SABBATH.
NUMBER THREE.
To the Editors of the North Star:
GENTLEMEN.ーI promised to inquire, "how far are we bound to keep the Sabbath, under the Christian dispensation, or any other day answering thereto?" I suppose none will deny that the Jews believe themselves to be bound to keep the Sabbath to the latest generation; as well, also, as they believe themselves bound to keep the covenant of circumcision, to separate and distinguish them from other nations. (Exo. xxxi. 13-18; Gen. xvii. 7-14; Lev. xii. 3: John vii. 23; Acts xvi. 3.) St. Paul said, "that (Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." And Jesus himself said: "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And that there might be no mistake in so important a matter, the greatest possible care appears to have been taken in the instructions given by Christ to the apostles; both to the seventy and the twelve, that they should "not go into the way of the Gentiles," "nor into any city of the Samaritans." (Mat. x. 5; Luke x. 1.)
It was not until the personal mission of the Saviour was finished, that the command was given, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Thus we see, as St. Paul said, that "Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision." His mission was peculiarly directed to his own people.ーThe Jews, according to the law of Moses, were bound to listen to him; and whatever alterations or modifications he might make in the law, they were bound to observe them.ー(Deut. xviii. 18-19.) It may also be observed here, that Jesus left the ritual law perfectly untouched, as far as His personal ministry was concerned, with the exception of the instructions he gave to his disciples, with regard to the traditionary purifications of the Pharisees. (Matt. v. 23, 24.)
Peter, and the rest of the apostles, apparently kept the law as strictly after the death of Christ as they had previously doneー(Acts xxi. 20, 26)ーnot excepting St. Paul. We find, nevertheless, in Paul's epistle to the Hebrews, he shows, that the high priesthood being changed, there was a necessity a change in the law; and also minutely points out that alteration. (Heb. vii. 12.) The great mistake in this matter appears to be, the supposition that the whole of the ritual law was abolished, both to Jew and Gentile; whereas, a greater mistake could not well be made.
We have shown that all the apostles kept the law, as well as all the Jewish Christians, after the death of Christ; which could not possibly have happened if they had understood that the ritual law was abolished. ー Even St. Paul, while he preached uncircumcision to the Gentiles, circumcised Timothy; because one of his parents was a Jew. There can therefore be no doubt that the Jews remained subject to a part of the ritual law; and although there may be no doubt that they will acknowledge Christ, as the Messiah, before their general return to Judea, they will yet rebuild the temple and establish the law, according to the prophecy of Ezekiel.
Let us now inquire how the Gentiles are affected in this matter. All are aware that under the Mosaic dispensation, the Gentile proselytes had to submit to the whole of the ritual law as a matter of course; and the Jewish Christians who submitted to it, could not easily understand why the Gentile should not continue to do so. Acts xv. 1; 1st Tim. I. 6, 7.) This opinion was so prevalent among the Jews of Asia, that Paul, Barnabas and others were obliged to go up to Jerusalem to consult with the rest of the apostles, to decide whether it ought to be so or not.ーAnd according to the testimony of the Holy Ghost, it was decided that the Gentiles were entirely free from the ritual;ーnot so with the Jews. (Acts xv. 10, 11; Rom. iii. 28; Gal. iii. 1, 8; Cor. ii. 14.) Notwithstanding this decision, either the apostles themselves did not thoroughly understand their position, or were not permitted to explain it; which at times rendered their actions liable to misconstruction, and even caused disagreement among themselves. (1st Cor. xiii. 9-12; Gal. ii. 11-15.)
We have now to bear in mind that Paul was peculiarly the apostle of the Gentiles, and was set apart for that purpose by the Holy Ghost, from his conversion. (Acts ix. 15; xiii. 2.) We have therefore to remember, that in his epistles to the Gentiles he naturally identifies himself with the parties to whom he is writing; and we ought not to treat him worse than we would any other author, by extending his dietum beyond the point he intended it to reach. It appears from St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, that he preached seventeen years among the Gentiles, without seeing any of the other apostles, excepting Peter and James; and it was seventeen years before any explanation took place between the apostles of the circumcision and himself, as to the difference of their doctrines; when it was decided, as we have intimated above, that Paul and Barnabas should go to the Gentiles and tell them that they were free from the ritual law. (Gal. ii. 9.) We need hardly say more upon this part of the subject, except we repeat the message which Paul and Barnabas had to deliver to the Gentiles:ー"For it seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which if you keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." Here then we have the subject made perfectly plain.
The Jews were the peculiar or chosen people of God, who were to enforce and spread the law, as far as it was practicable in such a state of things; and the changing of the dispensation did not entirely free them from it. But as the Church was about to pass from them to the Gentiles, at the destruction of Jerusalem, the law was necessarily abolished in their case.
Having now ascertained these important facts, let us inquire what the apostle of the Gentiles says in reference to the Sabbath. In the 14th chapter of the epistle to the Romans, we find the following: "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that doth not regard a day, to the Lord he doth not regard it." In speaking again upon the same subject to the Colossians, he says: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabdays." This evidence is quite conclusive upon the subject on which we are writingーthe "Sabbath."
The Gentiles are not bound to keep it, or any other day of the week in its stead. The custom which has generally obtained among professed Christians, of keeping one day in the week partially as the Sabbath, no doubt originated from the custom which some of the early Gentile churches adopted, of meeting every first day for the purposes of exhortation and commemoration of the Saviour's death; and there can be no doubt that this custom has been highly beneficial to society, and conducive to civilization. But it is the loose and unequal manner of its adoption which has chiefly caused it to be so beneficial. If we had been yoked and hampered like the Jews, under the traditions of the Pharisees, and as the Pharisees of the present day would have us, how could civilization have progressed? How could our ships sail to distant ports, and mankind spread themselves over the face of the earth? And how could many other works of necessity be done, which require continued application? On the other hand, if we had had no periodical rest-day no day of recreation and instruction, how would the working part of mankind have attained to improvement and civilization?ーThus we believe that the custom of a rest-day in each week, which has grown up in imitation of the Jewish Sabbath, is a highly necessary and useful custom, and ought not to be lightly abandoned. But it is not therefore necessary that the law should interfere for its continuance. The law never ought to interfere unnecessarily to curtail the liberties of the mass, to suit the crotchets of the fanatical and hypocritical few.
This subject may now be safely left to the consciences and convenience of individuals.ーMankind cannot be made religious by legislative enactments. Above all, let us remember that religion does not consist in outward forms and ritual ordinances. St. Paul says: "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."ーAnd again, "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Let us remember, also, that even under the Mosaic dispensation, the Saviour said: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." In view of all these facts and circumstances, does our Pharisaical and fanatical church believe that a little unlawful and unnecessary stringency in regard to the Sabbath, will palliate the crying sin of American Slavery?
I am, gentlemen, yours,
RICHARD SULLEYSulley, Richard

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