pbraided
those who heeded not the day.[436] To the separate branch of the
Israelitish nation that had been colonized on the western hemisphere,
regard for the sanctity of the Sabbath was no less an imperative
requirement.[437]

The observance demanded, however, was the very opposite of affliction
and burden; the Sabbath was consecrated to rest and righteous enjoyment,
and was to be a day of spiritual feasting before the Lord. It was not
established as a day of abstinence; all might eat, but both mistress and
maid were to be relieved from the work of preparing food; neither master
nor man was to plow, dig or otherwise toil; and the Weekly day of rest
was as much the boon of the cattle as of their owners.

In addition to the weekly Sabbath, the Lord in mercy prescribed also a
sabbatic year; in every seventh year the land was to rest, and thereby
its fertility was enhanced.[438] After seven times seven years had
passed, the fiftieth was to be celebrated throughout as a year of
jubilee, during which the people should live on the accumulated increase
of the preceding seasons of plenty, and rejoice in liberality by
granting to one another redemption from mortgage and bond, forgiveness
of debt, and general relief from burdens--all of which had to be done in
mercy and justice.[439] The Sabbaths established by the Lord, whether of
days, of years, or of weeks of years, were to be times of refreshing,
relief, blessing, bounty, and worship.

To the many who profess to regard the necessity of toil as a part of the
curse evoked through Adam's fall, the Sabbath should appeal as a day of
temporary reprieve, a time of exemption from labor, and as affording
blessed opportunity of closer approach to the Presence from which
mankind has been shut out through sin. And to those who take the higher
view of life, and find in work both happiness and material blessing, the
periodical relief brings refreshment and gives renewed zest for the days
that follow.

But long before the advent of Christ, the original purpose of the
Sabbath had come to be largely ignored in Israel; and the spirit of its
observance had been smothered under the weight of rabbinical injunction
and the formalism of restraint. In the time of the Lord's ministry, the
technicalities prescribed as rules appended to the law were almost
innumerable; and the burden thus forced upon the people had become well
nigh unbearable. Among the many wholesome requirements of the Mosaic
la