reason
and existence teach that we must ''re-
member the Sabbath day, to keep ii
holy"
The word Sabbath comes from the He
brew language and means rest, to rest
from labor. Accordingly, the Sabbath
day means day OF rest; q day for rest
and worship. The seventh day of the
week was designated in the Jewish law
as the Sabbath, and It's strict observance
was commanded in the Decalogue. The
text of the evening Ia the fourth of the
ten commandments delivered by God,
through Moses, unto the Jews.
THE INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH
was coeval with the creation, for God,
after His six days work, crested on the
seventh day from all His work which He
had made. And God blessed the seventh
day and sanctifled It," thus consecrating
one seventh of time to rest and worship.
This rest day appears to have been OBJ
served with more or less regularity and
fAithfulness even before God appeared
on Sinai in the cloud, lightning and thun-
der. The commandment instructs the
Jews to remember the Sabbath day.
thus implying that they were already
familiar with it. The original idea seems
to have been that this rest day was to be
a weekly season-of rest, Joy and COM
munion with Jehovah, in celebration of
the finishing of the work of creation.
Moses, In Deuteronomy, gives a later
and special reason why the Hebrews
should observe the Sabbath, viz, as a
memorial of their deliverance from
Egyptian bondage. In this law the Isra-
elites discovered perfect harmony with
the requirements of nature; the divine
plan of labor and rest for both man and
beast; and supreme means of grace.
The observance OF the Sabbath meant
prosperity, while its dissertation meant
ruin. All secular and unnecessary work
was to be suspended on the Sabbath,
while ordinary labor was to be diligently
prosecuted during the other six days of
the week. In Leviticus the Sabbath Ia
designated as day Of special worship in
the sanctuary.
In the time of our Lord, the Sabbath
was by no means neglected but, on the
contrary, the Phariseea insisted upon q
most rigid Observance OF the letter OF the
law. Indeed, the original spirit and re-
quIrements OF the Sabbath law were not
sufficient for the Pharisees, so they added
to the requirements Of Sabbath obserV.
ance. Their religious life, however, con-
sisted mostly In outward forms, rites and
ceremonies, and carrying this to an ex.
treme, they lost all hold upon the spirit
the spiritual Significance Of the law.
They became hypocrites and the Master
had TO brand them "a such. Our Lord
taught that forms and ceremonies while
necessary TO q certain extent and Tor