THE DIVINE IDEA AND THE SABBATH

REV. CHARLES D. REYNOLDS

Jesus' saying recorded in Mark, that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, suggests the divine purpose infolded in the command to keep holy one day out of every seven. The influence for the ongoing and upgoing of mankind due to this one command alone is incalculable. It is a serious question what would have become of the spiritual idea in human history, as presented in the Scriptures and illustrated by Christ Jesus,—what would have become of the unseen verities declared by the prophets and reaffirmed in Christianity,—without the institution of the Sabbath day.

Jesus' saying indicates that it is not the day itself, but the purpose for which it was set apart and the use which is to be made of it that is of essential value. The Sabbath stands for spirituality as opposed to materiality. The declaration reads thus, "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." The concept that God labored six days materially and then needed one day—the seventh—in which to rest from His labors, and therefore commanded the man whom He had made also to observe that day as a rest-day, is an anthropomorphic picture in which the writer draws an otherwise deeply spiritual lesson. God is Spirit, and the Sabbath pertains to the things of the Spirit,—the things which must be spiritually discerned.

It is a question if the darkened material senses would not have lost all consciousness of the divine idea, or spiritual facts of creation, and man in God's image and likeness, but for the observance of every seventh day, devoted to the perpetuation and clarifying of the truth respecting the true origin and nature of all things, man included. The command is that this day should be kept holy, devoted solely to spiritual ends, for "in it thou shalt not do any [material] work." That which is substantial, eternal, and real, alone should receive consideration on that day, that the thought of these things may be more effectually carried into all the days.

Christian Scientists should be models in the right use of the Sabbath day, for who more than they have enlisted in the service of things spiritual? They are constantly striving to bring out greater spirituality in their own lives and in the lives of others, and by so doing lay off the grosser fleshly traits or carnal mind,—selfishness, worldly ambition, and worldly pleasures. A Scientist is glad for a day set apart in which to hasten the coming of the kingdom of heaven on earth; a day especially devoted to the service of God, and made doubly significant by the fact that material labor is to be provided for against this day and set aside; a day of communion with the source of man's true being, and for the enjoyment of and better acquaintance with our spiritual birthright; that spiritual unity with the Father which in our highest moments of aspiration and exaltation appeals to us as the only worthy aim and goal in life.

Because the Sabbath day has not always been kept with proper motive, its observance being often entirely formal and mechanical, is no argument in favor of abolishing it; rather should it be a call to every sincere student of spiritual things for its restoration and proper observance. Instead of lightly regarding the day and holding that in Science every day is to be kept holy, a Sabbath day, would it not be wiser to use this one day to hasten the oncoming of that unending and true Sabbath which clearly is a state of mind or spiritual consciousness, the enjoyment of our inheritance from God, in God, and through God, wholly apart from matter and mortality? Does it not seem clear that the Sabbath day, as a day extending through twenty-four hours, in which it is commanded, "Thou shalt not do any work," but typifies, and is intended to hasten, the coming of that eternal Sabbath in which there is no material work to do, for materiality will have been done away with; that Sabbath of which it is written, "There shall be no night there." "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie."

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