The Sabbath a sermon preached in Holy Trinity Church, Hurdsfield, on Sunday Evening, January 30, 1853, in reference to the proposed opening of the Crystal Palace on the Lord's day

THERE is no belief so universal as that of a future state of existence. Men are born into the world, appear for a brief space upon the stage of life, and then sink into the grave. But the human mind has looked beyond this to a distant and unknown Future. Those who were destitute of a Divine Revelation had necessarily very vague and imperfect notions respecting it. Hence the many different theories, the belief in which has prevailed from time to time, in the heathen world; and, in all of these, the certainty of rewards and punishments, and of future happiness or misery, was admitted. Their heaven, indeed, was peopled with strange divinities, and the enjoyments which they anticipated were generally of an earthly and sensual nature; yet their belief in it seemed naturally to suggest the necessity of some preparation by themselves. The two things appeared to be inseparable. The entrance to the heathen Elysium was to be obtained only by piety towards the gods. Hence the gorgeous temples which rose to their honour in the cities of ancient Greece and Italy; the sacrifices daily made at their altars; the prayers and costly offerings at their shrines. And not only so, but particular portions of time seem from the earliest periods to have been regarded as sacred, and set apart for holy purposes; and it is remarkable, that the consecration of one day in seven appears to have been almost universal in the heathen world. This may, perhaps, be attributed to some faint rays of that Divine Revelation, which was given to a part of the human race, and which tradition had handed down: the principle itself was universally acknowledged. That Revelation, indeed, has cleared away the mystery which enshrouded the eternal world; it has explained the nature of that happiness which is provided for man; it has enjoined the observance of every seventh day as a time of preparation for it; it has distinctly laid down the obligation and duties of that day; and it has unfolded the promises which GOD has graciously made to those who shall habitually honour it.

Now it is not to be wondered at, that a command embracing so many different duties, and the obligation of which is so universal, should, in all ages, have been regarded in different lights by different nations and individuals. Even in our own land, many contradictory opinions are held respecting it, by those who yet all unite in a profession of Christianity.

The subject, as you are aware, is now occupying a large share of public attention, from the fact that an attempt is being made to infringe the sanctity of the Sabbath, as it is now by the law of this country protected, and in fact to legalize its desecration. Hence it becomes the plain and manifest duty of every Christian man to be well informed as to the obligation which GOD has laid upon him to observe and keep holy this day, as also to know the especial purposes for which it was set apart. And I have thought that it may not be an unprofitable subject for our meditation this evening, if I briefly lay before you the Scripture grounds for the observance of the Sabbath; and then, as far as I may be able to do so, endeavour to show you in what manner it should be kept holy.

I. And here I would set out with the remark, that the proof of the obligation of the Sabbath is to be sought for entirely from the Scriptures. The whole rests upon a Divine Revelation. And it becomes the more needful to examine what is said upon the subject, in that Revelation, as an attempt has frequently been made to prove that the Christian Sabbath, especially, is not a Divine institution, and that the fact of its sanctity rests only upon the authority of the Church, and not upon that of GOD Himself.

1. And, first, with respect to the original institution of the Sabbath. It was one of the two great ordinances, “instituted of God in the time of man’s innocency;” and it was consequently given at a very early period in the history of the world. The record of the command, and of the purposes for which it was designed, is found in Gen. ii. 1–3. Several things are apparent from a consideration of this passage. We see that the Sabbath was given to the whole race of mankind, because it was given to our first parents; that GOD “blessed it,” that is, designed it to be the source of especial blessings to Adam and his descendants; and that He sanctified it, that is, “set it apart,” which is the literal meaning of the words, for sacred purposes. We find no reference made to any particular people, but it was evidently designed as an example from the Divine Creator to the whole human family. The work of creation had occupied six days, and on the seventh “GOD rested from all His work which He created and made.”

Among the brief records of the ante-diluvian world, and in the lives of the Patriarchs before Moses, which are given us by the sacred historian, we find traces of a weekly division of time, and intimations that every seventh day was observed as a time of rest and religious worship. The sons of Adam are described as each making an offering unto GOD: “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the LORD; and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.” Now the words, “process of time,” literally mean “at the end of the days,” that is, at the end of a certain number of days,—a very natural expression for the end of a week. And they seem to convey an intimation of the original command to keep the Sabbath as a day of religious worship.

The account of the gift of the manna, {7} which took place in the second month of the Exodus from Egypt, is a very remarkable proof that the seventh day was kept holy, and regarded as a day of rest before the giving of the Law. Every seventh day the Israelites were commanded to gather twice as much manna as on ordinary days, as none fell upon the seventh day; and, contrary to what usually took place, the double quantity which they gathered was miraculously preserved in a state fit for food. Now, in the whole of this account, no precept is given for the observance of the Sabbath day; but it proceeds upon the supposition that the Israelites were well acquainted, both with the institution itself, and with the purposes for which it had been originally given.

2. We now come to what is said upon the Sabbath in the law of the Ten Commandments, which were given by GOD to Moses, and which are referred to in Scripture as the sum of the moral precepts of GOD to man. The obligation to keep holy the Sabbath day is repeated in the fourth Commandment. We shall find, from the writings of the New Testament, that our SAVIOUR and His Apostles never allude to the Ten Commandments but as of permanent and universal obligation. “Think not,” says CHRIST, “that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” {8a} And not only is the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath to be inferred from such general expressions of our LORD but we have His own direct authority for it, when He says, “The Sabbath was made for man,” {8b}—for the race, and so is binding upon all to the end of time.

We might, if it were needful, refer you to the numerous threatenings which are denounced against those who shall violate the Sabbath, and to the blessings which are promised to those who shall keep it holy, which are scattered through the prophetic parts of Scripture, and to the latter of which the words of my text belong; but enough has been said to show that the perpetual obligation to observe a seventh day rests upon no less an authority than that of a Divine command.

3. The Christian Sabbath is the first day of the week. Intimations of the reason of the change from the seventh to the first day of the week are to be found in the fact that the glories of Judaism had passed away with the advent of the MESSIAH, and were succeeded by a new and better dispensation; and it may have been deemed a fitting honour to mark the commencement of this new dispensation, by the consecration in the Church of CHRIST of that day on which the mystery of human redemption was accomplished. It was on the first day of the week that the SAVIOUR rose again, and so was “declared to be the Son of GOD with power, by the resurrection from the dead.” {9a} It was at the same time, a week afterwards, that He appeared to the disciples when they were assembled together, and confirmed by His presence the doubting faith of St. Thomas. This day, too, was marked by the descent of the Holy Ghost at the feast of Pentecost, when CHRIST was first preached by the Apostles to the Gentile world.

We find from the New Testament and the earliest ecclesiastical records, that the primitive Christians always observed this day during the lifetime of the Apostles. They seem to have assembled on the first day of the week to break bread, that is, to celebrate the LORD’S Supper, and to receive religious instruction; and the custom had doubtless become universal, as it was observed in Asia Minor. {9b} St. John {9c} appears to have kept this day with peculiar solemnity, and from him we learn that it had obtained a particular designation in the Church—“the LORD’S day,” a name which it has ever since retained.

In addition to this evidence, we may remark that some of the early Fathers refer to this day as the period set apart for religious worship, and allude to the difference between keeping the first day of the week and the seventh, especially on the ground of its being the day of our Saviour’s resurrection.

Such, very briefly, are the general arguments for the observance of the Sabbath, derived from the words of the original institution; from the practice of the patriarchs before the giving of the Law; from the express injunction contained in the Ten Commandments, which, by the authority of our LORD and His Apostles, are binding upon Christians; and from the practice of the primitive Church during the lifetime of the Apostles, and in the ages which immediately succeeded.

It is not needful that I should dwell upon them at greater length; and we proceed now to examine in what manner the Sabbath should be kept holy.

II. The words of the Prophet, to which I have called your attention, are primarily addressed to the Jews, but it involves no accommodation of Scripture to consider them as applying to ourselves, since the obligation to keep holy the Sabbath day rests equally upon us, as it did upon them. They embrace many particulars of duty, and contain a promise, on GOD’S part, to bless with honour and temporal prosperity those who shall reverence His day.

Now the observance of the Sabbath may be regarded both as a National and as an Individual duty.

And first, to regard it as a National duty. The Bible lays it down as a general principle, that every nation and kingdom owes its existence and continuance as a nation, to the special power and protection of the Most High. “For the kingdom is the LORD’S; and He is the Governor among the nations.” {11a} “By Me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By Me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.” {11b} In nothing, indeed, is the hand of GOD more strikingly to be seen than in the history of nations; and it will be found to be a truth to which the annals of the past bear ample record, that national prosperity has invariably followed that people who have honoured Him.