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October 27, 1909. THE PRESBYTERIAN
Monday. Wherever the Continental Sabbath has prevailed,
Monday is the poorest work-day in the week,
showing that Sunday amusements have served to exhaust
rather than recuperate."
The Christian Sabbath is typical of heavenly rest.
This thought is developed and forcibly illustrated in
the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The
divine plan and gracious provision is heavenly rest.
Phe apostasy of Israel is used with good effect by way
of illustration as a timely warning against missing the
heavenly rest. Heaven may begin on earth. A sanctified
Sabbath on earth is a miniature of heaven in rest,
worship and spiritual fellowship. Glimpses and foretastes
of heaven are given in advance. One of these
is the spirit of the Sabbath. This spirit already enjoyed
is typical of the full fruition. "For he that is
entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his
own works as God did from His." A sanctified Sabbath
on earth is a living expression of what the Christian
religion is in essence and what it can do for man
i:r- t*. ?- ' *
... jy.wvi.i me. it can nuerare mm irom bearing
burdens, and it can make him a new free man in
Christ Jesus. The Christian Sabbath is a visible exponent
of the Kingdom of Christ, and wherever the
kingdom goes the Sabbath goes, for the Christian Sabbath
is the visible badge of the Kingdom of Christ.
The more we succeed in persuading peopie in turning
aside from pleasures and secular pursuits the easier it
is to persuade them to seek first the Kingdom of God
and his righteousness. Would that pastors and preachers
would think of this if they wish to fill their
churches, save souls and build up the kingdom of
Christ.
The Christian Sabbath is essential and fundamental
in the kingdom of God. It is essential because indispensable
in the formation of Christian character. The
Sabbath flnpc t-ira- c + o.i/4 * '
... tiw kunu aiwuv/ in v^niiMidii cnaracrcr
or in a community or commonwealth. It is social, and
intimately associated with it are multiplied blessings,
both spiritual and temporal to the observer. It is promotive
of reverence for the sacred and divine. It is an
act of loving obedience to God. It is an open, public
confession of faith, a loving memorial of the resurrection
of Christ. It is a willing compliance with the law
<>f higher attainments and a promised security against
apostasy. "For he "that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting
it, keeps his hand from doing any evil." In
general, it is a divinely ordained condition to blessedness.
The Sabbath observer is a blessed man, in basket
and in store. Even the sons of the stranger, "every
one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it shall
be blessed ; even them will I bring to my holy mountain
and make them iovful in mv lmnsp of nnvor " T*
^ - - ?J ? 1?J ? iv
ought to be a voluntary expression of cheerfulness, of
joy and gladness in the house of the Lord, in the home,
or by the way, expressive of a comforting sense of relief
from the past and filled with an abounding expectation
of greater blessings to come..
"This day God made with cheerful voice,
In it we'll triumph and rejoice;
k Save now, O, Lord, we plead with thee;
ft Lord, send us now prosperity."
Blairsville, Pa.
I
J OF THE SOUTH. 9
Quiet Hour
PRAYER.
God of our fathers, be the God of their succeeding
race. Let Thy light and Thy truth shine forth and establish
themselves in the love and confidence of all
mankind. Hide not Thy face from us. In the hiding
of,Thy face is darkness, and the keeping back of Thy
hand is death. Draw near unto us! To our hearts
daily do Thou speak comfortably. Rebuke us not in
Thine anger, chide us not in Thy displeasure, for the
look of Thy judgment will destroy us, and the breath
of Thine anger will carry us away. Our only hope is
in Thy love.. Thy love we know best in Christ
Jesus, the priest, the victim, the propitiation
for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins
of the whole world. In His love would we meet Thee,
it is Thine own love, eternal, unchangeable, infinite.
We would hide ourselves in it as in a sanctuary that
can not be violated. May we stand in the infinite enclosure.
safe from every assault and every temptation.
Amen.
SOME POINTERS.
If you have the "blues," read the Twenty-seventh
Psalm.
If your pocket-book is empty, read the Thirtyseventh
Psalm.
If people seem unkind, read the fifteenth chapter of
St. John.
If you are discouraged about your work, read the
One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Psalm.
If you are "all out of sorts," read the twelfth chapter
of Hebrews.
it you are losing confidence in men, read the thirteenth
chapter of 1 Corinthians.
If you can't have your own way in everything, read
the third chapter of St. James.?Christ Church Times.
WATER AND THE SPIRIT.
In regard to the discussion of John 3: 5, "Born of
water and of the Spirit," it seems to me a rational interpretation
is that, as water is the symbol of cleansing,
and the Spirit is the agent employed in regeneration,
the meaning is, "Except a man is cleansed and
regenerated, he can not enter the kingdom of God."?
R. A. Ward.
"Conviction is not repairing of the old building;
but it takf?c all ?? ?'' -
__ -- ?... v?v^T?.? auu cicus a new structure.
It is not the putting in a patch, or sewing on a list
of holiness, but, with the true - convert, holiness is
woven into all his powers, principles and practice.
The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric, from
the foundation to the topstone all new."?R. Alleine.
"Men may devise ways of access to God; they may
admit an over-ruling Providence; they may extol
natural religion; but the thirst of the soul is never
satisfied save by revealed truth."?Josiah Bateman