THE SABBATH DAY

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.”

Notes of a sermon by the late Rev. Neil Cameron, translated from Gaelic (F.P. Magazine Vol. I, p. 388).

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy,” Who spoke these words? It was God on Mount Sinai, out of the fire, and in the hearing of all Israel. Christ delivered the written law with which He shall judge all at the last day. “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” (2nd Cor. v: 10).

Some are of the opinion that it is not as great a sin to desecrate the Sabbath Day as to be guilty of murder, theft, or adultery, but that is a great delusion. People should loathe those who desecrate the Lord’s Day just as much as they would the murderer or adulterer and such like. The godly fathers and mothers of old avoided Sabbath desecration just as much as they did murder. Why? Because they were both God’s commandments. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ said also, ‘Do not kill,’ and He also said, ‘Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.'” The state of the Sabbath breaker shall at the Day of Judgment be just as wretched and guilty as the state of the murderer. It is quite unreasonable for people to think that the sin is not as great because the multitude are guilty of it. Noah was ‘different’ from the people of the old world for when they were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, he, according to God’s command, entered into the ark he had built, and was saved while all else were destroyed. Such shall be the destruction of the enemies of God and of His holy law, and the salvation of those who fear God and keep His commandments. In drawing your attention to a number of things in connection with this solemn and weighty matter, we would endeavour to do it in the following order:—

1. The Sabbath is desecrated by walking the streets and roads, other than for works of necessity and mercy, whatever excuse be

given by people for doing so. Many in our day use it to visit friends and relatives and are thus robbing God of His glory, bringing loss and damnation to their own souls, and doing their utmost to destroy other souls as well. Many sleep on the Sabbath day so late in the morning that they cannot go to church, but on weekdays they are up and doing very early. They will make an effort to attend to the affairs of the body but not a thought is given to the needs of the never-dying soul, and what shall happen to it. For the lost, sin-ruined soul, the Sabbath Day, and the means of grace, are too precious to pass by in this brutish way. To them that spend in this manner, the precious day that God, in His mercy, gave to them, the Sabbath is a great weariness and its hours very, very long. Soul, how could you be happy in Glory keeping an eternal Sabbath? It is clear that your nature must be changed or you cannot but go to the place of eternal woe. Conversation about worldly and vain things play a great part in the desecration of the Lord’s Day. All should avoid these things, and if others cannot do so, leave their company and care not what they think of you for doing so. Reading vain books and such like is to be kept from. There is no book in the world in which things are set down, even for time itself, like the Bible. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shall honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” (Isaiah lviii: 13, 14).

1. Many desecrate the Sabbath Day by trampling God’s house underfoot; worshipping God by images or any other way not appointed in His word. The greater number go to worship themselves, not God, and the question is not what shall please Him but what shall please the flesh? They have turned God’s house into a “play-house,” Organs play, man-made hymns are sung instead of the psalms of David, and thus the minds of the worshippers are corrupted, their consciences are hardened, and their sleep made sounder than ever. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John xvii, 17). Hymns and organs have banished the Truth from pulpit and pew. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” (Ps. cxix, 105). “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews xii, 28, 29).

2. Road and rail traffic going forth for pleasure or carrying mails or other goods; men going about attending to their worldly affairs—buying and selling—is a desecration of the Lord’s Day which will make this land desolate. Read Leviticus xxvi, verse 27 to the end of the chapter.

3. The people of the Highlands are greatly polluted by the tourists from the South setting a bad example before them on the Lord’s Day. Such as profess to be followers of Christ—ministers, elders, and ordinary members—are bringing this plague to the North. The people of the Highlands should remember that Christ said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” and, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” It is also written, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” (Exodus xxiii, 2). The godly fathers and mothers of old set their worldly affairs in order on Saturday evening so that the Sabbath could be observed. “I am the Lord thy God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” (Ezekiel xx, 2). There was an eminent man in France called Malan and on a certain occasion one of our own countrymen while on a visit to that country stayed at his home, and was so impressed by the wonderful peace and order that prevailed in the house, that he asked his host the reason for it. Malan told him that he had resolved to keep the Sabbath Day holy and that no work was to be permitted in his house during that day with the result the Lord had blessed his home and family while those who cared not for the Sabbath on every side of him were in trouble. “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his hand from doing any evil . . . for thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off (Isaiah lvi, 2, 4, 5).

4. Some think that the Sabbath is not to be kept under the New Testament dispensation but Christ says: “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew v, 17, 18). In regeneration the law of God is written in the heart and mind and thus the living soul delights in God’s law. It must, therefore, surely be, that the Fourth Commandment is in the heart wrought upon by

the Holy Spirit. Christ gave perfect obedience to God’s law and justice for His own people and they are not under the law as a covenant but only as a rule of life. The apostle John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day; and the holy women at the death and burial of the Saviour, “saw the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath Day according to the commandment.” (Luke xxiii, 55, 56).