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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