THE ANCIENT SABBATH by E. R. M.

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 29, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 5

THE ANCIENT SABBATH.

By E. R. M.

While I have long believed that the Sabbath was given to man at creation, in accordance with the Mosaic account in Genesis, of the Hebrew Scriptures, I as firmly believe that God has always kept the day, as he did and does all the divine commands he has given to man; but I had suspected, till of late, that the Sabbath might have been quite generally neglected by the early post-diluvians, and so have accounted for the notice of the seventh day as a Sabbath, by Hesiod and Homer B. C. 900 years; Callimachus of B. C. 200; Theophilus, Porphyry, Eusebius, and others of a later date, by suspecting that the ancient Sabbath of creation had been brought to their notice, in part at least, by the Hebrews, after the giving of the ten commandments at Mt. Sinai. This might have been quite reasonable. But all admit, I believe, that God gave the seventh day as a Sabbath to the Jews; and common sense teaches me, and should, I think, teach every person possessed of it, that God never gave, or authorized the giving to any one, any other than the seventh day as a Sabbath; for, in so doing, he would be the author of the very confusion complained of by persons living in communities consisting of Hebrews or seventh-day Christians, and observers of the first-day. In all God’s dealings with man, there is not, and never can be, an instance of such folly. God is a being of order, and never the author of confusion.

It is, so far as I know, universally admitted, that the antediluvians kept the seventh day; the Eucharistic offerings of Cain and Abel, “in process of time,” literally “in the end of days,” referring to the Sabbath. There is also an agreement in opinion, so far as I know, as to the “seven days” in which Noah waited, in sending the dove from the ark, referring to a division of time into weeks of seven days, with the probability of a Sabbath, and if so, the seventh day. As

to the general, or even universal division of time into weeks of seven days by the early post-diluvians, and the general, or even universal observance of the seventh day as a Sabbath, I do not now entertain a doubt.

Eusebius says, “Almost all philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day as holy.” Porphyry says, “The Phoenicians consecrated one day in seven as holy.” Theophilus, A. D. 267, concerning the seventh day, says, “The day which all mankind celebrate.” Callimachus, B. C. 200, alludes “to the seventh day as holy;” as did Homer and Hesiod B. C. 900. (Rev. J. M. Foster, in the Christian Statesman.) And there is recent unmistakable evidence, reaching back nearly to the deluge, not only as to the division of time into weeks, but also as to the observance of the seventh day as a Sabbath of “rest.” I will mention one. In the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th edition, vol. iii, Rev. A. H. Sayce, M. A., Fellow and Tutor of Queen’s College, Oxford, in an article, “Babylonia,” in speaking of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Babylonians, at about B. C. 2200 (page 191) says, “The week of seven days was in use from an early period; indeed, the names which we still give to the days, can be traced to ancient Babylonia; and the seventh day was one of Shabum, or ‘rest.’” And the same learned divine quotes from the “clay tablets, or books,” of B. C. 2000, parts of hymns to the gods, which resemble the Hebrew psalms “in substance and form;” showing that the Hebrews brought their Sabbath, and much of their religion, from Chaldea, as early as B. C. 2000. And when we remember that this record reaches back to within about 300 years of the deluge, of which these ancient Babylonian “clay tablets,” or books, give a clear account, as well as of creation, corresponding with that of Moses in the Hebrew Scriptures, we may safely conclude that the seventh-day Sabbath was generally, if not universally observed, not only in antediluvian times, but also in the early post-diluvian times. And hence we may understand why the fourth commandment commenced with the word “remember;” every branch of the human family, in all the remote ages, having understood the weekly division of time of seven days, and generally, if not universally, observing or recognizing the seventh as a Sabbath, or day of rest, and so requiring to be reminded of it, as God’s “holy Sabbath,” and man’s day of rest.

This accounts for the fact of there being in the Arabic language no other name for the seventh day but Sabbath; the same is true of the Italian, and the French name indicates as much. It also corresponds with the fact that the seventh day was observed in the British Isles till after the Roman conquest, as stated by Burnside; and as proved by the fact that in the English Common Law, no Sabbath is known but the seventh day, Sunday being sustained only by more recent statute law; the British Parliament never sitting on the seventh day, nor on Friday evening after six o’clock, from ancient custom, I believe, and in accordance with ancient law. And it is a notorious fact, that the Abyssinians, who were never brought under the Roman power, always did, and still do, observe the seventh day as the Sabbath. But wherever the Roman power and influence were felt, after the Edict of Constantine, A. D. 321, (see Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, article Lord’s day) their influence has been to substitute Sunday for the Sabbath. And so we find that, as the Romans overran most of the world, sending their influence even further than their conquests, Sunday became quite generally substituted among the nations for the ancient and God-appointed Sabbath. The Roman church adopted it, not as a divinely appointed day, but as an institution of their church, as I was assured by a learned English divine and dignitary of that faith, with whom I spent a Sunday, visiting Versailles in France, a few years since. The Nestorians, who went out from them, returned to the original Sabbath, as proved by a marble tablet recently dug up in China, containing a synopsis of their faith. (Ten Great Religions.) Many others, Luther, Knox, and others of the early Protestants, have held on to Sunday with only a very feeble grasp. And it must be admitted, that the Roman church justly charges Protestants with an inconsistency in observing Sunday, the day of its own appointment, while at the same time denying that the church has a divine right to abolish the Sabbath, and substitute another day of rest. It appears that Sunday was first appointed by the Roman emperor, perhaps partly from the influence of the Northern Barbarians, who overran the empire, and who worshiped the sun on that day, although probably not regarding it as the Sabbath. Sunday observance also grew, in part, from the practice of Christians’ celebrating on that day the resurrection of Christ, and perhaps a dislike to the Jews further helped it on. The change was made, however, on the supposition that the emperor and the church had such a right to change; and Protestants, denying that right, are inconsistent with themselves in the observance of their Sunday.

As to the impossibility of keeping the seventh day, in all the habitable parts of the world, the Hebrews settle the matter, by a practice evidently reaching back far anterior to the time when Abraham visited Egypt, B. C. 1920 years. As to the seventh-part-of-time plea, it is of man, not of God, as all days might thus be kept, producing confusion doubly confounded. And, finally, as to its making no difference what day is kept, that may be true, in a sense, to those who are to be finally lost; but those who have been made partakers of the divine nature, being heirs of God, in order to be consistent, feel at home, and not have to change on reaching Heaven, should keep the Sabbath that God does. For, “Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep” (Ex. 31:13), saith the Lord, showing that God keeps the seventh day, as he does all other divine commands. —E. R. M., in Sabbath Recorder.