Sunday-Keeping in Heaven.
By H. A. St. John
Recently, on the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord, we listened to a funeral discourse in which the speaker, when giving consolation to the mourners in a pathetic strain, told them that their brother (whose lifeless form was before them) was now in glory, and that to-morrow (Sunday), would be the first Sabbath he would spend in Heaven. Here was consolation indeed; but to us it appeared of a very questionable character. Immaterial, disembodied spirits, in an aerial, immaterial Heaven, beyond the bounds of time and space, where there is unceasing rest and felicity, keeping Sunday might, perhaps, be a source of consolation to some, if it only came within the bounds of comprehension. Ah, thought I, and is this orthodox condolence? If so, where, in the name of true wisdom, are we drifting? How different these words of comfort from those given in the Holy Scriptures to mourners under like circumstances. The oil of consolation is invaluable, when mourning the loss of friends; and because of its value, God, in his sacred word, has laid down many receipts, in which he has plainly pointed out all the ingredients that go to make up the genuine compound. And in every case the ingredients of the genuine oil are Bible truths and gospel promises. We have come down about 1800 years from the close of the canon of our Scriptures, and we find a very different article, made of vastly different materials, in very common use. Where, in all the book of divine directions, have we any such materials for consolation as above noticed? It bears not the seal of Heaven. It has been compounded, no doubt, by some of the doctors of the church, and has the wine of Rev. 18:3, for its base. May we be so enlightened that the consolations of divine truth may ever be ours.