Robert Hill's Rules for Sanctifying the Lord's Day

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Robert Hill, The Pathway to Prayer and Piety, Vol. 2, pp. 19-20:

Quest. What rules are you to observe for the sanctifying of the Sabbath?

Ans. 1. I must rise early to sanctify myself, and all that belong to me, for God's service that day.

2. I must keep it from morning till evening. Lev. 23.32.

3. I must frequent the exercises of religion, and be present with all reverence at prayer and preaching.

4. I must not so go from Sermon to Sermon, that I confer not of God's Word which I hear, especially with such as belong unto me. Acts 17.10, 11.

5. I must meditate of all God's mercy, especially of such as are given me in Christ.

6. I must not make that day, a day of feasting, sporting, or visiting (as the most do) of friends abroad. Isa. 58.13, 14.

7. I must do no work on that day, which might have been done the day before, or may be done the day after. Exod. 20.10.

8. I must labour to be at God's house with the first, that so I may be partaker of the whole service. Mat. 18.20; Heb. 10.25.

9. I must visit such as are comfortless, if I know, or imagine they stand in need of my help. James 1.27.

10. I must be careful to provide something, which I may distribute to the necessity of the Saints. 1 Cor. 16.2.

These rules must I observe, lest it be truly said of me, which was falsely said of Christ, This man is not of God, for he keepeth not the Sabbath. John 9.16.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

*Lord's Day bump*

 

[staythecourse]

Thanks Andrew.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Thanks Andrew.

You're welcome!

 

[Calvinist Cowboy]

Convicting.

 

[Tim]

I don't quite understand this one.

4. I must not so go from Sermon to Sermon, that I confer not of God's Word which I hear, especially with such as belong unto me. Acts 17.10, 11.

I think he is getting at not attending a sermon at one church, then another, then another, for the whole day; so much so that you have no chance to digest what you have heard. Does "belong unto me" mean those spiritual truths that are most applicable and important for me to consider, given my personal situation and condition?

Am I getting it?

 

[staythecourse]

That may be but I believe he wants to impress the importance of being a Berean after a sermon and making sure what was preached is true, esp for onesself.

 

[Tim]

Yes, I see that the scripture reference for that one was about the Bereans. I am just having trouble with the language that he is using here (from how long ago) and couldn't see the connection with what he was saying and "being a Berean".

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

I don't quite understand this one.

4. I must not so go from Sermon to Sermon, that I confer not of God's Word which I hear, especially with such as belong unto me. Acts 17.10, 11.

I think he is getting at not attending a sermon at one church, then another, then another, for the whole day; so much so that you have no chance to digest what you have heard. Does "belong unto me" mean those spiritual truths that are most applicable and important for me to consider, given my personal situation and condition?

Am I getting it?

The way I read it, Hill is saying, "Don't just listen to one sermon after another without going back to the Scriptures, conferring with them, much like the Bereans did, and also conferring with your family about the sermon." "Belong unto me," I think, refers to the family under one's charge. There is a duty to engage oneself in the Word that has been preached by searching the Scriptures to see if these things are so, and to engage your family in holy conferencing about the Word preached and read -- rather than letting the Word preached fall to the ground without further reflection and spiritual profit. This, I think, is what Hill is getting at.

 

[okcalvin]

Sanctifying the Lord's Day

One way I teach folk about how the Sabbath should be spent is to use the Q&A from the Catechism for Young Children:

Q. How should the Sabbath be spent?
A. By prayer and praise, by reading and hearing God's Word, and doing good to our fellow men.

I have people evaluate their thoughts and activities accordingly -- does X advance or detract from the purposes of the Day? This helps them to begin to apply God's Word.

John
______

John Owen Butler
Pastor-teacher
Beal Heights PCA
Lawton, OK

 

[Scott1]

I think we have reflected here, "in the king's English," the utter seriousness with which the Puritans approached the Fourth Commandment and the whole of the Christian life.

It really was one of applying the whole of Scripture to the whole of life.

There is an uncommon somberness combined with a joy reflected in this. It may never have been common but is almost non-existant in our day.

This reflects something that doesn't end at the Sabbath, but certainly begins there.

 

[Augusta]

Yes, it was somber and may appear very somber to outsiders but I agree that there is in all of it joy unspeakable because of Christ and his benefits.