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14 the presbyteria Prayer Meeting THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION. Phil. 3: 10-12. For Week Beginning April 11. The apostle hai suffered the loss of all things for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. This was not simply the loss of materiai possessions and of personal advantage, hut of cherished religious prepossessions and practices. His ritualism and traditionalism, so slavishly adhered to formerly, ;vere now abandoned. He had most zealously observed the Mosaic ceremonies, and most tenaciously held to the traditions of the elders. His zeal had manifested itself in violent persecution of the Christian Church. He challenged others to charge him with faithlessness in any . kind of external or ceremonial conformity. But the things that he once counted supreme as the ground of acceptance with God, he now counted loss for Christ. He now believed that they were antagonistic to the grace of the gospel. He, therefore, willingly and completely surrendered them. His former treasures of belief and practice, he utterly abandoned. He embraced totally new views of his relation to God. His hope now was to be found in Christ, who was the true righteousness. His own riirhteonsnosK whirh nmo r?f ?v>o law, was renounced, and the righteousness which was by the faith of Christ, and which was of God by faith, was embraced. The apostle, in assigning the reason for the exchange which lie had made, further specifies that in addition to receiving Christ's righteousness by faith, he wanted to know Christ in his entire person and work; in "the power of his resurrection," which was our lord's triumph over death, the vindication of his Messianic office, the assurance of the resurrection of those united to him by faith, and the source and guarantee of the spiritual life of the believer. Again, he was to be made conformable to Christ's death. This was to be realized in his dying unto sin, that h" might me 11111li vjuu, uy musing sacrince ana enauring affliction in behalf of his Lord and as entering into suffering with him. There was not only to be a kindred life, but by mystical union, Ad as hir representative, the servant was to be a sufferer together with his Master. This fidelity in suffering was to be maintained even to the extreme of dying with him. The idea here i3 mainly that of dying unto sin but the apostle's avowed readiness to die for . his Lord, and the fact of his being in "deaths oft" would indicate that he anticipated dying "unto the Lord," when he spoke of being made conformable unto his death. As a culmination of it all he anticipates attainment "unto the resurrection of the dead." This he regards as outweighing all loss aud all suffering. The forfeiture of friends and personal interests, of the bright prospects which his vigor of mind, his talents and learning had warranted, was fully justified by the hope of attaining unto the resurrection. When he says, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord," he must have thought aiso o! the extraordinary ministry committed to him? his miraculous gifts, fcis vast labors, his remarkaljle evangelistic work, his apostolic authority, as well as his multiform sufferings?these ail were counted as nothing as a ground of righteousness and of attaining "unto the resurrection of the 1 dead." You are wronging unborn children by not putting the light in the face of their fathers and mothers.?Dr. Maltbie B. Bab- i cock. 1 N OF THE SOUTH. April 7, 1909. I Young People's Society THE LORD'S DAY. Topic for Sunday, April 18: Why we Observe the Lord's Day. Mark 16; 1-6; Acts 20: T; I Cor. 16: 2; Rev. 1: 10. DAILY READINGS. Monday A day of rest. Exodus 20: 8-11. Tuesday: A day of worship. Isaiah 58: 13, 14. Wednesday: A day of holy memories. John 20: 19-23. 'Ph.,nr. U,.. A .1?- -e 1 1 ? - - - - x uuisua;. -*\ u?y ui mviug service. AiarK 3: 1-6. Friday: The outcast's day. Isaiah 36: 3-8. Saturday: A pattern for all days. Romans 14: 5-12. The Sabbath was instituted as soon as man was made. God "rested on the seventh day." It was observed by Abel and Cain. The words, "In the process of time," should read, "At the end of the days," meaning the end of the week. God regarded it in feeding the Israelites. He wrought a double miracle, in the gift of a double portion of manna on Fridays and in preserving a surplus, which on other days was spoilt. The fourth commandment was introduced with the unique word, "Remember," which had a backward glance, as well as future projection. It could not have been used had there not already been a Sabbath. The worship of God is essential to the religious nature. The possession of a time is essential to the regularity and perfection of this worship. If it is right to worship, it is needful to have a habitual time for that worship. Ruskin has happily said that if we are to rest one day in seven in imitation ot God's rest, we ought surely to work on the other six days in imitation of his work. We can find no better preparation for proper work than a becoming rest on his day. Thp nniininlmpnt t\f iho firot rlov -4 * wrrw..sv...w..v W* V..V Ul-v VIMJ \JL IUC ? CCI\, iiiaitau ot the seventh, as the day of rest, followed Immediately after the Lord's resurrection, and the name, "Lord's Day," wus at once attached to it and remained its name through the balance of the New Testament history. This new tyle was given it to commemorate the Lord's rising. It is the Church's true "Easter Day." occurring not once a year, but once a week, to remind us of the greatest single event in our Lord's life. And in his honor it ought always to be called "The Lord's Day," rather than Sunday, cr even "Sabbath." The "days" and "Sabbaths" sometimes mentioned in the New Testament, especially in Galatians and Colossians, were the Jewish Sabbath, which some of the earlv ChriKtinnc iront awhile In addition to the Christian Sabbath. Their observance of the old day was disapproved by Paul, as being somewhat of a reversion to Judaism, or of clinging to the narrow faith out of which Christ had led them. The Lord's Day is to be a delight to us, not a chain to bind us, but a crown to adorn us. It is a day in which to do the ljord'r. pleasure, and not our own, to cease from all secular work, to devote all our time to private and public worsnip of God, meditation, prayer, good reading, deeds of charity or mercy, efforts to instruct or to win souls for Christ. Used thus, and in loyalty to Christ, it need not become irksome, but will soon be turned into a joy. As a simple rest day, it is one of the best gifts bestowed upon mankind. Even dead machinery lasts longer and does better work for sometimes standing still. The finer the ma