Leviticus 19:30

Ye shall keep My Sabbaths.

Sabbatic pause

Sabbath is a compound condition of the body and the soul. Misrepresentation of Sabbath, the forfeiture of its vitality, betrays itself in a negative conception of it, as restriction, deprivation, tax, and task. This allusion prevails at large, and prevails in two forms--religious cant and religious laxity, disrelish, or disdain. The latter is engendered in the former. Narrow natures, narrow Sabbath ideals; hard natures make them hard. They localise and dwarf the conception, as a measure of time, and a matter of law. The scope of the Sabbath is the happiness of man, the serenity of the race. It is intended to rescue the world from recklessness and ruin, from riot and from rot, from hardship, hazard, and over-haste. Sabbath is soul-rest. Its purpose is to train us to enjoy this earth in the light of everlasting life, and the glory of the gracious God, and not be slaves of time. The Sabbath is for the sanctity of peace, the satisfaction of the spiritual nature. It therefore takes the spirit away, not only from tasks and toils and trudges of its ordinary earth life, but from the worry and whirl of all the outer world. It persuades the soul to rest in God, as God rests on behalf of man; and to joy in His creation as He joyed, as His creation joys in Him. It begins by saying, You must, in order to say, You may. This silences the plea of lax indulgence which so many put up for spending a godless Sunday as the substitute of Sabbath. An uneasy Sunday is no Sabbath at all. They are restless and restive who press this very argument of recreation and of rest. Come, say they, Sunday is a holy day--a holiday. Now, to get as far from heaven as may be; now, to leave out God; now, let loose to enjoy nature, the fields, the forests, the ocean views. To enjoy the works of nature is the best way to keep the Sabbath holy, if you can call the Sabbath a delight. To take a walk, if you know how to walk with God. To rest, if you know how to rest in Christ. If you cannot read His glory in the page of nature, you are a child rustling a newspaper while yet it cannot read. That is dull enough. If you never get an ocean view, but such as the frolicking crowd get on the beach, or the chattering, giddy throng on the steamer’s deck, puffing smoke against the sky and babbling--earth to earth, dust to dust, and ashes to ashes--to each other, or staring at the sea in sickly sentimentality, then the ocean takes no notice of you, and has not the pleasure of your acquaintance. If that is your fresh-air relaxation, and that your innocent diversion, and that your poetry of nature, and your ocean sublimity, you have never seen an ocean at all,. and know not what it is, not knowing what it means, and nature’s poetry to you is no more than negro minstrelsy, and the landscape yawns, and the skies wax dull, an& instead of having a Sabbath delight, you find a blight, a burden, and a bondage. Sabbath, like music, is a treat to those alone who know how to enjoy it. The day of the Sabbath without the Sabbath of the day is gloomy to the last degree. There are Sabbatic thoughts privileged to take on the complexion of the heavens, as the stilled lake, the azure of the firmament. If you are enjoying a book or a picture, you need to take a time when other things shall not interfere. To intermingle is to mar. There is a beatific converse. If you are communing with a confidential friend, do you like to have anybody else talking in the room at the same time? What the third person says may be all well enough and wise enough, or important. But please do not interrupt, you say; I am very much engaged for this hour. Opportunities of heaven make appointments as reserved and entertain celestial visitants as well. There are rounded Sabbaths, different from Sunday fractions. Many count the day at large as somewhat sacred, but miss the mantling of the hours, the swell and climax. A wholeness is essential to the pleasure. You will not get a schoolboy or schoolgirl who has a half-holiday in the morning to go back to tasks and training in the after hours of the day. They say, Let us finish this. A little longer. And no one who has had a spiritual zest, a melody and beauty of celestial vision for the first portion of the day, will care to spend its latter half in listlessness or lower use. The people who worship by halves, by halves will serve their Maker through the week. If you can introduce upon this land the Continental Sabbath, you can introduce the Continental history upon this land. But the day is complete when the evening and the morning round it. There can be Sunday struggles, Sunday tasks, Sunday burdens, and there can be a Sabbath of the spirit. That is of God, the beauty of the Lord our God upon us. (H. S. Carpenter.)

Advantage of Sabbath keeping

Man! Man! This is the great creator of wealth. The difference between the soil of Campauia and Spitzbergcn is insignificant compared with the difference presented by two countries--the one inhabited by men full of moral and physical vigour, the other by beings plunged in an intellectual decrepitude. Hence it is that we are not impoverished, but on the contrary enriched by this seventh day, which we have for so many years devoted to rest. This day is not lost. While the machinery is stopped, while the ear rests on the road, while the treasury is silent, while the smoke ceases to rise from the chimney of the factory, the nation enriches itself none the less than during the working days of the week. Man, the machine of all machines, the one by the side of which all the inventions of the Watts and the Ark wrights are as nothing, is recuperating and gaining strength so well, that on Monday he returns to his work with his mind clearer, with more courage for his work, and with renewed vigour. I will never believe that that which renders a people stronger, wiser, and better, can ever turn to its impoverishment.

Neglecting the Sabbath

Sir Francis Drake, though a curious searcher after the revolution of time, in three years sailing about the world, through the variations of several climates, lost one whole day, which was scarce considerable in so long a time. It is to be feared that there are many amongst us that lose a day in every week, one in seven, neglecting the Sabbath, nay every day in the week, not once thinking of God, or any goodness at all. (J. Spencer.)

Leviticus 19:30

Reverence My sanctuary.

Self-reverence

If you consider, you will find that there is scarcely a sin which does not concentrate into itself the venom of many sins. It is sinfulness against God, whose law it violates; against our neighbour, whom, directly or indirectly, it inevitably injures; against ourselves, whom it tends to destroy. But the reason why every sin has this threefold cord of iniquity is because the tabernacle of God is with men, so that in every act of sin we cannot but sin against Him by defiling His temple, against ourselves by desecrating the inner sanctuary of our own being, against others because they, too, are His living sanctuaries. When the great American orator, Daniel Webster, was asked what thought impressed him most by its awful solemnity, he answered at once, “The thought of my immediate accountability to God.” There is a form of this thought yet more impressive--to feel that God is with us and in us; that every sin against ourselves or our brother-man is also a sin committed in His very presence-chamber, and therefore also a sin committed directly against Him. In sinning against myself, I sin not against a mere handful of dust, a mere piece of clay, but against that which is majestic, eternal, and Divine, against the Holy Spirit, against the Lord Jesus my Saviour, against the eternal Lord of all my life. A living poet has said, “Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, these three alone lead life to sovereign power.” It is most true. Self-reverence depends upon self-knowledge, and it leads to self-control; and these are the elements of the only true greatness of mankind. Now I wish to show how this high reverence for our being lifts men above temptation, and how the absence of it or unfaithfulness to it plunges them in vice and shame. For instance, self-reverence results in the preservation of innocence, of perfect childlike innocence in some men, the heart of childhood taken up and glorified in the powers of manhood, the young lamb’s heart amid the full-grown flocks. This is one of the loveliest, certainly one of the rarest, if not always the most instructive, forms of human character. Again, this self-reverence, even if it has failed to produce this absolute innocence which is the rarest thing in all the world, may yet lead to the repentance of an intense conviction. If it has not kept a soul from lying, for a moment at least, among the dust and potsherds of a sensuous life, it can yet uplift it from them and give it the wings of a dove. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

On reverencing the sanctuary

I. How the sanctuary is to be reverenced.

1. The sanctuary is reverenced when proper ideas are entertained of its nature and holiness. This appropriate and sacred respect will be shown by not permitting the sanctuary to be dishonoured by any profane use of it, by keeping it in decent repair and cleanliness, and, as far as in us lies, in a state of magnificence worthy of the Great Being to whom it is dedicated; and by those outward tokens of reverence, by which we can express, without an idle superstition, our respect for the Being, the dwelling-places of whose honour are the temples devoted to His service.

2. After having proper ideas of the nature and holiness of the sanctuary, the next step towards reverencing it is to love to be in it, and to join in its services. When a place is consecrated to the worship of God; when He has promised to be there with a blessing; when He has proffered His word to be there as a fountain, set open for sin and uncleanness; and has appointed a priesthood to minister between Him and His people; when the priesthood of Christ is there enjoyed after His ordinance; to be wholly absent, or but partially present, comports little with a reverence for the sanctuary.

3. It is essential to a reverence for the sanctuary that we strive not to bring thither our worldly thoughts and improper affections.

4. In order to discharge the duty enforced in the text, we must be attentive to decorum, when entering the sanctuary, while continuing in it, and when returning from it.

II. The foundation and importance of the duty enjoined. This is briefly and fully assigned in the words, “I am the Lord.”

1. If we consider the nature of the Being, to whom the sanctuary belongs, and whom we there meet, this is sufficient to fill us with awe.

2. The authority of the Lord, as our Sovereign, renders an obedience to His law indispensable. (Bp. Dehon.)

Reverence due to holy places

I. What a sanctuary of god is, and wherein the holiness of it consists. Places are capable of a relative holiness in two respects.

1. In respect of a peculiar propriety God has in them by their dedication to His immediate worship and service.

2. In respect of His especial presence vouchsafed in them, and the particular communications of His grace in the holy offices there performed.

II. What respect or reverence is due to such holy places.

1. The building, repairing, adorning, and furnishing such places for the service of God.

2. The keeping them from all profane and common usage, and applying them wholly to the worship of God, and the business of religion.

3. The duly frequenting the worship of God in these holy places (Psalms 43:3; Psalms 84:2; Psalms 84:4.)

4. Consider what reverence becomes us when we come into the House of God. Our business there is to exercise ourselves in holy and heavenly matters; and our demeanour in it ought to be such as may testify what awful thoughts we have of that glorious Majesty, before whom, in a particular manner, we present ourselves. (John Leng, B. D.)

The reverence due to God’s sanctuary

The reverence we owe to public places of worship must be expressed

I. In solemnly separating them from common use. Churches, when once consecrated, cannot be alienated from God’s service without sacrilege, nor applied to any other use without profanation; for, as the Divine Majesty is holy, so it is manifestly a part of that honour we owe to God, that those things wherewith and whereby He is served should not be common and promiscuous, but reserved solely for sacred purposes.

II. In the beautifying and adorning them. Shall the Almighty vouchsafe, in a peculiar manner, to take up His residence among us here on earth, and shall not we endeavour to provide the most honourable reception for Him? The bestowing proper ornaments upon God’s house is not only an instance of respect due from us to Him, but is also a useful means of promoting religion; for outward objects will always affect the mind with impressions, according to the nature of them.

III. By a constant attendance upon the services in them. God, no doubt, is conscious to our most private devotions in our closets, to every ejaculation, to every pious thought that ever rises in our souls; He requires these, and approves of them; but then He expects, and commands also, that we pay Him public homage and external worship, wherein if we are deficient, we discharge but half our duty.

IV. By a decent and devout behaviour in them. As earthly potentates have many palaces in several parts of their dominions, where at different times they keep their court, one whereof is generally erected in their principal city, superior in magnificence and grandeur to the rest: so the Almighty, the King of kings, has His several mansion-houses throughout the world, though His chief dwelling be in heaven, where He is encircled with beams of light and glory, too strong for mortals to approach. These mansion-houses in these lower realms are those places that are dedicated and consecrated to His service, in which He is ever present, ready to dispense liberally His favours to all that duly ask, surrounded with a guard of angels and archangels, who to us indeed are invisible, but we are not so to them. With what humility, with what reverence and devotion, then, ought we to carry ourselves, in a place so dreadful as is the house of God, and in the presence of such honourable, such awful company! (S. Grigman, M. A.)

Reverence at worship

There are some who, when they behave irreverently in church, think that, after all, it is only a matter that concerns themselves. That if they do not behave well, “that’s,” as they term it, “their own look-out.” Of all the mistakes of which a man could be guilty, this is, I think, one of the greatest. Do you think that when you behave badly in church you wilt, at the day of account, only have that one sin of your own to answer for? Let me tell you this--that every sin of irreverence adds to you a mountain of sins for which you will have to give account at the Day of Judgment. Let me illustrate my meaning. You come to a service and behave badly. There are people, good people, sitting or kneeling around you. They have come to church to worship, but they see your bad behaviour and are upset by it. They try to pray, but through your bad behaviour they cannot do so. They try to join in the service but find it almost impossible. It is a wasted service to them. They feel angry: it is a Sunday service gone for ever, never to be re-lived so far as that Sunday service is concerned, spoiled for them by you. Who will have to answer for that at the Day of Judgment? Not they, but you! (E. Husband.)

Man himself a sanctuary

St. Augustine gives the inmost meaning of this exhortation when he says, “Dost thou worship in a temple? Worship in thyself; be thou first a temple of the Lord.”

Our visits to the sanctuary should be frequent

We shall never see the glory of that light which dwells between the cherubim if our visits to the shrine are brief and interrupted, and the bulk of our time is spent outside the tabernacle amidst the glaring sand and the blazing sunshine. No short swallow-flights of soul will ever carry us to the serene height where God dwells. It is the eagle, with steady, unflagging flaps of his broad pinion, and open-eyed gaze upwards, that rises “close to the sun in lonely lands,” and leaves all the race of short.winged and weak-sighted twitterers far below. (A. Maclaren.)

Worshipping together

Worshipping alone is like a solo in music, very beautiful and entrancing, with charms that no chorus can give. Worshipping together is like an anthem with its harmonies sung by a large chorus. There are powers in it and emotions awakened, which no solo, however beautifully sung, can produce. Christians who worship in the house of God in company with other Christians will receive blessings that they would not receive worshipping by themselves.

The sanctuary

The sanctuary should always be considered as the home of the people. It is in the sanctuary that human life should be interpreted in all the meaning of its pain and tragedy. Men should be able to say, “Now that we are baffled and perplexed by the things which are round about us in this world, and now that we find ourselves utterly unable to solve the problems which crowd upon our distracted minds, let us go unto the house of the Lord, for there we shall feel upon our souls the breath of eternity, and there we shall hear music which will quiet the tumult which carnal reason can neither explain nor control.” Dark will be the day when men can hear nothing in the sanctuary but words which they cannot understand, references which have no bearing upon immediate agony, and discussions which simply tittilate the intellect and the fancy, but never reach the dark and mortal sorrows of the heart. (J. Parker, D. D.)