Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-04-28
unt,l the teaching Of ripe manhood

until the teaching of ripe manhood
should be in season. The command
ments which Christ enunciated and
which should be the watch word of all
known two of positive and penetra-.
tive quality, and with the essential
generative potency; Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and thy neighbour as myself.
And in this view 1t is significant
enough, that when he addressed the
well known words to the young man.
bath day Is not mentioned an omis-
sion which admits of only two explain
ations; either our Lord did omit the
commandment, as the writer OF the
gospel leads us to believe, and in this
case the natural reason of the omIs-
sion Is to be found in the arbitrary
and institutional nature Of the injunc-
ton, which is altogether foreign from
religion Of spiritual motives. or II
the narrator and not the speaker Is to
be credited with the omission, in this
case the presumption Is that the mar
rator and the documents which he
used, made the report on the SUPPOSE
ton, that our Lord could not have
given his sanction to the keeping Of a
time one of the distinctive badges OF
Judaism as opposed to the practice OF
the Christian church.
A similar remark applies to St.
Paul, in familiar passage, ! Cor 16,
e.. He certainly does not mention the
fourth commandment, and 1t Is neon
sstent, not only with the passage IN
the Colossians, but with the spirit and
scope Of his teaching. that he should
have intended. in general incidental
remark of this kind, to have given any
formal sanction to a notion which he
had in other places formally disclaim-
ed.
But what does the Mosaic law itself
say? The twentieth chapter Of Exc
dus distinctly, enough. I imagine, puts
the Decalogue as compound OF the
main points OF the social law, given
especially as an introduction to the
general body of Jewish social and GER
emonial law, so that the only ground
on which the general human obliga-
ton Of the Sabbath can be placed
must be outside Of the Mosaic cere-
monial altogether and could with the
existence Of the human race, as may
appear at first blush from the general
impression made on modern readers
by the we'll known passage, Gen. 2-8
But instead of looking on the first
chapter Of Genesis, and the three first
verses of chapter End, which belong
to 1t, as the first chapter Of an old
historical record, let us understand 1t
is no history at all, but philosophic,
theological account Of the creation OF
the world, like the parallels Of the
New Testament, and as such complete
in itself. and in this light it announces
great philosophical truths. but does
not inaugurate social institutions. 1t
is evident the principle. OF periods Of
cast closing In periods Of formation,
energy is set forth in the institution
Of the Sabbath, as 1t appears In Cen
esis and ought to be carded as giving
to the Jews the philosophical principle
upon which their peculiar institution
depended, but not as issuing form
al command to all the sons Of men for
all time.
But even suppose that the common
notion of primeval cosmic COM
mand did belong to this narrative cos
mogony, and that the observance OF
one day in seven was duty divinely
imposed on the whole human race
from the birth Of man downward. It
is plain to me from the language of
the apostle Paul. as also from the
whole tone and temper OF the New
Testament, that this institutional or
dinance and restrictive statute, for
sanctioned, at the launching OF a new
and spiritual economy must be con-
sidered as having been formally abol-
ished, or tolerated only out of kindly
consideration in those assemblies OF
the early Christian church, which
could not tear themselves free from
the restrictions Of the Jewish law UNI
der which they had been brought up.
In addition to all this 1t ought to be
considered. that for the assertion Of
Mr.. Smith, that the Sabbath was orig
inally proclaimed, as an obligatory en-
actment on the whole human race,
there is not the slightest vestige iof a
proof either inside the Mosaic history
Of the Patriarchs, or outside Of 1t. for
it is we'll known that the hebdomadal
division Of time alluded to in Genesis
was a matter that arose out of the
natural presidency Of the moon with
its four phases over the twelve months
Of the year, and even this hebdomadal
division Of time, though known to the
Egyptians who were great astronom-
ers, was not acknowledged by the
Greeks and Romans till the age Of the
empire.
This is carefully stated by Dion
Cassius the Roman historian, who
lived about 200 A. D., in an interesting
passage about the Jews In the last
part Of his account OF Pompey and the
subtugation Of Palestine. II to all this
mass OF scriptural evidence we add
the admitted fact that three whole
centuries up to time of the Council Of
Nice and the Emperor Constantine,
there Is continuous chain OF evil
dence to the effect that the Sabbatar-
ian observances were regarded as a
feature Of the Jewish as opposed to
the Christian church. We may with, all
the cognizance Of strictly logical ar
gument lay down the proposition: the
Sabbath is not a divine institution
now, by direct sanctions OF Gods law.
obligatory on any Christian. 1t Is
obligatory only on Jews.
All this. however, Mr.. Smith will
assert is argument ana he takes no
stock either in argument or history.
Now as to his ability as an exposition.
1t seems to me he does not rank very
high. since he seems not to be able to
distinguish between the assembling OF
people and the taking OF collection.
Collection Is the word used by the
verses Of the New Testament In the
passage referred to by him, l again
call upon him not to ignore history In
the Sabbath discussion, and invite him
to read the statutes Of Constantine
and Theodpsius, and he will find that
the Jewish Sabbath and the Chrhgtian