Now, let us inquire if indeed professing Christians do keep God's Sabbath on the day and after the manner which He commanded. It were idle to lose time in proving that they do not. Well, what are the consequences of a single breach of the Sabbath? "_Cut off_"--"_put to death_."
But, it will be said, we "are not under law, but under grace." Blessed be God for the sweet assurance! Were we under law, there is not one throughout the wide range of Christendom who should not long since have fallen beneath the stone of judgment, even upon the one solitary point of the Sabbath. But, if we are under grace, what is the day which belongs to us? Assuredly, "the first day of the week"--"the Lord's day." This is the Church's day--the resurrection day of Jesus, who, having spent the Sabbath in the tomb, rose triumphant over all the powers of darkness; thus leading His people out of the old creation, and all that pertains thereto, into the new creation, of which He is the Head, and of which the first day of the week is the apt expression.
This distinction is worthy of the serious attention of the reader. Let him examine it prayerfully in the light of Scripture. There may be nothing and there may be a great deal in a mere name. In the present instance, there is a great deal more involved in the distinction between "the Sabbath" and "the Lord's day" than many Christians seem to be aware of. It is very evident that the first day of the week gets a place in the Word of God which no other day gets. No other day is ever called by that majestic and elevated title, "The Lord's day." Some, I am aware, deny that Rev. i. 10 refers to the first day of the week; but I feel most fully assured that sound criticism and sound exegesis do both warrant--yea, demand the application of that passage, not to the day of Christ's advent in glory, but to the day of His resurrection from the dead.
But most assuredly, the Lord's day is never once called the Sabbath. So far from this, the two days are again and again spoken of in their proper distinctness. Hence, therefore, my reader will have to keep clear of two extremes. In the first place, he will have to avoid the legalism which one finds so much linked with the term "Sabbath;" and, in the second place, he will need to bear a very decided testimony against every attempt to dishonor the Lord's day, or lower it to the level of an ordinary day. The believer is delivered, most completely, from the observance of "days, and months, and times, and years." Association with a risen Christ has taken him clean out of all such superstitious observances. But, while this is most blessedly true, we see that "the first day of the week" has a place assigned to it in the New Testament which no other has. Let the Christian give it that place. It is a sweet and happy privilege, not a grievous yoke.
Space forbids my further entrance upon this interesting subject. It has been gone into elsewhere, as already intimated, in the earlier pages of this volume. I shall close these remarks by pointing out, in one or two particulars, the contrast between "the Sabbath" and "the Lord's day."
1. The Sabbath was the _seventh_ day; the Lord's day is the _first_.
2. The Sabbath was a _test_ of Israel's condition; the Lord's day is the _proof_ of the Church's acceptance, on wholly unconditional grounds.
S. The Sabbath belonged to the old creation; the Lord's day belongs to the new.
4. The Sabbath was a day of _bodily_ rest for the Jew; the Lord's day is a day of _spiritual_ rest for the Christian.
5. If the Jew worked on the Sabbath, he was to be put to _death_: if the Christian does not work on the Lord's day, he gives little proof of _life_;--that is to say, if he does not work for the benefit of the souls of men, the extension of Christ's glory, and the spread of His truth. In point of fact, the devoted Christian who possesses any gift is generally more fatigued on the evening of the Lord's day than on any other in the week, for how can he rest while souls are perishing around him?
6. The Jew was _commanded_ by the _law_ to abide in his tent; the Christian is _led_ by the spirit of the _gospel_ to go forth, whether it be to attend the public assembly or to minister to the souls of perishing sinners.
The Lord enable us, beloved reader, to rest more artlessly _in_, and labor more vigorously _for_, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! We should _rest_ in the spirit of a _child_, and _labor_ with the energy of a _man_.