The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-09-23
Tho Sacred Sabbath.


ciple. The law Of the Sabbath so strictly,
and so minutely laid down from Mount
Sinai was not made for that time merely,
although it was necessary at that time
to have it clearly set forth and framed in
"Thou-shalt-nots" for the sake of an er-
ring and ignorant people. It was after
all but the bringing to their knowledge
law of Gods universe which must nave
been as old as creation itself.
We talk much of the new dispe4sation
in these days, apd there is much said
binding upon us because we are under
grace now and not under the law. But
the law of the Sabbath was the statement
of principle, and had behind it o reason.
Science has come of late, and made PLAIN
this reason. There is in mans physical
as well as his spiritual nature need Tor
a rest and complete change one day out
of every seven. Investigation has shown
beyond doubt that not only men and
animals, but even machinery can DO better
and longer work if allowed to rest this
seventh day.
But in the day of the Pharisees the prin-
ciple was not understood. Men took the
law for o petty rule, the explicit following
of which was to count virtue to them
selves. They failed completely to grasp
the good that. was to come to them;
through the bodily refreshment, and the
uplift of the heart toward God, on the
rest day; and in the following of the let
ter of this law they forget the law OF loving
jecting that brother was healed On tho
Sabbath. as though there was virfhe IN
withholding relief to the suffering!
With the Pharisees the law had echpsed
the principle. 1t was necessary that they
should return to first principles and learn
that the Son of Man was Lord OF the
Sabbath. He who made the law was
greater than the law.
Now this story has been made TO .bee
come the conscence-ease of many Chris
tian to-day, whose actions do not ft the
and many an action that can neither be
construed into "plucking wheat" to satisfy
the actual necessities of life, nor the reach
ing out of succor to the helpless and per
ishing is made to figure as righteous IN
the Light of this chapter.
And yet Jesus did not 90 away with the
Sabbath! And He is Lord still OF the
Sabbath.
Take, for instance. the man WHO travels.
on the Sunday train or car, compelling
scores of others to work the whole day
through that the system of trains and
ears may run for his and others benefit.
He is going. maybe, to town to hear some
great preacher, who will do him much
good, he thinks. But there are preachers
at home. And he even might spend q:
profitable Sunday with his Bible and God
alone if necessity held him where church
privileges were out of reach save through
Sunday travel. It may be, though, he
feels justifed because he is going to pfeach.
and justi6es the journey on account OF
the message. Does not such one need
+o ha fhof ha 10
who can deliver that message, or that
there is absolutely no other time for MAX.
ing that journey than Gods holy day3 &
This is only one of the many questions
that arise whenever the Question of Sab.
bath observances is brought up. There
are the Sunday visits, the Sunday reading,
the Sunday papers, the SUNDAY amuse-
ments. But back of them all lies the
same principle, the breaking of q law OF
nature, which was the foundation Tor the
law Of God. ~
The man who loves God viii keep the
Sabbath holy because it is Gods plan for
His children's growth; and he VIII be
prevented from falling into the Pharisees
fault because the love he is bound to have
toward his fellow men will teach him the
true spirit of the Sabbath.
Listen to the prophets picture. II is,
not the dismal Puritanical Sabbath: neither
is it in the least our present worldly one:
"If thou turn away tnv foot from the
Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My
holy day; and call the SaDoath a delight,
the holy of the Lord! honorable. and shalt
honor Him, not doing thine own ways,. not
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking
thine own words; then shall thou delight
thyself in the Lord; and will cause thee
to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob,
hath spoken it"-Grace Livingston Hill,
in the New York Mail and Express.