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“Remember
the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.”—Exod. 20:8.
The
work had been finished and pronounced very good by the great “I AM,”
and the Sabbath morn dawned in all the freshness of spring-tide beauty;
over the face of nature was spread a garb of rainbow-brightness whose
pristine colours alike adorned those who breathed forth their first gush
of soul in joyous melody, as well as all that less animate but not less
living creation—herb, tree, and flowering shrub. The zephyrs were calm
and sweet, and had collected the perfume of a thousand flowers as an
offering of the first fruits to the Great Creator, whilst all nature
joined in one grand choral symphony, and the stars and the silver moon,
not banished by that calm light, uttered in a low, sweet tone—We will
“remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy; for in six days God made
the heavens, and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was
refreshed;” and Adam, the first priest in this new temple of the Lord,
and his companion Eve, who had been offering up the incense of grateful
hearts to the Throne of Grace, now in ecstatic voice added—“We will
keep it holy, few God has sanctified it;” and bird, and beast, and
even the dwellers of the mighty deep, breathed forth their deep Amen.
*
* * * * *
The creation having been thus called into existence and
perfected in six days, the seventh day (the day succeeding this work of
love,) the crown of its beauty, was consecrated and set apart as the day
on which the Great Omnipotent (in finite words) rested and was refreshed
from the toil endured in
the six previous days of labour; and thus sanctified, it was henceforth
to be kept as a memorial of the work of the creation, as long as this
creation should endure; and as the creation had been perfected through
infinite love, in love and sweet contemplation were its hours to be
passed; and as it could not be kept in calm peace of the spirit, unless
the feelings of the heart were in unison, were holy and sacred
at the approach of the holy Sabbath, its frequent occurrence
served to keep these feelings always in their freshness and force; for
when one day out of every seven was to be kept free from worldly cares
and carnal thoughts, the very keeping of it continually, impressed upon
the mind, that man was called into being from nothing by the Eternal;
and that as a necessary concomitant, he could look only to that same
Almighty Being for advice and support. The knowledge of this dependence
upon Providence thus frequently enforced, was calculated to render man
worthy of its gifts; the keeping of the Sabbath holy, to render him
holy; for if the mind was embittered by unrestrained passions, and by
thoughts where self was the only idol, it was slot possible for it, in
its weak dependant state, to throw off the foul load, and reduce itself
through its own innate power to a state of perfect calmness, to that
peace of the spirit, that state of holy contentment, which the righteous
only know.
Thus
the command “Remember the Sabbath-day, and keep it holy,”contains in
itself the germs of all others. Contemplating as we do, through its
consecrated atmosphere, the greatness of God in the immensity of his
creation, the everlasting proofs of his omnipotence and omniscience;
proclaiming as it does, his first, and therefore, Eternal existence: in
what plainer words need we be told, “Thou shalt have no other god
besides me,” for “The Lord, He is One and his name is One,” than
in the harmony of nature itself? Had there been one more powerful, this
world our God would not have created; had there been one equal to Him,
this world our God would not have finished alone; and as our finite
minds can perfectly understand that nothing takes place without a cause,
nothing is created without a creator, therefore, as our God has no
equal, “His existence is not bounded by time;” thus is his unity
proclaimed by his infinity of power, and thus as this Great Being did
not disdain to make the tiniest thing that breathes, himself, He by its
creation, proclaimed that the greatest, as well as the least, needed no
intercessor with Him; and that to Him, all were little, all
insignificant.
The keeping of the Sabbath also causes us to honour our
parents. Because we cannot contemplate the existence of nature, or the
causes that brought it forth, without casting our mental vision back
upon the immediate authors of our being. The Most High was the Creator
of all that we see around us on this holy day, and through his goodness,
and through the beings who gave us birth, are we enabled to enjoy this
blessing. Can we then feel piety towards the Deity, and not love and
honour our parents? Oh, no! the beings who watched over us, and guarded
us so well through the helpless stages of infancy and childhood, solaced
the grievances of youth, and bound up the wounds of manhood, must be,
per force, doubly dear to us on this day; nor can we honour the Sabbath
(in our hearts) without honouring them.
To
keep the Sabbath holy, we ourselves must be holy; and, therefore, free
from those crimes, in the contact with which the soul becomes black, and
its essence is overpowered in the (to it) pestilential air engendered by
them.
To
those who have consecrated one green oasis m the heart as a temple
wherein its lamp ever burns with increased brightness, what a lesson of
meekness may they not react by its light, which, as it expands and
illuminates the Sabbath, whispers to the spirit: “Here is no room for
pride! ‘Tis the day upon which the Almighty rested from all the work
which He commenced, progressed with, perfected, and finished. And think,
O child of man, and listen to the teachings of this seventh day! It
tells thee that the great Omnipotent, He that said, ‘Let there be
light,’ and light was; He who could have called the heavens and earth
and all their hosts into being by the same almighty fiat of power, yet
worked by (to Him) slow degrees: and hast thou then room for pride, or
self-sufficiency when thou contemplatest all this?—Profit then by the
High example, and think what thou art, and what thou wilt be; and let
the days of thy life (the working days), be spent in works of goodness,
of love, and piety; so when the eve of the Sabbath draws nigh, the calm
peace that fills thy mind may assure thee that thy work has been
pronounced very good, and that thou art worthy to enjoy the
Sabbath;—that Sabbath that endures not for a day, but the holy light
of which dawns in a world where no power exists to dash the cup of bliss
from the willing lip, but where the light shining from the throne of the
Lord of Hosts shall cast around thee everlasting happiness, to thy soul
an unending Sabbath.”
S.
SOLIS.
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