Spiritual Sabbath-Keeping

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 16, 1911

Spiritual Sabbath-Keeping

WHETHER the Sabbath becomes a delight or a burden depends upon the spirit with which a man meets it. Indeed, the spirit of the man settles the question as to the benefits to come from any duty he may perform. One man can not understand why his neighbor should prefer the park or the ball-ground to the church, simply because his spirit is different. He has cultivated the higher nature until he loves spiritual things above all others, and to him the Sabbath is indeed a delight. It comes to his weary soul as a reminder of God, and brings him nearer to heaven in heart and mind than does any other day.

To the one who sees not the spiritual character of true Sabbath-keeping, and who does not love the sacred communion it brings between the soul and God, the Sabbath is only a burden. If one has never known the higher and more spiritual aspirations after a worthy and noble life, the Sabbath will be to him only a day for a good dinner, and for lounging lazily about amusement parks, or visiting his neighbors. But to him who hails it as God's own appointed time for special spiritual blessings, for rich communion with the Heavenly Father, and renewing of the divine life of the soul, the Sabbath has a deeper meaning. It brings God near, and gives man a foretaste of heaven.

Can you imagine the reign of heaven upon earth that would surely come if everybody loved the Sabbath, and kept it in the spirit in which God meant it should be kept? We need a revival of true spiritual Sabbath-keeping more than anything else in this world. This would do more to make us a godly people, more to hold our own children true to the Sabbath, and more to convince the world of the truth of our cause, than any other thing we could do.—Sabbath Recorder.