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I. IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. Not in the mere Judaic strictness of the Old Testament Law, or of that set forth in these verses. All that might be, and yet in its true sense the Sabbath be flagrantly violated and its purpose destroyed. But in:

1. Rest. This to be both of body and mind. The student may no more pursue his studies than the laborer his toil. Rest both of body and mind from their ordinary pursuits; rest, not mere slothfulness, but such as will recreate the exhausted limbs or brain.

2. Worship. Not that it is to absolve other days from worship or to sanction their unhallowed use, but to lead to the more religious regard of all our days, the one day in seven is specially set apart.

3. Charity. In works of mercy and love to our fellow-men. Proclaiming the gospel, teaching the young, visiting the sick, relieving the poor.

II. IT IS OF DIVINE COMMAND. It is coeval with the creation of man (Genesis 1:31; Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11). And its embodiment in the moral Law seems to denote its permanence and abiding obligation.

III. ITS TRANSFER TO THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK DOES NOT ALTER ITS OBLIGATION. Our Lord taught us "the Sabbath was made for man," and therefore, though for various reasons its observance was in substance transferred from the seventh day to the first, yet, because the need is permanent, the obligation is likewise.

IV. ALL GOD'S LAWS - AS WELL AS HIS WRITTEN LAW - SANCTION IT. Those that are:

1. Physical. The body requires it, is blessed by it, harmed if deprived of it.

2. Religious Religion demands set times and observances. Without these it will die out. The Sabbath, therefore, is imperatively needed if religion is to be maintained amongst any people.

3. Moral Secular pursuits tend to absorb all the energies of the soul. Worldliness is dominant enough as it is in every man; but the break of the Sabbath does much to hold these mighty but malevolent forces in check, and gives opportunity for the exercise of other and counteracting ones.

4. Social. The indebtedness of happy family life, of prosperous national life, of friendship between man and man, to the weekly day of rest is unspeakable (cf. prize essay, 'Workman's Testimony to the Sabbath').

5. Spiritual. What records have the Sabbaths of spiritual blessing gained on and through the holy observances of that day? Sinners won to God, burdened consciences blessed with peace, tempted souls strengthened, sad and troubled ones made joyful in God, believers helped forward in the heavenly road, etc. All these facts attest the graciousness and the obligation of the command to hallow God's Sabbath. And, on the other hand, its disregard has ever been followed by moral and spiritual and often secular deterioration. It has been ill with those who have set at naught this sure law of God. Therefore let us each one do what we may to preserve to our land the unspeakable blessing of the weekly Sabbath. Better to err on the side of strictness in its observance than on the side of laxity. But let us not think that we have hallowed the Sabbath unless the ends for which it was desired have been secured by us. It is but a means, not the end, and, unless it have furthered in us love to God and man, each Sabbath as it returns is but a lost day. - C.

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KJV: Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;

WEB: Thus said Yahweh to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;