Since the rigorous, severe Sabbatical character of the
Jewish Sabbath does not belong to the memorial day of the
gospel, some have gone to the opposite extreme, and cast
aside all regard for the day, and have taken liberty to do
all kinds of temporal work and business. This is both
unwise and contrary to the Scriptural teaching. Why is the
resurrection day termed "the Lord's day" if no
more regard is to be given to it than to the other days of
the week? This day should be given to the Lord. Some may
say we give every day to the Lord by living a godly life.
This is true in the sense that we must serve God in
holiness all our days. But there is another sense in which
we can set apart one day of the week for the Lord. We can
dispense with our temporal affairs and devote this day to
spiritual worship, joyfulness, and labor for the salvation
of the lost. This is exactly what the primitive church
did. All ordinances of God are established either by
positive precept or by clear example. We have the
sacredness of the resurrection day handed down to us by
the example of the primitive church.
From the great day of Pentecost
until now this has been a day of gospel preaching, a day
of salvation work. It has always been my busiest day.
During the thirty years of my ministry it has never been a
day of rest and recreation. But it is a day of spiritual
labor. More souls have been won to Christ on this day than
on all the other days of the week put together. I am fully
convinced that as far as possible all secular work should
be put aside, and this memorial Lord's Day should be spent
in spiritual work for God. The church of God should make
it the day of mighty effort in spreading the saving truth
and redeeming the lost.
