Matthew 13:12

Matthew 13:12

To Him that hath shall be given a law of the Christian Sabbath.

Let us illustrate this doctrine by a reference:

I. To nations. If there were any land in which the higher uses of the Sabbath were universally understood and enjoyed, we should be able to show there, in their full measure, the temporal benefits with which it is charged; but, alas! such an example cannot be found on earth. In Popish countries generally, and in some that are nominally Protestant, you may see the operation of the law in its threatening aspect. From those who have not kept the Sabbath holy the weekly rest has been taken away. In the medley of sounds which constitutes the hum of Paris on the Lord's Day, a Christian distinguishes with sadness the clatter of the mechanic's tool. The nation that gives up the day to pleasure does not retain the day for rest.

II. Classes. Those classes in a great city who most fully employ the Sabbath for its higher ends must fully enjoy its subordinate benefits; those who renounce the spiritual lose the temporal too.

III. Persons. The law holds good in the experience of individuals as well as in that of communities and classes. Those who do not value the higher uses of the Sabbath will fail to attain the lower. The only way of keeping the world out of our Sabbath is to keep Christ in. If from want of taste for it we abandon spiritual communion with the Lord on His own day, the material benefit of bodily rest will slip from our hands. The evil spirits hovering round press like air upon the privilege; the moment they find the room empty they rush in. The weekly Sabbath, where its spiritual uses are lost, becomes a loathsome thing. When the Lord is banished from His day, the adversary takes possession of it, and makes it the period of heaviest drudgery to his slaves.

W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits of the Christian Life,p. 388.

Reference: Matthew 13:12. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxv., No. 1488.