Thomas Watson · 13 of 31

2.4 The Fourth Commandment · Part 1

‘Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. Exod 20: 8-11.

This commandment was engraven in stone by God’s own finger, and it will be our comfort to have it engraven in our hearts.

The Sabbath-day is set apart for God’s solemn worship; it is his own enclosure, and must not be alienated to common uses. As a preface to this commandment, he has put a memento to it, ‘Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.’ This word, ‘remember,’ shows that we are apt to forget Sabbath holiness; therefore we need a memorandum to put us in mind of sanctifying the day.

I. There is in these words a solemn command. ‘Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.’

[1] The matter of it. The sanctifying the Sabbath, which Sabbath sanctification consists in two things, in resting from our own works, and in a conscientious discharge of our religious duty.

[2] The persons to whom the command of sanctifying the Sabbath is given. Either superiors, and they are, more private, as parents and masters; or more public, as magistrates; or inferiors, as natives, children, and servants, ‘Thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maidservant;’ or foreigners, ‘thy stranger that is within thy gates.’

II. The arguments to obey this commandment of keeping holy the Sabbath are,

[1] From the rationality of it. ‘Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work;’ as if God had said, I am not a hard master, I do not grudge thee time to look after thy calling, and to get an estate. I have given thee six days, to do all thy work in, and have taken but one day for myself. I might have reserved six days for myself, and allowed thee but one; but I have given thee six days for the works of thy calling, and have taken but one day for my own service. It is just and rational, therefore, that thou shouldest set this day in a special manner apart for my worship.

[2] The second argument for sanctifying the Sabbath, is taken from the justice of it. ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;’ as if God had said, The Sabbath-day is my due, I challenge a special right in it, and no other has any claim to it. He who robs me of this day, and puts it to common uses, is a sacrilegious person, he steals from the crown of heaven, and I will in nowise hold him guiltless.

[3] The third argument for sanctifying the Sabbath, is taken from God’s own observance of it. He ‘rested the seventh day;’ as if the Lord should say, Will you not follow me as a pattern? Having finished all my works of creation, I rested the seventh day; so having done all your secular work on the six days, you should now cease from the labour of your calling, and dedicate the seventh day to me, as a day of holy rest.

[4] The fourth argument for Sabbath-sanctification, is taken ab utili, from the benefit which redounds from a religious observation of the Sabbath. ‘The Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.’ God not only appointed the seventh day, but he blessed it. It is not only a day of honour to God, but a day of blessing to us; it is not only a day wherein we give God worship, but a day wherein he gives us grace. On this day a blessing drops down from heaven. God himself is not benefited by it, we cannot add one cubit to his essential glory; but we ourselves are benefited. This day, religiously observed, entails a blessing upon our souls, our estate, and our posterity. Not keeping it, brings a curse. Jer 17: 27. God curses a man’s blessings. Mal 2: 2. The bread which he eats is poisoned with a curse; so the conscientious observation of the Sabbath, brings all manner of blessings with it. These are the arguments to induce Sabbath-sanctification.

The thing I would have you now observe is, that the commandment of keeping the Sabbath was not abrogated with the ceremonial law, but is purely moral, and the observation of it is to be continued to the end of the world. Where can it be shown that God has given us a discharge from keeping one day in seven?

Why has God appointed a Sabbath?

(1) With respect to himself. It is requisite that God should reserve one day in seven for his own immediate service, that thereby he might be acknowledged to be the great Plenipotentiary, or sovereign Lord, who has power over us both to command worship, and appoint the time when he will be worshipped.

(2) With respect to us. The Sabbath-day is for our interest; it promotes holiness in us. The business of week-days makes us forgetful of God and our souls: the Sabbath brings him back to our remembrance. When the falling dust of the world has clogged the wheels of our affections, that they can scarce move towards God, the Sabbath comes, and oils the wheels of our affections, and they move swiftly on. God has appointed the Sabbath for this end. On this day the thoughts rise to heaven, the tongue speaks of God, and is as the pen of a ready writer, the eyes drop tears, and the soul burns in love. The heart, which all the week was frozen, on the Sabbath melts with the word. The Sabbath is a friend to religion; it files off the rust of our graces; it is a spiritual jubilee, wherein the soul is set to converse with its Maker.

I should next show you the modes, or manner, how we should keep the Sabbath day holy; but before I come to that, we have a great question to consider.

How comes it to pass that we do not keep the seventh-day Sabbath as it was in the primitive institution, but have changed it to another day?

The old seventh-day Sabbath, which was the Jewish Sabbath, is abrogated, and in the room of it the first day of the week, which is the Christian Sabbath, succeeds. The morality or substance of the fourth commandment does not lie in keeping the seventh day precisely, but keeping one day in seven is what God has appointed.

But how comes the first day in the week to be substituted in the room of the seventh day?

Not by ecclesiastic authority. ‘The church,’ says Mr Perkins, ‘has no power to ordain a Sabbath.’

(1) The change of the Sabbath from the last day of the week to the first was by Christ’s own appointment. He is ‘Lord of the Sabbath.’ Mark 2: 28. And who shall appoint a day but he who is Lord of it? He made this day. ‘This is the day which the Lord has made.’ Psa 118: 24. Arnobius and most expositors understand it of the Christian Sabbath, which is called the ‘Lord’s-day.’ Rev 1: 10. As it is called the ‘Lord’s Supper,’ because of the Lord’s instituting the bread and wine and setting it apart from a common to a special and sacred use; so it is called the Lord’s-day, because of the Lord’s instituting it, and setting it apart from common days, to his special worship and service. Christ rose on the first day of the week, out of the grave, and appeared twice on that day to his disciples, John 20: 19, 26, which was to intimate to them, as Augustine and Athanasius say, that he transferred the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord’s day.

(2) The keeping of the first day was the practice of the apostles. ‘Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.’ Acts 20: 7; 1 Cor 16: 2. Here was both preaching and breaking of bread on this day. Augustine and Innocentius, and Isidore, make the keeping of our gospel Sabbath to be of apostolic sanction, and affirm, that by virtue of the apostles’ practice, this day is to be set apart for divine worship. What the apostles did, they did by divine authority; for they were inspired by the Holy Ghost.

(3) The primitive church had the Lord’s-day, which we now celebrate, in high estimation. It was a great badge of their religion to observe this day. Ignatius, the most ancient father, who lived in the time of John the apostle, has these words, ‘Let every one that loveth Christ keep holy the first day of the week, the Lord’s-day.’ This day has been observed by the church of Christ above sixteen hundred years, as the learned Bucer notes. Thus you see how the seventh-day Sabbath came to be changed to the first-day Sabbath.

The grand reason for changing the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord’s-day is that it puts us in mind of the ‘Mystery of our redemption by Christ.’ The reason why God instituted the old Sabbath was to be a memorial of the creation; but he has now brought the first day of the week in its room in memory of a more glorious work than creation, which is redemption. Great was the work of creation, but greater was the work of redemption. As it was said, ‘The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.’ Hag 2: 9. So the glory of the redemption was greater than the glory of the creation. Great wisdom was seen in making us, but more miraculous wisdom in saving us. Great power was seen in bringing us out of nothing, but greater power in helping us when we were worse than nothing. It cost more to redeem than to create us. In creation it was but speaking a word (Psa 148: 5); in redeeming there was shedding of blood. 1 Pet 1: 19. Creation was the work of God’s fingers, Psa 8: 3, redemption was the work of his arm. Luke 1: 51. In creation, God gave us ourselves; in the redemption, he gave us himself. By creation, we have life in Adam; by redemption, we have life in Christ. Col 3: 3. By creation, we had a right to an earthly paradise: by redemption, we have a title to a heavenly kingdom. Christ might well change the seventh day of the week into the first, as it puts us in mind of our redemption, which is a more glorious work than creation.

Use one. The use I shall make of this is, that we should have the Christian Sabbath, we now celebrate, in high veneration. The Jews called the Sabbath, ‘The desire of days, and the queen of days.’ This day we must call a ‘delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable.’ Isa 58: 13. Metal that has the king’s stamp upon it is honourable, and of great value. God has set his royal stamp upon the Sabbath; it is the Sabbath of the Lord, and this makes it honourable. We should look upon this day as the best day in the week. What the phoenix is among birds, what the sun is among planets the Lord’s-day is among other days. ‘This is the day which the Lord has made.’ Psa 118: 24. God has made all the days, but he has blessed this. As Jacob got the blessing from his brother, so the Sabbath got the blessing from all other days in the week. It is a day in which we converse in a special manner with God. The Jews called the Sabbath ‘a day of light;’ so on this day the Sun of Righteousness shines upon the soul. The Sabbath is the market-day of the soul, the cream of time. It is the day of Christ’s rising from the grave, and the Holy Ghost’s descending upon the earth. It is perfumed with the sweet odour of prayer, which goes up to heaven as incense. On this day the manna falls, that is angels’ food. This is the soul’s festival-day, on which the graces act their part: the other days of the week are most employed about earth, this day about heaven; then you gather straw, now pearl. Now Christ takes the soul up into the mount, and gives it transfiguring sights of glory. Now he leads his spouse into the wine-cellar, and displays the banner of his love. Now he gives her his spiced wine, and the juice of the pomegranate. Cant 2: 4, 8: 2. The Lord usually reveals himself more to the soul on this day. The apostle John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s-day. Rev 1: 10. He was carried up on this day in divine raptures towards heaven. This day a Christian is in the altitudes; he walks with God, and takes as it were a turn with him in heaven. 1 John 1: 3. On this day holy affections are quickened; the stock of grace is improved; corruptions are weakened; and Satan falls like lightning before the majesty of the word. Christ wrought most of his miracles upon the Sabbath; so he does still: dead souls are raised and hearts of stone are made flesh. How highly should we esteem and reverence this day! It is more precious than rubies. God has anointed it with the oil of gladness above its fellows. On the Sabbath we are doing angels’ work, our tongues are tuned to God’s praises. The Sabbath on earth is a shadow and type of the glorious rest and eternal Sabbath we hope for in heaven, when God shall be the temple, and the Lamb shall be the light of it. Rev 21: 22, 23.

Use two. ‘SIX days shalt thou labour.’ God would not have any live out of a calling: religion gives no warrant for idleness. It is a duty to labour six days, as well as keep holy rest on the seventh day. ‘We hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all. Now, them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.’ 2 Thess 3: 11. A Christian must not only mind heaven, but his calling. While the pilot has his eye to the star, he has his hand to the helm. Without labour the pillars of a commonwealth will dissolve, and the earth, like the sluggard’s field, will be overrun with briers. Prov 24: 31. Adam in innocence, though monarch of the world, must not be idle, but must dress and till the ground. Gen 2: 15. Piety does not exclude industry. Standing water putrifies. Inanimate creatures are in motion. The sun goes its circuit, the fountain runs, and the fire sparkles. Animate creatures work. Solomon sends us to the ant and pismire to learn labour. Prov 6: 6; 30: 25. The bee is the emblem of industry; some of the bees trim the honey, others work the wax, others frame the comb, others lie sentinel at the door of the hive to keep out the drone. And shall not man much more innate himself to labour? That law in paradise was never repeated. ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.’ Gen 3: 19. Such professors are to be disliked who talk of living by faith, but live out of a calling; they are like the lilies which ‘toil not, neither do they spin.’ Matt 6: 28. It is a speech of holy and learned Mr Perkins, ‘Let a man be endowed with excellent gifts, and hear the word with reverence, and receive the sacrament, yet if he practice not the duties of his calling, all is but hypocrisy.’ What is an idle person good for? What benefit is a ship that lies always on the shore? or armour that hangs up and rusts? To live out of a calling exposes a person to temptation. Melanchthon calls idleness the Devil’s bath, because he bathes himself with delight in an idle soul. We do not sow seed in ground when it lies fallow; but Satan sows most of his seed of temptation in such persons as lie fallow, and are out of a calling. Idleness is the nurse of vice. Seneca, an old heathen, could say, Nullus mihi per otium dies exit; ‘No day passes me without some labour.’ An idle person stands for a cipher in the world, and God writes down no ciphers in the book of life. We read in Scripture of eating the ‘bread of idleness,’ and drinking the ‘wine of violence.’ Prov 31: 27; 4: 17. It is as much a sin to eat ‘the bread of idleness,’ as to ‘drink the wine of violence.’ An idle person can give no account of his time. Time is a talent to trade with, both in our particular and general callings. The slothful person ‘hides his talent in the earth;’ he does no good; his time is not lived, but lost. An idle person lives unprofitably, he cumbers the ground. God calls the slothful servant ‘wicked.’ ‘Thou wicked and slothful servant.’ Matt 25: 26. Draco, whose laws were written in blood, deprived those of their life who would not work for their living. In Hetruria they caused such persons to be banished. Idle persons live in the breach of the commandment, ‘Six days shalt thou labour.’ Let them take heed they be not banished from heaven. A man may as well go to hell for not working in his calling, as for not believing.

Having spoken of the reasons of sanctifying the Sabbath I come now to

III. The manner of sanctifying the Sabbath.

[1] Negatively. We must do no work in it. This is the commandment. ‘In it thou shall do no manner of work.’ God has set apart this day for himself; therefore we are not to use it in common, by doing any civil work. As when Abraham went to sacrifice he left his servants and the ass at the bottom of the hill; so, when we are to worship God on this day, we must leave all worldly business behind, leave the ass at the bottom of the hill. Gen 22: 5. As Joseph, when he would speak with his brethren, thrust out the Egyptians, so, when we would converse with God on this day, we must thrust out all earthly employments. The Lord’s day is a day of holy rest. All secular work must be forborne and suspended, as it is a profanation of the day. ‘In those days saw I in Judah some treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes and figs, and all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day; and I testified against them. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, “What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath-day?’ ” Neh 13: 15, 17. It is sacrilege to rob for civil work the time which God has set apart for his worship. He that devotes any time of the Sabbath to worldly business, is a worse thief than he who robs on the highway; for the one does but rob man, but the other robs God. The Lord forbade mamma to be gathered on the Sabbath. Exod 16: 26. One might think it would have been allowed, as manna was the ‘staff of their life,’ and the time when it fell was between five and six in the morning, so that they might have gathered it betimes, and all the rest of the Sabbath might have been employed in God’s worship; and besides, they needed not to have taken any great journey for it, for it was but stepping out of their doors, and it fell about their tents: and yet they might not gather it on the Sabbath; and for purposing only to do it, God was very angry. ‘There went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?’ Exod 16: 27, 28. Surely anointing Christ when he was dead was a commendable work; but, though Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, had prepared sweet ointments to anoint the dead body of Christ, they went not to the sepulchre to embalm him till the Sabbath was past. ‘They rested the Sabbath-day, according to the commandment.’ Luke 23: 56. The hand cannot be busied on the Lord’s-day but the heart will be defiled. The very heathen, by the light of nature, would not do any secular work in the time which they had set apart for the worship of their false gods. Clemens Alexandrinus reports of one of the emperors of Rome, who, on the day of set worship for his gods, put aside warlike affairs and spent the time in devotion. To do servile work on the Sabbath shows an irreligious heart, and greatly offends God. To do secular work on this day is to follow the devil’s slough; it is to debase the soul. God made this day on purpose to raise the heart to heaven, to converse with him, to do angels’ work; and to be employed in earthly work is to degrade the soul of its honour. God will not have his day entrenched upon, or defiled in the least thing. The man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath he commanded to be stoned. Numb. 15: 35. It would seem a small thing to pick up a few sticks to make a fire; but God would not have this day violated in the smallest matters. Nay, the work which had reference to a religious use might not be done on the Sabbath, as the hewing of stones for the building of the sanctuary. Bezaleel, who was to cut the stones, and carve the timber out for the sanctuary, must forbear to do it on the Sabbath. Exod 31: 15. A temple is a place of God’s worship, but it was a sin to build a temple on the Lord’s-day. This is keeping the Sabbath-day holy negatively, in doing no servile work.

Works of necessity and charity however may be done on this day. In these cases God will have mercy and not sacrifice. (1) It is lawful to take the necessary supplies of nature. Food is to the body as oil to the lamp. (2) It is lawful to do works of mercy, as helping a neighbour when either life or estate are in danger. Herein the Jews were too nice and precise, who would not suffer works of charity to be done on the Sabbath. If a man was sick, they thought they might not on this day use means for his recovery. Christ charges them with being angry because he had wrought a cure on the Sabbath. John 7: 23. If a house were on fire, the Jews thought they might not bring water to quench it; if a vessel leaked on this day, they thought they might not stop it. They were ‘righteous overmuch;’ it was seeming zeal, but wanted discretion to guide it. Except in these two cases, of necessity and charity, all secular work is to be suspended and laid aside on the Lord’s-day. ‘In it thou shalt do no manner of work.’ This arraigns and condemns many among us who too much foul their fingers with work on that day; some in dressing great feasts, others in opening their shop-doors, and selling meat on the Sabbath. The mariner will not put to sea but on the Sabbath, and so runs full sail into the violation of this command. Others work on this day privately, put up their shop-windows, and follow their trade within doors; but though they think to hide their sin under a canopy, God sees it. ‘Whither shall I flee from thy presence?’ ‘The darkness hideth not from thee.’ Psa 139: 7, 12. Such profane the day, and God will have an action of trespass against them.

[2] Positively. We keep the Sabbath-day holy, by ‘consecrating and dedicating’ this day to the ‘service of the high God.’ It is good to rest on the Sabbath-day from the works of our calling; but if we rest from labour and do no more, the ox and the ass keep the Sabbath as well as we; for they rest from labour. We must dedicate the day to God; we must not only ‘keep a Sabbath,’ but ‘sanctify’ a Sabbath. Sabbath-sanctification consists in two things: (1) Solemn preparation for it. If a prince were to come to your house, what preparation would you make for his entertainment! You would sweep the house, wash the floor, adorn the room with the richest tapestry and hangings, that there might be something suitable to the state and dignity of so great a person. On the blessed Sabbath, God intends to have sweet communion with you; he seems to say to you, as Christ to Zacchaeus, ‘Make haste and come down, for this day I must abide at thy house.’ Luke 19: 5. Now, what preparation should you make for entertaining this King of glory? When Saturday evening approaches, sound a retreat; call your minds off from the world and summon your thoughts together, to think of the great work of the approaching day. Purge out all unclean affections, which may indispose you for the work of the Sabbath. Evening preparation will be like the tuning of an instrument, it will fit the heart better for the duties of the ensuing Sabbath.

(2) The sacred observation of it. Rejoice at the approach of the day, as a day wherein we have a prize for our souls, and may enjoy much of God’s presence. John 8: 56. ‘Abraham rejoiced to see my day.’ So, when we see the light of a Sabbath shine, we should rejoice, and ‘call the Sabbath a delight:’ this is the queen of days, which God has crowned with a blessing. Isa 58: 13. As there was one day in the week on which God rained manna twice as much as upon any other day, so he rains down the manna of heavenly blessings twice as much on the Sabbath as on any other. This is the day wherein Christ carries the soul into the house of wine, and displays the banner of love over it; now the dew of the Spirit falls on the soul, whereby it is revived and comforted. How many may write the Lord’s day, the day of their new birth! This day of rest is a pledge and earnest of the eternal rest in heaven. Shall we not then rejoice at its approach? The day on which the Sun of Righteousness shines should be a day of gladness.

Get up betides on the Sabbath morning. Christ rose early on this day, before the sun was up. John 20: 1. Did he rise early to save us, and shall not we rise early to worship and glorify him? ‘Early will I seek thee.’ Psa 63: 1. Can we be up betimes on other days? The husband man is early at his slough, the traveller rises early to go his journey, and shall not we, who on this day are travelling to heaven? Certainly, if we loved God as we should, we should rise on this day betimes, that we may meet with him whom our souls love. Such as sit up late at work on the night before, are so buried in sleep, that they will hardly be up betides on a Sabbath morning.

IV. Having dressed your bodies, you must dress your souls for hearing the word. As the people of Israel were to wash themselves before the law was delivered to them, so we must wash and cleanse our souls; and that is done by reading, meditation, and prayer. Exod 19: 10.

[1] By reading the word. The word is a great means to sanctify the heart, and bring it into a Sabbath-frame. ‘Sanctify them through thy truth,’ &c. John 17: 17. Read not the word carelessly, but with seriousness and affection; as the oracle of heaven, the well of salvation, the book of life. David, for its preciousness, esteemed it above gold; and for its sweetness, above honey. Psa 19: 10. By reading the word aright, our hearts, when dull, are quickened; when hard, are mollified; when cold and frozen are inflamed; and we can say as the disciples, ‘Did not our heart burn within us?’ Some step out of their bed to hearing. The reason why many get no more good on a Sabbath by the word preached, is because they did not breakfast with God in the morning by reading his word.

[2] Meditation. Get upon the mount of meditation, and there converse with God. Meditation is the soul’s retiring within itself, that, by a serious and solemn thinking upon God, the heart may be raised up to divine affections. It is a work fit for the morning of a Sabbath. Meditate on four things.

(1) On the works of creation. This is expressed in the commandment. “The Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,’ &c. The creation is a looking glass, in which we see the wisdom and power of God gloriously represented. God produced this fair structure of the world without any pre-existent matter, and with a word. ‘By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.’ Psa 33: 6. The disciples wondered that Christ could, with a word, calm the sea, but it was far more astounding with a word to make the sea. Matt 8: 26. On the Sabbath let us meditate on the infiniteness of the Creator. Look up to the firmament and see God’s wonders in the deep.’ Psa 107: 24. Look into the earth, where we may behold the nature of minerals, the power of the loadstone, the virtue of herbs, and the beauty of flowers. By meditating on these works of creation, so curiously embroidered, we shall learn to admire God and praise him. ‘O Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all.’ Psa 104: 24. By meditating on the works of creation, we shall learn to confide in God. He who can create, can provide; he that could make us when we were nothing, can raise us when we are low. ‘Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.’ Psa 124: 8.