Are works of mercy an exception or command?

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Richard Cronin

Puritan Board Freshman
Hello all

I've been thinking about the sabbath a lot recently, which I've taken to mean a cessation of worldy work and avoidance of worldly recreations with the exceptions of things that have to be done (necessity) and with exception acts of mercy that also have to be done (e.g. emergencies that cross our path)

But the confession does not word it like that, it says we are to take up the whole time in private and publick acts of worship AND duties of necessity and mercy. Thus I think it's a fair reading that worship and acts of mercy are to be done and the only exception are things that are necessary.

I was put on this idea by the Directory of Public Worship's essay on the Lord's day says
"That what time is vacant, between or after the solemn meetings of the congregation in publick, be spent in reading, meditation, repetition of sermons; especially by calling their families to an account of what they have heard, and catechising of them, holy conferences, prayer for a blessing upon the publick ordinances, singing of psalms, visiting the sick, relieving the poor, and such like duties of piety, charity, and mercy, accounting the sabbath a delight."

I could imagine a congregation or family doing all sorts of merciful things in our world on Sunday, many organisations look for volunteers for help with their good deeds. I'd never considered this as an acceptable way to spend the sabbath.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.
R
 
I think this is what Christ was getting at in Mark 3/Luke 6 when he asked the Scribes and Pharisees (who were watching to see if He would heal on the Sabbath): "Whether is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy?" It is not a day to do nothing (be idle) - either you are doing good or you are doing evil. It is a duty to do good when you are aware of a need, and I believe this is the example Christ left us. He did not go out of His way to find sick people to heal - "he entered again into the Synagogue, and there was a man which had a withered hand" (Mark 3.1, also Luke 6.6) - but when He encountered them He did His duty. I think it is fair to say that we should be doing this every day, so there is a sense in which the Directory is clarifying that these things are to continue on the Sabbath while perhaps also suggesting that we use the time afforded by resting from our normal work to seek out helping others, especially those in the Church: "While we have therefore time, let us do good unto all men, but especially unto them, which are of the household of faith." (Galatians 9.10)
 
Whatever comes before you. I remember a very hot Lord’s day when the wife of a brother with a heart condition expressed worry about going home to a sweltering home. They did not have air conditioning. I had a spare window unit, tools, and supplies. He had a cool bedroom a couple hours later.

Similarly, another family suffered a power failure from a storm on the Lord’s Day. Their house with kids had no way to run a furnace during the single digit cold snap. I brought over a generator and set them up.

My usual Lord’s Day was singing, reading, and talking with my wife, but these interruptions called for something else.
 
Before the pandemic, our church sent a group over to a local nursing home every Sabbath to sing and pray and have a devotional. It was an errand of mercy for those shut-in.
 
My church is filled with disabled people. It takes quite a bit of work getting them to and from church.
 
Agreeing with those above, the whole of the duties of the Sabbath are about how we frame our minds, hearts and environments putting aside worldly affairs, so that we may spend time in worship, loving God freely and loving our neighbour. Visiting the sick for example is not a checklist command for every Sunday or otherwise you're sinning, but it should be something that flows out compassion for those around you who are in need.
 
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