OBSERVING
THE LORD’S DAY
BY CHARLES A. JUDD
“Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it
holy.”-Ex. xx:8.
In reading over
very carefully the ten commandments, and speaking of them all excepting the
forth, we can say that we find in them nothing that a Christian should not
heartily endorse, and we see in their provisions nothing that would conflict
with a Christian’s judgment or reason. We find these nine short laws
comprehensive beyond human thought, and in the life and teachings of our
Saviour the same are not destroyed but perpetuated. There seems to be no
dispute, and no difficulty, in interpreting their provisions as tending to make
man better and happier here, and as being a means to lead us to attain eternal
life through Christ.
But what have we
to say about the forth commandment? There it stands with the other nine, and it
must either be kept or broken. God says He will show mercy unto thousands of
them that love Him and keep His commandments, but He first speaks of the evil
which will come upon them that hate Him. Christ said to His disciples, “If ye
love me, keep my commandments.”-(John xiv:15.)
Now no believer
will say that god requires an impossibility. We know that there are cases where
it is impossible for man to keep God’s commandments to the letter, but Paul says, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life.”-(2 Cor. iii:6.) So when the commandment says, “Six days shalt thou
labor, and do all thy days shalt not do any
work,” we are called upon to decide where the letter of the law ends and the spirit
begins.
But how shall
weak man decide such questions? It cannot be denied that there is work which it
is necessary to do on the Lord’s day, and it is also true that there is work
which it is our privilege to do on that day; work in which we find rest, and
holy delight. Then where shall we draw the line between necessary work and
unnecessary work?
What have
examples and instructions. In Mark ii:23, we read, “And it came to pass, that
He went through the corn-fields on the Sabbath-day; and His disciples began, as
they went, to pluck the ears of corn.”
The Pharisees
found fault with Him for allowing His disciples to do that which they held was
not lawful on the Sabbath-day. Jesus referred them to the course of David, and
said unto them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the
Sabbath.-(Mark ii:27.)
Also a little
later, when about to heal the man with a withered hand, the Pharisees were
ready to accuse Him of breaking the law, and He asked them, “Is it lawful to do
good on the Sabbath-days or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they held
their peace.”-(Mark iii:4.) It is written that He looked upon them “with anger,
being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.”
In Luke xiii:
10-15, we find another example for us. Our Lord was teaching on the
Sabbath-day, and healed a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen
years, and the rule of the synagogue was indignant that He should have healed
her on the Sabbath-day; the Lord answered him and said, “Thou hypocrite, doth
not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and
lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of
Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this
bond on the Sabbath-day?”
But after these
examples how shall we decide what is proper work for the Lord’s day? People
think sometimes that it is a great waste to let so much valuable time pass
unused; but it is not because they are covetous for the worldly gain it might
bring instead of “coveting earnestly the best gifts” which would enrich them
unto salvation?
There ought not
to be any doubts in our minds when deciding this question, for if we pray to
God for wisdom, and put ourselves entirely into His hands, saying, “Lord we are
willing to abide by Thy decision,” then we shall be directed, and shall know
that God’s word is sure when He tells us that if we “see first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” that all needful
provision for the body shall be added unto us.-(St. Luke xii:31.)
“If any man will
do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.”-(St. John
vii:17.)
It is perfectly
apparent that by keeping any of the ten commandments except the fourth, our
happiness will be increased and our eternal life ensured, and a person
professing to believe in Christ Jesus as his Redeemer and to believe God’s holy
Word, should be able to pray with all his heart for strength to keep them, and
there is no reason why fourth should be made an exception.
This may sound
like strange or useless argument to the ears of some who see little or nothing
of the violations of the Sabbath, that are taking place from week to week, but,
to Christians who are in a position to notice these, it is a sad fact that the
observance of one day in seven as a day of rest is growing rapidly less.
We talk of the
great advantages of railroads; we not the vast fleets of vessels carrying the
wealth of nations; we speak of the wonderful benefits of the daily press, and
in many ways pay tribute to the skill and enterprise which brings wealth and
luxury to the people. But in order to have these it is said we must give up our
day of rest. The fierce competition of the times induces someone to use Sunday
to force through an extra run of freight so as to beat his competitor, and the
competitor, and the competitor says he must to likewise or fail. A boat comes
in; it must not lie idle at the dock, for how much precious gold the boat might
earn in a day’s time! Someone says a Sunday newspaper would pay, and now
Christians are invited to replace profitable Sunday reading by a sheet filled
not only with secular themes, but often containing matter unfit for their per
usual even on a week day. Thus, and in many other ways, God’s day of rest is
disregarded, and arguments are used to show that only fanatics would insist on
its strict observance.
When the Jews
lived on manna in the wilderness, God sent them a double portion every sixth
day, that it might last them over the seventh, and though it putrefied on any
other day of the week, yet on the seventh day it kept pure and sweet.
It seems as
though we might learn a lesson from this. If we believe in the same God that
led Children of Israel all those forty years, can we not have faith that He
will provide an ample portion for us while keeping His commandments? A great
many things in nature are incomprehensible to man, and a vast number of things
in the Bible would stagger man’s belief, if God’s Holy Spirit and Comforter did
not come to His children and whisper them an assurance whereby they can
believe.
Again we say,
there is work which it is necessary to do on the Lord’s day: but where shall
the line be drawn?
Everyone must answer this question for himself.
Whatsoever is of doubt is sin (Rom. xiv:23), and a conscience guided by the
Holy Spirit will lead us out of doubt into the light. It may be that for some
of us the way of escape seems hedged in, and our faith sorely tired, but why do
Christians profess to love an serve a God whose commandments they cannot keep?
