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. For 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 teak.
(Lovit. xxiii. 15 ; xvi. 9 ; Matt. xxviii. 1 ; Luke xviii. 12.) The first teachers of Christianity abolished the Sabbath, but intro duced a similar institution in its place, the observance, namely, of the first day of the week as n 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" (i7 Kvineudi instpa), just as the ordinance by which Christ's death was commemorated was called "tho 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 insuperable difficulty, that the Sabbath was a purely Jewish institution, and there , fore that it is not binding upon Christians. The chief difficulties in 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 Jewish Sabbath is binding upon Christians. The great fact of Christianity is the resurrection of Christ, which was effected by the power of the same God who created the world : this occurrence took place on tho first day of the week ; and to keep it in remembrance we observe that day as our stated time of religious worship; or, as Bishop Horsley states the matter, " By keep ing Sabbath, we acknowledge a God, and declare that we are not atheists : by keeping one day in seven, we protest against idolatry, and acknowledge that God who in the beginning made the heavens and the earth : and by keeping our Sabbath on the first day of the week, we protest against Judaism, and acknowledge that God who, having made the world, rent his only begotten Son to redeem mankind."
In its very nature the Sabbath appears to be intended for the whole human race. As a religious institution, designed to keep in remem brance the God who created the world, it belongs equally to all men, since all are the creatures of the same God, and all are prone to forget every religious truth which is not continually and regularly forced upon their attention. As a day of rest, if needed at all (and it is generally granted that such rest is necessary), it is needed by every one who wears the human body. Its appointment is coeval with the creation of man, and long before the giving of the Jewish law. These facts seem to prove that it was intended to be perpetual, which appears also to be indicated by those words of Christ (Mark ii. 27), " The Sabbath was made for man," that is, not for the Jews merely, but for the benefit of the whole human race.
The Sabbath is used in the New Testament as a type of the eternal rest of heaven : " There remaineth a rest (or Sabbath-keeping, enzflllarvapas) to the people of God." (Heb. iv. 9.) Some understand this peonage of the Christian Sabbath.
(Michaelis, On the Laws of Moses, arts 194, 196 ; Lightfoot's Works, see the Index ; Horsier° Sermons, 21, 23 ; Wardlaw, On the Sabbath; Hessey, Pompton Lecture—Sunday : its Oregin,Pllistory, and present (bligatienps ; Winer's Biblisches Realscbrterbudi,art.' Sabbath.) • SABELLIANS, an heretical Christian sect, which arose about the middle of the 3rd century. They were the followers of Sabellius, an African bishop or presbyter, who resided In the Pentapolis of Cy naica. They held that there was only one person In the Godhead, namely, the Father ; that Christ was a mere man, but that there resided in him a certain energy proceeding from God, or a portion of the divine nature ; and they likewise deemed the Holy Spirit merely a divine energy, or an emanation proceeding from God. They illustrated their doctrines by comparing God to the run, the Word to its illumi nating power, and the Holy Ghost to its warmin? energy. They were successfully opposed by Dionysius of Alexandra, but continued for a long time to be an important sect. (Lardner's Credibility and History of Heretics ; Neender'r Kirehenyeschiehte ; Mosheines t'eclesiastical History.)