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