BABAI8K. 



SABBATH. 



of Sheba who visited Solomon (1 King. x. 1) U generally allowed to 

 hare ooow from thU country, and not from Ethiopia, * Josephus 

 relates C Aw. Jnd., 1 vui. 6, tec. 5), who baa confou>d<*l Sheba with 

 Seba (K^tp). which, a* he tell* ui in another part of I" IB work (U. 10, 

 MO. S), was the ancient name of Meroe. 



Koran, c. 34 ; Sale'* Prrlimiary Diteotne to the A'orrfu, aect 1 ; 

 Edriai, Gttfrmpkia XMouu.) 



BARAlfftl waa the name given to a religioua system which anciently 

 prevailed to a great extent in Arabia and Mesopotamia. Sabaism it 

 frequently confounded with the Sabael, and is somotimea described as 

 the religion of the latter people ; but the tn-o word* are quite distinct, 

 and are written differently in the Semitic languages. The first letter 

 in fluHi" U Taade (*), and consequently the word would be written 

 more correctly Tsabaism. 



Tsabaism was derived, according to its followers, from Tsabi, the 

 son or brother of Enoch, but is 'more probably derived from their 



worshipping the "Host of Heaven" (C?QU?n 33>. According to 



the Arabic writers, TsabaUm was the same as the religion of the 

 ancient Chaldsgans, and appears to have been one of the earliest and 

 simplest forms of idolatry. They believed in the unity of the Deity, 

 but at the same time paid adoration to the stars, or the angels and 

 inteHiaences, which they supposed to reside in them and to govern the 



world under the supremo Deity. In the course of time images were 

 made to represent the angels or intelligences dwelling in the stars ; and 

 the consequence of this would naturally be, that the common people 

 would eventually worship them, as if they were gods. That the unity 

 of the Deity was however still acknowledged in the religious system of 

 tbeTttbuuu is manifest from the way this religion is spoken of in the 

 Koran ; in which it is distinguished from polytheism, and is allowed to 

 exist on the payment of tribute. 



The religioua books of Tsabaism were written in Syriac, and are 

 referred to by early Arabic writers, but none of them ore known in 

 Europe. It appears that the Tsabians believed that the souls of 

 wicked men would be punished for nine thousand years, and would 

 afterwards be received to mercy. They were obliged to pray three 

 times a day, at sunrise, noon, and sunset ; and to observe three annual 

 fasts, one of thirty days, another of nine, and a third of seven. They 

 offered many sacrifices, but ate no part of them. They abstained from 

 beans, g.irlick, and some other pulse and vegetables. They were 

 accustomed to go on pilgrimage to Baron in Mesopotamia. 



Tsabaism as a religious system no longer exists, but the name has 

 been frequently, but incorrectly, applied to the Mandoitee, or Christians 

 of St. John, as they have been called. The name of Tsabians has been 

 given to this sect by the Arabs, as they arc accustomed to apply the 

 term of Tsabians to many different religious sects. The Manaaites 

 are found principally at the mouths of the Euphrates and near Bagdad, 

 but they are not Christians, and the name of ' Christians of St. John ' 

 has been given to them in consequence of John being the name of the 

 founder of their sect. From the manner in which John the Baptist is 

 mentioned in the sacred books of the Houdoites, it appears that they 

 supposed him to have been the founder of their religious system, 

 and that his doctrines were corrupted by Christ. Their sacred books 

 have been brought over to Europe ; and an account of them is given 

 by Silveatre de Sacy, in the ' Journal des Savons,' Paris, 1819 ; but 

 they are written in such a mystical style that it is exceedingly difficult 

 to understand their meaning. There are three books : 1. ' The Book 

 of Adam ; ' 2. ' The Book of Yahya, or John the Baptist ; ' and 3. ' The 

 KhoUsteh,' or RituaL They are written in a peculiar character, which 

 bean great resemblance to the Syriac or Western Aranucan ; but the 

 language in which they are composed more nearly resembles the 

 Chaldaio or Eastern Arauucan. The greater part of the ' Book of 

 Adam ' was published by Norberg, under the title of ' Codex Nasa- 

 neus, Liber Adami appeUotus,' 5 vols. 4to, Loud. Goth., 1816-17. In 

 the ' Book of Adam ' the Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans are 

 equally attacked; but the Mandoites appear to have adopted many 

 things from Christianity, and they probably owe their origin to some 

 of the Gnostic sects, which extensively prevailed in Asia. 



SABBATH. The narrative in the book of Genesis of the creation 

 of the world in six days is followed by these words : ' And on the 

 seventh day God ended his work which he hod mode ; and he rested on 

 the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And Ood 

 bltated the seventh day, and set it apart ; because that in it he had 

 rested from all his work which God created and made." (Uen. ii. 2, 8 ) 

 These word* seem to imply that the seventh day is to be observed' by 

 all the rational creatures of God as a day of worship in acknowledge- 

 Mat of their Creator, and as a day of rest in imitation of his rest after 

 the creation. We find no further mention of this ordinance during 

 the patriarchal period, though some have supposed that there is a 

 leJsTBnee to it in the intervals of serm days observed by Noah in send- 

 ing the raven and the dove out of the ark. (Uen. viii.) It is next 

 met with at the time of the Exodus, under the name of the SaUath 



from 



to 



/ron lalxmr), where rtit from lal 



peculiar character attached to the day. (Exod. xvi) In the 

 pasvage referred to, it appears to bo spoken of as an institution already 

 known, but this baa been disputed. It was still more expressly en- 

 joined upon the Jews at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, whoa 



the 

 pasvag 



the reason assigned in Genesis for its institution was repeated. (Exod. 

 xx. 8-11.) The Mosaic laws respecting the Sabbath are contained in 

 the following passages, besides the two just quoted : Exod. xxiii. 12 ; 

 xxxi. 12-17; xxxiv. 21; xxxv. 1-8; Levit. xix. 3, 80; xxiii. 3; xxvi. 

 2; Numb. xv. 32-86; xxviii. 9, 10 ; Deut. v. 12-15. It was a day of 

 divine worship, though as to what that worship consisted in, we only 

 know that there was to be an additional sacrifice besides the doily one, 

 and a holy convocation of the people. This part of the institution 

 was intended, like many others of the Mosaic laws, to keep in the 

 remembrance of the people their allegiance to the true Uod, and to 

 distinguish them from the idolatrous nations among whom they dwelt. 

 (Exod. xxxi 18, 17.) Its other feature was rest from labour, which 

 was to be observed not only by every Israelite, but by resident 

 strangers and beasts of burden. This rest hod partly a religious 

 character, as it was an acknowledgment of belief in the God who 

 created the heavens and earth in six days, and rested on the seventh. 

 For this reason a wilful violation of the rest of the Sabbath was 

 punished by death, as it was an act of rebellion against God. A 

 second object of this rest was, of course, to afford leisure for the reli- 

 gious services of the day ; and a third was the refreshment of man and 

 beast after the labour of the week. (Exod. xxiii. 12.) Moses d. 

 however define the meaning of the term mart in the Law ; but it is 

 evident from several passages in the Pentateuch that it was peculiarly 

 ail work of a servile character that was forbidden. Thus there is a 

 special commandment to rest on the Sabbath in seed-time and h 

 as well as at other seasons (Exod. xxxiv. 21), and there were prohibi- 

 tions against kindling fire (Exod. xxxv. 4) or preparing food on the 

 Sabbath (Exod. xvi. 5, 22-30) ; the people were severely reprimanded 

 by Moses for going out of their tents to gather manna (Exod. ibid.), 

 and a man was put to death by the express command of God for 

 gathering sticks on the Sabbath. (Numb. xv. 32-36.) This peculiar 

 feature of the Jewish Sabbath was intended constantly to remind the 

 people of their deliverance from their servile condition in the land of 

 Egypt, as Moses states in his rehearsal of the Law, where the reason 

 annexed to the fourth commandment in Exodus is omitted, and iu 

 place is supplied by the following words : " And remember that thou 

 wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought 

 thce out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm ; 

 therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath- 

 day." (Deut. v. 15.) All bodily labour which was necessary for the 

 service of God formed an exception to the statute. Thus the sacrifices 

 were doubled on that day, and the animals hod to be killed ; the per- 

 petual fire on the altar of burnt offering waa to be supplied with wood 

 every day; and a child waa circumcised on the Sabbath, if that day 

 happened to be the eighth from its birth. (Numb, xxviii. 3-10; 

 Levit. vi. 8-13; Matt. xii. 5 ; John vii 22-23.) It seems to be satis- 

 factorily proved by Michaelis that the unwillingness to fight on the 

 Sabbath, which we meet with in the later periods of the Jewish 

 history, was never felt before the Babylonish captivity. The general 

 spirit of the Jewish law concerning the Sabbath may be gathered 

 from the following words of Isaiah (chap. Iviii. 13) : " It' thou n 

 thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; 

 and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy feast of the Lord honour- 

 able; and shalt honour him (or it), not doing thine own ways, nor 

 finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words : " then 

 follows a promise. The Sabbath was reckoned, like the Jewish day 

 in general, from sunset to sunset 



The Rabbins of later times added many superstitious and vexatious 

 observances to the Mosaic law of the Sabbath, such as the prohibition 

 of travelling further on that day than twelve miles, or, as it was after- 

 wards settled, two thousand cubits, that is, about one mile, 

 further information on these points the reader is referred to Lightfoot 

 (' Works,' ed. Pitman, Index, art. ' Sabbath '). 



The word Sabbath was also used by the Jews as a general name for 

 their religious festivals, and also as equivalent to the word 

 (Levit. xxiii. 15 ; Dout.xvi. 9; Matt, xxviii \ ; Luke xviii 12.) 



The first teachers of Cliristianity abolished the Sabbath, but intro- 

 duced a similar institution in its place, the observance, namely, of the 

 firtt day of the week as a day of rest and of religious worship, in 

 commemoration of God's resting on the seventh day, and also more 

 especially of the resurrection of Christ. Hence it was called " the 

 Lord's day" (^ Kvpuus>i wipa), just as the ordinance by which Christ's 

 death was commemorated was called " the Lord's Supper." It has 

 been held by many eminent divines that there is not sufficient evidence 

 in the New Testament for such an institution, that the change of the 

 day from the seventh to the first day of the week is an insuj > 

 difficulty, that the Sabbath was a purely Jewish institution, and thero- 

 forr that it is not binding upon Christians. The chief difficult; 

 this discussion appear to have arisen from a mistaken view of the 

 question, as if it were, not whether the Christian church possesses any 

 Sabbatical institution, but whether the J< , >!, is binding upon 



ChristiaiiB. The great fact of Christianity is the resurrection of Christ, 

 whii-h was effected by the power of the samo <!.>d who rivaled the 

 world : thin occurrence took place on the first day of the week ; and 

 to keep it in remembrance, we observe that day as our stated tii 

 religious worship ; or, as Bishop Horsley states the matter, " By keep- 

 ing a Sabbath, we acknowledge a God, and declare that we are not 

 atheists : by keeping one day in seven, we protest against idolatry, and 



