Remember the Sabbath Day

We recently received a request to say something in the Sentinel about the proper observance of the Sabbath, but the necessity for advice to Christian Scientists on this subject did not at once appeal to us. We have since concluded, however, that the very fact that such a request has been made is of itself proof that there may be such a need as our correspondent mentions, and that something can be said to the advantage of the Field.

The commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," and with this in view it is needless to say that Christian Scientists will so order their conduct that the spirit and the letter of the law will coalesce in their lives, and that they may thus be saved from doing anything which can in any wise offend the highest moral and religious sense of the community. This is the moral and spiritual requirement of Christian Science, and adherence to the teachings of Science and Health and the Church Manual will bring it out in our daily living. We once heard of a lady who was so filled with the desire to show that Christian Science had liberated her from her former religious beliefs, that she really inconvenienced herself in order to save her weekly mending until Sunday so that she might do it on that day in full view of her neighbors. It is needless to say that this display of contempt for the proprieties did not raise her in the estimation of her neighbors, and that the Cause of Christian Science in the city in which she resided suffered by reason of her conduct.

Christian Scientists should know that this command to keep holy the Sabbath day does not mean that there is no call for them to keep holy the other days of the week. Every day is a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and should be made fruitful in the service of Truth, but this does not imply that a long countenance and a lugubrious manner should be cultivated or assumed for Sunday or any other day.

When the Pharisees assailed Jesus because his disciples plucked and ate the corn on the Sabbath day, he said, "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day," and when they found fault with him because he healed the withered hand on the Sabbath, he said, "What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days."

The best advice we can give our readers (though we are quite sure they do not need it), is to obey the commandments at all times, conform to the recognized proprieties of life as nearly as possible, whether the day be Sunday or Monday, and refrain from everything which may put a stumbling-block in the way of a neighbor.

If we are living the life of a Christian Scientist, and are doing the work which comes to us as followers of the Nazarene, we shall have neither time nor inclination to break the Sabbath either in letter or spirit, and whatever we do will be to the praise and glory of God. The desire for the frivolities and non-essentials of mortal existence will fall away from us, our steps will be so ordered that our conduct will be above criticism, and we shall bring no reproach upon the Cause which is so dear to us.

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Reliance on the Divine Nature

October 29, 1904

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