The Savannah morning news., 1901-03-04
REMEMBER THE SABBATH.
REV. Alexander Henry's Sermon at
the Park New-Church

S'' ~AlSAehuSE henFy preached at the
Park New Church yesterday morning on
Sabbath Observance. He took as his
text Remember the Sabbath Day to
Keep 1t Holy"
The question of Sabbath observance"
said Mr.. Henry. always will be living,
burning question. But man will never
fully agree as to how the Christian Sab
bath ought to be literally observed, as to
what things, permissible on other days
OF the week. should be refrained from on
the first day, which by common consent
we call and think of as the Lords Day
However much opinions as to its outward
observance may differ, opinions formed
from reading and understanding only the
letter of the Word. the truth of Script
ure underneath the letter is as I'M
changeable as the Lord Himself, who is
the same yesterday, to-day and forever.
While this truth is ever the same,
mans understanding of it will be clearer
or more obscure according as they dwell
in the spirit or rest in the letter of Gods
Word. We can take the commandment
of the Decalogue beginning Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy" and
prove from it's letter that few, if any.
Christians nowadays literally obey the
commandment. But the commandment
is none the less as living to-day as ever.
1t is dead letter only as we rest in and
understand it literally, and see only
its literal application. 1 do not main
re
1t is true of all the commandments of
the Decalogue that they have for all men
and for all times a literal application.
They are rules of external conduct and
temporal life as well as principles of spir-
itual life. But the use of commandment
and precept, statute and ordinance as q
rule of external conduct varies with the
! changing needs and conditions of men.
The Jewish Church of old observed the
Sabbath in way which to the Christian
| Church became a dead letter. But the
ceremonial laws which they observed are
the living Word of God, because they
contain and symbolic eternal principles
of spiritual life. We value them as type
and SYMBOL and as such one jot or little
of them shall not pass away until we fill
them full of spiritual meaning. "All Scrip
ture." Paul says, lis od-breathed," and
in another place he says, who also Ge-
| ferring to Cod hath made us able min
| listers of the New Testament; not
of the letter. but of the spirit:
for the letter killeth, but the spirit
| (the eternal truth in the letter. giveth
life. Let us get then, clear understand
| ing of the spirit of this commandment,
and we can the better see how in the
| case of each of us, the letter ought to be
| obeyed.
1T brings to mind the account of the
creation in the first chapter of Genesis.
| That story is the picture of the recrea-
| ton of the SOUL or of regenera ton. The
| lesson is this; That man, in the order of
| his creation, is ushered upon the plane
of earth in mental darkness and great
| vividness of soul 1t is the Lords pur-
| pose that he shall be elevated from this
condition, and that he shall be recreated
| into the divine image and likeness. He
has part in this himself. Six days shalt
thou labor and do all thy work The
Lord gives the truth. but man must
| nationally receive it. The Lord presents
the good, but man must voluntarily do it,
The Lord sends love to his heart, but man
must love it out to his fellowmen.
! The Lord clothes his understanding
| with wisdom, but he must do his deeds
l-of love with the wise insight that wisdom
! gives. The Lord operates for mans re-
I
! Lord sends light to the chambers of his
maid, he must throw open the windows
! of the soul, that the light may flow
| in. If the Lord sends spiritual warmth,
| he must stand in the presence of his
shining and not lose it's benefit by plung-
| ing into the fogs and shadows of SELF
where the benignant sun cannot reach"
THE six days OF work corresponding
| to the six days of creation, picture to
4 lie he cta n iph
man passes in the progressive regenera-
| ton of his soul from the dawning of the
| truth about this or that evil in the heart
| as well as it's opposite good. through
| various states, fully and beautifully rep
resented in the story of the six days of
creation, to the state in which he enters
| upon rest from temptation and conflict
1t is the Sabbath to his soul. 1t is rest.
| 1t is peace. 1t is not inactivity Rest does
not mean idleness. Peace does not
require us to sit with folded hands
We will not retire to caves, away from
the companionship of men to contemplate
| the glory of God. Indeed, the consecrat-
| ed, the sanctified man is the
most inquiring, the most active,
the most Jealous, the most
persevering Of all. But he labors for
good. He loves his neighbor as himself
The Lord does not cease from activity
| making us into His image and likeness
| This rest, then, may mean greater ac-
tivity, but it is activity free from oppo-
sition, from discord and consequent toll
| and struggle. 1t is preceded by labor,
| conflict, struggle. because the flesh the
| selfish heart. contends against the spirit
| of unseffish love- which can flow only in
| wise channels, in channels of truth, Of
| spiritual law. This Sabbath is a con-
| stantly recurring, a periodical experience
| of the regenerating man. 1t is the peace
| that follows conflict against any known
sin, whether it be the outward act or the
Unborn or acquired tendency to commit
| the act.
Now it is true of every evil. selfish and
| false disposition of heart and mind, of
which we become conscious by examining
ourselves in the light of eternal truth,
that first we see and acknowledge the
| evil, and then with the Lords help we
| heoin and continue the struggle against