The Lord’s Day has always occupied a prominent place in any community where the Gospel of Christ has been blessed by the Holy Spirit to the saving of the souls of sinners. Nor is this surprising when we consider the work or the Holy Spirit in applying the Gospel is thus described by Jeremiah, “After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and will be their God and they shall be my people.” (Jer. xxxi. 33). All those who are spiritually enlightened to understand the things which are spiritual and eternal are in full agreement with the Apostle Paul when he says to the Romans, “Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good,” and are taught to confess with him, “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.” (Rom. vii. 12, 14). Through the gracious teaching of the Holy Spirit such see a divine glory in the law of God which serves, on the one hand, to humble them under a sense of their sin, and, on the other hand, to subdue them under a sense of the Divine Majesty. Nowhere does this divine law appear so glorious as when it is seen to be fulfilled by the obedience unto death of the Divine Redeemer of whom we read, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Gal. iv. 4). Those who have been made partakers of this redemption and have had the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, show their love to their Redeemer by seeking to keep His commandments. This is the real evidence of true discipleship as Christ Himself makes plain, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” (John xiv. 15, xv. 14). All impenitent Sabbath-breakers, whether found among the clergy or laity who pursue their wicked way in the face of warning and exhortation, make evident, not only their rebellion against the King of Eternity, but also that they have neither part nor lot in that salvation in which God’s glory is made great. They are thus on the broad way which leads to destruction and, unless repentance is granted, must irretrievably perish beneath the wrath of God.
That the Gospel of Christ was widely blessed in the Western Highlands in days gone by is clear from the facts of history. Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He might be glorified, were to be found in our glens and dales. Planted there by His grace they grew up and flourished in God’s holy place, and the savour of their memory is carried down to us both by printed page and oft-repeated anecdote. Having served their generation, they fell asleep and are now having their everlasting habitation in the Father’s House, as Christ promised, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John xiv. 1). These men and women constituted the true glory of the Highlands, and were so accounted by Him Who, while He was on earth, preferred the house in Bethany to Herod’s palace. While these worthies lived, the Sabbath was observed and loved. The private and public worship of God was to them a delight, and the Lord who loves the gates of Sion was the portion of their inheritance. “The lines had fallen to them in pleasant places.” (Psalm xvi.)
The generation, which has risen up in their stead, however, has grievously departed from the good old paths. The love of money which is the root of all evil is more in evidence than love to the House of God. The god of pleasure is more the object of worship than the God of Salvation. The newspaper is greedily devoured while the Bible is neglected. “My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” (James iii. 10). “For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” (Ephes. v. 6). “Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard; and hold fast and repent.” (Rev. iii. 3).
The enemies of God have not been slow to observe the decay in spiritual life and, in recent times, powerful efforts have been made to overthrow the sanctity of the Sabbath by various agencies. The purpose of this address is to direct the attention of the people to a certain attempt being made in a silent and penetrative way. We refer to certain emissaries from the newspaper world, who are evidently working according to a planned campaign in the Western Highlands. They have already penetrated to Gairloch and Ullapool, and recently, to Portree, among other places. Their desire is not for the spreading of the Word of God, the good seed of the Kingdom, but the selling of “Sunday” newspapers. No expense or effort is considered too great to effect this end. These men cannot claim to have the moral and spiritual welfare of the people at heart when they are engaged in breaking down one of the main bulwarks against immorality and un-spirituality. It should be clear to the people everywhere that the buying and selling of newspapers on Sabbath constitutes a clear breach of the Fourth Commandment, while the reading of such papers on the day which God requires to be sanctified to Himself must involve the transgressor in deeper guilt before God. Such guilt may not be felt on the conscience now but shall be felt assuredly in Eternity. The God who cannot lie has declared it; “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” Death in this world is the universal experience of mankind. If death is surrounded with such sorrow, pain and desolation as is our common lot to observe, what must be the terrible reality of eternal death? “The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.” (I. Cor. xv. 56) Every impenitent Sabbath breaker will find the terrible strength of the Fourth Commandment at death and the sting will remain in his soul throughout the endless ages of eternity. We, therefore, call upon all to whom this address may come, as they and we must one day appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that they seek grace, steadfastly, to resist this temptation thrown in their way by these ungodly profaners of the Lord’s Day, and to determine to resist any similar encroachments on the sanctity of this blessed day. In this exhortation we are but fulfilling our duty as watchmen upon the walls of Sion. “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” (Ezek. iii. 17).
When a sinner is deeply convinced of sin, the law, at God’s command, arrests him with its curse, and binds him with chains of guilt. Now terrors from the Lord beset him round about, and fill him with fear and shame and confusion of face. These troubles are bound upon him, and are greater or less, longer or shorter, as God sees best for the sinner’s present humiliation and future safety.—Berridge.