A man ought to turn aside from his ordinary employment one day in
seven. There are many whose occupation will not permit them to observe
Sunday, but they should observe some other day as a sabbath. Saturday
is my day of rest because I generally preach on Sunday, and I look
forward to it as a boy does to a holiday. God knows what we need.
Ministers and missionaries often tell me that they take no rest-day;
they do not need it because they are in the Lord's work. That is a
mistake. When God was giving Moses instructions about the building of
the tabernacle, He referred especially to the sabbath, and gave
injunctions for its strict observance; and later, when Moses was
conveying the words of the Lord to the children of Israel, he
interpreted them by saying that not even were sticks to be gathered on
the sabbath to kindle fires for smelting or other purposes. In spite
of their zeal and haste to erect the tabernacle, the workmen were to
have their day of rest. The command applies to ministers and others
engaged in Christian work to-day as much as to those Israelite workmen
of old.