MAN cannot escape the knowledge and belief that there is a God, and that there are right and wrong. These are stamped upon his rational nature. But if the decalogue is not of divine, infallible authority, then man can never know his duty to God nor his duty to his fellow-man. In a recent editorial we discussed the law of God in its general character. In this article we write of the Fourth Commandment as requiring special attention in our times. Decent men, law-abiding men, good men, Christian men, take greater liberties with this commandment than with any other in the decalogue. The man who would not recognise the authority of the other nine commandments would be generally regarded as a dangerous and a reckless renegade, but neglect of the Sabbath is often regarded as very respectable. We live in a time when good Christian people feel that they have a right to interpret and modify the Fourth Commandment to suit their own opinions. It is therefore timely and important that it should receive special attention.
The authority of this commandment is set forth with plainness and divine authority in the Old and New Testaments. Christ says He is Lord of the Sabbath. The original statement of this commandment declares that it is “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Thus in its production and purpose God holds the first place. In considering the Sabbath, the claims of God upon it must always have the first place. Our Lord further declares that although He made it, and has the first claim to consideration in it, yet His purpose in making it was for man. This last statement of our Lord has often been interpreted that, since it was made for man, then it is his, and he has a right to do what he pleases. As well might a man argue that because the eye was for him, then he has a right to pluck it out or change it to suit his notions. Let him try it, and he will soon discover his blunder and self-injury. So, too, with the Sabbath. Every attempt of man to conform it to his ideas has brought sorrow and ruin. The Lord made the Sabbath as it is, and it is designed for the blessing of man. Desecrations of it means an injury, not only to the desecrator, but to all mankind.
* An editorial in “the Presbyterian” (Philadelphia), 30th October, 1924.
It behoves us, therefore, to diligently and honestly study the nature of the Sabbath. Our source of information is found in the original announcement by God of the law, on Sinai (Exodus 20). It is indicated that it existed before this announcement, which is a command to “remember” it. Again, it is to be kept holy. The word “holy” here is interpreted throughout the Scriptures as signifying separation from things secular, and devoted to the exclusive and immediate service of God. It is a family institution, as well as individual. The head of the family is enjoined to maintain it in his family life. It requires cessation of all labours for man and working beast. God is set forth as our example, as observing the first Sabbath at the end of creation, and Christ, as Creator and Lord of the Sabbath, and as the perfect Man, is our example within human life. In His example He interprets the general and exclusive statement of the law by two exceptions, namely, the works of necessity and mercy. Here we meet some temptations. The decision as to what are necessity and mercy is left to the individual, enlightened conscience. Here we must maintain liberty and respect. If one is honest, keeping strictly in mind the general holiness of the law, and seeking the guidance of God, the sanctity of the law will be maintained. Any tendency to interpret the Saviour’s rule of “necessity and mercy” as laxity will breed wickedness and wrong. It will be well to heed the statement, “As his custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.”
The Fourth Commandment is the keystone of the decalogue. The first three commandments refer exclusively to our duty and relation to God, and constitute the first side of the arch. The last six commandments refer exclusively to our duty to man and constitute the other side of the arch. The Fourth Commandment deals with both our duty to God and our duty to man, and is slipped in between the two sides as a keystone. This is significant as to the importance of a strict observance of the Fourth Commandment. If the keystone is destroyed or weakened, the whole arch collapses. This has proven to be true in all history with regard to the relation of the Fourth Commandment to the whole law. For this reason the observance of the Sabbath becomes a sign of the moral integrity and stability of any people; God has plainly declared; “Moreover, also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them.” This fact of the Sabbath as a sign has been verified in all history. While the Jews were faithful to the Sabbath, their life was orderly and upright, both towards God and man. When they became contaminated with heathenism and desecrated the Sabbath, their whole moral and religious life degenerated and resulted in their being carried away captive. On their return, one of the marks of a revived religious and moral life was their strict observance of the Sabbath. Again they fell away through supplanting the command of God with their own opinion about the Sabbath, and again they sank into hypocrisy and formalism, and again their city and nation fell, and has never been revived. Great Britain, in contrast with the Continent of Europe, honoured the Sabbath, and they produced a people and a government which was blest itself and carried a blessing to all parts of the earth. Recently Great Britain has declined in her regard for the sanctity of the Sabbath, and to-day she is disturbed, if not threatened, with internal dissension and with international distrust. “The Continental Sabbath” was a term used everywhere to signify the slack observance of the Sabbath in all Europe. Now look at the upheavals in religion, morals, and politics which that Continent is passing through, with no certainty as to the character of the issue. America was settled by people who had passed through the fire for the Christian religion. They were strict in their observance of the Sabbath. This was known everywhere as a Christian nation, and our federal and state laws protected the Scriptural sanctity of the Sabbath, and morality and prosperity marked the life of the people, until we reached the first place among the nations of the earth. But now a radical degeneration of Sabbath observance has taken place, with the result that law enforcement has become very difficult, and one of our prominent judges, speaking out of the experiences of the court, declares that we are the most lawless nation of the earth in regard to every part of the decalogue, and our relations with the nations of the earth are suffering from envy and mistrust. Surely it is time to return to the law of God and its Sabbath that God may return to us.
The Fourth Commandment provides a time and opportunity, and association for the study of religion and morality. In destroying the Sabbath, these are taken away, and this is removing the keystone and causes the collapse of the arch of duty to God and duty to man.