Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-03-08

week you keep yourselves idle ,an0
think this Is piety not understanding
for what purpose the Sabbath was pre-
scribed to you; abstaining in the same
way from unleavened bread, you i'm
agine you are fulfilling the will Of God.
"But in all these things the Lord
God, whom we worship. hath no pleas
ure But II any among you is a perjur-
ed person, or purloiner, let him re-
pent; this cessation from evil works
is the Sabbath and true Sabbath Of
God.
1--WE also. O Jew, would have observ-
ed Internationally this fleshly circum-
cision Of yours, and those Sabbaths,
and these feasts, IL we had not known
on what account they were imposed
upon you, viz: on account Of your in
EQUITIES and on account of the hard
ness OF your hearts.
CAS- therefore with Abraham COM
menced circumcision, and with Moses
Sabbath and offerings and feast days.
and you on account OF the hardness of
your hearts, enjoined us to observe
these things, so according to the coun-i
Gil of the fathers, all these things were.
ordained to cease by the advent of his
son. Of the stock of Abraham, Of the
tribe of Judah, born Of a virgin, even
Christ, the Son Of God, who as the
eternal law and the new covenant was
proclaimed In your own prophetic
books. Our text witness is Eusebus,,
the we'll known church historian, con-
temporary and biographer Of Constan-i
tine, who first publicly disowned Greek
and Roman idolatry, thus indicating a
new starting point In the moral history
Of the human race"
In his ecclesiastical history (14) is
found the following characteristic and
highly interesting passage:
"Whosoever will say that all the
righteous men that lived from Abra-.
ham backwards to the first man, were
If not in name, yet in deed, Christian,
will not be far from the truth; for the
name of Christian signifies nothing
more than person who through the
teaching of Christ is distinguished for
ber-mindedness and righteousness
and order and moral courage and piety
and the confession of one true God,
who Is above ALL and all these virtues
the early patriarths practiced no less
than me. But of the circumcision OF
the body they knew nothing; as Meth
er do we of Sabbath observance, also
they were ignorant even as we, nor
had they any care Of meats, clean or
unclean, or any such things; all of
which were introduced afterwards by
Moses and ordered to be observed as
typical OF something better; whence It
comes to pass that among us Chris.
tians no such observances are at all
known.
1t now remains only to state as a
historical fact in what manner and to
what extent the Roman emperors gave
a civil sanction to the celebration OF
the Christian Lords day. An institu
ton like the Jewish Sabbath among all
classes of society implying an absti-
hence from business at certain recur-
rent periods. could not exist without a
common religious conviction posses
sing the whole community and assert
ing itself by penalties when the COM
mon religion was countervened. In
other words. regularly and strictly
kept Sabbath or day of rest is impOs-
sible except as state ordinance. 1t
not only therefore, did not exist in the
Christian church before the conversion
OF Constantine, but could not exist.
Nine-tenths of the early Christian con-
then regulated, were engaged in some
sort of obligatory work, both on the
Saturday and the Sunday; and there
fore their Lords day observance could
not exist in a Judaical abstinencs
from business on that day, but simply
in using the leisure hours Of the day
for a congregational meeting, in the
same way as prayer meetings and mis-
sionary meetings are often held among
ourselves on the evenings of the week
days when the shops and counting
houses are shut. The Lords day to-
the Christians of the first three cen.
turtles was in no sense a day OF rest,
or Sabbathizing, but only a day OF
worship and fraternal recognition.
This, however, was manifestly far
from satisfactory state Of things and
enc of the first favors therefore that
acknowledged Christianity had to ask
from the civil ruler was that such an
interruption of public business might
take place on the Sunday that devout.
ly disposed Christian persons might
have an opportunity OF assembling to.
gether for religious purposes without
the distraction and WEAKNESS which
the occupation of every day life brings
along with it, A representation Of this
kind mentioned was doubtless a wise
which called forth the enactment Of
the imperial convert. Justinian, in ia
vor Of Sabbath observance so lauded
by his ecclesiastical biographer.
The exception made by the emperor
in favor of agricultural work OF the
kind mentioned was doubtless a wise
exception, especially in any human
and inclement part of the world; as
the Sabbath was made for man and
not man for the Sabbath.
The only other imperial edict nee.
essary to mention is that Of Theodo-
sius, a much more thorough.going re-
ligious reformer than Constantine. for
two status exist in his code in which
he declares it a sacrilege for any
person to carry on law suits and
business Of any kind on Sunday.
or the Lords day, and another
specially in favor Of the Jews to the