| Show THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH adventists who insist on keeping the seventh day of the week as sabbath and performing work on the first day in violation v io lation of sunday laws are having a great deal of trouble at present in various states they are subjected to noes fineg and imprisonment for their peculiar practice although tey claim that they work on sunday bun jay not to defy the laws lawe but in obedience to a commandment man dment of the almighty one offender in maryland was recently sentenced to ninety days in jail because he had been hoeing his bis garden and bad chopped wood on a sunday another was fined 50 and costia in for selling half bait a pound of candy on the first day of the week similar instances instance are bocc occurring arring constantly and what I 1 gives particular Dromi orom luence nance to such is the fact that convictions are generally secured through intimation and testimony of persons who seem to be religiously or otherwise interested in the pu punishment of the often offenders dOIL this ahta gives it a savor of persecution that to la strengthened by the absence of similar proceedings proceeding against the be believers in the mosaic faith in the pame came atalee a fact that naturally suggests the question whether seventh day adventists Advent ieta are not entitled to the protection of the law enjoyed by the jews jewa the sabbath question to la one of those that have been agitated periodically during the history of the religious wor world id and in later years it has again claimed some attention the seventh day aa vent lots maintain that saturday Is both the sabbath and the lord jlonus Ps day a proposition preposition for which they can find no scriptural proof whatever they also bold that sunday has attained sanctity only by an imperial decree which Is ia a self contra diction of history there is in no doubt that tha t the sabbath of the old dispensation was saturday nor that our lord and his ficat followers kept that day in obedience to the law but after the resurrection a change of conditions is in plainly visible at first the disciples gathered every day in the temple and synagogue soon however their meetings were held bola only on two days saturday and sunday on the seventh day boy bey pet with the general public la in order to proclaim the gospel no other ether day was available for that purpose pur their own meetings however were held on the first day ae the lorda day as it was called to distinguish dittin gulah it from the jewish sabbath As the mosaic dispensation passed away its ritual observance naturally ceased according to the pauline declaration for the priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a M change also of the law eleb Heb vii 12 A and nd by the time lime roman emperors were prepared to favor their christian subjects the keeping of sunday as the cordya lorded day had become so universally recognized as a christian duty that imperial edicts were issued for the protection of the nazarenes Naza renes in this feature of their religion it is no more true that the observance of sunday to is due to the efforts of constantine than it would be to say may that he invented the sign of the cross the very fact that be legislated in favor of the first day of the week Js is proof positive that that day had bad already been set apart bythe by the christians for worship hear a testimony irom from one of the early fathers justin in his him apology A D says we all of us assemble ae together on sunday because it is the first day in which god changed darkness dark nesa and matterand made the world on the same day also jesus jecus christ our savior rose from the beadal dead when all connected with this subject abject are considered it to la impossible to find any reasonable answer to the question of the origin of the conse crit tion of sunday as the christian sabbath except this ibis that it was done by the apostles of our lord and probably in accordance with the teachings he gave them during the forty days daye between hla his resurrection and ascension or else lee BB as a result of revelations given afterwards the modern array themselves in battle for a cause that has baa support neither in history nor in sacred writ that they besides be aides arnould anould come in conflict with the civil jaws is ie to be aregrett ad we believe however that the proper course coune to pursue in regard to that sect abot to la to prove to them their mistake and treat them with that tolerance which paul emphasizes as a mark of christianity and recommend to all the churches that were composed of members of various opinions minions on holidays |
