Five discourses on the Sabbath : preached at Durham, N. Y.

Front matter

t [SMITHSONIAS DEPOSIT.] f

I UNITED STATES OF AMmCA. t

FIVE

Preface

These Discourses were first published in 1813. They originated in a request, made to the author by persons who were then forming associations for the purpose of suppressing certain prevalent immoralities, to furnish them with a tract which would be calculated to aid them in making a stand against the profanation of the sabbath; which was one of those immoralities the suppression of which they felt themselves under obligation to attempt. Having no tract in his possession adapted to this exigence, nor knowing where such a one could be found, he concluded to attempt to prepare one himself. By conversing with some of those friends of the sabbath, who were desirous of promoting its better observance, he learned that one great obstacle to their success arose from the different sentiments which were entertained, even among believers in the inspiration of the scriptures, on the subject of sabbath sanctification and profanation, and concerning those things which ought, and those which ought not to be done on this holy day. He was also apprized of the fact that among professed Christians there were some who held the sentiment, that the New Testament dispensation had released us from all r morcd obligation to keep holy the sabbath day ; leaving us at liberty to observe it or not, as we should see fit.

These considerations determined the author of this work, in case he should write a tract on the sanctification of the sabbath, to make this his plan ; to spread out before his readers all those passages which he should find, in the Old and New Testaments, relating to the subject of the holy sabbath ; accompanying them with some brief explanatory and practical remarks. He thought that nothing could be adapted to have so much effect on a Christian community, as to hear what the Lord of the sabbath himself had said concerning this institution. He remembered that Christ had said, " The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life"

The above plan was adopted and the work entered upon without any intention of its being delivered from the pulpit. But before much progress was made in its preparation, it was determined to put it in the form of pulpit discourses ; for which a common text was selected suitable to the plan of the work ; (and which it is acknowledged might have been equally suitable to any other series of discourses undertaken on a similar plan.) The writer found it difficult to bring so many passages of scripture into view, and accompany each passage with a few remarks, and yet compress his work into the small compass which is occupied by a tract. Instead of a pamphlet, which was all that he first thought of, he found himself unable to cany out his plan short of producing a volume.

If this work has already exerted any good influence in promoting the sanctification of the sabbath, the author desires to be thankful that it was ever put into his heart to prepare it. And should its republication, at this interesting and critical period, do any thing to further the piety of the church and that of its offspring, particularly as it respects a more exemplary observance of the Lord's day; and should it afford any aid to those men who are worthily employed in seeking to convince the public that sabbath desecration, while it is a sin against God, is at the same time destructive of our national prosperity, the writer will feel himself laid under new obligation to render thanks to the Father of lights from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift. "Will not the friends of the sabbath and the friends of God, into whose hands this manual shall come, ask Him to make it instrumental of doing something to advance the interests of His kingdom, when he who wrote it shall have gone to his long home 1 That a Divine blessing may rest on all who shall read what is here written, is the devout wish of

THE AUTHOR.

DISCOURSES ON THE SABBATH.

FIKST DISCOUESE.

" The scriptures," or, as it is literally, the writings, do evidently in this place mean those holy writings, which we call the word of God. The Old Testament scriptures were written before the coming of Christ. To these he repeatedly referred for the proof of his Messiahship, and of his doctrines. Jesus Christ most certainly treated these writings as being the inspired word of God, and a perfect standard of truth ; by which every thing relating to him and his kingdom, should be tried and determined. The holy scriptures, including both Testaments, make a rich store-house, from which the man of God is thoroughly furnished to every good work. Here he may learn what to believe about God, his law, his government, and his grace. Here he may learn the whole of his duty, both towards God, his fellow men, and himself. If he is ever at a loss on any point, let him immediately repair to these divine oracles, and he will here become acquainted with the decisions of Him who cannot err. Let him studiously and prayerfully search the scriptures, even as men search the mines for silver, and as they dig for hidden treasures ; and he will not fail to f ad instruction. This passage has not been chosen at this time, with a 1* view to prove the divine inspiration of the scriptures ; or to show the importance of reading them ; or to point out the manner in which this duty should be performed, though these things would naturally grow out of the text : but it is my design, in this and several succeeding discourses, to comply with the Savior's command which is before us, so far as it relates to one specific point, namely, the weekly sabbath. By going through the Bible, with our eye fixed upon this one point, we shall be likely to obtain more distinct views of it, than we should, if our attention were divided among a variety of objects. The inspiration of the scriptures will be taken for granted ; and the importance of hearing what God himself has said about his sabbath, cannot be disputed.

Let us, my hearers, in the very outset of these discourses, feel how solemn a thing it is to come, to inquire at the oracles of the living God. A humble and a solemn frame of mind becomes us while making these inquiries, and while we listen to hear what God the Lord shall speak. Let it be remembered, that we are come to inquire on a very practical subject. If the Lord has made a sabbath, he has made it to be remembered, and to be kept holy. Therefore let us hear the will of God with an obedient ear.

The scheme of the following discourses is, to search the Bible from the beginning to the end, to see what the sabbath is — what it is to sanctify it, and what it is to profane and pollute it — and to become acquainted with the scripture history of the sanctification, and profanation of the sabbath, that we may learn how different are the feelings of the divine Lawgiver towards such as'sanctify, and such as profane his holy day: that we may also discover what an entirely contrary influence these different ways of spending the sabbath have on the cause of God and the prosperity of nations. None of those passages, which are considered as capable of materially aiding us in these inquiries, will be designedly passed over. After a new text on the subject is introduced, it is proposed to make such remarks and practical observations, as are suggested by it ; and then proceed to the next in order.

Without any further introductory remarks, I enter on my proposed plan, attended, as I hope, by your fervent prayers, that both the preacher and his hearers may be led into the truth ; and that through the truth we may be sanctified.

The first information which we have about the weekly sabbath is Gen. ii. 2, 3.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made : and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 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.

On this passage it may be observed, 1. That the weekly sabbath is not a human institution. It was God, the Creator of the world, who instituted it. 2. He gave a sanction to the institution by his own example. Six days did the Creator work ; but on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3. The weekly sabbath is a very early institution. It was appointed, and observed the very first week of time. It is no part of the law of ceremonies, which law was occasioned by the entrance of sin ; for the sabbath was established before sin had entered, and would have been obligatory on Adam and his offspring if sin had not been known among them. Therefore the abolition of the law of ceremonies does not affect the weekly sabbath, though it does away those sabbatical institutions, which originated with the ceremonial law. These sabbaths, which were purely Jewish, in their original, must have been the sabbaths referred to by the apostle in his epistle to the Galatians, chap. iv. 10, 11 : " Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." This distinction between days, made by the ceremonial law, must have been what he had in view, Rom. xiv. 5, 6. " One man esteemeth one day above another : another esteemeth every day alike."*

On the passage before us we proceed to observe, 4. That God did two things to the sabbath, to distinguish it from the other days of the week ; 1st. He sanctified it ; and 2dly. He blessed it. The Lord has made the sabbath a holy day; and when we keep it holy to the Lord, he makes it a day of blessings i. e. a day in which he will, in a peculiar sense, meet with us and bless us, and cause the sanctified day to be very useful to our best, our immortal interests.

Objection. But how can time be sanctified 7 how can a day be holy? Ans. 1st. It is the language which God himself uses, and therefore cannot be foolish. 2ndly. No one supposes that time itself is capable of holy affections : nor does the holiness of the sabbath consist in our having holy affections on that day. Such affections we are required to have every day in the week ; and such affections Adam and Eve had continually until they fell ; but even then they were required to sanctify the seventh day, in distinction from the other days. Holy affections are implied in an acceptable sanctification of the sabbath ; but this is not all. We answer, 3dly. The holiness of time consists in its being separated from secular business and worldly concerns to the immediate service of God. The temple was called a holy place, because, in distinction from other houses, it was the LoroVs house ; it was the house of prayer. It was profaned by being made a house of merchandise, as well as by being

* Something more may be seen on these passages in a note connected with the Fourth Discourse.

made a den of thieves. In the same sense in which the temple was a holy place, the sabbath is a holy day, — a day separated from the business and avocations of this life, to the service of God in devotional exercises and religious duties.

And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, tvjo omers for one man : and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord ; bake that which ye ivill bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe ; and that ivhich remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade, and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day ; for to-day is a sabbath unto the Lord : to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws ? See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days : abide ye every man in his place ; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.

On this passage we observe, 1. That the apostasy has not done away the obligation to sanctify the weekly sabbath. The same hallowed day, of which we read before the fall of man, we here find again ; and it still remains a holy day. 2. From this passage we learn, that it is our duty to remember during the week, that the sabbath is coming, and be so prepared for it, as not to be obliged to earn, or look up, or be engaged in any great labor in preparing our food on this day. The portion of the manna, which was to be the food of the sabbath, they were directed to gather, and bake, or seethe, on the day which preceded it. It is lawful to eat on the sabbath as we do on other days ; but not to gather. 3. The Lord's great concern for his holy day was strikingly manifested by his giving a double portion of the manna on the preceding day, and withholding it on that day ; and by his preserving that which was laid up the day before from breeding worms and becoming loathsome, as it did when it was at other times kept over night. 4. We are taught by this portion of scripture, that we need not be afraid of being impoverished by a holy resting one day every week. See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Let it never be forgotten, that it is the LORD who has given us the sabbath. And let it be remembered, that it is the same Lord that gives us our bread, and who supplies all our needs. We may therefore rest assured, that six days in the week are sufficient to procure the bread of seven. To disbelieve this, is to deny the providence of the Lord of the sabbath, and is deeply tinctured with atheism. 5. We see that men are prone to seek gain on the sabbath-day by doing the work of the week, notwithstanding they may have been strictly cautioned against it. Some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather. The Lord was greatly displeased with the disobedient and covetous spirit which they manifested. " And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws ?"

Let us now turn our attention to the 4th commandment. It is contained in Exod. xx. 8 — 11.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it.

Observe, 1. The weekly sabbath is placed among the ten commandments, which are a summary of the moral law. In this respect it is honored above the sabbatical years ; or the three annual feasts, the new moons, and such like institutions. These commandments were written with the finger of God on tables of stone, to denote their preciousness, importance, and durableness. It shewed that these commandments were to last to the end, without waxing old and vanishing away. The command, to sanctify one day in the week, has the same honorable place, as the command, to worship Jehovah alone ; or as the command, to honor our parents, and the command, to do no murder.

Objection. It cannot in itself be wrong to work on one day, more than to work on another ; therefore the requirement to keep holy one particular day in the week, cannot be of a moral nature.

Let the objector remember, that the other nine commands of the decalogue are evidently of a moral nature, and this, which enjoins the observance of a weekly sabbath, was placed among them by the Divine Lawgiver himself: neither ought we to suppose, that it was an oversight in him to place it where he did. He who lays his hand on the sabbath, to drive it out from among the perpetually binding laws of God, let him beware what he does. Let him review the matter — let him not think that in this he is doing God service !

A word more on the moral nature of the sabbath. The first commandment teaches, that we are under moral and indispensable obligation to love God supremely. The second commandment requires, that we worship him, and him alone. If it is our duty to love and worship our Creator, it is a matter of moral obligation to take some time from other concerns for this worship. It is essential to a godly life, that some portion of time every day should be redeemed from secular duties for the duties of devotion : and the allwise God has seen that it was absolutely necessary for the best good of the human race, and especially for the promotion of godliness, that one day in seven should be a day of worship. The obligation to keep holy the sabbath, is as great as the obligation to seek the preservation and advancement of the cause of true religion in the world.

2. You notice, that the commandment, requiring the observance of the sabbath, is introduced with a caution not to forget it — " Remember the sabbath day." It should be remembered all the week, that after so many days the sabbath will return again ; and we should feel ourselves bound to shape our business through the week, so as to be in the best manner prepared for its return. And the caution at the beginning of the commandment, requires us to know when the holy day has returned, and to conduct ourselves accordingly.

3. In looking over the commandment we notice, that all our work must be done in the six days before the sabbath. By our work, is not meant works of darkness (which are forbidden on all days,) but secular work, pertaining to things of this life.

4. Notice, On the sabbath we may not do any work, that is, any kind of this secular business. It would have made the commandment too long, if all kinds of worldly employments had been particularized: but they are all included — they are all forbidden to be done on the consecrated day. "Thou shalt not do any work."

5. It cannot but be noticed, that the commandment binds us to use all our influence and authority, to preserve the sabbath from being profaned by others. If we have sons and daughters, men-servants and maid-servants, horses, or cattle, we are required to see to it, that the sabbath is not profaned by any of them. This forbids us even to let a horse or carriage on the Lord's day : or to that man, who, in opposition to the commandment, we know designs on that day to pursue his journey. Let our rulers, the fathers of the country, inquire whether they are not bound by the commandment to exert themselves, not only to keep holy the sabbath themselves, but also to see to it, that all the inhabitants of the land, and the strangers, who sojourn among us, are not suffered so greatly to pollute it with impunity.*

6. This commandment seems to imply, that keeping holy the seventh day was an acknowledgment of God, as the Creator of the world: and, of consequence, that the refusing to keep it holy, would be a denial of the God who is above. Let this thought weigh on all our minds. When we conduct as though there was no weekly sabbath, we conduct as though there was no God — no Creator of the world.

Exod. xxiii. 12.

Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest : that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger may he refreshed.

From this passage it appears, that one design of the sabbath is to give all an opportunity to rest from hard and

* Magistrates are to be a terror to evil-doers. They ought to be a terror not only to murderers, thieves and forgers ; but also to adulterers, drunkards and profane swearers. So ought they to be a terror to sabbath-breakers. Profaning the sabbath is not only an impiety, but also an immorality. It manifestly has a demoralizing effect on society, like profane oaths, intemperate drinking and gambling. ^.^^ fatiguing labor. This reason is also assigned where the command is repeated in Deuteronomy. The benevolent Creator pleads the cause of the servant, and even of the dumb beast. He commands that we let them rest from their labor. In this connexion let me suggest this query : Is it consistent with the Creator's design in appointing the day of rest, to keep servants all day employed in cookery, and in waiting on visiting companies and parties of pleasure 1 Not to ask in this place, whether such parties of pleasure are consistent with keeping the day holy to the Lord?

Let me further ask, whether this design of the command, does not clearly forbid the teamster to proceed on his journey on the holy day. If there is ever a time when the ox and the ass (or the horse) need this rest which our common Creator has provided for them, it is when they are from day to day, through the whole week, employed on the road in drawing us, or our cumbersome loads. It ought not to be forgotten, that these creatures have another Owner beside us. We have no right to use them without His leave; and He has not given us leave to use them in this manner on the sacred day of rest.

But it will by some be objected : " Then you have no right to use them to go to the place of worship." To this it may be replied : That we have a right to use them, if they are needed, wherever we have a right to go ourselves. If we have a right, in an extreme case, to go for a physician twenty, or even forty miles on the sabbath, we have a right to make use of a horse to carry us this distance. So, if we have a right to go to the house of God on the sabbath, (which none will dispute) we have a right to ride there, if the distance be such as to make this necessary or more convenient.

Exod. xxxi. 14 — 17.

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore : for it is holy unto you : every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death : for tohosoever 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 any work in 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.

On this passage I would remark, 1. That in the church of Israel, death was the punishment to be inflicted on the sabbath-breaker. Every crime was not to be punished with death ; but defiling the holy day, was among the crimes to be thus punished by divine command. Here we learn how God looks on the breach of the fourth commandment. It no doubt appears as ill-deserving to him now as it did then. The church of God then dwelt alone, and had, by the express direction of heaven, power to exercise all the authority 3 which is now termed civil and ecclesiastical : They were therefore to inflict corporal punishments, as well as church censures and excommunications. This gave opportunity for the Holy One of Israel to show his feelings, even in this world, towards the man who defiled his sabbath.

2. We notice in this passage, that the attention of every individual is called up to the dreadful evil of profaning the sabbath. It is said, " Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death." " Whosoever doeth any work therein 5 that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people." Let every individual man and woman, and child, throughout the land, remember the commandment comes to him and to her. Not one of us has a right to wait for the nation to hear and obey ; God speaks to each one of us, in our individual capacity.

3. In this passage, the sabbath is said to be a sign between the Lord and the children of Israel. A strict, conscientious, and spiritual observance of the weekly sabbath, is throughout all generations one of the distinguishing marks of a true Israelite. It is one of those ways, in which the pious cheerfully acknowledge the Lord as their God.

Some have thought, that because the sabbath is said to be a sign between God and Israel, that the obligation to keep it is not binding on us Gentiles. But as well may it be said, that because a holy life is that by which God's people are distinguished from others, therefore they alone are required to be holy.

Exod. xxxiv. 21.

Six days shalt thou ivork, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest : in earing-time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

The requirement to observe the sabbath in earing-time and in harvest, serves to give a clear idea how extensive the command is. It shows, that the obligation to regard the sabbath, runs through all the seasons of the year. It is not a duty confined to the winter when our harvests are all gathered in ; but is binding in the summer, and even in harvest, the most hurrying part of the summer.

Let those who think it is lawful to travel on common journeys on the sabbath-day, seriously examine the above passage. Let those who attend upon their maple orchards, and upon their distilleries, candidly ask, whether the command to rest in earing-time and harvest, does not reach their case, and oblige them to rest.* It is unreasonable for us to

* When this treatise was written, more than thirty years ago, the author was grieved with a practice, which he knew existed to some extent, of working at require that the Lawgiver should particularize every thing. We may fairly reason from the greater to the less. If a more pressing and important work is forbidden to be done on the sabbath, then certainly a less important and necessary work must also be forbidden.

Exod. xxxv. 2, 3.

(Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a. sabbath of rest to the Lord : whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.

All that is new in this text, is the prohibition to kindle a fire on the sabbath-day. To understand this aright has been attended with some difficulty. Fire is needed in the winter to make us comfortable ; and the sabbath was not made to destroy our health and comfort. But it is a clear case, that all those fires which are not needed to render us comfortable through the sabbath, should not be kindled on that day. If it be ever necessary, that furnaces, brick-kilns, and coal-pits, should continue to burn during the sabbath, (on the necessity of which I shall not now pretend to decide) still it must be wrong to kindle such fires on this holy day. If it is right for mariners at sea to keep under sail on the Lord's day, still I cannot think that it is right for them to set sail and leave the port on the Lord^s day : nor do I think such a thing will be practised in the Millennium. If in that period ships in the midst of the sea, where no anchor can hold them, keep on their course, no great work will be undertaken on the Lord's day, which unexpected events do not render necessary ; but the day, even