BY THE LATE PROFESSOR JAMES MILLER, F.R.S.E., PROFESSOR OF SURGERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, ETC., ETC.*
(Continued from page 428.)
THE restraints of sickness and distress, and the claims of other duties which may, in God’s providence, emerge, and brook neither neglect nor delay, these constitute obvious exemptions from, and exceptions to the enjoined attendance on the sanctuary. The work really of necessity and mercy is a prior duty, and must be performed first. To drag a body in sickness and disease, whether this be of muscle or of brain, to the house of God, and to force it there to attempt an exercise with the soul of which at the time it is physically incapable, is folly. By such circumstances the door of the sanctuary is shut. And to souls so withheld from seeking Him there, in the appointed place of special meeting with His people, He will assuredly fulfil His promise of making Himself known as “not confined to temples made with hands.”
And let him who is restrained by sickness take comfort in this further reflection, that though the body, with all our care, with all our tending, with all our refreshing sleep and invigorating exercise, will and must wear, grow feeble, and die—the soul, if duly exercised at all times with God, and specially on this day, which He in His infinite mercy and wisdom has ordained to be the peculiar time of refreshing from on high—it shall know no decay. The “seed” will grow and bear fruit; the “law” will contend and overcome. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. iv. 16). As the flesh dries up, the spirit grows full of sap; as the body withers, the soul is “fat and flourishing.” “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah xl. 30, 31).
THUS WE HAVE SEEN.—1. That the muscles and brain of man, the special organs of labour, are to work, to do all their work, on six days of the week. It is God’s doom and command, and, under due regulation, this labour is for health—a blessing. 2. In working, the organs of work suffer exhaustion, and need repose—the rest of the night, and the rest of the Sabbath-days. 3. In that rest the needful energy expended in labour is regained ab intra. 4. Not resting and not working at the proper times are deviations from this rule, and as such detrimental. 5. The soul, like the
* Professor Miller was in his day Surgeon in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, and to H.R.H. Prince Albert, for Scotland. We are also informed that he was a brother of the late Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D., of Free St. Matthew’s, Glasgow.—Ed.
body, is destined to work, and is invigorated by its healthful working. 6. But, also like the body, in working it suffers weariness. 7. The needful refreshment comes ab extra; not by inaction, but by exercise of another kind. 8. The Sabbath is the special time, and the spiritual Sabbath exercises are the special means for such refreshment. 9. To labour mundanely on the Sabbath, except in the works of necessity and mercy, and to abstain from spiritual exercise on that day, each is alike a deviation from the rule, and, as such, detrimental. The man that so errs outrages God’s holy law, and incurs His righteous displeasure both here and hereafter; despising, as he does, that which is not only the law of God’s holy Word, but also and equally the constitutional law of man’s being, or rather well-being, physiologically considered. The man that loves, honours, and obeys the law of God in all things, finds, practises, and experiences that “godliness which is profitable unto all things, having the promise both of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Or, in another point of view, a saving knowledge of, and communion with, Christ—Christianity—is essential to the well-being of man even in this world. Without this his body may live through its short span, passing well after a sort, as may that of a horse, dog, or other lower animal, but the soul, spirit, mind, can know no true refreshing and sustaining power; it cannot prosper and be in health; prematurely it passes, as to some of its very highest and noblest functions, into decrepitude and decay even now; and at the body’s death its death is eternal!*
To assert that God’s enjoined way of Sabbath observance is hard—oppressive to man, and opposed to his pleasure and happiness—is to assert what is not true. “God’s law is perfect.” It is a reflection of Himself, who is infinitely perfect; and it has been condensed by His own Word into two great principles—honour to God, and love to man. The fulfilment of both of these is enjoined on His intelligent creatures. And to say that in the keeping of the fourth, or of any one of the ten commandments, He indicates what is consistent only with the first principle, and opposed to the second, is virtually to make God a liar, declaring that He has given as law to man what is not a reflection of Himself, and that the first “great commandment” is inconsistent with, and opposed to, “the second, which is like unto it.”
Away with such blasphemy! “God is truth.” “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” “The Sabbath was made for man; not man for the Sabbath.” It was constructed on very purpose for man’s well-being. And in the righteous observance of it, man will not only discharge a duty well-pleasing to the Lawgiver; but in the keeping of that law he will find for himself “great reward.”
* It is with the followers of Christ now as in the days when He walked upon the earth. Their minds are enlightened and taught; their bodies are nourished and refreshed; and they are delivered from many diseases both of body and mind.
Rest assured, that the more the physiologist advances in the exact knowledge of his science, the more will he be convinced that the physiology of the Sabbath as contained by manifest implication in God’s revealed Word, is not only true, but imbedded there, and embodied in corresponding enactments, alike in wisdom and in mercy. And the more faithfully man observes the Sabbath according to God’s law, the purer pleasure and the higher happiness will be his. Let him walk on the Sabbath; but let it be, Enoch-like, with God; walking to or in the sanctuary, whether that be roofed by mortal hand, or canopied by the spacious firmament. Let him read on the Sabbath; but let it be of God and godliness; not concerning the things of time, which are seen, but touching the great things which are not seen and are eternal. Let him talk on the Sabbath; but let his conversation be as “becometh the Gospel of Christ.” “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul” (Psalms lxvi. 16). “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name” (Mal. iii. 16). Let him meditate; but let it be on the law of God, “day and night,” that he may observe to do all according to all that is written therein; for then he shall make his way prosperous, and then he shall have good success (Josh. i. 8).* Let him eat on the Sabbath; but while the sustenance of the body is not neglected, let his soul’s feeding be upon the “bread of life,” the spiritual manna, the bread that came down from heaven, of which if a man eat he shall hunger no more. Let him drink on the Sabbath; but let it be of the “water of life,” and that freely. Once drinking of that, he will thirst no more; he will feel no more the pangs and misery of drought, but he will drink on for the very pleasure of the draught. Let him drink of the spiritual cup, “the cup of the new covenant,” wherein excess is impossible. For in such feasting the Master Himself stands by; and His invitation, nay, His command, is, “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!” Let him sing. Aye, let him sing. For the Sabbath is no day of sadness; the sanctuary is no place of gloom. Religion is no creed of melancholy. There are times for saddened thought, and true “affliction” of the soul on that day. For who has not many sins and shortcomings over which to mourn? who would not offer the chosen sacrifice of the broken and contrite spirit? But the dark cloud has a very bright and silver lining; the very sorrow of sin brings to mind the great and glorious Gospel, the good news of pardon and peace, of which the Sabbath is, as it were, the perpetual token and pledge. And that day has ever been
* “His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalms i. 2, 3).
associated with singing and gladness. It is commemorative of creation; and when that mighty work was done, and “all very good”—when the foundations of the earth were fastened, and the corner-stone laid—then “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job xxxviii. 7). The Sabbath commemorates, too, God’s chosen people’s deliverance from bondage and thraldom. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider he hath cast into the sea” (Exod. xv. 1). The Sabbath commemorates redemption; and the Redeemer’s advent was heralded and accompanied by songs of praise. At the conception, Mary burst forth into her bold “Magnificat,”* “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke i. 46). At the wondrous birth in Bethlehem, the heavenly host leant down from heaven’s verge, and man for once was privileged to hear on earth the song of seraphim, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men” (Luke ii. 14). At the presentation in the temple, old Simeon chaunted his “Nunc dimittis”—”Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke ii. 29). At the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, men, women, and children sang, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew xxi. 9). The going forth of the Son of man to “finish” the great and glorious work which was given Him to do, at the priceless cost of His own blood and pain, to perfect an “eternal salvation,” was “when they had sung an hymn, and they went out to the mount of Olives” (Matthew xxvi. 30). The Sabbath, commemorative of these things, is no day of sorrow; it is a day of song. It is a day to be merry. It is a true Christmas; and “he that is merry, let him sing psalms.” The Sabbath was made for man, and let man sing upon that day; but let his song be “one of the songs of Zion.” “O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise unto the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. . . . Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth” (Psalms xcv. 1, 2, 3; xcvii. 11, 22, 13).
Are these things so? Is this the teaching of God’s Word?—that Word which cannot change, and is truth? Then, “be not deceived.” “Every man shall bear his own burden.” “God is
* For this train of thought the author is indebted to the Rev. W. Lindsay Alexander, B.D., in an admirable Lecture on Psalmody recently delivered.
not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. vi. 5, 8). “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark viii. 36, 37).
WORKING-MEN! muscle-workers! You are perhaps poor, and labour hard for but a scanty supply of food and raiment. The Sabbath is given to make you, in poverty, rich now; not only contented, but absolutely rich; and to constitute you in prospect heirs not merely of some great estate and possession, but of “all things” hereafter. This Sabbath-day is God’s special means of turning you to Himself, of breathing into your else dead hearts the new life, of nourishing and enlarging your souls, of making them more and more like to His own blessed image, in which they were created, of fitting you for fellowship with Himself throughout eternity; translating you at once from the position of poor and peasant men into a part of the royal household—His own royal family—”heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”
“Of this be sure,
He who ordain’d the Sabbath loves the poor.”
That blessing is in your offer now. Will you sell such a birth-right for something less than “a mess of pottage?” False friends tempt you to do it; your own hearts, often the falsest of them all, tempt you too. The world, and the prince of the power of it, tempt you. He is again by you, as he was by your first parents, cunning as the serpent, and the language still the same, “Ye shall not surely die. True: God hath said ye shall; but He is merciful; He seeks not sacrifice now.” But, “Thus saith the Lord, Honour my Sabbath, and ye shall live; profane it, and ye shall surely die.” That law is plain and peremptory, and not one jot or tittle of it can ever pass away. “The word of the Lord endureth for ever.”
Whom will you believe?—the tempter or the Lawgiver? Whom will you honour and obey? Who are your true friends here? Who are the “real friends of the people?” Those who but call themselves so, and would cajole you into habitual desecration of God’s Sabbath, siding with the tempter; or those who exhort you to the fear of God, “who has the power to cast both soul and body into hell?” Is He a friend who would make you discontented as well as poor here, and leave you beggars and bankrupts throughout eternity? Is it He who will take away your clothes, your food, your good name, your best friend, your house, your home, your all? Or is it He who will seek to guide and help you to obtain—and if ye but seek aright ye shall obtain—the perfect garment of Christ’s righteousness; the meat, better than that of angels’, which came down from heaven; the pure water of life, to be as a well within you, that you may neither hunger nor thirst any more; the good name—participation in that name which is above every
name—”I will put my name upon you;” the alone true and faithful Friend, the “Friend that loveth at all times, and the Brother that is born for adversity;” “the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;” the home of the redeemed and the Redeemer; the crown and the kingdom, “incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away?”*
Don’t be cajoled, and flattered, and befooled by crystal palaces, Sabbath steamers, Sabbath excursion trains, and their interested touters. Fine arts, of themselves, will never make you fine men. Look at Rome! Sunday fêtes, spectacles, gala-days, will never make you happy, contented, loyal, and free. Look to France, look to Paris, where one-third of the entire population die in the public hospitals—scarce houses to live in, no homes to die in. Do you want peace and liberty? “The work of righteousness, shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever” (Isaiah xxxii. 17). You will be “free indeed,” only when “Christ shall have made you free.” “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”†
Men tell you that you are hard worked, and need fresh air and recreation. True. Take them at their word. They offer these; but they offer what costs them nothing. They will make money of your Sabbath dissipation. It is your pence rather than your persons, your shillings and not your souls, that they care for.‡ And the boon they hold out in return is not theirs to give. They would pay you back by asking you to rob yourselves—aye, and worse, to rob God; seeking to filch from you your dearest treasure, in comparison with which all gold is but dross, and less than vanity. Aye, Satan through them seeks a double spoil of you—your substance and your souls too. Answer them thus: Let God’s day alone! It is not yours to give, or ours to take. Take the Sabbath! It is ours already; and we mean to keep it—KEEP it in its truest sense. Meddle not with the seventh; it is sacred and set apart. Help us, if you will, out of the six, our common good. Give us a part of one of these. That you are free to give, and we to take. Stop our week-day labour in the middle of the Jewish day of rest. The remainder of that now lawful day we will gladly and gratefully spend in healthful recreation. You, the masters,
* “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. iv. 8).
† Depend upon it, the only realization of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité,” is to be found in true religion. “The Sabbath was made for man.” Not for the rich man, or the wise man, or the poor man, or the ignorant man, or for any particular kind of man; but for every man—all alike.
‡ The opposite of Paul. He sought “not yours, but you.” These observations are, of course, intended to apply only to the interested advocates of Sabbath railways, steamers, shows, etc.—men who unhappily look upon these things as part of their stock in trade. We know that there are many advocates of such “recreations” (?) possessed by the purest philanthropy and benevolence. Their error lies not in motive, but in judgment; the motive we esteem, the judgment we would seek to controvert.
will be no losers in the end. It pays; it has been proved to do so. It pays the men in better health and vigour; it pays the masters in better work and more of it. The Sabbath will be left holy. The half-holiday will secure the entire holy day. God’s glory will be manifested in man’s welfare, temporal and eternal.
Agitate this scheme! Take the modern “friends of the people” at their word. They can lose nothing; you will gain much: so will they; so will every one. “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs xiv. 34).
MEN OF SCIENCE! brain-workers! Mere philosophy will not do. Something more is needed to satisfy the soul even in this world, and that something will be found in the repository of the true wisdom—the Bible. To that, mere philosophy, it is true, will apply itself in vain. It is as a little child that the enquirer must come. Philosophy will never master the Bible; but the Bible, when received, will let in a flood of new meaning, will impart a new breadth and depth, a new force and truth, to all philosophy. And the physiologist, above all, may rest assured that, as already stated, in the keeping of the Fourth, as of all the other commandments of God, the physical as well as the moral man will sustain no loss, but, on the contrary, find “great reward.” Let him reason, and investigate, and experiment as he will, he can end but thus, as did the wisest of men after all his reasoning, and investigation, and experience:—”The conclusion of the whole matter is this, Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole of man” (Eccles. xii. 13).
MEN OF SCOTLAND! recall the good old days of Sabbath observance. Make Scotland once more what she was—a nation that keeps the Sabbath. Has she left her first love in this? Then, “Let her remember from whence she has fallen, and repent, and do the first works, lest her candlestick be removed out of its place” (Rev. ii. 4). “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jer. vi. 16).
MEN OF BRITAIN! do nothing to peril Britain’s greatness. Rome would abrogate the Second Commandment; let not Britain tamper with the Fourth. Troublesome times are coming, and, unless the Lord shall keep our sea-girt island, “the watchman waketh but in vain.” Israel, God’s ancient people, may ere long be dwelling again in their loved and longed-for Canaan. Oh! let it not be that this our land should now fall away, and begin to endure for the same cause the righteous anger which heretofore has made Israel “scattered and peeled.” “My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. Then I said I would pour out my fury upon them” (Ezek. xx. 13). “They have defiled my sanctuary, . . . and profaned my Sabbaths. . . . I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled” (Ezek. xxiii. 38, 46). The nation’s strength is the nation’s godliness. “Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me
shall be lightly esteemed.” Of all enemies, be most jealous and resolved against those who, in whatever guise they come, seek insidiously, yet diligently, treacherously, and it may be fatally, to sap and overthrow the alone foundation on which Britain’s greatness and Britain’s safety can ever rest. Let her remain ever true to God, to His law, to His cause; and the God of armies, who, in former times, has sent her signal deliverance, He will prove her “refuge and her strength, a very present help in trouble.” Come what may, then, “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.” “She shall dwell on high; her place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks. . . . For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us” (Isa. xxxiii. 16, 22).
(Concluded.)