The Lord's Day
Don't Be fooled - God Requires You to Keep the 4th Commandment as Well as the Other 9The Christian Sabbath or Lord’s Day
A Note on the Lord’s Day…
Since the inception of popularizing carnal Christianity, the desire to throw away the commands of God is ever increasing. This is called Antinomianism. It is the attempt towards creating an easy Christianity at the expense of the truth. To serve a Master who commands little, or less, relieves the disciple of many pains and ills, and especially the denying of oneself for the greater good. In the act of discarding the law of God one commandment at a time, it is never surprising that the more difficult commandments to understand are those which are discarded first. Such is the case with the third commandment concerning the Lord’s Name, and fourth commandment concerning the Sabbath. I am not referring to the shadows of the ceremonial and judicial law of God, but of the moral law or the Decalogue commonly known as the 10 commandments. God desires to have His mind picked. He desires His people to traverse the deep recesses of the Bible in order to pick apart the truths housed within. Simply because some commandments are more difficult to understand does in no way means that they are expendable.
Before one can truly study the Sabbath, or as it is known by most orthodox Christians in the New Testament as the Lord’s Day, the moral Law of God must be understood. John Newton said “Ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes.” This in many respects is a truism. A through study of the nature and design of the moral law is of utmost value and necessity before one even begins to divulge themselves into an explanation of the commandments themselves. The Christian must understand what it means to “meditate on Thy law day and night” or how “the law” is his delight. What encapsulates the phrase “the law” and how does the law differ in the Old Testament than the New Testament? (If at all?) What is Christ’s view, or Paul’s view, of the law? Yes, a through study of the law is necessary before the commandments which make up the law of God are traversed.
The Sabbath Edited by David Scott
A brief and common inquiry into understanding the perpetuity and change of the Sabbath to the Lord’s Day as presented in the Old and New Testaments by C. Matthew McMahon
The Perpetuity and Change of The Sabbath by Jonathan Edwards
An Excerpt from What is the Duty of Magistrates, From the Highest to the Lowest, For the Suppressing of Profaneness? by Samuel Slater
Sabbath: A Day to Keep by J.C. Ryle
Sabbath, or Sunday? by David Steele
Sanctifying the Lord’s Day and Holy Conversation by Thomas Watson
An Excerpt from his book The 10 Commandments by Thomas Watson
The Change of The Sabbath by Thomas Shepard
Sabbath, The Day Changed: The Sabbath Preserved by A.A. Hodge
The Sabbath by John Murray
The Christian Sabbath: Its Nature, Design and Proper Observance by R.L. Dabney
The Fourth Commandment by Charles Hodge
The Sabbath by the Mayor
The Lord’s Day by Archibald Alexander
The Ten Commandments: Manual for the Christian Life Compiled by William DeJong
The Lord’s Day by Francis Turretin (1623-1687)
When Does the Lord’s Day Begin by Andrew Meyers
Pagan Days, Idolatry and the Lord’s Day by Tertullian
The Sabbath Day and the Lord’s Day are Not at Odds by Scott Bushey
Dad, What is Your Favorite Holiday? by Scott Bushey
The Sabbath Day and Acts of Mercy by Thomas Boston
The Observance of Days by J.G. Vos
Check out articles about the Christmas Holiday in Contrast to the Lord’s Day
Check out these books on the Lord’s Day at Puritan Publications.
If a serious study is to be done of the Sabbath, the Biblical passages should be exegetically studied (which should take the researcher considerable time) and then the following books should be read:
The True Doctrine of the Sabbath, by Nicholas Bound
Moral Law and the Covenants, by Anthony Burgess
The Christian Sabbath Vindicated by Daniel Cawdrey and Herbert Palmer
The Commandments of God, by Edward Elton
God’s Holy Mind, by Edward Elton
An Exposition of the 10 Commandments, by Ezekiel Hopkins
An Abstract of the Duties Commanded and the Sins Forbidden in the Law of God, George Downame
The Law Unsealed, James Durham
The Sermons of John Calvin on the 10 Commandments, by John Calvin
The Commandments, John Dod
Sunday a Sabbath, John Ley
A Defense of the Christian Sabbath, John Wallis
The Moral Law Expounded, Lancelot Andrews
A Brief Exposition of the Ten Commandments, Patrick Simon
The Lord’s Day, Thomas Young
The Sabbath’s Sanctification, William Gouge
The Christian Sabbath Defended, William Twisse
A Profitable Discourse on the Sabbath Day, Zachary Ursinus
Sin, The Law and the Glory of the Gospel, by Joseph Bellamy
The Lord’s Day, by Joseph Pipa
The Ten Commandments, by Thomas Watson
Theses Sabbaticae, by Thomas Shepherd
A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel, by John Calqhoun
Call the Sabbath a Delight, by Walter Chantry
Celebrating the Sabbath, by Bruce Ray
The Lord’s Day, by Daniel Wilson
The Grace of Law, by Ernest Kevan
The Law of God, by William Plumer
The Worship of the English Puritans, by Horton Davies
The Worship of the American Puritans, by Horton Davies
Calvin and the Sabbath, by Richard Gaffin
Hebrews, Volume 2, The Name, Original, Nature, Use, and Continuance of a Day of Sacred Rest, [Pages 265-460], By John Owen
Discussions, Volume 1, [Pages 496-550], by R. L. Dabney
Systematic Theology, by [Pages 351-357; 366-397], by R. L. Dabney
The Works of Jonathan Edwards Volume 2, 3 Sermons on the Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath, [Pages 93-103] by Jonathan Edwards
The Marrow of Theology, [Pages 112, 283-284, 291-295, 298] by William Ames
The Collected Writings of John Murray, Volume 1 [Pages 205-225] and Volume 3, [Pages 34-35; 43, 49, 72-73, 75-76, 101, 108], by John Murray
Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Volume 2, [Pages 1-37; 77-100] by Francis Turretin
Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 2, [Book 2.8.29ff], by John Calvin
Systematic Theology Volume 3, [Pages 257-275; 321-340], by Charles Hodge
The Works of Richard Baxter, Volume 3, [879-926], by Richard Baxter
The Works of Ezekiel Hopkins, Volume 3 [Pages 236-267; 364-387], by Ezekiel Hopkins
Paul, An Outline of His Theology, [Pages 99-100; 106-107; 130-158; by Herman Ridderbos
The Sabbath Defended, James Milligan
