3/22/07
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland seeks to
uphold the Christian Sabbath as it was observed in the historic Church of
Scotland. Fisher’s Catechism (found in
its complete form at http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html
), the great
Scottish commentary on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, helpfully explains
the nature of this observance:
QUESTION 60. How is the
Sabbath to be sanctified?
ANSWER: The Sabbath is to be sanctified, by a holy
resting on that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are
lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private
exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of
necessity and mercy.
Q. 1. In what sense is the
Sabbath to be sanctified?
A. As it is dedicated by God, for
man's sake and use that he may keep it holy to God.
Q. 2. In what manner should he
keep it holy to God?
A. By a holy resting,
and by holy exercises.
Q. 3. What should we rest from on
the Sabbath?
A. Even from such worldly
employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; or, which is the
same thing, from all servile work, Neh. 13:15-23.
Q. 4. What is it that makes a
work servile?
A. If it is done for our worldly
gain, profit, and livelihood; or if, by prudent management, it might have been
done the week before; or, if it be of such a kind as may be delayed till after
the Sabbath, Ex. 34:21 -- "Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh
thou shalt rest: in shearing time, and in harvest thou shalt rest."
Q. 5. Why does God enjoin rest on
the Sabbath so peremptorily and particularly, in the time of ploughing and harvest?
A. Because in these seasons men
are most keenly set upon their labour; and may be in the greatest hazard of
grudging the time of the Sabbath for rest.
Q. 6. If the weather is
unseasonable through the week, do not reaping and ingathering, in that case
become works of necessity on the Sabbath?
A. By no means; because any
unseasonableness of the weather that may happen, being common and general,
proceeds only from the course of God's ordinary providence, which we ought not
to distrust, in regard of his promise, that, "While the earth remaineth,
seed-time and harvest -- shall not cease," Gen. 8:22.
Q. 7. If a field of corn is in
hazard of being carried away by the unexpected inundation of a river, is it
lawful to endeavour the preservation of them upon the Sabbath?
A. Yes; because the dispensation
is extraordinary; the case not common nor general; and the damage likewise in
an ordinary way, irrecoverable.
Q. 8. Are Christians, under the
New Testament, obliged to as strict an abstinence from worldly labour, as the
Jews were under the Old?
A. Yes, surely; for moral duties
being of unchangeable obligation, Christians must be bound to as strict a
performance of them now, as the Jews were then, Psalm 19:9.
Q. 9. Were not the Jews
prohibited to dress meat on the Sabbath? Ex. 16:23.
A. They were prohibited such
servile work as was requisite in preparing manna for food: such as the grinding
of it in mills, beating it in mortars, and baking it in pans, Num. 11:8; but
not all dressing of meat, for the comfortable nourishment of their bodies, any
more than we.
Q. 10. How does it appear that
they were allowed to dress meat on the Sabbath, for the comfortable nourishment
of their bodies?
A. From our Lord's being present
at a meal on the Sabbath day, to which there were several guests bidden, and
consequently meat behoved to be prepared and dressed for their entertainment,
Luke 14:1, 7.
Q. 11. Were not the Jews
forbidden to kindle fire in their habitations upon the Sabbath day? Ex. 35:3.
A. Yes, for any servile work,
though it were even making materials for the tabernacle, (which is the work
spoken of through the following part of that chapter;) but they were not
forbidden to kindle fires for works of necessity or mercy, any more than
Christians are.
Q. 12. Were they not ordered to
abide every man in his place, and not to go out of his place on the seventh
day? Ex. 16:29.
A. The prohibition only respects
their going abroad about the unnecessary and servile work of gathering manna
upon the Sabbath; otherwise, they were allowed to go out about works of
necessity and mercy: and it appears from Acts 1:12, that they were allowed to
travel a Sabbath-day's journey.
Q. 13. What was a Sabbath-day's
journey?
A. Whatever was the tradition of
the Pharisees about it, it appears to have been the distance of their
respective dwellings, from the place where they ordinarily attended public
ordinances, 2 Kings 4:23.
Q. 14. Are we not to rest on the
Lord's day from lawful recreations, as well as from lawful worldly employments?
A. Yes; because we are expressly
required, on this holy day, to abstain from doing our own ways, finding our own
pleasure, and speaking our own words, Isa. 58:13.
Q. 15. What are these recreations
that are lawful on other days?
A. Innocent pastimes, visiting
friends, walking in the fields talking of the news or common affairs, and the
like.
Q. 16. Why are these recreations
unlawful on the Lord's day?
A. Because they tend to divert
the mind from the duties of the Sabbath, as much as, if not more than, worldly
employments.
Q. 17. Is not the Sabbath a
festival, or feast day; and consequently may not our conversation on it be
cheerful and diverting?
A. It is, indeed, properly a
feast day, but of a spiritual, not of a carnal nature: we may refresh our
bodies moderately, but not sumptuously; and our conversation ought to turn
wholly upon spiritual and heavenly subjects, or such as have that tendency,
after the example of our Lord, Luke 14:1-25.
Q. 18. What should be the
principal end of our six days' labour?
A. That it be so managed as in no
way to discompose or unfit us for a holy resting on the Sabbath, or meeting
with God on his own day.
Q. 19. What is a holy
resting?
A. Not only an abstaining from
our own work, or labour, but an entering by faith (in the use of appointed
means,) into the presence and enjoyment of God in Christ, as the only rest of
our souls, Heb. 4:3; that having no work of our own to mind or do, we may be
wholly taken up with the works of God.
Q. 20. Why called a holy
resting?
A. Because we should rest from
worldly labour, in order to be employed in the holy exercises, which the Lord
requires on this day; otherwise, as to bare cessation, our cattle rest from
outward labour as well as we.
Q. 21. What are the holy
EXERCISES in which we ought to be employed on the Lord's day?
A. In the public and private
exercises of God's worship.
Q. 22. What are the public
exercises of God's worship in which we should be employed?
A. Hearing the word preached,
Rom. 10:17; joining in public prayers and praises, Luke 24:53; and partaking of
the sacraments, Acts 20:7.
Q. 23. What is included under the
private exercises of God's worship?
A. Family and secret duties.
Q. 24. What are the duties
incumbent on us in a family capacity on the Lord's day?
A. Family worship, and family
catechising, together with Christian conference, as there is occasion, Lev.
23:3. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your DWELLINGS, or private families;
and therefore God is to he worshipped in them on that day.
Q. 25. What is family worship?
A. It is the daily joining of all
that are united in a domestic relation, or who are dwelling together in the
same house and family, in singing God's praises, Acts 2:47 reading his word,
Deut. 6:7, and praying to him, Jer. 10:25.
Q. 26. How do you prove family
worship to be a duty daily incumbent upon those who have families?
A. From scripture precept, and
from scripture example.
Q. 27. How is family worship
evinced from scripture precept?
A. Besides that this commandment
enjoins every master of a family to sanctify the Sabbath within his gates, that
is, to worship God in his family; there are also other scriptures, inculcating
the same thing, by necessary consequence; such as, Eph. 6:18 -- "Praying
always, with ALL prayer and supplication;" 1 Tim. 2:8 -- "I will
therefore that men pray EVERY WHERE. "If with all prayer, then surely with
family prayer; if EVERY WHERE, then certainly in our families.
Q. 28. What are the examples of
family worship recorded in scripture for our imitation?
A. Among others, there are the
examples of Abraham, Gen. 18:19; of Joshua, chap. 24:15 -- "As for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord;" of David, 2 Sam. 6:20; or Cornelius,
Acts 10:2; and especially the example of our blessed Lord, whom we find singing
psalms, Matt. 26:30, and praying with his disciples, who were his family, Luke
9:18.
Q. 29. What should be the subject
matter of family catechising?
A. What they have been hearing
through the day, together with the principles of our religion, as laid out in
the Shorter Catechism, with the helps that are published upon the same, which
masters of families ought to use for their assistance in this work.
Q. 30. What are the proper
seasons of Christian conference on the Sabbath?
A. At meals, and in the interval
of duties: our speech should he always, but especially on the Lord's day,
"seasoned with salt," Col. 4:6.
Q. 31. What are the secret duties
in which we ought to he exercised on the Lord's day?
A. Secret prayer, reading the
scriptures, and other soul-edifying books, meditation upon divine subjects, and
self-examination.
Q. 32. With what frame and
disposition of soul should we engage in the public and private exercises of
God's worship?
A. With a spiritual frame and
disposition, Rev. 1:10 -- "I was IN THE SPIRIT on the Lord's day."
Q. 33. What is it to be in the
Spirit on the Lord's day?
A. It is not only to have the
actual inhabitation of the Spirit, which is the privilege of believers
"every day," Ezek. 36:27; but to have the influences and operations
of the Spirit "more liberally let out," Luke 4:31, 32, and his graces
in "more lively exercise," than at other times, Acts 2:41.
Q. 34. What moral argument have
we from the ceremonial law, for offering a greater plenty of spiritual
sacrifices to God on the Sabbath, than upon other days?
A. The daily sacrifice, or
continual burnt offering, was to be doubled on the Sabbath, Num. 28:9;
intimating, that they were bound to double their devotions on that day, which
was consecrated to God to be spent in his service.
Q. 35. How much of the Sabbath is
to be spent in the public and private exercises of God's worship?
A. The WHOLE of it, from the
ordinary time of rising on other days, to the ordinary time of going to rest;
"except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and
mercy."
Q. 36. What is to be understood
by works of necessity?
A. Such as could not be foreseen,
nor provided against the day before, nor delayed till the day after the
Sabbath.
Q. 37. What instances may be
given of such works of necessity on the Lord's day?
A. Flying from, and defending
ourselves against an enemy; quenching of fire, accidentally or wilfully
kindled; standing by the helm, or working a ship at sea, (provided they do not
weigh anchor, nor hoist sail from harbours or firths, on the Lord's day,) and
the like.
Q. 38. What are the works of
mercy which may be done on the Sabbath?
A. The moderate refreshment of
our bodies, Luke 6:1; visiting the sick, preparing and administering remedies
to them, Luke 13:16; feeding our cattle, ver. 15; and preserving their lives,
if in danger, chap, 14:5; and making collections for the poor, 1 Cor. 16:2.
Q. 39. What cautions are
requisite about works of necessity and mercy?
A. That these works be real, and
not pretended; that we spend as little time about them as possible; and that we
endeavour to attain a holy frame of spirit while about them.
Q. 40. How does it appear that
works of necessity and mercy are lawful on the Lord's day?
A. Because, though God rested
from his work of creation on the seventh day, yet he did not rest on it from
preserving what he had made.
Q. 41. "Why is the charge of
keeping the Sabbath more especially directed to governors of families, and
other superiors?"
A. "Because they are bound
not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those
that are under their charge: and because they are prone oftentimes to hinder
them by employments of their own." Q. 42. Ought not magistrates
to punish those who are guilty of the open and presumptuous breach of the
Sabbath?
A. Undoubtedly they should; and
they have the example of Nehemiah for a precedent, worthy of their imitation in
this matter, chap. 13:21.
Q. 43. What is the most effectual
way for the civil magistrate to suppress Sabbath profanation?
A. To be impartial in the
execution of the laws against Sabbath breaking, especially upon those who are
of a more eminent rank and station, because they ought to be exemplary to
others, Neh. 13:17 -- "Then I contended with the NOBLES of Judah; and said
unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath
day?"
Q. 44. "Why is the word
REMEMBER set in the beginning of the Fourth Commandment?"
A. "Partly, because we are
very ready to forget it; and partly, because in keeping it, we are helped
better to keep all the rest of the commandments."