Is there a more beautiful command in the Decalogue than that relating to the observance of a Sabbath rest? In fact, the very word "Sabbath" means in the Hebrew tongue "rest." "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy," proclaimed Moses. "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work," the commandment continues, "but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." Then follows the injunction against all manner of material labor on this day of rest.
The Christian Scientist sees in this commandment the perpetual reminder to rest in the Lord; in other words, to know that man lives and works as the reflection of God, of Mind, Spirit, and not as a material being. But how far from this spiritual concept has the human mind wandered!
Possibly over none of the Ten Commandments have there been greater controversies and more varying interpretations than over the mandate to keep holy the Sabbath day. In Dummelow's excellent Bible Commentary we read (p. 68): "The Jewish legalists developed the negative side of this precept to such an extravagant and absurd extent that the sabbath, instead of being a day of rest, became the most laborious day of the seven. The philanthropic motive for its observance was almost entirely lost sight of till our Lord said, 'The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath' (Mk 2:27)."
The objections raised to the Master's healing on the Sabbath day by the casehardened Pharisaical thought certainly did go to absurd lengths. The paralytic whom Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda was told that it was not lawful for him to pick up his bed (the mat whereon he lay) on the Sabbath; and when the woman described in the Gospel of Luke as having had "a spirit of infirmity eighteen years" (13:11) was made straight, indignation was expressed that the healing had not been wrought on some day other than the Sabbath—as if such miraculous deeds were of common daily occurrence!
In many churches of the Christian faith how stern also have been the prohibitions inherent in proper Sabbath observances! These lines of an old song may be remembered by some of our readers. They tell of a walk on the Sabbath by Robert Raikes, who in 1780 started the first Sunday School in England:
"As Robert Raikes went out one day
To see if children were at play
Some boys were seen on the Sabbath Day
A-playing, a-playing, ah me!"
Certainly it would seem that today the pendulum of religious thought has swung far from the strait-laced concepts of yesteryears. To thousands of individuals there seems little difference between Sunday and the other six days of the week, save that most business houses and shops are closed, and a portion of the populace goes to church while other thousands seek divers diversions. To more thousands Sunday may be regarded as the day when there are extra hours for sleep; but let us examine the question of Sabbath observance from the standpoint of the Christian Scientist.
To him every day is a holy day, for according to the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy, day is synonymous with the unfolding of good. As for lethargic rest, hear Mrs. Eddy's words in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 519, 520): "God rests in action. Imparting has not impoverished, can never impoverish, the divine Mind. No exhaustion follows the action of this Mind, according to the apprehension of divine Science. The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work."
Does this mean, someone may ask, that the Scientist therefore sees no difference between Sunday and weekday activities? We may answer, Yes, and no. Yes, from the standpoint that any righteous activity might be undertaken on Sundays as on other days; and no, because the Scientist cannot afford to disregard the standard of Christian piety maintained by earnest members of other faiths. In this busy world, with its many so-called pressures and demanding claims upon time and strength, should not some measure of the old Sabbath rest be welcome? Should not the whole human family be blessed by a very special devotion to things of the Spirit on one day out of the seven? Why is it not a good plan to dedicate the Sabbath day each week to the upbuilding of that spiritual sense so sadly needed by all?
The unrest of the times is manifested both with children and with adults in a constant desire to seek amusement and diversion. Why cannot Sundays be made synonymous with a deep inner happiness? So often does one come from a place of public amusement only to find that he has been neither amused nor edified. It certainly would seem anomalous to find a Christian Scientist entering a place of public amusement while the doors of his church were opened for a service. In fact, Mrs. Eddy in the very first volume of the Journal of Christian Science (Oct. 6, 1883), commenting on this question, states that she believes in a proper time for amusement; "but," she concludes, "let this opportunity be on a week-day evening, or one afternoon in the week, not on the Sabbath." In this same article she also states: "If we are willing to listen one day in seven to Truth, it entertains, elevates and invigorates mind and body, and there is no need of amusement to make us forget it or get rid of its effects."
Yes, many persons who have found themselves growing farther and farther from the old-fashioned Jewish and Protestant Sabbath are, in Christian Science, being wooed to a happy, spiritualized concept of a day of true Sabbath rest; to a day when one can have precious periods of uninterrupted study of Christian Science literature; to a day when one may taste true spiritual refreshment in church or Sunday School; to a day blessed by edifying companionship with family or friends. Might not such a Sabbath be worth seeking?
In her "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 279) Mrs. Eddy gives another, and a most illuminating, thought about the seventh day. Speaking of Joshua and his band at Jericho, she writes: "They went seven times around these walls, the seven times corresponding to the seven days of creation: the six days are to find out the nothingness of matter; the seventh is the day of rest, when it is found that evil is naught and good is all."
May not this be likened to the steps one takes in giving a Christian Science treatment? After the "six days," or a period of steadfast denial of mortal mind's suggestions of fear, of false law, and all the etceteras of materialism, there dawns the Sabbath consciousness of the allness of good, of Love and Principle. There may the Scientist rest, knowing that the Father's work is eternally done, His man eternally whole, His law everlastingly glorified. This must have been the heavenly realization of Immanuel which enabled Jesus on those memorable Sabbath days to heal the sick. What a hallowing of the Sabbath is this! What a goal for the Christian Scientist!
