Let us turn to God's Word, directing
you again to those words that we were considering last Lord's
Day morning at the end of Isaiah chapter 58. Turning then to Isaiah
chapter 58 and verses 13 and 14. 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, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. We were considering then something
of the sanctity of the Sabbath that is clearly spoken of in
this passage of Holy Scripture. The sanctity, the setting apart
of the Sabbath day. And we observed how it is sanctified
in God's work of creation from the very beginning. It is evident
that the Sabbath is a creation ordinance. In Genesis chapter
1 we have mention of those six days wherein God made the heavens
and the earth. Then in chapter 2, thus the heavens
and the earth were finished and all the host of them and on the
seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested
on the seventh day from all his works which he had made and God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, set it apart. The basic meaning
of the word to sanctify of course is to separate a thing to holy
purposes, even to the service of God. God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it because in it He addressed it from all
His work which God created and made. It is then a creation ordinance. But then also we observed how
that the day of the Sabbath is set apart also by the law of
God. It becomes a legal requirement
to the children of Israel when God brings them out of Egypt
and brings them into Sinai and there enters into a covenant
with them. When he descends upon the mount
and speaks the words, the ten commandments and the fourth of
those commandments in Exodus chapter 20 at verse 8 following
remember the Sabbath day to keep it whole and how that law was
repeated of course when they came some 40 years later to the
borders of the promised land after the wilderness wandering
in Deuteronomy chapter 5 we have the repetition of the Ten Commandments
and so we see how that by the law of God to Israel the Sabbath
day was also sanctified but we did remark last time how that
the day is also sanctified in salvation we see something of
that in what is written in Hebrews chapter 4 Sabbath clearly means
rest. God rested on that seventh day.
And in Hebrews 4 verse 3 we're told, We which have believed
do enter into rest. There is a rest in salvation.
and the rest in salvation that in some way must be associated
with the Sabbath day. And so this morning I want to
concentrate more particularly on the Sabbath as it is sanctified
for redemption. The Sabbath as it is sanctified
for that great work of redemption. And first of all to say something
with regards to Israel's redemption, and then in the second place
to say something with regards to Christian redemption. First of all then, Israel's redemption,
as we see the great doctrine of redemption typified in God's
dealings with the children of Israel, because Israel as a nation
of course was a typical people. Now, In the law, we know that
there are many negative commands. Even when we read through the
Ten Commandments, there is a strong negative element there. The repetition of that expression,
they shall not, they shall not, they shall not. Now why is it
that God's law is expressed in those negative ways? It is because
the word is being addressed to man who is a fallen creature. The commandment is being addressed
to those who are sinners, those who have a tendency to sin, those
who don't enjoy any free will, because their very will is in
bondage to their fallen nature and they have this constant proudness,
this bias towards sin, all of sins and come short. of the glory
of God, and the great purpose of the law of God is to show
the sinner what his true condition is, how he is viewed in the eyes
of that God who is three times holy, Holy Father, Holy Son,
and Holy Spirit, that one before whom even sinless creatures such
as the angels bow their heads and cry, Holy, Holy, holy Lord
God of hosts. Now the law then is to the sinner
a ministration, and it's a ministration of condemnation. It sets before
him what is his real status in the eyes of a God who is of eyes
too pure to behold iniquity. or says, we know that what things
however the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. There's a purpose of it, to stop
the mouth of the sinner, and to bring him in as one who is
guilty. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight. By the law, says Paul,
is the knowledge of sin. And there are therefore those
prohibitions that are clearly attached to the fourth commandment,
that commandment that has to do with the keeping of the Sabbath
day. And we see how in Israel even
the kindling of fire on the Sabbath was to be reckoned as a capital
offense in Exodus chapter 35. We have the words, the commandment
there. Moses gathered all the congregation
of the children of Israel together and said unto them, These are
the words which the Lord hath commanded that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done,
but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day,
a Sabbath of rest to the Lord, whosoever worketh therein shall
be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout
your habitations upon the Sabbath day. to break the Sabbath, it
was capital offence. And the person who dared to do
such a thing, it says, shall be put to death. Now that, we have to remember,
is part of the civil law in Israel. We have to make a distinction.
It is important that we notice this. We have to make a distinction
between the civil laws that pertain to the children of Israel and
the law of the Ten Commandments. It was God himself who spoke
the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments here in Exodus chapter 20. Do you remember the response,
the reaction of the children of Israel as God came as God
descended, as God spoke, and it filled them with great dread. And so at the end of Exodus 20
we're told how they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and
we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And
Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God is come to prove
you, and that his fear may be before your faces at least in
nights. and the people stood afar off
and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And then the Lord speaks to Moses.
Moses becomes the mediator. Moses is now going to receive
those civil laws as we see in chapter 21. Now these are the
judgments which thou shalt set before them." There's to be the
outworking of the Ten Commandments with regards to the daily life
of the children of Israel. And we have in all these following
chapters then from chapter 21 those various laws that Moses
had received which were to be applied to the civic life of
the people of Israel, and what we read in Exodus 35 is part
of that law. They were not to kindle fire
on the Sabbath day. It's a law that belongs very
much to the children of Israel. We mark the distinction because
of the importance of it. there are these negative elements
that are seen in the way in which God requires the children of
Israel to conduct themselves. But we would be very wrong if
we thought of the commandment of God only in those negative
terms. There is also that that is positive
with regards to God's law. And we see certainly with regards
to the fourth commandment concerning the Sabbath how there is a very
real positive aspect when that law is repeated in Deuteronomy
chapter 5. There in Deuteronomy chapter
5 and verse 15 we read these words concerning their keeping
of the Sabbath day. Remember, that thou wast a servant
in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee
out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm therefore
the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath. Now to remember
this very positive experience how God did a glorious thing
for them how God brought them out how God delivered them from
all the dreadful fraud that they were experiencing on the Pharaoh
and the Egyptians. God brought them out with a mighty
hand. This was redemption. Therefore
the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. Here is a positive aspect then,
Israel's redemption. Their redemption from Egypt. here in the Book of the Prophets
in Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 3 God says through his servant
I gave Egypt for thy ransom or they were a ransomed people again
in Exodus 15 we read thou in thy mercy led forth the people
which thou hast redeemed there's redemption you see and of course
we see that redemption in the way in which God brought them
out last Lord's Day evening we were considering something of
the Passover lamb and the shedding of blood and how they were to
be sheltered under the blood as a destroying angel came throughout
Egypt how God visited a terrible judgment upon Pharaoh and the
Egyptians and the destruction of all their firstborn And yet
how the firstborn of the Israelites were preserved, because they
were a redeemed people, sheltering under the blood. We know how
that all of these things that are happening to the children
of Israel there, as they're brought out of Egypt, all is a wonderful
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we said, Israel is a typical
people. But we have that authority from
the New Testament when we speak of them thus as atypical people. In the 10th chapter of Paul's
first epistle to the Corinthians, he makes it plain He said, Moreover
brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through
the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did
all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
Were to discern Christ, There, in God's dealings with the children
of Israel, we are to see the spiritual significance of all
that they are experiencing. He goes on to say at verse 6,
these things were our examples, or as the margin says, these
things were our figures. But then he goes on to say something
more does he not at verse 11 all these things happened unto
them for ensamples or types and they are written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come the ends of the world
clearly a reference to the gospel day we are those upon whom the
ends of the world are come this gospel day will And, of course,
when the Lord Himself returns in power and great glory, and
the heavens and the earth shall pass away in great heat, these
are the last days. This is the end of the world,
the day in which we're living. And all these things that I've
written concerning the children of Israel, they're examples,
they're types to us. were to recognize then the true
spiritual significance of what was happening there with the
children of Israel as they were brought out of Egypt, as they
were a redeemed people. Why the Passover itself, of course,
is fulfilled in Christ. He is the great antitype. Those
words that we took for our text last Lord's Day evening in 1
Corinthians 5 and verse 7 Christ our Passover is sacrificed for
us. Remember how the children of
Israel were to constantly remember year by year what God had done. With regards to that deliverance
they were to observe the feast of the Passover. And when it
was instituted God made it abundantly clear to them that this ordinance
was to be perpetual for the children of Israel. In verse 14 of chapter 12 in
Exodus, this day shall be unto you for a memorial. You shall
keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep
it a feast by an ordinance forever. They were to constantly remember
their deliverance. But there is a sense in which
every Sabbath, every Sabbath day, they were also to remember
how that God had delivered them. Not just an annual event of the
Feast of the Passover, but week by week. as the Sabbath came,
they were not only to remember God resting on the seventh day
after His works of creation, they were to remember how they
had been redeemed. Those words that we read in Deuteronomy
5.15, remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt
and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty
hand and by a stretched out arm, therefore the Lord thy God commanded
thee to keep the Sabbath." How telling are those words at the
end of the verse. Therefore, for this reason, because
God had brought you out of Egypt by a mighty display of His goodness
and His grace, therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to
keep the Sabbath day. There's a positive really They
are to think about God's redemption of their fathers out of Egypt. But there's another positive
aspect. Not only redemption from Egypt, but there would also be
restoration from Babylon. And really, when we come to consider
the words of our text here at the end of Isaiah 58, isn't this
the historical context? Remember this prophet Isaiah
was ministering God's Word about a hundred years previous to the
Babylonian exile. And he speaks. He speaks of that
terrible judgment that would come upon them. But he also speaks
prophetically about how God would restore them. They would be brought
out of Babylon, after God had fulfilled His purpose in chastening
them for those 70 years in exile, the time would come when they
would be restored to the promised lands. In the course of speaking
of these things prophetically, Isaiah links that restoration
with the Sabbath day. Now we see it in what we read
at the end of chapter 55 through to chapter 56. And remember that
these divisions that we have, useful as they are, chapters
and verses, they're not part of the original inspired Word
of God that had been introduced later and they're very useful
to us but we're not to imagine that there's no connection between
the chapters, there's certainly a connection here in chapters
55 and 56 there at the end of chapter 55 we read the promise
of restoration they're not going to be left forever in Babylon
for ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace,
the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, instead of
the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar shall
come up the myrtle-tree, and Jerusalem hath been left, you
see, It was a wilderness, but instead of the thorn, the fir,
instead of the briar, the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the
Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Thus saith the Lord, keep your judgment, and do justice, for
my salvation is near to come." That is their restoration. My
salvation is near to come, my righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man that doeth this. and the Son of Man that
layeth hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." There, in verse 2,
we see how the keeping of the Sabbath is associated with their
restoration. Their restoration from bondage
there in Egypt, their return to the land of promise. And so, also here, in the words
before us this morning, the end of chapter 58, 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." Here is the promise of God. I
will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. And that promise is then spoken
of, is it not, in terms of the heritage of Jacob. Now, What is the heritage of
Jacob? Well, go back to the book of
Moses in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse
13. He made him to ride on the high
places of the earth. The very same words. He made him ride on the high
places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the
fields. And he made him to suck honey
out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, butter of
kind, milk of sheep, with the fat of lambs, and rams of the
breed, of basin, and so on. Oh, it's a reference to that
land flowing with milk and with honey. This is the heritage.
of Jacob that is being promised. They're going to be restored.
They're going to return to that land that God had promised to
their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. We go
and see how these things are spoken of in the Psalm, in Psalm
105 and there at verse 8 following, He has remembered His covenants
forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations which
covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and
confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for
an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land
of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance." Or they're going to come again
into the possession. of that land of promise. This is what God is speaking
of. I will cause thee to ride upon
the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. There's
a connection then between the keeping of the Sabbath and not
only the redemption that the fathers had experienced when
they came out of Egypt but also this restoration that will come
when they are brought out of exile when they are brought again
into Jerusalem and God is the one who has spoken it and he
is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should
repent as he said Or shall he not do it? Have he spoken it?
Shall he not make it good? The mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. Redemption then from Egypt and
restoration from Babylon. These are important positive
aspects to their Sabbath keeping. But let us now consider the Lord's
Day more particularly in association with Christ's work of redemption. Thinking then now of that Christian
redemption, we thought of Israel and their experiences as a typical
people. Now let us consider the application
of these things even to us because all that we read of course here
in the Old Testament is written for our learning. As Paul says
in Romans chapter 15 it's all written for our learning that
we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have
hope. But what do we see with regards to the Sabbath and the
Lord Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, there is
the matter of the Lordship. The Lordship of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says in the Gospel, and you
will be familiar with the words, that Sabbath was made for man. and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man says
Christ is Lord also of the Sabbath." How tallied are those words? God instituted the day, yes. God set apart the day when He
rested after His works of creation. He sanctified that seventh day. But He set apart the man. It
is meant to serve man. And the Lord Jesus Christ, as
a man, as God, manifest in the flesh, declares that the Son
of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Now, in saying these things,
in no way are we to think that the Lord Jesus Christ is wanting
to negate and to abrogate the Sabbath day. That is not what
Christ is saying. He did not come to do that. And
He makes that quite clear Himself in the course of His own ministry. The words that we have in the
course of His Sermon upon the Mount, in Matthew 5, 17, think
not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled." How striking are
the words, not one jot, that is the smallest of all the letters
in the Hebrew alphabet, the jot, and one tittle he says. Some
say that's just the vowel pointing or maybe it's a part of some
of the consonants that distinguish one letter from another, but
he's speaking of minute parts of the Old Testament writings
when he refers to the jot and to the tittle. None is to pass
away till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall
do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom
of heaven. For I sound to you that except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven." And there we have the curiosity. What the Lord is doing
is disabusing the commandments of all the Pharisee glosses that
had been put upon these commandments. That's what the Lord is about.
Now, these Pharisees, they were perverting. the commandments
of God. And Christ is that one who comes
to teach the true meaning of the Word of God, the true meaning
of the Lord, the Lord of God. He will guard it from all those
perversions He is the One who is the Lord,
and He is the Lord of the Sabbath. And do we not see something of
that Lordship in the portion that we read there right at the
end of the New Testament in the book of the Revelation? John says that He was in the
Spirit on the Lord's Day. There is the Lordship of Christ.
Whose day is it? It's His day. Just as in 1 Corinthians
11 we read of the Holy Supper and it's spoken of as the Lord's
Supper. He is the Sovereign with regards
to His own table. He is the Sovereign with regards
to His own day. And we see this sovereignty here
in this opening chapter in association with the Church. When John turns
at the sound of the voice, he says, I saw seven golden candlesticks,
and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the
Son of Man. And then he describes Christ
in all his glory, but he's in the midst of the Church. The
seven candlesticks are the seven churches, as it says at the end
of the chapter, there is Christ in the midst of the church. And
in his right hand there are seven stars, and what are the seven
stars? They are the angels or the messengers of the seven churches. It's very much Christ here, who
is central Christ, who is the one who has authority. He is
that One who is the Head of the Body, the Church, and here is
John in the Spirit on Christ's Day, on the Lord's Day. It's
the Lordship. It's the Lordship of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Son of Man is Lord also of
the Sabbath, says Christ. It's His Day that John is there
observing. But see, the significance of
the name. Who is the one who is Lord of
the day? It is Him who goes by the name
Son of Man. And doesn't that direct us immediately
to that great work of redemption? Why the Son of Man? Well, He
takes not upon Him the form of the angel, He takes upon Him
the seed of Abraham. He doesn't become an angelic
being, an angelic creature, he becomes a man, a real man, and
why so? In order that he might accomplish
that great work of redemption, there in Hebrews chapter 2. Look at what's actually said at verse
14, following, For as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death,
that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took
not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore it In all things it
beholds him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be
a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succour them that are tempted." Paul reminds us quite clearly
why it was that Christ became the Son of Man. to destroy him
that had the power of death. And how did he destroy Satan
and all his powers? Through death. Through death
he destroyed him that had the power of death. And he comes
to deliver those who all their lifetime are subject to bondage.
He comes to accomplish that great work of reconciliation. And it is in this capacity that
we see Him as that One who is the Lord of the Sabbath. Oh, it is in order that His people
in the observance of that day, the Lord's day, that they should
remember that great work of redemption and of reconciliation. Isn't
the Sabbath itself in so many ways a wonderful type of the
Lord Jesus? It's what Gatsby said, the Sabbath
was a day of rest, a day the Lord Jehovah blessed, a lively
type of Christ. What a blessing then, what a
privilege to remember the day in terms of the great work that
Christ has accomplished. Not doing thy pleasure on my
holy day, Call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honourable,
then 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." Or we are to think in terms of Christ, we are to
think in terms of all that Christ has done. He as Son of Man is
the one who is Lord of the Sabbath. But when we think of this Christian
redemption, we're not only to think in terms of the Lordship
of the Lord Jesus, we're also, of course, to think of the significance
of the change of the day. The day is clearly now changed. That day that John is speaking
of, there at the end of the New Testament, which he calls the
Lord's Day, it is this first day of the week. upon which we
are meeting. We're told, are we not, concerning
the believers, in Acts chapter 20 and verse 7, upon the first
day of the week the disciples came together to break bread.
That was their practice, under the ministry of the apostles,
to come together on the first day of the week to break bread, to observe the
ordinance of the Holy Supper of the Lord. Again, look at the
language of the Apostle when he is just giving very practical
instruction and direction to that church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians
chapter 16. Last chapter there, he says this, Now concerning
the collection for the saints, As I have given order to the
churches of Galatia, even so do ye, upon the first day of
the week, that every one of you lie by him in store, as God hath
prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. As they gathered together on
the first day of every week, so then they were to make their
offerings, as it were. That was their practice. We know
how the Lord Jesus Christ himself honored that first day of the
week. Why? It was the day of his resurrection,
was it not? When he rose again from the dead.
And on that first day we read of how he appeared unto his disciples
in John chapter 20, verse 19 then the same day at evening
being the first day of the week when the doors were shot where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus
and stood in the midst and said unto them peace be unto you but Thomas was not present and
what happens the Lord appears on the following first day of
the week Verse 26, after eight days, again his disciples were
within. This would be the next first
day of the week. And Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors
being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto
you. Immediately they begin to gather
themselves together on the first day of the week. They observe
it as their day. as the Sabbath day, as the Lord's
day. The Old Testament Sabbath was very much a reminder of the
great work of God. It was after God had completed
the creation of all things in six days that He rested on that
seventh day. It was the cessation of all His
work of creation. No more work of creation now.
Oh yes, God works because He governs the world by His providence,
but creation work is completed. And God rests on that seventh
day, and He sanctifies the day, and every day, every time the
day was observed, there's that remembrance of God's great work
of creation. But then with regards to the
New Testament Sabbath, the Lord's Day, Does it not also mark the
completion of a great work? Or the accomplishment of a great
work? Even the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that new creation,
how he has come to redeem sinners unto himself, those who were
in a state of alienation, those who were enemies of God, far
off from God. And yet Christ has completed
the work. He has saved sinners. And so
as we come together on the Lord's Day, we remember even a greater
work than that of creation. We think of the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what does the believer
do? As Hart says, the believer slides softly into promised rest,
reclines his head on Jesus' breast, and proves the Sabbath true.
Who are we, those who desire to do that, to be resting? resting
only in the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 here is the promise, I will
cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feeding
with the heritage of Jacob thy father. It's something far greater
than that promise that was given to ancient Israel concerning
the land. It's a spiritual promise, is
it not? For the heritage of Jacob to be those who are the true
Israel of God. And every time we come together
we're to remember these things. Going back in Hebrews chapter
4, we're told, "...there remaineth therefore a rest to the people
of God." That resting in the Lord Jesus, but as we said before,
the marginal reading there in that verse is interesting. Rest
literally means a keeping of a Sabbath. "...there remaineth
therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God." This is
the This is the day which the Lord has made, is it not? Are
we not those who would rejoice and be glad in it, and seek to
fill the hours with sweet meditation upon the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus? Yes, we come together, we come
under the sound of His Word, but that's not all. He has given
us a day, 24 hours in the day, wherein we should surely be those
who would desire that we might do even as is commanded here
in the text, not our own pleasure, not our own pleasure, but call
the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, honoring
Him, speaking not our own words, but speaking of His words and
His works, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. O God, grant us that grace that
we might be those who would seek to keep the day, and to keep
it only to the Lord. Amen.