On The Christian Sabbath
By James Fisher, et al.
From The Assembly’s Shorter Catechism Explained, by Way of Question and Answer, by James Fisher and other Ministers of the Gospel. Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 57-62 on the Fourth Commandment, with expository questions.
Contents:
- The Fourth Commandment and Its Requirements—Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 57 & 58
- Why the Christian Sabbath Is on the First Day of the Week—WSC Q. 59
- How the Sabbath Is To Be Sanctified—WSC Q. 60
- What Is Forbidden in the Fourth Commandment—WSC Q. 61
- The Four Reasons Annexed to the Fourth Commandment—WSC Q. 62
The Fourth Commandment and Its Requirements
QUESTION 57. Which is the Fourth Commandment?
ANSWER: The Fourth Commandment is, 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.
QUESTION 58. What is required in the Fourth Commandment?
ANSWER: The Fourth Commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath unto himself.
Q. 1. To what about the worship of God has this command a reference?
A. It refers to the special TIME of God’s worship.
Q. 2. Is the TIME of God’s worship left arbitrary to the will of man?
A. No; we are to keep holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word.
Q. 3. Why should such set times be kept holy, and no other?
A. Because God is the sovereign Lord of our time, and has the sole power and authority to direct how it should be improved.
Q. 4. What is meant by the set times mentioned in the answer?
A. The stated feasts, and holy convocations for religious worship, instituted under the ceremonial law, which the church of the Jews was obliged to observe during that dispensation, Leviticus 23.
Q. 5. Is there any warrant for anniversary, or stated holidays, now, under the New Testament?
A. No; these under the Old, being abrogated by the death and resurrection of Christ, there is neither precept nor example in scripture, for any of the yearly holidays observed by Papists, and others: on the contrary, all such days are condemned, Galatians 4:10; Colossians 2:16, 17.
Q. 6. What crimes does the observance of them import?
A. The observance of them imports no less than an impeachment of the institutions of God, concerning his worship, as if they were imperfect; and an encroachment upon the liberty wherewith Christ has made his church and people free, Colossians 2:20.
Q. 7. What is the special and stated time, which God has expressly, appointed in his word, to be kept holy?
A. One whole day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath to himself.
Q. 8. What is meant by a whole day?
A. A whole natural day, consisting of twenty-four hours.
Q. 9 What do you understand by one whole day in seven?
A. A seventh part of our weekly time; or one complete day, either, after or before six days’ labour.
Q. 10. When should we begin and end this day?
A. We should measure it just as we do other days, from midnight to midnight, without alienating any part of it to our own works.
Q. 11. Are not sleeping and eating on the Sabbath day our own works?
A. If these refreshments of nature are in moderation, and to the glory of God on the Sabbath, they are not properly our own works, because they are necessary to strengthen our bodies for religious exercises.
Q. 12. What is the significance of the word Sabbath?
A. It is a Hebrew word, signifying REST; as it is interpreted, Hebrews 4:9—“There remaineth therefore a REST,” (margin, keeping of a Sabbath) “to the people of God.”
Q. 13. Is Sunday a proper or fit name for this day?
A. Although it cannot charitably be supposed that many who use this term have any knowledge of, or pay the smallest regard to the idolatrous rise of this name, or the names, assigned to the other days of the week; yet it were to be wished, that all Christians would call this holy day by one or other of its scripture designations.
Q. 14. May it not continue to be called Sabbath NOW, as well as under the Old Testament?
A. Yes; in regard our Lord himself calls it by this name, Matthew 24:20—“Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day.”
Q. 15. But is not our Lord speaking there of the Jewish, not of the Christian Sabbath?
A. He evidently means the Christian Sabbath only; for he is speaking of the flight which should happen at the destruction of Jerusalem; which did not take place till about forty years after the Jewish Sabbath was abolished, and the Christian Sabbath had come in its room.
Q. 16. Why is it called a holy Sabbath?
A. Because it was consecrated and set apart by God himself, for his own worship and service.
Q. 17. Is there any other day holy beside the Sabbath?
A. Other days may be occasionally employed in the worship of God, according to providential calls to it; yet there is no other day, except the Sabbath, morally and perpetually holy.
Q. 18. Is the Sabbath instrumentally holy, or is the time itself of the Sabbath an instrument and means (as the word and sacraments are) of conveying spiritual grace?
A. Not at all: for the time of the Sabbath is only a holy SEASON in which God is pleased to bless his people, more ordinarily than at other times, John 20:19-24; still reserving to himself the prerogative of communicating his grace at other times likewise, as he shall see meet, chap. 21:15-18.
Q. 19. Is the Fourth Commandment founded on the light of nature, or upon positive institution?
A. It is founded partly on both.
Q. 20. What part of this commandment is it, that is founded entirely on nature’s light; or is what they call moral-natural?
A. The substance of it; namely, that as God is to be worshipped, so some stated time should be set apart for that end.
Q. 21. What part of it is founded on positive institution: or is what they call moral-positive?
A. That one proportion of time should be observed for God’s worship and service rather than another; namely, that it should be a seventh, rather than a third, fourth, fifth, or sixth part of our weekly time.
Q. 22. Why do you call this a POSITIVE institution?
A. Because the observance of one day in seven, for a Sabbath, flows from the sovereign will of God in appointing it; and could never have been observed, more than any other part of time, merely by the force of nature’s light.
Q. 23. Why do you call it MORAL-positive?
A. Because, though the law appointing the precise time of the Sabbath be positive, yet the reason of the law (plainly implied in the law itself, namely, that divine wisdom saw it most equal and meet, that man having six, God should have a seventh day to himself) is MORAL.
Q. 24. In what, then, consists the morality of the Fourth Commandment?
A. In keeping holy to God any seventh day he shall be pleased to appoint.
Q. 25. What is meant by the SEVENTH day mentioned in the commandment?
A. Not only the seventh in order from the creation, but any other seventh part of our weekly time, as God shall determine.
Q. 26. How does this appear from the words of the command itself?
A. In the beginning of the commandment, it is not said, Remember the seventh day, (namely, in order from the creation,) but “Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.”Just so, in the end of this command, the, words are not, The Lord blessed the seventh day; but, “the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it.”
Q. 27. How do you prove the observance of one whole day in seven for a holy Sabbath to the Lord, to be of moral and perpetual obligation?
A. From the time of the first institution of the Sabbath; from its being placed in the DECALOGUE, or summary of moral precepts; and from there being nothing originally ceremonial, or typical, in the scope or substance of it.
Q. 28. When was the Sabbath, first instituted?
A. The will of God, that some stated time should be set apart for his worship was written with the rest of the commandments, upon man’s heart at his first creation; and God’s resting from all his works on the first seventh day; his blessing and sanctifying it, Genesis 2:1-3, were sufficient evidences of his will to mankind, that they should observe every seventh day thereafter, till God should be pleased to alter it.
Q. 29. How is the morality of the Sabbath evinced from the FIRST INSTITUTION of it?
A. Being instituted while Adam was in innocency, and consequently before all types and ceremonies respecting an atonement for sin, and being appointed him upon a moral ground, without any particular reference to an innocent state more than any other, it must therefore be of perpetual obligation.
Q. 30. What was the moral ground upon which the Sabbath was appointed to Adam?
A. It was this, that infinite wisdom saw it meet, for God’s glory, and needful for man’s good, that man have one day in the week for more immediate and special converse with God.
Q. 31. What need was there for Adam in innocence, being perfectly holy, to have one day set apart from the others, for more immediate converse with God?
A. That in this respect he might be like God, who set him an example of holy working six days, and of a holy resting on the seventh.
Q. 32. Could Adam’s mind be equally intent upon the immediate worship of God, when about his ordinary employment in dressing the garden, as on a day set apart for that purpose?
A. No; for though there could be no interruption of his happiness and fellowship with God, when dressing the garden, as he was a perfect creature; yet being at the same time a finite creature, his mind, while he was about that employment, could not be so intent upon the immediate worship of God, as it would be on a day set apart for that purpose; therefore it was fit he should have such a day, that he might thus have an uninterrupted freedom in the immediate contemplation and enjoyment of his Maker, without any avocation from worldly things.
Q. 33. What may be inferred from this, in favour of the morality of the Sabbath?
A. That if Adam in innocence needed a Sabbath, for the more immediate service and solemn worship of God, much more do we, who are sinful creatures, and so immersed in worldly cares, need such a day.
Q. 34. Did the religious observance of the Sabbath take place immediately after the creation, or not till the publishing of the law at Mount Sinai?
A. It took place at, and from the first seventh day after the creation for God’s blessing and sanctifying of the Sabbath is related as a thing actually done at that time, and not as a thing to be done upwards of two thousand years afterwards, Genesis 2:3.
Q. 35. How can the observance of the Sabbath be said to have taken place immediately after the creation, when the scripture is wholly silent about the observance of it till the time of Moses?
A. It might as well be argued, that the Sabbath was not observed after Moses’ time, during the government of the Judges (which, according to Acts 13:20, was “about the space of four hundred and fifty years”), there being no mention of the church observing a Sabbath during the whole of that long period: and yet it cannot be supposed, that such godly men as the Judges were, would suffer the observance of the Sabbath to go into entire disuse.
Q. 36. Is there any evidence from scripture, that the Israelites knew the observance of the Sabbath to be a moral duty, before the publication of the law, from Mount Sinai?
A. Yes; for when the manna was first given them, before they came to Mount Sinai, Moses speaks of the Sabbath, as a day well known to them, Exodus 16:23—“Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.”
Q. 37. How may the morality of the Sabbath be demonstrated from its SITUATION in the decalogue, or Ten Commandments?
A. It is placed in the midst of moral precepts, and must therefore be of the same nature and kind with them. It has the same dignity and honour put upon it, that the other nine commandments have; for it was, with them, proclaimed by the mouth of God, in the hearing of all Israel; twice written upon tables of stone, by the finger of God; and with them lodged within the ark: none of which privileges were conferred upon the ceremonial law: and, consequently, the Fourth Commandment must be of the same perpetual obligation as the other moral precepts, James 2:10.
Q. 38. Was there any thing TYPICAL of Christ in the original institution of the Sabbath?
A. It is impossible there could: for Adam, in innocence, being under a covenant of works, had no need of Christ, or the revelation of him by types; no, not to confirm him in that covenant, Galatians 3:12.
Q. 39. What would have been the consequence, if the Sabbath had been originally and essentially typical?
A. If so, then it would have been abolished, upon the death of Christ, and there would be no more remembrance of it than of the new moons and jubilees: which is, indeed, what they who argue against the morality of the Sabbath seem much to desire.
Q. 40. Were not the Israelites commanded to keep the Sabbath day in memory of their deliverance out of Egypt, which was typical of our redemption by Christ?
A. Yes; their deliverance out of Egypt was annexed, at Mount Sinai, as a superadded ground for the observance of that particular seventh day, which God appointed to be kept immediately after the creation, Deuteronomy 5:15. For which reason, this particular seventh day was abolished at the resurrection of Christ: but still the seventh part of weekly time fixed by God at the beginning, as the substance of this commandment, remained unchangeably moral.
Q. 41. Will it follow that the substance of this commandment is ceremonial, because it is said of Christ, Matthew 12:8, that he is “Lord even of the Sabbath day?”
A. By no means: the very contrary will follow; namely, that such a seventh part of weekly time, as is now observed, is moral, because he who is the Lord of the Sabbath, has appointed it to be so; and, consequently, has power to order the work of it for his own service.
Q. 42. Is it any argument against the morality of the Sabbath, that it “was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”?
A. No; but rather an argument for it: the meaning doubtless is that resting on the Sabbath was appointed for man’s good, that it might be a means to a further and better end, even the true sanctification of it, in the exercise of the duties of piety and mercy required on the day.
Why the Christian Sabbath Is on the First Day of the Week
QUESTION 59. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
ANSWER: From the beginning of the world, to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week, ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.
Q. 1. When did God appoint the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. From the beginning of the world, Genesis 2:2, 3.
Q. 2. Why is it said to be from the beginning of the world, when it was not done till after man was created on the sixth day?
A. Because the world, as to its perfection of parts, did not properly begin till the creation was completely finished; which was not till man was made, who was to “have dominion over all the earth,” Genesis 1:26.
Q. 3. How long was this seventh or last day of the week appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. To the resurrection of Christ, Matthew 28:1.
Q. 4. Which day of the week did God appoint for the Sabbath ever since that time?
A. The first day of the week, Acts 20:7.
Q. 5. For how long time is the first day of the week appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. To the end of the world.
Q. 6. How are we sure that it is appointed to continue to the end of the world?
A. Because the canon of scripture is concluded, and therefore no new revelations and institutions are to be expected, Revelation 22:18, 19.
Q. 7. Why is the first day of the week called the Christian Sabbath?
A. Because it was instituted by CHRIST, and uniformly observed by Christians ever since his resurrection.
Q. 8. Are not all divine institutions observed in virtue of some moral precept?
A. Yes; otherwise the law of the Lord would not be perfect, as it is declared to be, Psalm 19:7.
Q. 9. In virtue of what moral precept has the first day of the week been observed by Christians?
A. In virtue of the Fourth Commandment; even as the means of worship, instituted under the New Testament, have been observed in virtue of the second.
Q. 10. How can the first day of the week be observed in virtue of the Fourth Commandment, when it is not in it particularly mentioned?
A. The morality of the Sabbath does not lie in observing the seventh day in order from the creation; but in observing such a seventh day as is determined and appointed by God; which may be either the first or last of the seven days, as he shall see meet.
Q. 11. Under what name or designation is the Christian Sabbath foretold in the Old Testament?
A. Under the name of the EIGHTH DAY, Ezekiel 43:27 — “And when these days are expired, it shall be that upon the EIGHTH DAY, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings: and I will accept you, Saith the Lord.”
Q. 12. Why called the eighth day?
A. Because the first day of the week now, is the eighth in order from the creation.
Q. 13. What is the efficient cause of the change of the Sabbath?
A. The sovereign will and pleasure of him who is “Lord of the Sabbath,” Mark 2:28.
Q. 14. What is the moving cause of this change?
A. The resurrection of Christ from the dead, which was “early on the first day of the week,” Mark 16:9.
Q. 15. Why is the day of Christ’s resurrection appointed to be the Sabbath?
A. Because his resurrection was a demonstrative evidence that he had completely finished the glorious work of redemption, Romans 1:4; and therefore it was his RESTING DAY, Hebrews 4:10 — “He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”
Q. 16. Why might not the day of Christ’s incarnation or the day of his passion, have been consecrated to be our Sabbath day?
A. Because they were both of them days of Christ’s labour and sorrow, which he had to go through before he came to his rest, Luke 24:26. In his incarnation, and birth, he entered upon his work, Galatians 4:4, 5. In his passion, he was under the sorest part of his labour, even the exquisite and unspeakable agonies of his soul, Matthew 26:38.
Q. 17. Why might not the day of his ascension be made the Sabbath, as well as the day of his resurrection?
A. Because on the day of his ascension he entered only into his PLACE of rest, the third heavens; whereas he had entered before into his STATE of rest on the day of his resurrection; and the place is but a circumstance, when compared with the state.
Q. 18. Why did God change his day of rest?
A. Because his rest in the work of creation was marred and spoiled by man’s sin, Genesis 6:6; whereas his rest in the work of redemption, entered into at the resurrection of Christ, is that in which he will have eternal and unchangeable pleasure, John 17:23. Besides, redemption is a far greater and more excellent work than even that of creation.
Q. 19. How may the change of the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week be evinced from scripture?
A. If our Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, met ordinarily with his disciples on the first day of the week; if, after his ascension, he poured out his Spirit in an extraordinary manner on that day; if, by the example and practice of the apostles and primitive Christians, recorded in the New Testament, the first day of the week was honoured above any other for the public exercises of God’s worship; if, by apostolic precept, the observance of this day, rather than any other, was enjoined for Sabbath services; and if this day is peculiarly dignified with the title of the LORD’S DAY — then it must undoubtedly be the Christian Sabbath by divine institution.
Q. 20. How does it appear that our Lord, after his resurrection, met ordinarily with his disciples on the first day of the week?
A. From two instances of it; expressly recorded, John 20:19, 26; where it is affirmed, that he met with them on the evening of the same day on which he arose from the dead, being the first day of the week: and that Thomas was not with them when Jesus came, ver. 24. Likewise, on that same day, eight days, he appeared to them again, when they “were within, and Thomas was with them,” ver. 26. From whence it would seem, that he met with them ordinarily on that day, during his forty days’ abode on the earth, after his resurrection.
Q. 21. How is it evident that Christ, after his ascension, poured out his Spirit in an extraordinary manner on this day?
A. From Acts 2:1-5—“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord, in one place; and suddenly there came a sound from heaven,—and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,” &c.
Q. 22. What was the day of Pentecost?
A. It was the fiftieth day after the passover, when the “new meat offering” was brought unto the Lord, Numbers 28:26.
Q. 23. How do you prove that this was the first day of the week?
A. From Leviticus 23:16; where it is said, that the morrow after the seventh Sabbath is the fiftieth day, (or Pentecost). And it is certain that the morrow after the Jewish Sabbath must be the first day of the week.
Q. 24. How does it appear, from the example and practice of the apostles and primitive Christians, that the first day of the week was honoured above any other, for the public exercise of God’s worship?
A. From Acts 20:7—“And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them:” where it is obvious that the disciples met ordinarily upon the first day of the week, to hear the word, and celebrate the sacrament of the supper: for it is not said, the apostle called them, but that they CAME together to break bread; and Paul, on that occasion, preached unto them.
Q. 25. How may it be proved from the context, that the disciples met ordinarily for the public exercises of God’s worship, on the first day of the week?
A. That they did so may be proved from this, that “Paul abode with them seven days,” as is evident from ver. 6, and yet upon none of the seven did they meet for communicating, or breaking of bread, but on the first day of the week only: which plainly says that they held it for the Christian Sabbath, and not the seventh or last day, which is not even mentioned.
Q. 26. But do we not read, Acts 13:14, that Paul preached in a synagogue on the Sabbath day, which certainly behoved to be the Jewish Sabbath or last day of the week?
A. He only preached occasionally on the Jewish Sabbath, as the fittest time, when the Jews were assembled together, to dispense gospel truth among them; but did not honour this day as a stated time for public worship.
Q. 27. What apostolic precept is there, for the observance of the first day of the week, rather than any other, for Sabbath services?
A. It is in 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2—“Now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.”
Q. 28. What is the argument from this text, to prove an apostolic precept, for observing the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath?
A. It may run thus: That if collections for the poor are expressly commanded to be made on the first day of the week, it plainly follows, that Christians must meet together on that day, for this and other Sabbath services.
Q. 29. But may not this be a temporary precept, binding for a time, upon the church of Corinth only?
A. As the words of the text expressly affirm that it was binding also upon the churches of Galatia, so the apostle directs his epistle not to the church of Corinth only, but to “all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ,” chap. 1:2; and consequently it must be binding upon all the churches to the end of the world.
Q. 30. In what place of the New Testament is there mention made of a day dignified with the title of the LORD’S DAY?
A. In Revelation 1:10—“I was in the Spirit,” says John, “on the LORD’S DAY.”
Q. 31. How may it be proved, that what is here called the Lord’s day, is the first day of the week?
A. By these two arguments: That no other day of the week but the first can justly be called the Lord’s day; and that the first day of the week is so called in virtue of Christ’s sanctifying it, above any other day, for his own honour and service.
Q. 32. Why can no other day of the week, but the first, be justly called the Lord’s day?
A. Because there is no action or work of Christ (save healing on the Sabbath) mentioned or recorded as done upon any one day of the week by another, except that of his resurrection, which is unanimously affirmed by the evangelists, to be on the first day of the week.
Q. 33. How does it appear that the first day of the week is called the Lord’s day, in virtue of his sanctifying it for his own honour and service?
A. As the seventh day Sabbath was called the Sabbath of the Lord, because instituted by him as God-creator; so the first day of the week is called the Lord’s day, because instituted by him as God-redeemer; or, as the sacrament of bread and wine is called the Lord’s table, and the Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians 10:21, and 11:20, because it is an ordinance of his institution; so, the first day of the week is called the Lord’s day, for the very same reason.
Q. 34. Would the apostles have observed and recommended the first day of the week for the Christian Sabbath, if they had not been particularly instructed in this by Christ himself?
A. No, surely: for, after his passion, he spoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, Acts 1:3; among which the change of the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week was none of the least; and it is certain that the apostles delivered nothing to the churches, as a rule of faith or practice, but what they received of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 11:23.
How the Sabbath Is To Be Sanctified
QUESTION 60. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
ANSWER: The Sabbath is to be sanctified, by a holy resting on that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.
Q. 1. In what sense is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
A. As it is dedicated by God, for man’s sake and use that he may keep it holy to God.
Q. 2. In what manner should he keep it holy to God?
A. By a holy resting, and by holy exercises.
Q. 3. What should we rest from on the Sabbath?
A. Even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; or, which is the same thing, from all servile work, Nehemiah 13:15-23.
Q. 4. What is it that makes a work servile?
A. If it is done for our worldly gain, profit, and livelihood; or if, by prudent management, it might have been done the week before; or, if it be of such a kind as may be delayed till after the Sabbath, Exodus 34:21 — “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh thou shalt rest: in shearing time,1 and in harvest thou shalt rest.”
Q. 5. Why does God enjoin rest on the Sabbath so peremptorily and particularly, in the time of ploughing and harvest?
A. Because in these seasons men are most keenly set upon their labour; and may be in the greatest hazard of grudging the time of the Sabbath for rest.
Q. 6. If the weather is unseasonable through the week, do not reaping and ingathering, in that case become works of necessity on the Sabbath?
A. By no means; because any unseasonableness of the weather that may happen, being common and general, proceeds only from the course of God’s ordinary providence, which we ought not to distrust, in regard of his promise, that, “While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest — shall not cease,” Genesis 8:22.
Q. 7. If a field of corn is in hazard of being carried away by the unexpected inundation of a river, is it lawful to endeavour the preservation of them upon the Sabbath?
A. Yes; because the dispensation is extraordinary; the case not common nor general; and the damage likewise in an ordinary way, irrecoverable.
Q. 8. Are Christians, under the New Testament, obliged to as strict an abstinence from worldly labour, as the Jews were under the Old?
A. Yes, surely; for moral duties being of unchangeable obligation, Christians must be bound to as strict a performance of them now, as the Jews were then, Psalm 19:9.
Q. 9. Were not the Jews prohibited to dress meat on the Sabbath? Exodus 16:23.
A. They were prohibited such servile work as was requisite in preparing manna for food: such as the grinding of it in mills, beating it in mortars, and baking it in pans, Numbers 11:8; but not all dressing of meat, for the comfortable nourishment of their bodies, any more than we.
Q. 10. How does it appear that they were allowed to dress meat on the Sabbath, for the comfortable nourishment of their bodies?
A. From our Lord’s being present at a meal on the Sabbath day, to which there were several guests bidden, and consequently meat behoved to be prepared and dressed for their entertainment, Luke 14:1, 7.
Q. 11. Were not the Jews forbidden to kindle fire in their habitations upon the Sabbath day? Exodus 35:3.
A. Yes, for any servile work, though it were even making materials for the tabernacle, (which is the work spoken of through the following part of that chapter;) but they were not forbidden to kindle fires for works of necessity or mercy, any more than Christians are.
Q. 12. Were they not ordered to abide every man in his place, and not to go out of his place on the seventh day? Exodus 16:29.
A. The prohibition only respects their going abroad about the unnecessary and servile work of gathering manna upon the Sabbath; otherwise, they were allowed to go out about works of necessity and mercy: and it appears from Acts 1:12, that they were allowed to travel a Sabbath-day’s journey.
Q. 13. What was a Sabbath-day’s journey?
A. Whatever was the tradition of the Pharisees about it, it appears to have been the distance of their respective dwellings, from the place where they ordinarily attended public ordinances, 2 Kings 4:23.
Q. 14. Are we not to rest on the Lord’s day from lawful recreations, as well as from lawful worldly employments?
A. Yes; because we are expressly required, on this holy day, to abstain from doing our own ways, finding our own pleasure, and speaking our own words, Isaiah 58:13.
Q. 15. What are these recreations that are lawful on other days?
A. Innocent pastimes, visiting friends, walking in the fields talking of the news or common affairs, and the like.
Q. 16. Why are these recreations unlawful on the Lord’s day?
A. Because they tend to divert the mind from the duties of the Sabbath, as much as, if not more than, worldly employments.
Q. 17. Is not the Sabbath a festival, or feast day; and consequently may not our conversation on it be cheerful and diverting?
A. It is, indeed, properly a feast day, but of a spiritual, not of a carnal nature: we may refresh our bodies moderately, but not sumptuously; and our conversation ought to turn wholly upon spiritual and heavenly subjects, or such as have that tendency, after the example of our Lord, Luke 14:1-25.
Q. 18. What should be the principal end of our six days’ labour?
A. That it be so managed as in no way to discompose or unfit us for a holy resting on the Sabbath, or meeting with God on his own day.
Q. 19. What is a holy resting?
A. Not only an abstaining from our own work, or labour, but an entering by faith (in the use of appointed means,) into the presence and enjoyment of God in Christ, as the only rest of our souls, Hebrews 4:3; that having no work of our own to mind or do, we may be wholly taken up with the works of God.
Q. 20. Why called a holy resting?
A. Because we should rest from worldly labour, in order to be employed in the holy exercises, which the Lord requires on this day; otherwise, as to bare cessation, our cattle rest from outward labour as well as we.
Q. 21. What are the holy EXERCISES in which we ought to be employed on the Lord’s day?
A. In the public and private exercises of God’s worship.
Q. 22. What are the public exercises of God’s worship in which we should be employed?
A. Hearing the word preached, Romans 10:17; joining in public prayers and praises, Luke 24:53; and partaking of the sacraments, Acts 20:7.
Q. 23. What is included under the private exercises of God’s worship?
A. Family and secret duties.
Q. 24. What are the duties incumbent on us in a family capacity on the Lord’s day?
A. Family worship, and family catechising, together with Christian conference, as there is occasion, Leviticus 23:3. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your DWELLINGS, or private families; and therefore God is to he worshipped in them on that day.
Q. 25. What is family worship?
A. It is the daily joining of all that are united in a domestic relation, or who are dwelling together in the same house and family, in singing God’s praises, Acts 2:47 reading his word, Deuteronomy 6:7, and praying to him, Jeremiah 10:25.
Q. 26. How do you prove family worship to be a duty daily incumbent upon those who have families?
A. From scripture precept, and from scripture example.
Q. 27. How is family worship evinced from scripture precept?
A. Besides that this commandment enjoins every master of a family to sanctify the Sabbath within his gates, that is, to worship God in his family; there are also other scriptures, inculcating the same thing, by necessary consequence; such as, Ephesians 6:18—“Praying always, with ALL prayer and supplication;” 1 Timothy 2:8—“I will therefore that men pray EVERY WHERE.” If with all prayer, then surely with family prayer; if EVERY WHERE, then certainly in our families.
Q. 28. What are the examples of family worship recorded in scripture for our imitation?
A. Among others, there are the examples of Abraham, Genesis 18:19; of Joshua, chap. 24:15—“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord;” of David, 2 Samuel 6:20; or Cornelius, Acts 10:2; and especially the example of our blessed Lord, whom we find singing psalms, Matthew 26:30, and praying with his disciples, who were his family, Luke 9:18.
Q. 29. What should be the subject matter of family catechising?
A. What they have been hearing through the day, together with the principles of our religion, as laid out in the Shorter Catechism, with the helps that are published upon the same, which masters of families ought to use for their assistance in this work.
Q. 30. What are the proper seasons of Christian conference on the Sabbath?
A. At meals, and in the interval of duties: our speech should he always, but especially on the Lord’s day, “seasoned with salt,” Colossians 4:6.
Q. 31. What are the secret [private; non-public] duties in which we ought to he exercised on the Lord’s day?
A. Secret prayer, reading the scriptures, and other soul-edifying books, meditation upon divine subjects, and self-examination.
Q. 32. With what frame and disposition of soul should we engage in the public and private exercises of God’s worship?
A. With a spiritual frame and disposition, Revelation 1:10—“I was IN THE SPIRIT on the Lord’s day.”
Q. 33. What is it to be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day?
A. It is not only to have the actual inhabitation of the Spirit, which is the privilege of believers “every day,” Ezekiel 36:27; but to have the influences and operations of the Spirit “more liberally let out,” Luke 4:31, 32, and his graces in “more lively exercise,” than at other times, Acts 2:41.
Q. 34. What moral argument have we from the ceremonial law, for offering a greater plenty of spiritual sacrifices to God on the Sabbath, than upon other days?
A. The daily sacrifice, or continual burnt offering, was to be doubled on the Sabbath, Numbers 28:9; intimating, that they were bound to double their devotions on that day, which was consecrated to God to be spent in his service.
Q. 35. How much of the Sabbath is to be spent in the public and private exercises of God’s worship?
A. The WHOLE of it, from the ordinary time of rising on other days, to the ordinary time of going to rest; “except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.”
Q. 36. What is to be understood by works of necessity?
A. Such as could not be foreseen, nor provided against the day before, nor delayed till the day after the Sabbath.
Q. 37. What instances may be given of such works of necessity on the Lord’s day?
A. Flying from, and defending ourselves against an enemy; quenching of fire, accidentally or wilfully kindled; standing by the helm, or working a ship at sea, (provided they do not weigh anchor, nor hoist sail from harbours or firths, on the Lord’s day,) and the like.
Q. 38. What are the works of mercy which may be done on the Sabbath?
A. The moderate refreshment of our bodies, Luke 6:1; visiting the sick, preparing and administering remedies to them, Luke 13:16; feeding our cattle, ver.15; and preserving their lives, if in danger, chap, 14:5; and making collections for the poor, 1 Corinthians 16:2.
Q. 39. What cautions are requisite about works of necessity and mercy?
A. That these works be real, and not pretended; that we spend as little time about them as possible; and that we endeavour to attain a holy frame of spirit while about them.
Q. 40. How does it appear that works of necessity and mercy are lawful on the Lord’s day?
A. Because, though God rested from his work of creation on the seventh day, yet he did not rest on it from preserving what he had made.
Q. 41. “Why is the charge of keeping the Sabbath more especially directed to governors of families, and other superiors?”
A. “Because they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those that are under their charge: and because they are prone oftentimes to hinder them by employments of their own.”2
Q. 42. Ought not magistrates to punish those who are guilty of the open and presumptuous breach of the Sabbath?
A. Undoubtedly they should; and they have the example of Nehemiah for a precedent, worthy of their imitation in this matter, chap. 13:21.
Q. 43. What is the most effectual way for the civil magistrate to suppress Sabbath profanation?
A. To be impartial in the execution of the laws against Sabbath breaking, especially upon those who are of a more eminent rank and station, because they ought to be exemplary to others, Nehemiah 13:17—“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?”
Q. 44. “Why is the word REMEMBER set in the beginning of the Fourth Commandment?”
A. “Partly, because we are very ready to forget it; and partly, because in keeping it, we are helped better to keep all the rest of the commandments.”3
What Is Forbidden in the Fourth Commandment
QUESTION 61. What is forbidden in the Fourth Commandment?
ANSWER: The Fourth Commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments and recreations.
Q. 1. How are the sins ranked that are forbidden in this commandment?
A. They are ranked into sins of omission, and sins of commission.4
Q. 2. What are the sins of omission here forbidden?
A. Both the total neglect of the duties required, and the neglect of the careful performance of these, when essayed.
Q. 3. Of what is the total neglect of the duties required on the Sabbath an evidence?
A. It is a plain evidence of the neglect of all religious duties through the week; and, consequently, an evidence of atheism, profaneness, and apostasy.
Q. 4. When are persons guilty of the careless performance of the duties required on the Sabbath?
A. When they go about them in a partial, formal and lifeless way, Matthew 15:8.
Q. 5. What is it to go about duties in a partial way?
A. It is to perform some of them, and omit others equally necessary; such as, attending the public, and neglecting the private exercises of God’s Worship; or the contrary.
Q. 6. What is formality in duty?
A. It is the bare outward performance of it, without regarding the manner in which it ought to be done, or the vital principle from whence it should flow, 2 Timothy 3:5.
Q. 7. What are the ordinary causes of the dead and lifeless performance of religious duties?
A. Wandering thoughts, weariness, and drowsiness, are among none of the least.
Q. 8. What is the best antidote against wandering thoughts?
A. Faith in exercise: for this will fix the attention to what we are presently engaged in, whether hearing, praying, or praising, Psalm 57:7.
Q. 9. Whence arises weariness in duty?
A. From the natural bias of the heart and affections to worldly things, rather than religious exercises, Amos 8:5—“When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?”
Q. 10. What is the evil of drowsiness, particularly in hearing the word, or joining in prayer and praise?
A. If it be voluntary and customary, it is a manifest contempt of the word and presence of the great God, and paying less regard to him, than we even do to our fellow creatures.
Q. 11. What are the sins of COMMISSION forbidden in this commandment?
A. The profaning the day by idleness or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments and recreations.
Q. 12 What is the idleness here prohibited?
A. It is a loitering away the Sabbath, in a slothful, indolent, and inactive manner, without any real benefit or advantage, either to soul or body, Matthew 20:3.
Q. 13. Why is there a prohibition of doing that which is in itself sinful on the Lord’s day, when it is unlawful on every other day?
A. Because whatever the sinful action be, there is a greater aggravation of guilt in committing it on the Sabbath, which ought to be kept holy to God, than upon any other day, Jeremiah 17:27.
Q. 14. What are these thoughts, words, or works, that are here called unnecessary?
A. They are such as are about our worldly employments and recreations; or, they are all such thoughts, words, or works, as are not inevitably used about the works of necessity and mercy, which are lawful on this day.
Q. 15. Why is the day said to be profaned by the sins here forbidden?
A. Because these sins are each of them the reverse of that holiness, which should shine in all our duties, public and private, on the Lord’s day, Isaiah 58:13, 14.
The Four Reasons Annexed to the Fourth Commandment
QUESTION 62. What are the reasons annexed to the Fourth Commandment?
ANSWER: The reasons annexed to the Fourth Commandment are God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day.
Q. 1. How many reasons are there annexed to this commandment?
A. FOUR; which are more than to any of the rest.
Q. 2. Why are more reasons annexed to this command than to any of the rest?
A. Because of the proneness of men to break it; and likewise that the violation of it may be rendered the more inexcusable.
Q. 3. Which is the first reason?
A. It is God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments; in these words, Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work.
Q. 4. In what lies the strength of this reason?
A. It lies in this, that it would be most highly unreasonable and ungrateful to grudge a seventh part of our time in the more immediate service and worship of God; when he has been so liberal as to allow us six parts of it for our own secular and worldly affairs.
Q. 5. What similar instance of ingratitude may be given for the illustration of this?
A. The sin of our first parents in refusing to abstain from one tree, when they were allowed the free use of all the rest of the garden, Genesis 3:2, 3, 6.
Q. 6. Is working six days in our own employments a precept properly belonging to this commandment?
A. No; it is properly a branch of the Eighth Commandment, but it is brought in here incidentally, to enforce the sacred observance of a seventh day, when God has been so bountiful as to allow us six for our own occasions.
Q. 7. Which is the second reason annexed to this commandment?
A. It is his challenging a special propriety in the seventh; in these words, “but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
Q. 8. What is the force of this reason?
A. The force of it is this:—As that gracious God, who makes a grant of himself to us in the covenant of promise, claims this day as his own, so it is our greatest privilege or happiness to have access to, and communion with him on it, Isaiah 58:14.
Q. 9. In what lies the privilege or happiness of communion with God on his own day?
A. In having a foretaste in grace here of what shall be more fully enjoyed in glory hereafter, 1 Corinthians 13:12.
Q. 10. Which is the third reason?
A. It is his own example; in these words, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.”
Q. 11. Could not God have made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, in less time than the space of six days?
A. No doubt, he could have made all things, in the same beauty and perfection, in which ever they appeared, in an instant of time, if he had pleased.
Q. 12. Why then did he take six days?
A. To fix the morality of six days for worldly labour, and of a seventh for holy rest; and both these by his own example.
Q. 13. But does not the example of God’s resting the seventh day, oblige us still to observe the seventh day, in order from the creation, as a Sabbath?
A. No; because, though moral examples bind always to the kind of action, yet not always to every particular circumstance of it.
Q. 14. What is the kind of action to which God’s example binds us?
A. It is to observe one day in seven as a holy rest, either the last or first, as he shall appoint.
Q. 15. How can God’s example of resting on the seventh day be an argument for our resting on the first?
A. Though the observance of a particular day in seven be MUTABLE yet the duty of observing a seventh part of weekly time is MORAL, both by God’s precept and example.
Q. 16. Which is the fourth reason annexed to this commandment?
A. It is his blessing the Sabbath day; in these words: “Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Q. 17. In what sense may the Sabbath be said to be blessed?
A. Not only by God’s consecrating the day itself to a holy use; but by his blessing it to the true observers of it, and by his blessing them in it.
Q. 18. How does God bless the Sabbath to the true observers of it?
A. By ordering it so in his providence, that the religious observance of the Sabbath shall be no detriment to, but rather a furtherance of their lawful employments through the week; even as the profanation of it draws a train of all miseries and woes after it, Nehemiah 13:18.
Q. 19. How does he bless them in it, or upon it?
A. By making it the happy season of a more plenteous communication of all spiritual blessings to them, Isaiah 58:14.
Q. 20. What does the illative particle WHEREFORE teach us?
A. That God’s resting on the Sabbath was the great reason of his setting it apart to be a day of holy rest to us, that we might contemplate the works of God, both of creation and redemption, upon it.
Ploughing-time [i.e. plough-shearing], or Seed-time. ↩︎
Larger Catechism, Question 118. ↩︎
Larger Catechism, Question 121. ↩︎
See both these explained, [In Fisher’s Catechism] Part I. on the head, Of sin in general. [Especially Shorter Catechism, QUESTION 14: What is Sin? ANSWER: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. Expository questions: Q. 14.15. How are actual sins divided? A. Into sins of omission and commission. Q. 14.16. What is a sin of omission? A. It is a neglecting, or forgetting to do that good which the law commands, James 4:17. Q. 14.17. What is a sin of commission? A. It is a doing of what the law of God forbids, Psalm 51:4.] ↩︎