The Sabbath. With the creation of man, God’s plan of creation was completed, and the great work of His creative love was crowned; for man is the most perfect of visible creatures. Then God rested, and appointed the seventh day for man’s rest in Him. On the Sabbath, man was to contemplate the wonders of creation, and the preservation and government of the world, and to praise and thank God. On this account the seventh day is also called “the Lord’s day”, i. e. the day set apart for the service and worship of God. On this day we ought to put aside all worldly business, and think only of our souls and their welfare, for in God alone can our souls find peace and rest. The commandment to keep holy the Sabbath is the oldest commandment that there is. Ever since the world has stood as it is, this commandment has stood with it. The very fact that the sacred writer represents God as working a week, makes Him our pattern and example, and implies a commandment for us to do the same. The law was thus given by God at the creation of the world, and hence it is that among all, even heathen nations we find one day of rest observed in the week. It is a great impiety to desecrate God’s day.
The Nature of God. God is described as a Spirit, existing from all eternity, having life in Himself and being the cause of all created life; an omnipotent Spirit who by the sole act of His will gives existence and life to His creatures. God the Creator of heaven and earth is one God, not two or three. In the Old Testament it was above all necessary to inculcate this unity of God. The people of Israel were not yet ripe to learn the full truth of one God in three persons. But, all the same, in several passages of the Old Testament it is, as it were, hinted that there are more persons than one in God, e. g. in the first part of the history of the creation: “The Spirit of God moved over the waters.”
The Wisdom of God. Holy Scripture, or, in other words, the Holy Ghost, says explicitly that all that God made was very good. Shortsighted man should not, therefore, be audacious enough to criticise God’s work. Almighty God made everything to fulfil the end for which He destined it. The whole of creation testifies to the wisdom of God, but I will call your attention only to one or two instances. Rivers and streams, many of which are of considerable breadth, are ceaselessly flowing into the sea, carrying into it, even in one single day, a tremendous volume of water. This goes on all the year round, and has been going on for thousands of years, and yet the sea does not overflow! How is this? God has so made it that as much water is incessantly rising into the air from the sea as is being poured into it. But how is it, then, that the streams and rivers do not dry up ? Whence comes that volume of water which they are continuously pouring into the sea? The mists and clouds which rise from the sea are driven over the land by the wind, and fall back on the earth in the form of either dew, fog, rain or snow. This moisture collects in the ground and forms
