Reformation Press
Christian Literature from Scotland
The Shorter Catechism
The Sabbath Day
Question
57. Which is the fourth commandment?
Answer. The
fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt
thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the
Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that
is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed
the sabbath-day, and hallowed it.
Question 58. What is required
in the fourth commandment?
Answer. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times
as he hath appointed in his word; expressly one whole day in seven, to bre a
holy sabbath to himself.
Question 59. Which day of
the seven hat God appointed to be the weekly sabbath?
Answer. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God hath
appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first
day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the
Christian sabbath.
Question 60. How is the
sabbath to be sanctified?
Answer. The sabbath
is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments
and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in
the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be
taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.
Question 61. What is forbidden
in the fourth commandment?
Answer. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance
of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that
which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about
our worldly employments or recreations.
Question 62. What are the
reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?
Answer. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God's allowing us
six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety
in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the sabbath-day.
