Question 58

Doth the fourth Commandment require any special time to be kept holy?

Yes.

What time?

Such set time as God hath appointed in his Word.

What mean you by a set time?

Such a time as is set apart for Gods worship only and wholly, all business being laid aside.

Doth the fourth Commandment then determine of the special time for divine worship, as the three foregoing Commandments do of the Object, means and manner of worship?

Yes.

In whose power is it to appoint times for worship?

God who appoints the worship, appoints also the time for it in his Word: he hath not deputed any of this Power to any other.

Hath God left us to keep what time we please?

No.

What proportion of time hath God more solemnly set apart for his worship?

One whole day in Seven.

Is this Commandment to be understood of the seventh day, in order so as to be limited to the last of the seven; or is it to be understood of a seventh in number, that is, One in Seven?

It is to be understood of a seventh in number: and this proportion of time the Gospel-Law never repealed.

Is the fourth Commandment then a moral precept, that is to say, of perpetual force binding Christians now, as well as the Iews heretofore, to the observation of it?

Yes.

How is this day to be spent?

As an holy Sabbath unto God.

What is meant by that?

It is meant that we spend this whole day to Gods glory, as he hath commanded us. Deut. 5. 12.