Sabbath Keeping

Can a better view of a perfect world be imagined than 
that of a Sabbath-keeping world ? All nations and all in- 
dividuals ceasing from their stated vocations as the light 
of the Sabbath day breaks over the eastern hills ! Then, 
when the sound of the churchgoing bells announces the 
hour of worship, how pleasant to see the small and great, 
the rich and poor, the far and near, issue from their dwell- 
ings to gather into the courts of the Lord ! Could crime or 
disorder exist among such a people ? Would not the earth 
be the antechamber of heaven, and Sabbath rest be a fore- 
taste of heaven's eternal joys } That glorious sight may 
yet be seen. When the nature, sanctions, privileges, and 
surpassing beauty of Sabbath rest and the Gospel order 
generally are fully made known — their boon to the poor 
man, their benefits to the rich, their barrier against oppres- 
sion and degradation, and their tendency to promote pros- 

perity and happiness to the individual, family, and nation 
— it does seem to us that the divine injunction, " Remem- 
ber the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, " will be universally 
heeded. 

 Hail, blessed Sabbath, 
gracious Lord's Day, hail ! What hallowed associations 
cluster thick around thee ! Running back, week by week, 
we think of the precious seasons of worship, social and se- 
cret, which we have enjoyed in thy advantageous hours ! 
The sacred convocations, the seasons of prayer, the in- 
structive sermons, and the gladsome songs of praise are 
fresh in our memories. We think, too, of the incalculable 
good which has flowed to our race from this blessed day. 
What Gospel triumphs, beginning in Jerusalem, then in 
Judea, then in Samaria, and then in the uttermost parts of 
earth, have resulted from it ! What angel songs over re- 
pentant sinners have first been heard during its consecrated 
moments ! Thankful are we that our Saviour instituted this 
day. It carries us back in a spirit of commemoration to 
the glad morning of the resurrection and the glorious birth 
of the Gospel kingdom ; and yet farther still, to the birth of 
a new world as it sprang in beauty from its Creator's hands. 
It carries us forward in a spirit of faith and hope to the sub- 
lime consummation of Gospel work and blessing, when the 
Sabbath of earth shall be transferred to the eternal Sab- 
batism of that rest which remains for the people of God. 
Each well kept Sabbath brings us nearer, and adds to our 
fitness to meet the Founder of this rest which has been 
known from the beginning of time, and which shall continue 
when time shall be no more. Happy for us if we rightly 
perceive our obligations in respect to it, and have faith to 
enter into its permanent and perfect observance. 


POTTS

The Sabbath Day

To the Christian it is a foretaste of heaven. 
During its sacred hours, he can draw off his mind 
from those worldly thoughts and distracting cares 
which grow out of his pursuits on other days, and 
hold communion with the Father of his spirit. He 
can meditate, without interruption, on the riches of 
the inheritance of the saints in glory, on the love 
of God, on the grace and condescension of Christ, 



 

and on the consolation of the Holy Spirit. While 
thus occupied, his soul is often wafted upward on 
the wings of faith and hope, until he imagines him- 
self mingling with the blissful throng in the pres- 
ence of the ineffable glory. And when the glorious 
vision passes, and he feels himself still an inhabi- 
tant of the earth, how often does he breathe out his 
soul, in the language of the poet: 

'•'"Who, who would live alway, awav from his God; 
Away from von heaven, that blissful abode, 
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains, 
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns : 

" "Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
Their Saviour and brethren transjDorted to greet ; 
"While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul ?" 

But the exercises of the Christian are not always 
of a rapturous kind, even on the Sabbath, The 
child of God often has his doubts and fears, his 
troubles and sorrows. When thus affected, what a 
blessed privilege it is for him to have the opportu- 
nity of self-examination, of communion with God 
in the closet, of confessing his sins and supplicating 
the Divine forgiveness, of reading the Bible, and 
pondering its precious promises, of going to the 
house of God and listening to the preaching of the 
word, of conferring with other Christians, and 
learning that his trials are not peculiar. If he has 
been faithful in these things, peace has returned to 

 



 

his mind, and he has been enabled to say with the 
Psalmist: "Why art thou east down, O my soul? 
and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in 
God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health 
of my countenance, and my God." 

The writer does not intend to convey the idea 
that these holy exercises and sacred privileges are 
confined to the Sabbath ; but he does intend to con- 
vey the idea that there is something in the very 
institution and associations of the Sabbath favourable 
to them, and in fact suggestive of them. "Were 
there no Sabbath, some of them could not be 
.enjoyed at all, and others would be in danger of 
being neglected. If, with the inestimable privilege 
of one day in seven for such holy and elevating 
exercises. Christians are so feeble in the divine life, 
what would they be without it? God only can tell. 

We must conclude, then, that the Sabbath is the 
source of incalculable moral and spiritual advan- 
tages, that without it morality and religion would 
scarcely exist. Charles Elliot

The Sabbath

To the sincere, pious, penitent Christian, the Sabbath 
is a holy and a blessed day. Oppressed by the cares, toils 
and duties of the week, the Sabbath comes to his relief, 
like as a spring of water to the refreshment of a thirsty 
traveller, in his journey through a dry and desert land. 
It reminds him of duties higher and holier than those of 
labouring for the honour and riches of this world. And 
while it reminds him that the period of his existence on 
earth is short, it reminds him also of a never ending exis- 
tence beyond the grave. It reminds him that he is " fear- 
fully and wonderfully made," that he is the creature of 
an invisible Creator, to whom he is indebted for his life, 
and for all the wonderful physical, moral and intellectual 
faculties with which he is endowed. It affords him a fit 
season " to look through nature up to nature's God," to 
contemplate his infinite perfections, and to admire the 
wisdom and goodness which has given him an habitation 
so exactly adapted to his capacities and wants. And what 
is of yet greater importance, it affords him an opportunity 
to read and reflect upon the revelation of God to man, that 
revelation which discloses the character of his Creator, his 
own character, the duties required of him in this life, and 
what he must do to inherit a life of immortality and bles- 
sedness in that world of spirits into which his soul must 
soon take its flight. Bigelow

To Sanctify the Sabbath

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Q. 1. What is the rest which God requires on the Sabbath? 
A. It is not a mere natural or civil, but an holy rest, resembling the rest in heaven, wherein the mind is most active and busy in the work of God, though the body be at rest, and the spirit not wearied with its work; Rev. iv. 8. and the four beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Q. 2. May not any works of our civil calling be ordinarily done on that day? 
A. No; it is sinful to put our hands ordinarily to our callings on that day, and God usually punishes it. Nehemiah 13:15-18. In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing up sheaves, and lading asses, as also wine-grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day; and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath, unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath-day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.
Q. 3. May we not refresh our bodies by recreations, or our minds by thoughts of earthly business, or discourses, on that day? 
A. Recreations of the body, which are lawful on other days, are sinful on this day; and all the recreations of the mind allowed on this day, are spiritual and heavenly; Isaiah 58:13-14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Q. 4. What works may lawfully be done on that day? 
A. Christ’s example warrants works of necessity, and works of mercy, but no other; Mathew 12:3-4. But he said unto them, have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him, How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shew-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them that were with him, but only for the priests. And verse 7. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, &c.
Q. 5. What are the holy duties of the Sabbath? 
A. The public worship of God; in reading, and hearing the word preached. Isaiah 66:23. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord, Luke 4:16. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and stood for to read. And prayer; Acts 16:13-14. And on the Sabbath-day we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made, &c. And receiving the Sacrament; Acts 20:7. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached, &c.
Q. 6. Are private duties in our families required, as well as public, on the Sabbath? 
A. Yes; it is not enough to sanctify the Sabbath in public ordinances, but God requires it to be sanctified in family and private duties; Leviticus 23:3. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
Q. 7. With what frame of spirit are all Sabbath duties, both. public and private, to be performed? 
A. They are to be performed with spiritual delight; Isaiah 58:13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, &c. And all grudging at, and weariness of spiritual exercises, is a sin forbidden; Malachi 1:13. Ye said also, behold what a weariness is it, and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts, and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. Amos 8:5. When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? &c.
Q. 8. What is the first reason annexed to this command? 
A. The first reason is the sufficient, and large allowance of time God hath given us for our civil callings, and earthly business. Six days in the week is a large allowance.
Q. 9. What is the second reason annexed to this fourth command? 
A. The second reason is God’s sanctifying and separating this day by a special command and institution for his service; so that to profane it is to sin against an express divine statute.
Q. 10. What is the third reason annexed to this command? 
A. The third reason is God’s own example, who rested the seventh day from all his works, and blessed this day, by virtue of which blessing we are encouraged to sanctify it.
Q. 11. Is it not enough to sanctify this day in our own persons? 
A. No; if God hath put any under our authority, their profaning the Sabbath will become our sin, though we be never so strict in the observation of it ourselves.
Q. 12. May we continue our civil employment to the last moment of our common time? 
A. Except necessity or mercy urge us, we ought to break off before, and allow some time to prepare for the Sabbath, Luke 23:54. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.
Q. 13. W hat is the first inference from hence? 
A. That we have all great cause to be humbled for our Sabbath transgressions, either in our unpreparedness for it, our want of delight and spirituality in it, or the due government of our families as God requires.
Q. 14. What is the second inference from hence? 
A. That Christians on the Sabbath-day have a fair occasion and help to realize to themselves the heavenly state, in which they are to live abstract from the world, and God is to be all in all to them.

Sanctity of the Sabbath Day

First, and most elementally and centrally, it is that one day in seven is distinguished from the other six. That day is to be sanctified, and at the heart of the word sanctify is the idea of distinction and separation. This one day is set off, it is placed in a distinct category. This import of the word cannot be evaded and it is to be very carefully marked, for on it depends the whole notion of what we may and must call the sanctity of the Sabbath.

It is not, however, the bare notion of distinction or separation that is expressed in the commandment. The command to sanctify occurs in a context. “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.” And it is not only in the context of the remainder of the commandment, but also in the context of the other commandments. “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.” “Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” It is separation, therefore, to God, to the specific purpose of contemplation upon Him and specific occupation with His work in contrast with their own work. In this kind of distinction or sanctity the meaning of the fourth commandment resides. Abolish it, and the essence of the commandment is destroyed. There is no purpose in contending for the moral obligation of the commandment unless this sanctity is recognized and preserved, for it is the core around which all else is formed and without which all else disintegrates. Just as there is an ineradicable distinction between the six days of creation and the day of rest by which they were followed, so it is here. And it is precisely with this reminder that the commandment itself ends, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

Israel truly was a holy people; they were separated unto God Jehovah. It might, then, be supposed that the sanctification of one day in seven was inconsistent with the totality of their devotion to God. Yet it is an inescapable fact that this kingdom of priests and holy nation was in the most direct way commanded to separate one day from the other six for a specific purpose. And unless our conception of devotion to God, and of time as it is related to Him, can embrace and appreciate this notion, together with the divine wisdom embodied in it, we can have no understanding of the fourth commandment.   John Murray