The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 143

In his loving providence and holy requirements, that six <layH' work Hhall supply sevca dnys' need. 'l'his lesson the me.nne. distinctly teaches If it teaches anything at all. And now the.t the Jewish Sabbath bas gone, the Christian bas I.<, ask himself how far the mode of Sabbe.th-keep;ng in Israel furnishes any guide for him in his use of the Lord',. day. He is e. miserable Christian who begins to plead tb:~t there is no distinct and express comme.ndment in the New Testament for the keepiag of a sacred day of rest. 'l'o se.y the.t the Sabbe.th is gone with the outward ordinances of Judaism is only makino e.n excuse for self-indulgence. True, the sacrifices of the law are done away with, but only tbe.t imperfections may give place to perfections. In the very doing away, a solemn claim is made the.t the Christian should present his body as a living sacrifice; and one cannot be e. living sacrifice without feeling that all one's time is for doing God's will. When in the inscrutable arrangements of Providence, we find that one day in seven has actually come to be so largely a day of cessation from toil, surely the part of Christian wisdom is to make the very best of the opportunity. There is, and there always will be, room for much improvement as to the mode of keeping the day of rest ; but in pro- portion as we become filled with the spirit of Christ and the desire for perfection, in that proportion we shall be delivered from the inclination to make Sunday a day for self, and led forward in resolution, diligence and love, to make it a day for God. The more w11 can make our time holy time, the more we shall make ourselves holy person~. If ic. God's mercy we find Sunday a day of larger opportunities, let it be according to owr individual opportunity, a day of larger achievements. Each one of us should say, "I am bound to discover bow God would have me use this ,lay." My neighbour Christian may feel constrained to use it in a way that, if 1 were to imitate him, might not promoto my own spiritual advantage, or the glory of God. Let every man be fully persuaded ic bis own mind, only let him take care that be bas a persuasion and acts conscientiously and lovingly up to it. III. THE PECULIAR EMPllABIB LAID ON THIS COMMANDMENT. "Remember." Not of course that this co=andment is more important than the rest. He who breaks one breaks all, for each is a member of the whole as of a living unity. But there must have been a special reason in the mind of God for calling attention to this col!\mandment. We are told to remember what we are likely to forget. Also, certain things we are exhorted to remember, because if we only remember them we shall come in due course t-o other things which cannot be so constantly in the mind, and which indeed the mind may not yet be able properly to grasp. He who remembers the right way will assuredly come to the right end, even though he may not be constantly thinking of it. We may be sure that keeping the Sabbath day really holy, bad a very salutary effect towards keeping all the rest of the co=andments. It gave time for reflection on all those affairs of <laily life in which there are so many opportunities and temptations to set at nought the righteous claims both of God and of our fellow-men. And so the Christian may ever say to himself, "Soul, remember the day of rest which God bas so graciously secure<l to thee." God, though be has condescendingly done so much to come ntar to needy men with his supplies of grace, gets soon bidden by the cloud and dust of this world's busi- ness. It is only too easy to forget the spirit of these commandments, and be unfair, un- kind, malicious and revengeful toward our fellow-men in the jostlings and rival.ries of lite. Remember then. Let us but attend to this and the rest of God's remembers, and we may be sure they will do a great deal to neutralise that forgetting which is inevitably incident to 'the infirmities of fallen human nature.-Y. Ver. 12.-The Fifth Commandment: the comma11dmentfor children. I. Lo01.:: AT TH 1s COMMANDMENT AS IT CONCERNED THE PAREN"rs. 1. This commanclment gave the pa,·,mts an opportunity for telling the children how it originated. Not only an opportunity, but we may say a necessity. It was a commandment to children, through their parents. All the commandments, statutes, and judgments, were to be taught diligently to the children (Deut. vi. 7), and this one here would require very earnest ~<l special explanation in the family. It will be seen that it was a commandment which couhl not be isolated; a self-willed parent could not quote it with any advantage for the sake of upholding arbitrary authority. The Israelite parent bad to explain how these com- lllandmeuts were given; he had to narrate the events in Sinai, an<l these in turn cum- pcllc,\ a reference to the exu<lus and the bitter experieuce~ of l!:gypt. P.i.reut:; luJ W<>ll  THE BOOK OF EXODU~. (rn n. 1:\-17.