The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-02

the New Testament) ts the day ordain-
ed by Christ's inspired Apostles, short
ly after His Ascension as the Christian
day for worship. and has been so OBJ
since. The Sabbath was intended for
rest solely. and was used for worship
only as an afterthought. The Lords
Day was primarily and chiefly for wor-
ship, and rest was only incidental. 1t
is quite true vast numbers OF Chris
tians DO not take this view OF the
Lords Day. On the contrary, they
seem to regard the Lords Day. (com-
monty called Sunday. as a day Of 'est
merely, and not intended for worship
at all. as they dc not go to church to
worship their Heavenly Fatheri In
this respect they may be faithful Jews.
tc be sure Certainly, they are any.
thing but faithful Christians!
Not the Same.
Again. We SHOULD never speak of
Sunday. or the Lords Day. as the Sab
bath. 1t IL nothing OF the sort No
where does the New Testament fdenti-
fy the two. 1t never alludes to them
as IL they were the same institution,
but having only different names. Not
bath to any other day but Saturday. the
Jewish weekly day of rest. It always
calls the Christian day Of worship eth
er 1.-The first day of the week" or "the
Lords Day" I need hardly remind
you that what the Savior says about
the Sabbath applies to the seventh day
of the week alone. 1t has nothing
whatever to do with with "the frst day
of the week." or "the Lords Day" Nor
could 1t possibly have, for 1t did not De-
gin to be observed until after His AS
cension. 1t was chosen by His Apos-
ties, we may be sure. 20 commemorate
His Resurrection. which took place on
a Il - 2nk
bath commentaries the "rest' OF God
after the Creation; or the emancipation
of the children of Israel from Egypt.
we cannot be sure which. The sum of
the whole matter is simply this: The
two days are not the same. either IN
origin chat which they commemorate)
or in purpose (that which Is their OBJ
ject, intent). Furthermore the prin-
ciple upon which our Sunday obliga-
ton rests is infinitely higher than that
of the Sabbath, which, in no sense, IL
a model for Sunday. The Sabbath of
the Fourth Commandment was a holi>
day simply, and not a holy day at ALL
1t was day of rest merely. To keep
hold to the Lord" means lin Hebrew,
simply to keep set apart, separate. but
not in q sacred or religious sense. The
Fourth Commandment I says nothing
about the observance Of the Sabbath
except In the way of exemption from
work. It was to be kept holy or set
apart" from the other six days only
by not working on that day.
1t 10 a matter Of common observa-
ton that many Christians utterly fail
to realize the full meaning. purpose,
idea. spirit, of Sunday. This il shown
by the all too frequent practice Of
calling in "the sabbath. OF course,
the explanation at once suggests itself
to you. 1t is one of the unconscious
-
call, was once exceedingly powerful In
the land Of our ancestors and likewise
in our own country. A study of Puri.
tanism in this connection Is both inter-
esting and Instructive For instance. II
was a peculiar characteristic of the
Puritans to exalt the Old Testament
above the New. Why, they actually
gave their children names, (absurd az
It was). from the Old Testament exclu-
sively, fancyinR there was a special
virtue In such names! Seemingly, they
looked upon Moses as their leader rath-
er than Christ! They constantly took
Old Testament precedents as their rule
of action. making them. indeed, mod
els binding upon Christians. In a word.
preposterous as II was, they sought to
reconstruct and fashion human society
along Old Testament lines! Hence. we
are not at all surprised they should
make /the Jewish Sabbath the rule for
the Christian conscience, first, however.
carefully leaving out everything Joyous
in 1t. and imposing With harsh penal
ties. everything severeI
Ofigin "a Remote.
We do not know. with absolute &C.
curacy, the origin OF one days rest in
seven Apparently. II was observed be-
fore the time of Moses. The nrst ref
eYence to II in the Bible IL purely tn
cidental. OF course, you readily recall
II. The children of Israel had recent
ly escaped from the slavery of Egypt.
They were wandering in the wilderness
where mamma falls from Heaven for
their food. They were hidden to gather
Just enough for each days needs. On
the sixth day. however. (which cores
ponds to our Friday, they were told
to gather suh1cient for the next LAY
also because that was 1.-THE Sabbath OF
| the Lord your God" This 10 probably
an allusion to the resting" OF God on
! the seventh day. latter the Creation).
as we ana recorded in the first chapter
of Genesis. Up to this time the Fourth
Comma ndment had not been given and
was not given until later n is evi.
dent the Fourth Commandsnt aid not
originate the Sabbath. What It did
was TO make II the law for Gods Chos-
ZEN People, and for them only.
| Now. as to the origin and history o.
! . S.As. YEns NafloA GssAAaU