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 God, 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 1080 [s. 1094]