Keep the Sabbath. Make it not a day of work nor of pleasure, but of
rest and of worship. The Bible says, “Remember the Sabbath-day to
keep it holy.” Cease on that day from all unnecessary work. Let
your families have rest also. Put on your best clothes--parents and
children both--and after you have prayed in your closet and prayed with
your family, then go to church, taking with you such of your family
as are old enough. Don’t idle about on the Lord’s day. If there is a
Sabbath-school, go to it yourselves, and take your children along with
you. If you follow these rules, you will grow wiser and better. It is
in this way that people are trained up for heaven.
* * * * *
These habits are, you see, all based on the Bible. It is God’s morality
we are recommending. And yet, after you have done all these things, you
have done nothing more than your duty. You must not make a religion
out of these good habits. That is, you must not think that these are
_all_ that religion requires. Religion demands these, and something
more. You must have “the broken heart,” sorrow for sin--sorrow before
God, because you have broken his laws. Religion bids you turn from all
sin--even sins of thought. It commands you to go to Jesus, that you may
have your sins washed away in his precious blood. It tells you that you
must put your whole trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation. Religion
calls upon you to love Jesus, and from love to do whatsoever he hath
commanded.
This is the inward experience of religion. But all the good habits we
have been recommending are such as a religious person will practise.
If a man pretends to be religious, and is a bad man in his outward
conduct--if he loves to speak against his neighbors, or tells lies
about them, or steals, or swears, or is impure, he is not a religious
man; he is a hypocrite; and “that man’s religion,” the Bible says, “is
vain.” We want you to be religious and moral both.