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12 THE .PRESBYTERIAN
Prayer Meeting
TOPIC?ORIGIN AND VALUE OF THE SOUTH.
Week Beginning Ocober 24.
We have always had the Sabbath; it was announced in
Eden. Dr. Pierson says in regard to it: "It is one of two
things that comes down to us from a sinless Eden, marriage
being the other, and these two should be sacredly guarded
as the only relics we have of ma \'s unfallen state." Then
he calls attention to the growth 1 the Sabbatic law. He
shows us that God has some how impressed a Sabbatic Law
even upon material nature. In a congress of engineers in
Paris, from all parts of the world, the decision arrived at was,
that machinery will last much longer if it is used but six
uajo uuv. ui luc dcvcu. xub oauuiXLu or man alter trie rail,
emphasized simply rest from physical labour for man and
beast Advancing to the Mosaic system, we find a full Sabbatic
System involving not only the seventh day, but the
seventh week, month, year, on to the seventy times seven
years?the grand jubilee.
In Isaiah, representing the "Prophets" as Moses, the "Law,"
you have the great transition from the old Sabbath to the
new, in the words: "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 de
light thyself in the Lord."
Here the emphasis is on the rest from selfish pleasures and
from self-seeking. All the Levitical features have disappeared
and we have the forecast of what may be called the spiritual
feature.
In the New Testament we have rest in worship, even the
Lord himself going into the synagogue and engaging in acts
of worship, as his custom was. Jesus Christ is the meetingplace
of God and man, the place of the oracle, the place of
sacrifice?all Sabbatic types are realized in him. In Hebrews
we have the final Interpretation of all preceding Sabbatic
types: "There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the
people of God." It is the rest of faith, when we learn to depend
upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
endwelling of the Holy Spirit.
We will get the truest value from the Sabbath as we grow
into a more intimate appreciative knowledge of our Lord who
has given us the Sabbath for our good. We still have the
command, "Six days shalt thou labor," and, in obeying, we
cau uc wuiouipiiig our raaoici , UUl Wlldl mi UIlSp6HK&DI6
blessing it is that the six days are followed by one in which
we worship by rest?when it is our duty as well as our pleasure
to rest, body, mind and spirit?to enjoy the day with our
Lord.
In observing the day it is helpful to study how he used the
day when here on earth. The Pharisees' criticism of his and
his disciples' laxness on two occasions?one the pulling, rubbing
out and eating the corn when hungry, the other the healing
of the withered hand?show that ceremonial observance
and forms give way before \vorks of necessity and mercy.
One of the editors of the "Christian World" writes:
In making some purchases the other day at one of Cleveland's
substantial stores, an elderly clerk awakened special
interest by giving a little chapter from his experience. Shortly
after taking a position with the firm nearly a third of a century
ago. he was asked one day by two lady customers if a
certain piece of good's was all wool. He frankly told them
it was not, but was part cotton. They hesitated about buying
it for a little, but on his assurance that for their purposes
It was all the better, because of its cotton threads, they at
la&t decided to take it After they left, one of the partners
who had overheard the conversation, stepped up to the clerk
and said. "Is that thu wav von usuuHv tnllr tr? miatnmoHit"
Thinking his candor was to receive a rebuke, but unable to
give any other answer, he said It was. "Well," said his
employer, "You are the kind of a man we want," and promoted
him then and there. For more than thirty years he has
been retained by the Arm as one of its best and most highly
valued men, and he will probably keep his place for life.
OF THE SOUTH. October 20, 1909. '
Young People's Societies
ISLAND MISSIONARY HEROES.
Topic for Sunday, October 31: Heroes of Missions in the
Islands. Isaiah 32:1-4, 16-20.
DAILY READINGS.
Monday: The God of the isles. Psalm 72:10-19.
Tuesday: The waiting isles. Isaiah 42:1-13.
Wednesday: The kingdom enlarged. Isaiah 51:1-6.
Thursday: Paul on Cyprus. Acts 13:4-12.
Friday: Barbarian kindness. Acts 28:1-10.
Saturday: To all the world. Luke 24:44-48.
i ue islands of the sea" was a phrase significant of distance
or remoteness and was used to suggest the extent of
the gospel rather than any physical conformation of land and
water.
The poetical use oT the words, therefore, is in no sense
significant of any special blessing to be given to the islands
as distinguished from the mainland or continents of any part
of the world.
God wills that the gospel be preached everywhere. He
would have his people know that none are to be left out, and
that no excuse of the distance or inaccessihilitv nt ??.>? ?
v* ?UJ Will
be accepted of him.
As if to emphasize this, he has inclined the hearts of many
of the noblest of his believers to go to the most isolated parts
of the world, and has richly blessed them in their efforts to
win souls to Christ.
Marsden in New Zealand, Williams in the Society Islands,
Cross and others in the Pijis, Paton in the New Hebrides,
Chalmers in New Guinea, Patteson in Melanesia, are names
which will live forever in the honored roll of Christ's faithful
workers.
There are islands made such by great seas of unbelief
rolling around them. The oasis is but an island in the
desert. Are there not many spots even near to our doors
which have become isolated and where we may send the
gospel even as to "the isles of the sea"?
The heroism that bore Paton to the New Hebrides will be
needful to bear workers to the fields nearer home, where the
very act of going will, as men unhappily view it now, be next
to martyrdom itself. The man who goes into the home mission
field to-day is really the hero of modern church life.
The success which God has given the missionaries to remote
lands is an earnest of what he has in store for all who
go m the same spirit to any land. *'Lo, I am with yon alway,
even unto the end of the world." Christ's presence and companionship
will insure both happiness and success. It may
well be called "the believer's great partnership."
THE BLEST.
Deem not 'that they are blest alone
Whose days a peaceful tenor keep;
The anointed Son of Ood makes known
A blessing f r the eyes that weep.
The light of smiles shall fill again
The lids that overflow with tears.
And weary hours of woe and pain
Are promises of happier years.
There is a day of sunny rest
For every dark and troubled night;
And grief may bide an evening guest,
But Joy shall come with early light.
Nor let the good man's trust depart,
Though life Its common gifts deny,
Though with a pierced and broken heart,
-- Axfd spurned of men, he goes To die.
For God has marked each sorrowing day,
And numbered every secret tear;
And heaven's long age of bliss must pay
For all his children suffer here.
?William Cullea Bryant.
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