“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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” (Ex. 20:8-11).
We believe in the abiding requirement of the Fourth Commandment to keep the Sabbath Day holy. See Why the Sabbath should Still be Kept.
The Christian Sabbath, or Lord’s Day, is to be kept on the first day of the week. The Shorter Catechism says: “From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath” (Q. 59).
Sabbath-keeping is an important duty, which the Lord’s people consider both solemn and delightful. See How the Sabbath should be Kept.
It is important to use the Scriptural terms for the weekly day of rest. These are Sabbath or Lord’s Day. “Sunday” is of pagan origin and it is derogatory to the holiness of the day to use that term. See Sabbath or Lord’s Day – not “Sunday”.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has endeavoured to remain faithful in her witness for the Lord’s Day. One area in which her witness has been called into question is over the issue of barring people from Baptism and the Lord’s Supper for using public transport on the Sabbath, even if they use it only for church-going. The Synod’s thorough and detailed statement on the issue, made in 1928, is available at this link. A brief article defending the Church’s position, What about using Public Transport on the Sabbath?, can be found at the link. And the detailed account of the controversy within the Church over the issue through the 1920s leading on to 1930 can be found here.