p. 7 | Sabbath-Keeping in the Home by C. L. Taylor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 27, 1911

Sabbath-Keeping in the Home

By C. L. Taylor

C. L. TAYLOR

In Sabbath-keeping as in everything else there is the true and the false. Much that is called Sabbath-keeping is lacking in almost every essential element of that which God would have his people know.

All through the Bible the Sabbath is pointed out as a day of joy and activity. When Jesus was chided for his healing work, and accused of breaking the Sabbath law, he said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” At another time he justified his course by alluding to the fact that the priests were busier on the Sabbath day than on any other day of the seven. They “profane the Sabbath,” he said, and yet “are blameless.”

From this teaching of the Lord Jesus we may learn much that will be of value to us in our home experiences. Certainly there is need of the inspired statement, “I desired mercy, and not sacrifice.” If it was important that the Jewish people should grasp the thought of God as that thought had been expressed through the prophet, how much more important it is that we upon whom the ends of the world have come should discover it, and accept it, and live it.

“I desired mercy, and not sacrifice.” These words convey the thought that in the observance of the Sabbath we may put too much stress upon the idea of resting—of doing nothing. More than this, they show that it is possible, in our effort to keep the letter of the law, to leave out that element which is the real essence of all law-keeping, the element of mercy. The law of the Sabbath is but the law of well-doing, the law of bringing gladness and sunshine to every place and to every person that needs it. This was what Jesus did. To relieve the ox fallen into the pit, to satisfy the needs of the hungry, and to heal the wounds and bruises of mankind,—such acts won his divine approval.

The Saviour placed great emphasis upon the principle of doing well on the Sabbath day. And if we would introduce into our homes and families a real relish and reverence for the Sabbath, we must give this truth a practical indorsement. It is time that our children have an opportunity to enjoy earthly Sabbaths; for only those who enjoy them here will know what it is to enjoy them “over there.”

Children particularly love to be doing. It has been my observation that the inactivity of the Sabbath observance in many homes is the part which is especially distasteful to the little ones. To sit still and be quiet because it is the Sabbath, is an announcement which carries with it a spirit at antipodes with all that is pleasant and good as the child views it. He wants something to do, and this want is one which is only normal, right, and best. God has recognized this as right; and years ago he instructed parents so to plan for the Sabbath that the day might be filled with those activities that would conduce to symmetrical and substantial character-building.

Now it must not be supposed that our children, of themselves alone, will be able to plan wisely for the Sabbath day. If left to themselves, they will plan; but they will many times plan wrongly. The planning should be done by the parents with the children. Just as far as possible, train them to think, and thus bring into their lives the power to discern the difference between the wrong and the sacred, the holy and the common. How many times this would help us who are older; for, like Israel of old, we too often, in our haste and carelessness, “put no difference between the holy and profane.”

Whatever our plans, they should include, in their fulfilment, both parents and children. Let the parents stay with their children as far as is possible. Go with them to Sabbath-school and to church. Go, not as detectives or spies, but as taking part with them in all that is good. The journey to and from Sabbath-school has been the cause of the downfall of many a child, and all because a loving parent’s helping hand was not there to lead and hold. O brethren and sisters! let us all take heed to this feature of the Sabbath day, and keep our children with us.

The idea that some one else can bear the parent’s responsibility is fast obtaining nowadays, and is working much harm. The ticket of child life is non-transferable. God has given the children to their parents, and of them he will require an account. All through the more tender years the parent stands in the place of God, and it is his duty to see that the child-gift is placed upon the altar and kept there for him.

The whole Sabbath day should be provided for in a wise way. This will embrace something more than going to Sabbath-school and meeting. To spend the day in the ideal way, follow the methods of the Lord Jesus. His Sabbaths were spent in doing for others,—in visiting and laboring for the sick and sinful. This was the secret of his divine success. He spent no time idly, nor, what would be worse than idly, in entertaining himself. When children and youth have before them a definite purpose to help and comfort others, there is brought into the Sabbath hours that which takes away from them all tediousness and dulness and unloveliness. The day is filled with active duties from earliest morn till setting sun. Missions of mercy with angel wings waft over the hearts of all a divine influence, and all unconsciously the day has flown, leaving behind a trail of bright memories and glad recollections.

Sanitarium, Cal.