467
THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
re st in Thee.” Princess Elizabeth, d aughter of Charles I, was found dead w ith h er head resting; on th e Bible, which was open a t th e words, “ Come unto Me, all ye th a t labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you re st.” Golden Text Illu stratio n . — Henry W ard Beecher said, “I hold th a t a world w ithout a Sabbath would be like a man w ithout a smile, like summer w ithout flowers, and like a homestead w ithout a garden. It is th e joyous day of the whole week.” Ruskin has said, “There is no music in a rest, b u t th ere is the making of music in it.” In our whole life melody, th e music is broken off here and there by rests, and we foolishly chafe under th e silence and the seeming break-off in our lives. God sends a tim e of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, fru stra ted efforts, unexpected pauses in th e hymn of your life, and you lam ent th a t your voice must be silent, a n d your p a rt m issing in th e music, which goes up to th e ear of the Creator. B u t not w ithou t design does God appoint th e note and th e rest. The Jew has a hope th a t th is text will be realized in th e n ear future. In Rus sia, the Jews, on th e ir g reat day of national purification, close all private chapels and synagogues of th e various corporations, so th a t all Israel may pray to th e Lord of th eir fathers, jointly in. th e g reat synagogue, as one united fam ily. L ike th e solemnity of New Year’s Day, it closes w ith the significant pa trio tic signal, th e blowing of th e sacred horns, which is answered by the en tire congregation w ith the ejaculation, “Next year in Jeru salem .” - The Happiest Day of th e Week. Deut. 5:12, 13; Luke 4 :1 6 ; Mark 3:1-5. Memory Verse.—r-“ Remember th e Sab bath day, to keep it holy.” Ex. 20:8. Approach.— In our story today we are going to h ear about th e happiest day of the week. I wonder which day
break-down in th e w ilderness journey. God h as so made th e universe on a scale of one out of seven, th a t it must have the needed change every seventh day. The fact th a t God H imself rested, Gen. 2:3, on th e seventh day, suggests to us th a t His own being is made on th is one-in-seven scale. Notice th e g reat prom ise of blessing connected w ith Isa. 58:13, 14. Nehem iah contended vigorously for the Sabbath a t th e retu rn from th e captivity, in Babylon, Neh. 13:15-22. Nerve B est Necessary.—Dr. Martin and his associates in th e labo rato ry of physiology a t th e H arvard Medical School have made a study of work and weariness. They have measured the nerve reactions. I t was found th a t nerve reaction is uniform ly high on Monday, falls off on Tuesday, still more on Wednesday, and continues to de crease during th e re st of th e week, till on Sunday it is a t its lowest. But on Monday, afte r the. Sunday re st or change, it uniform ly leaps up again to its high ch aracter of th e preceding Monday. In other words, Sunday has restored th e “ nervous ton e” of th e per son. , ; . M One Day in Seven Absolutely Neces sary.— B lackstone declares somewhere th a t “ a corruption of morals usually fol lows a profanation of the Sabbath,” and La Place said ju st before his death, “I have lived long enough to know w hat a t one tim e I did no t believe, th a t no society can be upheld w ithout th e senti m ent of religion.” I have never seen a well man physically, mentally, ner vously, ‘who worked a t th e same work seven days a week for several weeks. I have had unsaved men say th a t they worked on Sunday for a while, b u t they found they could do more work by rest ing one day in seven, and so ceased to work on Sunday. B est in Christ.— Augustine said, “ O Lord, Thou h ast formed us for Thyself, and our h earts are restless till they find
Made with FlippingBook HTML5