“And in their days, even of those kings, the God of heaven shall set up A KINGDOM which shall never perish, and A DOMINION that shall not be left to another people. It shall grind to powder and bring to an end all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever.”—DANIEL.

JOHN THOMAS, Editor. NEW YORK, AUGUST, 1853—

Volume 3—No. 8

The following report is an outline of one of a series of lectures being delivered at Convention Hall, 179 Wooster Street, by the editor of this paper. The lectures which have been already extemporised have treated of “The Beginning;” of the “Elohim;” of “the Earth in its pre-Adamic state;” “the Spirit of God;” the antecedence of spirit to matter; the “Heavens and the Earth;” the creation-days not geological periods; the non-original creation of the sun, moon, and stars on the Fourth Day; the creation of Man in the “image and likeness” of the Elohim; Man’s original dominion; the Four States revealed in the Bible; &c. &c.

The lecture now presented to the reader, is upon that theologico-political “vexed question,” the Sabbath. The lecturer considers that if the doctrine of the Sabbath as it is exhibited in the Holy Scriptures were understood, there would be an end to all Sabbatarian disputes, that Sabbath-desecration denunciations would be withheld, and much valuable time within and without the halls of legislation would be saved, both in America and Britain. He states that in its origin the Sabbath was not a religious institution. It was Paradisaic, but not religious. He hoped the audience would not misunderstand him in this. He thought they would not when they understood the sense in which he used the word “religious.” Religion is a Latin noun converted into an English one by the addition of the letter “n.” Religio may be derived from the verb “ligo,” to close up by binding, as vulnera veste ligare; and the particle re, implying that the thing bound up had once been united, but being divided needed to be made one again. This might not be the pagan import of the noun, but it was unquestionably the scriptural. The paradisaic was a state of union between God and man, which union sin, “the transgression of law,” divided. Hence, religion is that remedy or system of things, divinely appointed for closing up the breach, and restoring paradisaic harmony upon the earth. As the Sabbath, therefore, was instituted before “sin entered into the world by one man,” it is evident that it was no part of the sin-remedy, and consequently not a religious institution.

Shavbath, called “Sabbath” in our tongue, signifies cessation, resting, or time of rest, from the verb shahvath, he ceased; hence the phrase, eth-yom hasshavbath, the resting or sabbath day. Moses says that this day was “the seventh day,” and that it terminated the period during which the Elohim by the Spirit of the Invisible were occupied in fitting up the earth as a dwelling-place for the animal races. The work being ended on Friday night, shahvath, he ceased, the Spirit ceased or refrained from creating and making on Saturday. Hence the reason given for blessing and sanctifying the seventh day—“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” He did not rest in the sense of being tired; for “the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary:” but he simply assumed inactivity, or ceased his demiurgic operations. What the words of blessing were we cannot tell, because they are not recorded. We may, however, infer that they were words of promise to man for whom the sabbath was made; and judging from subsequent revelation, we may conclude that the words of sanctification and blessing predicted a state of things upon the earth in the enjoyment of which all Adam’s posterity approved of God should “be as the gods,” holy, happy, and in perfect harmony with himself.

To sanctify is to make holy. This is the prerogative of Deity. Holiness is not an essential quality of time, space, or matter, so that if either of these is made holy, it must be by virtue of its being constituted such. Man, originally “upright,” has lost his integrity, and is defiled. He is therefore essentially the opposite of holiness; and cannot therefore confer upon things an attribute of which he is himself destitute. To make things holy is to separate them from a common to a special use according to divine appointment. Men cannot therefore of their own notions make ground, buildings, persons, times, seasons, and days, holy. They may agree among themselves to call cemeteries, churches, and days, holy; and can inflict penalties for the “desecration” of such things; but the violation of their laws with respect to these, lowers no man in the estimation of God. Adam did not sanctify the seventh day. If he had made the attempt he would have failed, not knowing in what an acceptable sanctification would consist; and this is precisely the difficulty in which his posterity are involved—they have a vague idea the day should be kept holy, but they know not how to do it, much less do they know how to make it so. God made it holy by his absolute authority. He made it holy for man’s benefit; for the Lord of the sabbath has so declared, saying, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.”

The lecturer proceeds to remark, that beyond an allusion to the division of time into periods of seven days in the account of Noah’s sending forth the dove from the ark, nothing more is said about the seventh day than what is contained in Genesis 2: 2-3, until a miracle was wrought to prevent its desecration, in giving a double quantity of manna on Friday and none on Saturday; and until its observance was enacted by a law accepted by the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The church and state of this renowned people was one and indivisible, and grafted upon the stock, whose roots were “the Foundation of the World.” They were therefore told to “remember the resting-day, to keep it holy.” In what way it was to be kept holy is defined in the sabbath-law. It consisted in not doing any work on the seventh day. There was no other way of keeping it holy. The Son of Man, who is Lord of the sabbath, taught that it was “lawful to do good on the sabbath day;” but then for an Israelite to kindle a fire, or pick up sticks, or buy and sell, or speak his own words, or do any kind of work, or for any other member of his household, stranger, or any thing that was his, to work and pursue the ordinary avocations of the previous six days, was doing evil and not good, for the simple reason that God had forbidden it. To observe the seventh day law in letter and spirit was to keep it holy; but to violate it in one particular was to be as much guilty unto death as if no regard were paid to the day at all; for the transgressor came under the sentence, which extended to the violation of the Mosaic law, in whole or part, namely, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” Besides this total abstinence from work, “two lambs of the first year, without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and a drink offering of strong wine to be poured unto the Lord,” were to be offered as the burnt-offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt-offering, and its drink offering. These sabbath-offerings, like all others, were only acceptable from the Altar and from the Holy Place of the tabernacle and temple. It is clear, therefore, from the requirements of the law, that not only do the pious among the Gentiles not keep the sabbath, but neither can they, nor the Israelites, however zealous for its observance.

But saith the lecturer, the observance of the seventh day was only enjoined upon those who were “under law” to God; not upon those who were “without law;” that is, non-Israelitish nations. The sabbath was “a sign” between the God of Israel and that people; and signified good things to come upon them, and through them upon the rest of mankind, when “the times of the Gentiles” should be fulfilled. This appears from the words of Jehovah to Israel by Moses his faithful servant in all his house. “Verily,” saith he, “my sabbaths shall ye keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations: that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth work on the Sabbath-day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”

That the observance of the seventh day was given exclusively to the house of Israel appears from the reason assigned for imposing it upon them. “Remember,” saith Moses, “that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah, thy God, brought thee out thence with a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm: therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” When they were slaves in Egypt they served a hard bondage to Pharaoh, having no rest to their souls; but after being “baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,” the nation rested from its work, and in anticipation of its rest under Joshua, kept the Sign-Sabbath in the wilderness. The Egyptian servitude, the national baptism into Moses, the wilderness-cessation from the works of slavery, and the Joshua-rest in Palestine, were, however, examples only, first, of things spiritual in relation to baptised believers of the gospel of the kingdom; anticipative, secondly, of things national on a grander scale, when, the world having passed through its MILLENNARY WORKING DAYS of six thousand years from its foundation, the Twelve Tribes and the Nations of the Earth, ceasing from their own works in which they serve their own lusts, and the tyrants who oppress them in mind, body, and estate, shall, by a mighty hand, and out-stretched arm, be constitutionally inducted into Abraham and his Seed, the Christ, and keep the DIVINE SABBATISM, the rest that remains for Israel in their own land under their glorious and immortal rulers; and for the nations under their own vines and fig-trees, in all the Day of Christ, the Millennary Sabbath Day of a thousand years, in which God and men will cease from their works, and be refreshed.

The present dispersion of Israel is the penalty for not keeping holy the seventh day in its true significancy. For if they had turned away their foot from the Sabbath, from doing their pleasure on God’s holy day, and called the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and had honoured him, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, nor speaking their own words: “then,” saith Jehovah, “shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord: and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee, O Israel, with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Thus testifies Isaiah; and the testimony of Jeremiah is like it, only with a threatening of the consequences to the nation if it did not keep the day. “It shall come to pass if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain for ever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise. But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” That fire has been twice kindled unquenchably, once by Nebuchadnezzar, and once by Titus: and on both occasions, because they regarded not the Sabbath of the Lord in the way that pleased him. At the Assyrian overthrow of their commonwealth they defiled the Sign-Sabbath; and at the Roman, they refused to hallow it in its spiritual signification, by ceasing from their own works in no longer serving sin in the lusts thereof, and delighting in the Lord whom Jehovah had sent them as an ambassador of peace and glory to the nation—the Angel of the great Sabbatic Covenant.

“The law,” which is a phrase expressive of the Mosaic institutions in the aggregate, being “the representation of the knowledge and the truth,” and “the pattern of things in the heavens,” the sabbath, which, being incorporated into it, is a part thereof, is also “a shadow of things to come.” The sign-sabbath is a “rudiment” or “element of the world;” and therefore classed among “the weak and beggarly elements” to which the Galatian christians wished again to be in bondage. In writing to the Colossians the apostle says, “Let no man judge you in respect of a holy day, or of the sabbath: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body (casting the shadow) is of Christ.” Jesus rested on the seventh day in the silence of the tomb from all his work pertaining to his offering for sin; and on “the eighth day,” commonly called Sunday, or the first of the week, arose as the Light of the new creation, as a strong man to run a race. The mystery of the Sabbath was thus laid substantially in him. The sabbath, or “rest remaining to the people of God,” was proclaimed in his name to the Jew first, and afterwards to the Greek. All believers, who desired to enter into that rest, were commanded to “cease from their own works, as God did from his;” in other words, to sabbatise from sin, by being “buried with him by baptism into death” to sin; “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so they also should walk in newness of life.” This, saith the lecturer, is the only way Jew or Gentile can keep the sabbath, so long as the commonwealth of Israel, and the dwelling place of David, are in ruins, and trodden under foot of the worst of the heathen, as at this day.

But the seventh day was only one of the sabbaths of the law. To mention no others, the eighth day was also a sabbath. The first and eighth days of the feast of ingathering, were sabbaths. This feast was representative of the future ingathering of the Twelve Tribes into their own land; and of the gathering of the Saints, the palm-bearers, with them unto Messiah their king, when both classes shall rejoice before the Lord. They will then celebrate the eighth day as the sabbath day of the Age to Come instead of the seventh, as it is written in Ezekiel, saying, “Seven days shall they purge the altar, and purify it, and the priests shall consecrate themselves. And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day (Sunday) and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings, O Israel; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.” This testimony relates to the order of things in the kingdom of Israel under Messiah the Prince during the Millennium. Israel and the nations will then keep the Eighth-day, instead of the Seventh-day, Sabbath, as under Moses. The gospel is glad tidings concerning that kingdom and age; and those who believe it, and have obeyed it, being therefore the heirs of its kingdom and glory, sabbatise by ceasing from sin, and rejoicing in their present eighth-day probation in hope of entering God’s millennial rest by a resurrection to the life of the age to die no more.

There are two crotchets among the people respecting the sabbath which deserve a passing notice in conclusion of the subject. The one is that the seventh day, or Saturday, should be kept holy according to the Mosaic law; and the other is that Sunday should be observed as the Jewish sabbath. The adherents of the former, are Israelites, and Gentile Sabbatarians; while those of the latter, are the pious who maintain that the seventh day observance was changed for the keeping holy of the eighth according to the sabbath law. Both these classes are great sticklers for keeping holy their sabbath days after Moses’ prescription; yet, it is manifest from what has gone before, that they have no scriptural claims to the approbation of the Lord for so doing. If Sabbatarians would keep the seventh day holy, they must keep it according to the law thereof. They have no right to dispense with what suits them not, and to retain the rest. Neither God nor Moses have given them this license. In lighting fires, making up beds, cooking, using their horses, &c., and preaching sermons, which is “speaking their own words,” certainly not the Lord’s, they break the sabbath and defile it, as much as any anti-sabbatarian, who performs double work on Saturday that he may lose as little as possible by resting from his labour on the following day. Such keeping of the Sabbath in the light of Moses’ law, is truly wonderful, and only parallelled by the others who impose on God the pretension of keeping his sabbath by abolishing the celebration of the seventh day, and observing Sunday after their own taste and convenience. When God says, “Keep holy the seventh day, O Israel, by resting from every kind of work, and offering the sacrifices of the law;” he does not mean, “Keep holy the first or eighth day, O Gentiles, by resting according to your views of profit or convenience.” Yet, practically, such is the construction put upon his words by those, who would bind heavy burdens upon men’s shoulders, grievous to be borne, but would be the last to help them to endure. A rest of one day in seven is an excellent provision for labouring, and business men; and if they could be persuaded to use it aright, it would be inestimable. They cannot, however, keep Sunday to the Lord as his day, while they remain disobedient to the “one faith.” They must believe and obey the gospel, and then “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and in prayers.” When such assemble on the First Day for the worship of the Father in spirit and in truth; and to honour the Son even as they honour him, showing forth his death, and memorialising his resurrection, in hope of his appearing in his kingdom and glory, ceasing from their own works, and doing the works of God; they observe the Lord’s day in the only way acceptable to Him who seeketh only such to worship him as are intelligent in the truth.

Having brought the subject to this point, the following recapitulation is presented, which concludes this exposition of the Bible doctrine of the Sabbath. I have shown,

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