Having already seen that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the first day of the week as the one day in seven to be set aside specifically for worship, and that his Apostles maintained this practice after him—another question may be raised: When does the Lord’s Day begin? Does it begin sometime the night before, as… Read More Three Reasons the Lord’s Day Begins at Midnight
It seems most consonant to the Law and Light of Nature, and Scripture reason, that (unless God otherwise determine it himself) the beginning of the Day should be in the morning, that is, after midnight, rather than the evening before. If we consider the evening before, or the evening after, there will be perpetual danger of encroachment either upon the religious time, or the worldly time, to the prejudice of one of them; but especially of religion in most men.… Read More Midnight Sabbath and the Light of Nature
This is the main thing wherein the Sabbath is to be sanctified, and wherein it represents Heaven, to be abstracted from the world, and to be living above in our spirits, eminently ravished in Spirit, as abstracted from things, we are to be taken up with on other days. The frame of a Sabbath should be a kind of ravishment, wherein not only we are not taken up with working our ordinary callings, but we do go about prayer and other spiritual duties in a more heavenly way than on other days, and that with a difference in our frame, being more elevated and spiritual, we should be other men in more divine contemplation. This is the main thing called for in sanctifying the Sabbath.… Read More How to be in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day
William Ames Marrow of Sacred Divinity, Book 2, ch. 15. Of the Time of Worship. 1. The most solemn time of worship is now the first day of every week which is called the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10; 1 Cor. 16:2). 2. And it is called the Lord’s Day by the same reason that the… Read More The Time of Divine Worship
Samuel Willard Complete Body of Divinity, pp. 652-654. Question 3. Wherein does the morality of [the Sabbath] consist? That we may take up a right conception of this matter, we must call to mind, what it is for a command to be moral, according as it has already been stated; namely, not merely as it… Read More Sabbath in the Light of Nature
Wilhelmus à Brakel The Christian’s Reasonable Service Vol. 3, pp. 171-176. Objection 4: The Sabbath Is Detrimental to the Gospel. “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that… Read More Is the Sabbath Optional? An Evaluation of Romans 14 and Colossians 2
John Brown of Haddington, A Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion, pp. 472-476. The fourth commandment prescribes the proper time of God’s worship. The precise quantity and part of time proper for the stated and social worship of God depending on his mere will, this command is introduced with a solemn charge to remember… Read More The Sabbath: A Creation Ordinance
John Calvin, Sermons on Deuteronomy, Second half of the 34th Sermon, pp. 228-230. 12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. 13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not… Read More The Lord’s Day is the Christian Sabbath | John Calvin
37 Q. May servile works be done on the Sabbath, though they hinder duties of piety? A. Yes. “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Mat. 12:7; c.f. Hos. 6:6). God doth not so strictly tie us, as fall what will,… Read More Works of Necessity on the Sabbath
While it is true that there is some diversity of opinion and practice on the Sabbath in the Continental Reformed tradition, ranging (in the Netherlands, for example) from the loose position of Cocceius, to the strict view of Voetius, Koelman and a’Brakel, the views of the Reformers regarding the Sabbath are much more Sabbatarian than… Read More The Myth of the “Continental View” of the Sabbath
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