The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 34

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer’’.)

The Third Commandment.

: Thou shalt sanctify the Holy-day.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God, that we may not despise
preaching and His word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear

and learn it.
. 1 (Luther's Small Catechism.)

Sunday was not set apart by God to be the
sabbath-day of Christians. Nowhere in the
Bible do we find a command obliging us to keep
Sunday holy as our Sabbath. It is foolish to
argue, that God made Sunday our sabbath-day,
because.He said: ‘‘Remember the sabbath-
day.” The sabbath-day spoken of in those

words is the seventh day of the week, Saturday ;.

but Sunday is the first day of the week. How
does that agree? You must either confess that
we are bound still to keep Saturday holy, as
the people of the Old Testament were, or that
God has not bound the Christians of the New
Testament to a certain day. If you then say
that God wants us to labor six days and to rest
on the seventh, therefore it is His will that we
should keep one day of the week holy, though
He has not said which one, let me answer:
That seventh day about which God spoke to the
people of Israel was the last of the week, Satur-
day again. You are making a very wrong guess,
if you suppose God wants one of the seven days
of the week to be our Sabbath. St. Paul says
Col. 2, 16.: ‘‘Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink, or in respect ofan holy
day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days.””
That is, let no man appoint for you and oblige
you to keep any sabbath-day, as if it were God’s
will and you were obeying God by keeping it
holy. Our Saviour says: ‘‘The Son of Man is
Lord even of the sabbath-day.’”’ That is: I, Je-
sus, have a right to abolish the Jewish Sabbath.
And we know that He did abolish it. Why
then should He do away with one and appoint
another for us? Why not leave the old one?
All days of the week are alike before God, and
we Christians have our choice among them
and may haye as many Sabbaths as we wish.
Men, not God, appointed Sunday to be our
day of worship. The apostles and their congre-
gations, at first, met for worship every day in
the week. Finding it impossible to continue
this always, they were compelled to decide on
a certain day of the week and they chose Sun-
day. They desired to show their difference
from the Jewish people that still rejected Christ
and the gospel, therefore they did not take
Saturday, the Sabbath of the Jews. They
chose Sunday, because it was on a Sunday that
the Lord rose from the dead, and on a Sunday
also, that the Holy Spirit was poured out on
the twelve apostles at Jerusalem. And for
1800 years all Christians have chosen Sunday
for the hearing of God’s Word, though they
had a perfect right to choose another day.
Jf men, and not God, appointed Sunday,
- then why do you Christian people and ministers
insist that we ought and must keep Sunday
holy? ‘The principal purpose, for which God

appointed a sabbath-day for the Jews was to
give them a day to gather at their meeting-
places and in the temple, and there to hear and
learn the word of God, also to spend the re-
mainder.of the day in the study of God’s word
and to perform holy works. Now we, though
God has appointed no Sabbath for us, are
nevertheless obliged to hear and learn God’s
Word, to assemble with the Christians and
hear the minister, to sing and pray with the
congregation. So much of the third command-
ment still obliges us. Luther in explaining
this commandment tells us what the third
commandment asks of all men still. Read his
answer above, following the question: What
does this mean? One can easily see that it is
necessary to. set a certain day and time, for
all to meet, to quit their work and go to their
houses of worship. If there were no such reg-
ular certain day, then there would be nojend to
confusion, and finally there would be no more
preaching and meetings. All Christians have
agreed, therefore, that Sunday should be the
day. If you do not sanctify Sunday, because
you want another day, you only prove your-
self to be a very unruly fellow, without any
love and respect for your fellow-Christians or
good order. If you do not keep Sunday holy,
because you want no Sabbath, you are not sin-
ning against the day (for Sunday is no better
than Monday), but you are despising the Word
of God that is preached on that day; you are
neglecting the best, and perhaps only, oppor-
tunity to hear the gospel and to give your
heart and thoughts altogether to the wants of
your soul and to God for one day.

How should you keep Sunday holy? Not
merely by resting from your week-day labor.
You had better be at work than spend the prec-
ious hours of Sunday by lounging about at
home, reading newspapers or trashy books, by
visiting saloons, theaters, ballrooms, or by en-
gaging in any other worldly, sinful pleasures and
amusements, in short, by doing anything that
keeps you away from the house of God and
prevents you from spending Sunday in a God-
fearing manner.—Simply going to church is not
sanctifying Sunday. Many attend church to
satisfy their curiosity, or to show their fine dress.
Sleeping, laughing, talking in church, inatten-
tion to singing, prayer and sermon is not what
people ought attend church for. Shaking off
those good impressions and good thoughts re-
ceived during worship, as soon as one gets out-
side of the church-door, and fo spend the rest
of the day- in worldly, sinful ways—is indeed
asad way of sanctifying Sunday.—Go to your
church with your minds and hearts free from all
thoughts about business, or any earthly thing.
Let the thought, that you are now going to
God’s house in order to hear His Word, be
uppermost in your hearts. Love the Word of
God so much that you can hardly await Sunday,
and, when it comes, joyfully, gladly hear the
Word. Open your hearts wide to receive the
Word, and keep it. Join in the singing and
prayers with your heart. At home, think over

what you heard and learned from the Bible.
Spend the rest of the day in the fear of God,

to benefit your soul. Read in the Bible, read
religious Books, converse with your household
about religious subjects. Visit the sick and
comfort thém. You may also visit a friend or
have company in your own house. Be careful,
however, that your conversation be not idle
talk, or your amusement sinful. A walk or
stroll to get a little fresh air and to see the
beauties of God’s Nature does no harm, pro-
vided no other duties of Sunday are neglected
thereby. Above all, let Sunday be a day of
prayer. And during the whole week following
show to all men by your actions that you sanc-
tified the last Sunday and that you on that day
were also sanctified, blessed, strengthened in
faith and holiness.

What work may we do on Sunday? Only
that work which must be done one day as {well
as the other. It is, therefore, no sin to cook,
to dress, to sweep, to feed cattle. But don’t
do anything that may be done on Monday as
well. If your neighbor is in danger, distress,
or want, go and help him, though it be Sunday.
You are serving,God by helping your neighbor.

F. B.
———+~+o<a>o >

The Gospel’s Power.

The Rey. H. Nott, a missionary on the South
Sea Islands, once read a passage of the Gospel
according to St. John to a large number of
heathen that had gathered around him. When
he had read the 16th verse of the third chapter,
one of the natives, who had listened with the
greatest attention, cried out, ‘What words were
those, that you read? Let me hear those words
again!’’ The missionary again read the verse:
“God so loved the world that he gave his only-
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.’’
The heathen jumped up and said, ‘‘Is that
true? Can that be true? God loves the world,
although the world does not love Him? He |
loves the world so that He gave His only-
begotten Son, that He should die, in order that
men may live? Can that be true?’

The missionary read the verse again and said
that it was true indeed, and that this was the
glad news which God had sent to them for
their salvation, and that every sinner who be-
lieveth in that Son of God should not perish,
but have everlasting life.

The astonished heathen was overpowered by
this glad Gospel news. ‘Tears rolled down his
cheeks, and he left the meeting in order to
meditate upon that love of God which on that
day had touched his heart. In this love he
found perfect peace and rest for his soul.

Erernat life is a matter of divine testi-
mony, not of human feeling. We do not get
it by feeling something in ourselves, but by be-
lieving something about Christ; and that some-
thing we have on the authority of God’s eternal
word. :