Sanctification of the Sabbath: The Permanent Obligation to Observe the Sabbath or Lord’s Day

Haldane proves the Lord’s Day is a permanent obligation, afterward embodied in the Ten Commandments and recognized by Jesus and His apostles, and that the change of day does not void the fourth commandment. He sets forth how beautifully the Sabbath day depicts the patience, goodness, and mercy of Jehovah. Most divine institutions point out the consequences of sin, but the Sabbath traces its origin to the time when man walked in innocence in the immediate presence of the Lord. We are to remember an institution forgotten in the bondage of Egypt—to keep holy a day God claims as His inalienable property, a claim restated by Jesus Christ for us.

Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781601789068

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Robert Haldane (1764–1842) was from Scottish aristocracy, owning the famous Gleneagles estate as well as others in Perthshire. After selling a major part of his lands in 1798, Haldane was prevented by the East India Company from proceeding with his hope of a mission in Bengal. Instead, he gave himself to the spread of the gospel in Scotland and in Europe. His remarkable visit to Geneva in 1816 led to a widespread awakening and, ultimately, to the publication of his most famous work, his Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans. As a director of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Robert Haldane, “more than any man” (in the opinion of Principal John MacLeod), saw that the Apocrypha “was ousted from our English Bible.”

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“Haldane’s work on the Sabbath is of particular benefit for believers today. We live in a time when evangelicals have largely dismissed the command to keep the Sabbath holy. Remarkably, we see in Haldane an evangelical leader anticipating and addressing two key difficulties faced by modern skeptics of a Christian Sabbath. First, Haldane labors to show that the Sabbath principle is not something peculiar to the covenant made with Old Testament Israel . . . [and] demonstrates the Sabbath principle’s abiding validity and permanent obligation for believers. Second, he presents a compelling examination of the transfer of the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday in the new covenant. . . . His is the single most helpful treatment I have read on the subject.” Jon English Lee