SABBATH

A Hebrew word signifying rest, applied by the Jews to the seventh day of their week (our Saturday), on which they were commanded to abstain from all manner of work, because " in six days God created the heavens and the earth, and rested the seventh day." The universal practice of the Christian church from the earliest period, in conformity to what may be gathered from some pa ages in the Acts of the Apostles, has set apart the first day of the week (Sunday) for the especial worship of Go<i, in memory of the resurrection of our Lord on that day. The obligation upon which the observance of Sunday rests has been placed upon different grounds. The most prevalent opinion supposes the commandment given to the Jews originally to be of universal obligation, as far as the observance of one day in seven. But there have been many divines in all ages who have held that all the formal obligations of Judaism, as well those of the commandments as those of the I,evitical law, were abrogated on the advent of our Saviour, and consider the consent of the church and the practice of the Apostles to be the only sutficicnt authority for this observance. It is upon this principle that the Continental churches hold themselves Justified in indulging in all sorts of worldly recreation on Sun days, after the services of public worship are concluded. Archbishoj) Whately has recently drawn attention to the subject by his able arguments against the popular opinions on which the observance of the Sabbath is made to rest. The name Sabbatarians was given to some early sects of Judaising Christians, who insisted (m the observance of the Sabbath (Saturday) under the new dispensation. SABBATICAL YEAR. [s. 1085]