The Nature of the Sabbath.
It is not for the mere resting upon the seventh day that we contend. It is not to lead men to refrain from physical labor on that day that we labor. This is not the Sabbath-keeping required of God. If this were all, civil laws might suffice, and compulsory observance might be beneficial. But this is not the requirement; it is not the essential idea of the requirement. God says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” He who does not keep it holy does not obey. He who is not holy can not keep the Sabbath. Man can be made holy only in Jesus Christ, and that by faith. Jesus Christ in the holy Sabbath, and Jesus Christ in the heart wholly given to him, find sweet concord, and the Sabbath is hailed as “a delight,” and “honorable.” He who knows Christ knows the works of Christ in him; and he who knows his works knows his rest, twice blessed in the Sabbath. This is the nature of true Sabbath-keeping. It is to call men to the knowledge of this blessing that we labor. “Blessed is the man that doeth this; . . . that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”