Christian Theology - Media Sabda Org

sufficiently insisted on it; they all kept it sacred, and so invariably did all
the primitive Christians; though some observed the last day of the week,
the Jewish Sabbath, instead of the first day, in commemoration not only
of God's resting from his work of creation, but also of the resurrection of
Christ from the dead. But to insist on the necessity of observing it was not
requisite, because none doubted of its moral obligation; the question itself
had never been disturbed; not so with circumcision and other Mosaic
rites. The truth is, it is considered as a type—all types are of full force till
the things signified by them take place:—but the thing signified by the
Sabbath is that rest in glory which remains for the people of God; and in
this light it evidently appears to have been considered by the apostle, Heb.
iv. As, therefore, the antitype remains, the moral obligation of the
Sabbath must continue till time be swallowed up in eternity. The world
was never without a Sabbath, and never will be. And there is scarcely a
people on the face of the earth, whether civilized or uncivilized, that has
not agreed in the propriety of having a Sabbath, or something analogous
to it; but it has been objected that the Sabbath could be only of partial
obligation, and affect those only whose day and night were divisible into
twenty-four hours; and would never be intended to apply to the
inhabitants of either of the polar regions, where their days and nights
alternately consist of several months each. This objection is very slight.
The object of the divine Being is evidently to cause men to apply the
seventh part of time to rest; and this may be as easily done at Spitzbergen
as at any place under the equator. Nor is it of particular consequence
when a nation or people may begin their Sabbath observances;—whether
it fall in with our, or the Jewish, or even the Mohammedan Sabbath,
provided they continue regular in the observance, and hallow to religious
uses this seventh part of time.
In his mercy the divine Being has limited our labour to six days out of
seven. In order to destroy the institution of God, the "French National
Assembly" divided time into decades, and ordered every tenth day to be
kept as a day of relaxation, dissipation, and merriment. The offended God
wrought no miracle to bring back his institution; but, in the course of his
providence, he annihilated them and their devices, and restored the