DELIVERANCE OF F. P. SYNOD.
THE following deliverance was drawn up in 1897, and is a reprint from the F. P. Magazine of August of that year. It may be studied with equal profit to-day:—
The Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, met at Inverness on 6th July, 1897, viewing with deep concern and alarm the existence at the present day of widespread disrespect and profanation of the holy Sabbath, hereby express their profound sorrow and humiliation at this state of things, and desire: first, to bring before the members and adherents of this Church and all who are concerned the weighty obligations that rest upon all men to sanctify the Sabbath; secondly, to deplore and condemn Sabbath desecration in every form and especially in those more obnoxious forms presently prevalent; and thirdly, to enjoin upon all the members and adherents of this Church in their respective stations the duty and privilege of a careful observance of the Lord’s day, and of furthering the sanctity of that day in the land by every lawful means in their power.
First. The Synod would call attention to the universal and perpetual obligation to sanctify the Sabbath as viewed in the light of the following considerations:—
(1) The original institution of the Sabbath. In Genesis ii. 3, we are told that “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Having ended the work of creation God rested on, blessed, and sanctified the seventh day. Our first parents in virtue of this example and institution came under obligation to sanctify the Sabbath. They were the representatives of the race, and therefore the same obligation rests upon their posterity to the end of the world.
(2) The place occupied by the fourth commandment in the moral law. The commandment to sanctify the Sabbath forms an integral part of the moral law. That law is necessarily of universal and perpetual obligation, and is admitted by all to be no mere ceremonial institution destined to pass away with the old economy. The ten commandments were spoken by the voice of God, and written with his own fingers on the tables of stone on Mount Sinai. Therefore, the fourth commandment possesses the supreme authority of God Himself. On this very account we are as much obliged to keep the Sabbath holy as to refrain from idolatry, murder, theft, or any other sin. The fourth commandment is therefore binding upon all to the end of time.
(3) The observance of the Sabbath was to continue after the Jewish Sabbath passed away. The Lord Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matt. v. 17). The fourth commandment being, as already shown, an integral part of the moral law, was therefore not abrogated by our Lord.
(4) Prophetic passages in the Old Testament such as Isaiah lvi. 6, 8, and lviii. 13, 14, clearly refer to New Testament times and proclaim the perpetuity of the Sabbath. Warnings are given to refrain from polluting it, and the blessing of God is promised to those who will “call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable.”
(5) The institution of the first day of the week instead of the seventh as the Christian Sabbath is proved by many passages in the Word of God. This institution is foretold in Psalm cxviii. 24, as “the day which the Lord hath made,” when “the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” The Lord Jesus, after His resurrection repeatedly met with His disciples on the first day of the week (John xx. 19, 26). The apostles and early Christians also celebrated public worship on that day. In Acts xx. 7, we are told that the disciples met on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread, and Paul then preached to them. The early Church contributed to the relief of the poor by the injunction of the apostle on the first day of the week (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2). These frequent references to the first day of the week as a special day for religious worship as distinguished from the seventh or any other are convincing evidences of the change of day. Again, in Hebrews iv. 10, it is written, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” “There remaineth therefore a rest (or the keeping of a Sabbath) to the people of God.” It is evident from the above that just as God rested on the seventh day from the work of creation, so the Son of God entered into rest after He had finished the work of redemption. The result is that there now remains the keeping of a Sabbath commemorative of the rest into which Christ entered when He rose from the dead on the first day of the week. And considering how much more glorious is the work of redemption than the work of creation this appears highly fitting in the eyes of believers. In apostolic times the Christian Sabbath was known as “the Lord’s day” (Rev. i. 10).
(6) Lastly, the first day of the week has been held ever since in the Church as the Christian Sabbath. God has signally blessed it by many gracious outpourings of His Spirit upon those who waited on Him in the ordinances of His own house on that day.
On the above grounds it is held that the sanctification of the Sabbath is of universal and perpetual obligation.
Secondly. The Synod deplore and condemn Sabbath desecration in every form, and especially in those more obnoxious forms presently prevalent throughout the land. The following is an enumeration of some of the more prominent ways in which the Lord’s Day is profaned:—the running of railway trains and coaches, the sailing of steamboats, and the transmission of passengers, letters, or goods thereby; the services of cars and ‘buses in some of our large cities, the making and repairing of railways and car lines; the opening of public parks, gardens, museums, and art galleries; the allowance of political meetings, and secular and so-called religious concerts; the opening of shops and the traffic in milk; recreations, such as cycling and golf; walking for health or pleasure, and the paying of social visits; the writing and posting of letters, the reading of secular books and papers, conversation upon worldly topics, etc.; and also the posting of letters and the sending away of goods on Saturdays that will be transmitted on the Lord’s Day. The Synod also regard with strong disapproval and keen sorrow the laxity of view on this important matter that prevails in most of our communities and professing churches. Magistrates, who ought to rule in the fear of God, are generally lukewarm as to Sabbath desecration, whilst the Parliament of this country permit many forms of this evil to prevail, which they could rightfully prevent.
Thirdly. The Synod enjoin upon the members and adherents of the Church, and very specially upon heads and guardians of families, the duty and privilege of a careful and Scriptural observance of the Lord’s Day, and in their respective stations of furthering the sanctity of this day to the utmost of their power.
The Synod conclude this deliverance by pointing out that the testimony of Scripture and the signs of the times combine to show that it is impossible for any nation to have spiritual prosperity, or to enjoy long temporal prosperity that does not sanctify the Lord’s Day according to the commandment, and express their earnest desire that the Lord in His infinite mercy would pour out His Spirit upon our land so as to bring us to true repentance for our sins, and cause us to hallow the Sabbath day, and to reverence all divinely appointed institutions.