The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-04-28

IL Sabbath observance is the essence
| Of this study. Reasonable people, re-
II gardless of their religious convictions.
are ready to admit the wisdom, the
/ expediency. yes, the necessity, for a
/ Sabbath. day, n rest day once IL week.
| Whatever disputes there are on the
| subject, therefore. pertain to which
| day shall be observed and to the
| manner of the observance. When
| through Noises as Mediator, God
adopted the nation of Israel as His
| peculiar people accepting them Into
| Covenant relationship through their
| promised obedience to the law, he
| fixed for them a special day OF the
week, the seventh, to be their Sab
bath, or day of rest. This law speci.
| ally appcrtained to Palestine. Had II
| extended beyond, to encompass the
whole earth, II would have been
necessary for the law to specify which
| day should he considered the Sab
bath on the other side of the earth
where the time would. of course, be
| twcnty-four hours different
| But those of us who are not Jews
| by nature and not under that law
covnant are not bound byl1ts imita-
ton that the Sabbath should be on
the seventh day OF the week. In
decd. neither Jesus nor the Apostles
ever placed the Gospel church under
| the law covenant at all They tell us
| that those under II were the "house
| Of servants" In bondage and that we
are the house of sons" IL we stand
| fast in the liberty wherein Christ
1 hath made MS free"
| This does not mean liberty or free.
i dom to do wrong. But since Chris
/ tians are not limited to the land OF
Palestine, 1t leaves us free to follow
/ the spirit of the law rather than Its
letter. This true of the entire Ten
II Commandments, as well as of the
Fourth. The Heavenly Father does
not address His spirit-begotten chill
dren with commandments not to kill
not to, steal. etc. because such com
mandments to them would be un.
necessary Begotten of the holy spir.
IT, they love God and reverence Hin
alone, and would not think of hom-
aging images, nor of profanng the
Holy Name. nor of doing injury to g
neighbor or n brother On the con-
trary, their love for God would lead
them to honor His name, to serve His
cause. And their love for their neigh.
Dor as for themselves would prompt
them to render him service-"doinl
good unto all men as we have oppor.
tunity, especially To the household oi
faith" (Gal. 6:1O) This love, the
Apostle assures us, is the fulillmen
of the law, so far as we are con,
cerned-the fulfilling of the spirit o
the law-for ''ye are not under tn,
law (covenanD, but under (thel
grace Covenant Rom. 6:1i; Gal
3:29.
The Jews had n system of Sabbatl
I. days and sabbath years---the seventh
|, day and the & times plus / equal
i 50) flftieth day, or day of Pentecost
And they had a system of year Sab
! baths, the seventh year and the {
times plus 1 equals 50) fftietl
year, or year of Jubilee. These wer'
typical as the Apostle explains, an,
true Christians may enjoy the anti
( types Thus to us the seventh da!
represents a rest of higher char
acter than that of the lava rest o
faith, instead of physical rest. "W,
who believe do enter into His rest
"a faith rest based upon our ac
before God The fulness of this res
we attain when we receive the be
{ getting of the holy spirit And thii
was typined by the sending of thu
holy spirit on the day of Pentecost
, Similarly Israel's Sabbatc year o
Jubilee has It's anti-type in the grea
Millennial Age of Rest, tActs 3:20.'
| But we leave the discussion of thi,
for more convenient season.
The Great Teacher as a Jew wal
| as much under the obligation of ever,
feature of the law covenant az an,
other Jew. We may he sure that IN
! did not violate any feature of it, HI
was obligated to keep the letter o
II in a sense and degree which ne ha,
not commanded us, his followers. !
Is ours merely to keep the spirit o.
{ II, Hence if we were living I'm Pales
tine neither the seventh day or any
other particular day of the weel
, would be obligatory upon MS. But 4
J would be our pleasure to maintain
the spirit of the Jewish law. Actinl
along the lines of this liberty, thu
early church began to meet on Tho
first day of the week, because IL wa,
|. on that day that their Redeemei
I arose from the dead. on that day HI
! appeared to some in the upper room
! and to two on the way to Emmau'
/, and to Mary and subsequently tt
others of the disciples near the tomb
These four manifestations Iof the
Lords resurrection marked that dal
I'm special sense as a holy day tc
| the early church. They waited dur,
ing an entire week and then again
He appeared on the first day of the
week, Indeed, so far as we may
know, all of His eight appearances t.
/ His followers after His resurrection
were on the first day OF the week
No wonder then, 1t became known
to them as the Lords day. No won
der II they specially associated with
that day all the blessings of God and
q rest of faith which came to them
through the Redeemer Quite proba-
bly, those who lived in Jewish com
Il munities would ~~'inue to observe
the Sabbath day also because its gen
eral observance would make this "A
necessity But the first day of tho