Sabbath

The Westminster Confession (Chapter XXI.7–8) is one of the most thorough confessional treatments of the Sabbath in any Protestant tradition. It teaches that the Sabbath commandment is part of the moral law and perpetually binding; that the Christian Sabbath is the Lord's Day (the first day of the week, Sunday), transferred from the seventh day at the Resurrection; and that 'this Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.'

This explicit Sabbatarianism — prescribing full-day rest and worship on Sunday — is a distinctive feature of the Westminster tradition compared to Lutheranism and Anglicanism. The Westminster Larger Catechism (Q&A 115–121) itemizes Sabbath duties and sins at length. In practice, observance of Sunday Sabbath restrictions varies widely in contemporary Presbyterian churches, but the confessional position remains one of the most explicit in Protestant Christianity.