The Lord’s Day, Or Christian Sabbath.
Adapted From A Sermon By
The Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Genesis 2:3
This morning let us consider and perhaps challenge our thoughts on the Christian Sabbath, The Lord’s Day, with the help of a sermon adapted from Isaac Watts.
We read in Genesis Chapter 2 verse 3:
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
In the history of the creation of the world, and the beginning of mankind, Moses gives us an account of the appointment of a Sabbath, or one day in seven that should be sanctified or separated from the common affairs of this life, devoted to the purposes of religion, and receive a peculiar blessing from God.
Now it cannot reasonably be supposed, as some writers have done, that the sacred historian would take such special notice in this place of a certain day, which was not appointed at that time, but which should be appointed, and sanctified, and blessed among the Jews two thousand four hundred years afterwards. It is probable that the most ancient patriarchs did, according to this early appointment, observe it as a day of rest from labour, and of the worship of God their Creator.
And it is very evident, that if it were lost among the nations, it was renewed again by Moses to the people of Israel with many particular sanctions: and there is still one day in seven continues in the New Testament to be a day of Christian worship, observed by the apostles and first disciples. So that when we consider as a whole the dispensations of God to men, as they are recorded in the Bible, it seems highly probable, that
there is some Sabbath, or one day in seven, divinely appointed both for the rest of man and the worship of God, which has run through all dispensations both before and after Moses, and which must remain to the end of the world.
It is not possible, in one short sermon, to run through all the reasonings that are necessary to confirm this doctrine; yet that in order that we may have some short hints toward the proof of a Sabbath running through all ages, let us consider the following five particulars:
1. What was the time when the first appointment of a Sabbath was given to men, and who were the persons to whom it was given?
Was it not in paradise as soon as ever man was created, that God claimed one day in seven for his own worship, as well as gave it to Adam for his rest and release from labour in the garden of Eden? Now there is at least as much reason and as much need for all the sons of Adam, in all ages and nations, in their feeble and sinful state, to have a day appointed for their own rest and for the worship of their God, as there was for Adam himself in paradise and in a state of innocence; for his body was then perfect health and vigour, and his mind more inclined to remember God and worship him.
2. Consider the original reason that is given for one day in seven to be sanctified, and this seems to confirm that is a perpetual pronouncement.
God rested on the seventh day from his work of creation: The Sabbath was given to man to remind him of the creation of the world by the true God in six days, and to do honour to God the Creator. But all mankind, in all ages, as well as Adam their Father, should remember this truth: and the continual return of a seventh day of rest is an everlasting memorial of it, and gives continual opportunities for paying homage to that Almighty Being that made us.
3. Consider the place which this command of the Sabbath bears in the law of God, when it was renewed and enjoined to the nation of Israel: This does in the opinion of many commentators add considerable weight to this argument.
It is one of the commands of the moral law, that was pronounced by the mouth of God himself on Sinai, with much glory and terror: It stands amongst those laws in Exodus 20. 1-17. which are conceived to be moral and perpetual, except in some small limitations and accommodations to the Jewish state. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.
It was written with the rest in the two tables of stone, which perhaps in that typical dispensation might denote perpetuity, and that it must last like a rock for ever. It was written by the finger of God himself, which gives a peculiar honour to it, and it was laid up in the ark of the covenant on which God dwelt in a bright cloud, or a blaze of glory behind the cloud; and so it was put under God's own eye and care, together with those laws which are of perpetual obligation.
Now it must be granted that in the books of Moses there are some peculiar rigors and ceremonies, and severe prohibitions of every earthly work under pain of death, added to the Sabbath, and enjoined to the Jews; but these may be viewed as not belonging to the Sabbath considered in itself, but as properly belonging to its ceremonial and Jewish components.
4. When the apostles under divine direction had abolished all the Jewish Sabbaths, and all those ceremonies and the peculiar strictness which belonged to the observation of the seventh day in the Jewish state; Gal. 4. 9-11. and Col. 2. 16, 17. yet they still practised the observation of one day in seven, even the first day of the week, for Christian worship, and they taught it to the churches.
It was on the first day when the disciples met together with the doors shut for fear of the Jews, that the Saviour arose and appeared to them more than once; John 20. 19-23. and 26-30. It was on this day that Pentecost fell out on that year, when the Spirit was poured down upon the disciples, as learned men assure us by their calculations, and then were three thousand converted at Peter's sermon; Acts 2. 1-4, 41. It was on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread at Troas, and Paul preached to them; Acts 20. 7. It is on this day that the apostle Paul gives orders for a collection for the saints, or at least that every one should then lay something aside for this purpose, in 1 Cor. 16. 1, 2. This same order he gave also to the churches of Galatia. Thus the collection for the poor, which was made in the Jewish synagogues on the Sabbath, seems to be transferred to the first day of the week among Christians.
It should also be added, that the religious appointment and observation of the first day of the week was so universal and so well known, that it acquired an honourable title in early times, and was called the Lord's Day; Rev. 1. 10. even as the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine was called the Lord's Supper, both having a reference to the appointment and honour of our blessed Saviour; 1 Cor. 11. 20, 23.
This practice also was continued by all those who professed the Christian religion in the primitive times and they were known and distinguished from the heathens as well as from the Jews by this particular character of observing the Lord's Day.
If we take all these things together, they give us a great deal of reason to infer, that our blessed Saviour himself appointed the celebration of this day, and gave the apostles notice of it among the rest of those things which he taught them in the forty days after his resurrection, when he appeared to them, conversed with them, and instructed them in things that pertained to the kingdom of God, or the institution or support of his visible church; Acts 1. 3.
5. Consider the reasonableness and the necessity of such an appointment, in order to keep up religion in the world, as well as to give rest to the animal bodies of men and beasts.
This is another proof of the morality or perpetuity of it. The seasons of worship which men would have chosen, and even of natural rest which some men would have allowed either to themselves or their employees, probably would have been short and few enough, if God had not always devoted one day in seven to these purposes.
It is evident in common experience and by observation made upon persons, and churches, and nations, that where no Sabbath is observed, where one day in seven is not separated to God by a rest from the usual labours of life, and a dedication to his service, religion is in a very decaying state, and in great danger to be lost.
In Christian nations of the past, it was a common confession of persons who fell into the vilest crimes, and were condemned in the court of law, that their disregard of the Sabbath was the beginning of their guilt and ruin, and led the way to all iniquity; so a careful observation of one day in seven for religious purposes has been the great source and support of virtue and piety among mankind, and the constant guardian of it in its purity and power.
Now if all these considerations put together will but go so far as to make it highly probable, that one day in seven has been always the proportion of time which God has appointed for a Sabbath, that is, for rest from labour and divine worship, this probability as to the time and manner of a duty should go for evidence, where no further evidence can be produced, and where the duty itself is clear and certain: And since some rest from labour, and some seasons for worship are necessary, we cannot do a more reasonable thing than to separate that proportion of time which the wisdom of God has certainly separated in some of his dispensations to men, and most probably in all of them.
Before we continue it will be good to answer a few questions.
Question I. Why was the first day of the seven appointed for Christian worship rather than any of the others?
Answer. When God rested from his work of creation, he appointed the seventh day for the ancient Sabbath, to keep in mind the Creator of the world and his work; and so when Christ rested from his works of redemption, he appointed the first day, even the day in which he arose from the grave, as most proper to keep the great work of our redemption in memory. That the first day of the week was observed by the apostles and first Christians in honour of the resurrection of Christ, and the finishing of their redemption, is evident from several hints of Scripture, and many plain expressions in the history of the primitive church.[1]
It might also be added here, that as the redemption or rest from Egyptian bondage, given them by God and Moses, is mentioned in Deut. 5. 15. as one reason of the Jewish Sabbath; so our greater redemption by Christ, or rest from the bondage of sin and Satan, being on this day completed, seems by parallel reasoning to be a proper argument for observing the Christian Sabbath. Besides, it should be noticed, that by choosing the first day of the seven for a Sabbath, after the seventh day was abolished, there remains still one day in seven to perpetuate the memory of the creation, and it is the first day of the seven to perpetuate the memory of the work of redemption. And so our Lord’s Day includes both.
Question II. But what need is there of a whole day devoted to this purpose under the New Testament? Is it not enough to perform Christian worship in public assemblies, and in this way fulfil the purposes of the day, without observing that day as a Sabbath, or day of rest?
Answer. It is sadly evident enough that unless the whole day be separated from the business and pleasures of this life, the hours and minutes of worship will, for the most part, be but poorly effective, and become much less profitable to our spiritual interest. It is hardly possible to attain the best ends of preaching and hearing, praying and praising, administering and receiving of the Lord's Supper, if we come to the meeting with our heads and hearts full of the affairs of this life, and all our earthly cares buzzing about our souls.
And how much less good will a sermon do us, if, as soon as the hour of worship is ended, we run immediately from God, and plunge ourselves into worldly affairs, without giving our thoughts opportunity and time to reflect on what we have heard? And much worse would it be still for religion, if we spent the rest of the day in recreations and sports, for these carnalize the spirit, and estrange it from God and things heavenly much more than the common labours of life.
Sadly! how difficult a matter do we find it to disengage our thoughts from this world, when we come into the presence of God, even though we have a day appointed for this purpose? How hard it is to shake off all the dust of this earth when we would arise to God in devotion? And though we have put aside our secular concerns the night before, and have had a long interval of sleep to divide our thoughts from this vain and busy life, yet how do the weighty cares of it hang continually upon our spirits, or the trifles and amusements of it hover and play about our souls, and divert our hearts from the exercise of godliness?
And let us think with ourselves, how much harder it would be to fulfil the duties of the sanctuary with any good success, to improve public worship to our further acquaintance with God and things heavenly, to our greater delight in him, our mortification of sin, and our growth in holiness, if there were no time devoted to religion but only that hour or two while we are at church? How would the words of the preacher run off from our souls, like water off a duck's back, if there were no recollection to fix it in our memory?
How easily would Satan pluck up the good seed that was sown in the heart, if we join to assist him, by giving in immediately to the cares or delights of this life, and invite them to break in upon us when the sermon is ended? We may reasonably conclude, if Christ appointed the first day of the week for a season of the worship of God, he appointed it also to be a season of rest from the cares and labours of this life, that this worship might be better performed, and the great ends of it best secured.
Question III. When must the Christian begin his Sabbath, or the Lord's Day, how must it be spent, and when must it end?
Answer. That whatsoever is the usual and customary beginning and ending of the days of common labour and business in the nation where we live, such should be the beginning and ending of the Lord's Day, or day of rest. The one day of rest answers to the six days of labour in the words of the fourth command, and must begin and end like them.
The Jews began their day at the evening or setting sun, and it ended the next evening. The Western nations where we dwell begin and end the day at twelve o'clock at midnight. But as the design of rest and worship on the Lord's Day is to bear a proportion of one in seven to the business and labours of life on the other six days, we may reasonably suppose that the command never requires anything more, than that the same hours be spent at home or abroad, in public or private, for the general purposes of religion upon the Lord's Day, which are spent in the common affairs of life on other days; and consequently that the time which is devoted to eating, and sleeping, and the necessities of nature, and short intervals of refreshment on other days, may be employed to the same purposes on this day also.
Public worship seems to be the chief intent of the day; but when we are not engaged in public worship we need not be, and indeed we ought not to be, idle, but we should employ ourselves, as far as health and other circumstances will allow, in reading or hearing divine things at home, in prayer, singing psalms, alone or in families, in meditation, in holy conferences, or any of those actions which have a more direct and immediate tendency to the knowledge and worship of God, to the improvement of religion and virtue, and to our preparation for the everlasting rest and worship of heaven.
Question IV. May we not labour or work on the Lord's Day to preserve ourselves from imminent dangers or threatening calamities, or to do good to the miserable or the helpless?
Answer. That works of necessity and of mercy were not excluded on this day, even under the rigors of Judaism, where rest seems to be the primary or most obvious design of the Sabbath; and much less should those necessary and merciful works be excluded in the Christian dispensation, where the chief design is not bodily rest, but worship; such works, that is, as leading cattle to drink, giving them fodder, sailing a ship, quenching a fire, stopping inundations of water, defending a town or city that is invaded by enemies, resisting an assault, raising cattle out of a pit into which they are fallen, relieving the distressed, nursing the sick, and taking care of children. In short, there is nothing of this kind forbidden, even though it may, in a great measure, sometimes hinder the proper work of the day, which is religion and worship; for God will have mercy, and not sacrifice; Matt. 12. 1-7.
Jesus healed the sick on the Sabbath; verses 10-13. and his disciples rubbed out the corn from the ears when they were hungry; Mark 2. 23-28. and though the Pharisees reproved them, yet the Lord pronounced them blameless. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; Luke 6. 1-11. John 5. 8, 9. Even the infirm man who was healed, was ordered by our Saviour to take up his bed and walk, verses 10-12. as a proof of his cure. The Son of God is Lord of the Sabbath; Mark 2. 27, 28. and he relaxes its severities even more when the Jewish dispensation is finished.
Under the New Testament we have no such strict and severe prohibitions of every care and labour with respect to the Lord's Day, where they do not interfere with its primary intent, that is, the worship of God, and through it our greatest betterment. As no new burdens should be laid on the servants of Christ, so neither should they be released from what Christ has bound. And therefore, where the necessary labours of a few in some part of the Lord's Day, by providing food and other conveniences of life, make many more persons capable of spending the day in religion, we cannot say that the New Testament forbids it.
In some part of the Lord's Day, that is, for it stands to reason that none ought to be so constantly employed in secular affairs as to exclude the whole day from its proper business, that is, religion or devotion, unless in the cases of necessity mentioned before. It may be maintained in general, that as whatsoever tends to destroy or nullify the great designs of religious worship should be omitted on the Lord's Day, so some lesser labours, which tend to make the performances of religion more easy, cheerful, and regular to ourselves, and to great numbers of others, may safely be performed on this day without a sinful violation of it. But wheresoever the conscience is doubtful, it is best to choose the safer side. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves; Rom. 14. 22.
And it should also be mentioned here, that as it is a day of sacred rest and refreshment, we are not called to draw out the duties of worship to such unreasonable and tiresome lengths, nor to be so incessant and uninterrupted in works of religion on this day, as would overmuch tire the spirits, and overburden animal nature. This does not tend to the edification of men, or the honour of God; but it has a certain and evident tendency to prejudice younger persons against the observation of the Lord's Day, if we make its observance too difficult and tedious.
According as our constitution is more or less healthy, or our circumstances in the world, as laborers or academics, as poor or rich, call us more or less to necessary works on this day, so we are to employ ourselves in the affairs of religion at such hours, and with such intervals of rest and refreshment, as that the Sabbath of the Lord may be a pleasure to us, and may not overtire feeble nature instead of giving it rest.
We should all employ this day to the designs and ends appointed, to the honour of God and our risen Saviour, not with Jewish rigors and superstitious abstinences; not in indulgences of the flesh and lazy idleness; not in sports and pastime; but with Christian wisdom improve our time for religious purposes, according to our capacities and stations, knowing that we are in a state of gospel liberty, freed from a state and spirit of bondage, and rejoicing in the Lord our Deliverer and Saviour.
This brings us to some practical exhortations.
I. Delight in the Lord's Day as a high privilege bestowed upon you: make it the matter of your holy joy.
Give thanks to God your Creator, who has not allowed you to wear out all your time in the drudgeries of this world, and the cares and toils of a mortal state, but has appointed one day in seven for your release from the business of earth, and your employment in the work of heaven. Give thanks to Jesus your Redeemer, who on this day finished the work of your redemption, and arose from the dead; and as those which are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; Col. 3. 1, 2. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it; Psalm 118. 24. Bless his holy name, that he has appointed Christians to assemble themselves together for divine and heavenly purposes on this day.
Give thanks again to God the Creator and Governor of the world, who has fixed your birth and dwelling place in a land which has at least until recently observed the Lord's Day. This is still a distinguishing favour which you enjoy above the Christians of the primitive ages who dwelt under heathen princes, where they went to great trouble to observe any Sabbath, or to employ the Lord's Day in religious practices, while the whole nation around them was engaged, either in the busy affairs of this mortal life, or in vile idolatry and superstition. We have at least the recent memory of a more godly age in Canada.
Do not say, concerning the duties of worship on this day, as the Jewish hypocrites did in the days of the prophets Amos and Malachi, What a weariness this is! and when will … the Sabbath (be over) that we may offer wheat for sale Mal. 1. 13. Amos 8. 5. Do not so much ask, what earthly business may I do on this day without sin, as what is there I can omit until tomorrow? What worldly business can I be excused from doing on God's holy day? This will reveal a truly religious attitude indeed, and show that you delight in the things of God more than in the things of the earth.
II. Dispose of your earthly affairs wisely in the week before, so that, if possible, you may not have the Lord's Day, which is a day of rest and worship, invaded and overtaken by the cares and business of this world.
Endeavour to put them aside early enough the evening before, that they may not cut short your hours of sleep that night, and in this way make you listless and drowsy on the day appointed for worship. There is a great deal of Christian prudence and discretion to be seen in such a disposal of our worldly businesses, as may give us full leisure for God and heavenly things upon the Lord's Day; that when our thoughts are rising up to our risen and ascended Saviour, we may not feel the cares of life hang about them like so many clogs and chains to drag us downwards, and divide our hearts from God and our Saviour again.
III. Think of the promises which are made to those who, with a religious care, serve and worship God upon his appointed day.
There are some very gracious words of this kind spoken to the Jews, and may with equal justice be applied to those who observe the day of God's appointed rest, for its spiritual purposes under every dispensation. Isaiah 56. 1-7. Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed. which words have a plain reference to the gospel state. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
And in chapter 58. of the same prophecy, and verses 13, 14. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
And there has been a multitude of instances, even under the gospel, in which the blessings of the upper and the lower world have been plentifully poured out on those who have observed the day of the Lord, and spent it to the sacred purposes for which it was designed. Their basket and their store has been remarkably enlarged and increased by a divine blessing, and their souls have received much of the dew of heaven, have brought forth abundant fruits of holiness, and been fitted in an eminent degree for the business and blessedness of the upper world.
IV. Whatever spiritual advantages or improvements you obtain on God's own day, take care that you do not lose them again amidst the labours or the pleasures of the following week.
2 John 8. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, that is, that ministers may not lose their labours in preaching, nor the disciples lose theirs in hearing. Treasure up something on every Christian Sabbath that may add to your spiritual riches, your knowledge, your faith, your zeal, your hope. It is a day appointed for the enriching of your souls; do not allow the cares of the world to bury those treasures, or rob you of them. Take large steps towards the heavenly world on that day, and see that you are not drawn back again by the allurements or the toils of this mortal state. Maintain that savour and relish of divine things, that holy nearness to God and heaven, as far as possible amidst the business of life, which you have gained amidst the ordinances of the sanctuary. Thus you will have a sort of sanctification spread over all your earthly affairs, and you will walk with God in them all.
V. Take notice what enjoyment and satisfaction you find in the duties or services of the Lord's Day, and let that be a test by which you may judge of the sanctification of your souls, and your preparation for heaven.
Granted, those who are tired and overcome with the labours of this life, may be well pleased with a day of rest from labour, from mere principles of nature, and the desire of ease or idleness: But do they love the work of a Lord's Day? Do they delight in Christian worship? Do they rejoice to remember a risen Saviour? Do they take pleasure in the remembrance of God in his glorious works of creation and redemption, and commune with him with a holy satisfaction in prayer, in praise, and other religious exercises?
Let us consider how it stands with us in this respect. Are we glad of a day of rest and release from the business of this life, that we may be more at leisure for God? Or could we be well enough pleased if there were no Sabbaths? Are the ordinances of worship our delight? Do we take pleasure in devotion and practical godliness? Do we enjoy the things of inward religion? Are they our pleasure and our joy?
What will we do in heaven if this is not our attitude, if our spirits are neither suited to the blessedness nor business of it; and if this world, with the cares and pleasures of it, is our main delight? And how can we expect to be ever fit for heaven, which is a state of everlasting separation from the businesses of this world, and the perpetual enjoyment of God, and Jesus the Saviour, if we do not make some progress towards this attitude on every Lord's Day that returns, which separates us from the world, and is designed to bring us toward God?
VI. In the last place, Let every Lord's Day, every Christian Sabbath, lead your meditations, your faith and hope, onward to the eternal rest in heaven, and the glorious worship of that world.
Amidst all the worries and cares of this life, amidst all the interruptions you feel in your devotions here, and the compromises that impose themselves on your religious employments and joys, even on God's own day, yet still rejoice in the view and hope of that state where you will find everlasting rest, a Sabbath which never ends, and be forever employed in divine exercises without the weariness of flesh or spirit.
Sadly! how soon are our souls tired here, or rather our physical frame, with spiritual exercises? How dull and drowsy is this flesh of ours? How do we feel our hearts ever wandering from our God and his worship? But there you will behold the great God with a steady fixation of soul on him, even that God who created all things in six days, and will give him the honour of that creation in an immortal Sabbath.
There you will see the blessed Jesus, who rose from the dead on the first Christian Sabbath, who fulfilled his work of redeeming you from worse than Egyptian bondage, and laid the foundation of the new creation, even of new heavens and of a new earth. There you will find complete and perpetual rest from all that is sinful, and all that is painful; you will enjoy a day of glorious and blissful worship, in communion with the holy and happy inhabitants of that world, and it must be an everlasting day, for
there is no night there; Rev. 22, 5.
[1] There have been some very great and learned men who suppose that the apostle Paul, in the fourth chapter to the Hebrews, builds a christian Sabbath on this principle. See verse 4. He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. Verse 7. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus that is, Joshua, had given them rest, that is, if he had given them all that complete rest in the land of Canaan which was typified by the Jewish Sabbath, then he would not afterwards have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest, or “sabbatism,” as the Greek word is, there remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God; for he that is entered into his rest, which they refer to Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, he hath also ceased or rested from his own works, as God did from his. See Doctor Owen, in his “Treatise on the Sabbath.” Thus the Son of God, the Redeemer, is supposed to have appointed a day or Sabbath to celebrate his rest from his labours and sufferings, as God, the Father, the Creator, did when he rested from his works.