The Savannah morning news., 1901-02-11
THE TWO SABBATHS
THAT OF THE JEW AND THAT OF
THE CHRISTIAN DISCUSSED.
DR.. JORDAN ON OBSERVANCE.
DECLARED THE SABBATH is NOT
MANS TO DEFILE AND ABUSE.


of Rest I'm Sevcn-The Example
and the Mandate of God Are ofTer-
ed for Mans Guidnnce-ShOuId BE
No Legislation for Religious Oh
servance of the sabbath, but Leg
isIation should BE for Sanitary,
Moral and Intellectual Reasons.
All Employers should Give EN-
pIOyes IA Day of Rest.
The observance of the Sabbath was the
theme of the sermon by the pastor, Rev.
DIR. John d. Jordan. at the First Baptist
Church last night. The congregation was
large, the announcement of the subject
upon which Dr. Jordan spoke having
drawn many who ordinarily attend other
churches.
1.-The Sabbath: The Jewish Sabbath and
the Christian Sabbath" was the way the
pastor announced his subject. to which
he led up by showing that the Sabbath
is not mans to be abused, but rather
Gods, to be spent by man in a way that
does not embrace those into which many
have fallen.
One would call a man thief who used
something that did not belong to him. the
pastor said and no less attractive a term
should be employed in speaking of one
who abuses the Sabbath a day given to
man by God, not to be abused, but to be
observed with credit and profit to himself
and honor and glory to God No one
should proclaim that the Sabbath was
made for man and that man was not made
for the Sabbath, in support of the con-
tention that the day is not to be kept, but
to be abused.
First, the pastor said, he would con-
slider the Sabbath from neither the Jew
ism nor the Christian point of view
More than LOCO years before there were
Jews, the speaker declared, there was
a Sabbath, and he read the passage in
Genesis wherein it is shown that the
Lord blessed the seventh day and hal
lowed it, God made the Sabbath for
man, and knew what was best for him.
as apart from a religious consideration,
man profits mentally, morally and ply
sically from an observance of the Sab
bath. The day means rest, and only
sin and greed of gain, said the pastor,
enter in to rob a man of his Sabbath
the seventh day and sanctified and set
it apart, thus, in the beginning, becom-
ing the friend of the laboring man, and
giving an institution through which a
man might rest the seventh day and be
the healthier, the stronger and the bet
ter prepared to work the six days. 1t is
murder and suicide to a mans own men
tai, physical and moral best interests
to sacrifice the day of rest.
he lob ta1
morialized a perfect and finished creation,
and since the creation there has been no
change in the obligation to observe 1t.
He who violates 1t must pay the penalty
in his own body, his own heart and his
own soul. 1t was some 1000 years after
the institution of the Sabbath that GOO
chose a people for His own, and later
gave them a code of laws that was best
for them to keep and indispensable for
them to keep if they were to be clean
religious, unsullied. pure and undefiled by
that corruption that would be sure to fol-
low its infraction, and in this code was
embodied a law that demands the OBJ
servance of the Sabbath.
Jerusalem was destroyed because of
trading and traffic on the Sabbath Other
nations corrupted the Jews by their in
fuence. claiming that, though the Jews
might be, they were in no sense obligated
to observe the Sabbath, and insisting up
on carrying on their traffic. Any people
become weak that forget to keep the
Sabbath for they forget to honor God, be-
coming corrupt and burying themselves
in the shame of their corruption.
The Jewish Sabbath is the seventh day
of the week, while that of the Christians
is the first, a chance for which. the pastor
said, no law other than precedent is to
be found. Christ and His followers OBJ
served the first day, and so should Chris
tians that follow Him. The seventh day
is observed in commemoration of the great
fact of the creation, and the first is to
memorabilia the truth of the risen Lord
and finished salvation.
Dr. Jordan declared that he is not in
favor of legislating for the Sabbath as
religious institution, for one cannot legis-
late religion into a man. but he is in
favor of legisating for its observance for
sanitary, moral and intellectual reasons.
for man who does not observe Sab
bath day cannot be clean man, an up
right man or an intellectual man. Per-
suason, and not legislation, should be en-
ployed to further the cause of religion and
the religious observance of the Sabbath |
which should be kept for the same rea-
son, obedience to the law of God that
would prevent one from being an adul- |
terer, a thief or a murderer.
No Puritanism enters into the pastors |
conception of the proper observance of |
tine Sabbath. involving going to church |
and doing penance by sitting upon hard |
and uncomfortable benches, and that
severe and unbending demeanor that |
would make the day unattractive to |
many. but he insists that the Sabbath |
should not be ''open" and riotous, but |
that it should be kept for the sake OF |
rest of mind and body, and the fulfill |
ment of the divine injunction. The pas
tor closed by exhorting all who have
men in their employ to see that they |
have Sunday a day of rest, or If in
a business that demands labor on Sun
day that a sufficiently large force be |
employed to give every man one day of |
the seven for rest and recreation. 1t |
is robbery. murder and suicide, DR.. Jor-
dan said. for an employer to deny this
to his employees.