In Heavenly Places Chap. 146 - Day of Delight and Blessing


If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and
shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and
I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father. Isaiah 58:13, 14.

"The Sabbath... is God's time, not ours; when we trespass upon it we are stealing
from God.... God has given us the whole of six days in which to do our work, and
has reserved only one to Himself. This should be a day of blessing to us--a day
when we should lay aside all our secular matters and center our thoughts upon God
and heaven.
But while we worship God, we are not to consider this a drudgery. The Sabbath
of the Lord is to be made a blessing to us and to our children. They are to look
upon the Sabbath as a day of delight, a day which God has sanctified; and they
will so consider it if they are properly instructed.... They can be pointed to the
blooming flowers and the opening buds, the lofty trees and beautiful spires of grass,
and taught that God made all these in six days and rested on the seventh day and
hallowed it. Thus the parents may bind up their lessons of instruction to their
children so that when these children look upon the things of nature they will call to
mind the great Creator of them all....
We are not to teach our children that they must not be happy on the Sabbath,
that it is wrong to walk out of doors. Oh, no. Christ led His disciples out by the
lakeside on the Sabbath day and taught them. His sermons on the Sabbath were not
always preached within enclosed walls....
Many say they would keep the Sabbath if it were convenient to do so. But this
day is not yours; it is God's day, and you have no more right to take it than you
have to steal my purse. God has reserved it, sanctified and blessed it; and it is your
duty to devote this time to His service, to make it honourable, to call it a delight."


In Heavenly Places Chap. 145 - "Remember the Sabbath Day"


Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor,
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 manservant, nor thy maidservant, 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. Exodus 20:8-11.

"The fourth commandment is explicit. We are not to do our own work upon the
Sabbath. God has given man six days for labor, but He has reserved the seventh
to Himself, and He has pronounced a blessing upon those who keep it holy. On
the sixth day all needful preparation for the Sabbath is to be made.... All purchases
should be made and all our cooking should be done on Friday. Let baths be taken,
shoes be blacked, and clothing be put in readiness. The sick require care upon
the Sabbath, and whatever it may be necessary to do for their comfort is an act of
mercy, and not a violation of the commandment.... But nothing of our own work
should be permitted to encroach upon holy time.
Sunday is generally made a day of feasting and pleasure seeking, but the Lord
would have His people give the world a higher, holier example. Upon the Sabbath
there should be a solemn dedication of the family to God.... Let all unite to honor
God upon His holy day....
If you go forward toward heaven, the world will rub hard against you.... Earthly
authorities will interpose. You will meet tribulations, bruising of the spirit, hard
speeches, ridicule, persecutions. Men will require your conformity to laws and
customs that would render you disloyal to God. Here is where God's people find
the cross in the way to life. But if the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is
sacred, if it is indeed, as brought to view in the third angel's message, the sign
between God and His people, we must be careful in every word and in every act to
Show God honor....
The strong force of the downward current will sweep you off your feet unless
you are united to Christ as the limpet to the rock."