our souls in life, and providing every thing for our support and comfort. And is this the Being to whom we grudge that small portion of time which he requires ? But further, this gracious God has so loved us as to give his only-begotten Son
to die for us and shall we think it hard to consecrate
one day in the week to him ?
Consider next, what portion of our time it is that he re- quires. If it had pleased him, he might have given us one day for our bodily concerns, and reserved six for himself: and whatever difficulties such an arrangement had occasioned, it would have been our duty cheerfully to obey his will. But the reverse of this is the proportion that he requires : " Six days," says he, " shalt thou labour ; and the seventh day shalt thou keep holy." What base ingratitude then is it to grudge him such a portion of our time as this !
But consider further, for whose sake it is that he requires it. He wants it not for himself : he is not benefited by it : he enjoined the observance of the Sabbath purely for our sakes : he knew that without some appointment for periodical returns of sacred rest, we should soon become so immersed in worldly cares, as utterly to forget our eternal interests ; and therefore he fixed such a portion of our time as to his unerring wisdom appeared best, in order that we might be compelled to seek our own truest happiness. This is what he himself tells us ; " The Sabbath was made for manb." Shall we then, for whose benefit that day was set apart, refuse to consecrate it to the Lord, according to his appointment ?
Let but these considerations be weighed, and it will appear a most unreasonable thing to trespass upon that time for tem- poral pursuits, which God has so mercifully set apart for the concerns of our souls.]
2. A presumptuous sin —
[It is particularly in this view that the context leads us to consider it. God had enjoined the observance of the Sabbath in an audible voice from Mount Sinai c ; and had afterwards repeatedly commanded that every person who should profane that day by any kind of earthly employment, even the baking of his food, or the lighting of a fire, should be cut off from among his people d. Now it was in direct opposition to all these commands that the man of whom we are speaking pre- sumed to gather sticks. He might be ready to excuse himself perhaps by saying, that this was but a small breach of the Sab- bath, and the sticks were necessary for his comfort: but these were no excuses: his conduct was a decided act of rebellion
b Mark ii. 27. c Exod. xx. 8 — 11.
d Exod. xxxi. 14,15 andxxxv. 2, 3. See also Exod. xvi. 23, 29.