THE DAY OF REST.

Mataura Ensign, 17 July 1909, Page 4

THE DAY OF REST.

* (Edited by lU-v. T. I'aulin.) A LESSON-FROM THE CAMEL. Tin; camel i't thr liu-c v ( day. Kneels down upon the muiilv plain, To have liis burden lifted off And rest to yoin. My soul, thou, too. sbouldsl to lliv knees When daylight drawoth lo a close, And lot thy Master lil'l l-ho load And grant repose. Else how cotildsl thou to morrow meet. With nil to-morrow's work to do, If thou tliv burden nil the nbdit Didst carry through:The camel kneels at break ot day To have his guide replace his load; Then rises up anew to take The deso,:t road. Sit thou slutulilst kneel at morning's dawn That God may give thco dailv care, Assured that He no load ton ureal Will make tin-it hear. I'HAYEIi" Almiglity (iod, our prayer is that we may live worthily before Thee, .serving: Thee, day and night according to Thy will, and showing forth out of a pure and noble life Thy truth and Thy grace as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is in the name so sweet, so dear, the one grout good name we now come before Thee. Our prayer is to be lifted into Thy likeness, 10 be set amongst Thine augels for purity and strength, yet never ti> forget that we are men of the earth, the children of time, redeemed with the great price of the blood of Christ. We desire to set ourselves lo Thy service with our whole heart, and with both our hands; nothing would we. do reluctantly or of compulsion, but everything with the ease of love, with the gladness of a true heart's loyalty —then shall we never be weary, in outsold there shall be no fainUiess'. Amen.

Mr Fullerton's quiet, forceful preaching made a great impression on those who heard it (says a Home paper). The subject of his morning sermon "was "Vrayer," and he took as his text Matt, xxix,, 21), " Lint pray yo that your (light be not in Hie winter, neither on the Sabbath day." In ihis text, ho pointed out, a great deal of tho. philosophy of prayer is opened out to us. "We may pray about ourselves and our families, and if so, surely if is titling that we shuld pray in our' families. On this Whitsuntide morning will you let mo press that home on your heart and conscience:-' I know it is increasingly difficult, in these days of stress to arrange for the family to' meet together at the altar, but I'ara sure that the beginning of the. backsliding of many Christian people, mid Christian families is often in the neglect of the family altar. We may pray for the church, and if we are to pray for the church we should meet in the'ehurch.'' Mr Fullcrton also found that the text, justifies us in praying about times and seasons. " Yon can still put hack the shadow on the dial. In our church at Leicester it used to be the custom Years ago, when Mr Meyer first gathered the people together, when they were going to have a Sundav-school anniversary outing, to ask (iod to let it be a fine day. And they have a legend in tihe church that once when they went for their outing it was raining m the next field and not in their Held. Xow you smile, but, really the rain must stop somewhere. The laws of naturo do not negative prayer, for prayer is one of the laws of nature. Would that we in the church used what the old i'uritans used to call in strikiug phrase, "more of holy impudeiiey.'' A GUI", AT QV EST (ON. The closing words of the Moderator's' address at the close of the E.C. Assembly, Edinburgh, were as follows: He felt that the great question of the present day was the question of spiritual power. Out of the wandering nerplcxities and above the loud uncertaintics there stood to-day, more than ever, the certainly of the supremacy of Christ, ami the acknowledgment of the need of reconciliation and atonement with Cod through the sacrifice of the Redeemer. He spoke of the power of brotherhood, ami the. intensely strong call towards the ionization of thai ideal, when one remembers how Iho great proportion of the. working people of our country places are still at once the glory ami the responsibility „f -jmChurch. And then he lifted up his eyes towards the nee.l for a united front against, the evils of to-day. The movement and restlessness in Christendom -was a sign ol the stirring of the w'iters either for 11 new hope or a new hopelessness. •• Which May has the world to be ledr Which way «as it going!' Towards Cod or from 'j.lim : j " Lord Ivinnaird. in bis elo-in,, remarks, spoke 011 l lie gretii hope of union, thy question of temperance, 'and the work in India. And then, alter the old Psalm:

" I'ray thin Jerusalem inn v hit. ( - I'caco iinrl felicity," the j»i-«':it Assembly separated for another year, wondering if, ulirn thev moo; again, tln> s.undired streams a* ill nave been Jim,, together into ' one pwu. tideway, „,i which will l. v Ho„l----111.4 tin- on.. j--.r<-:i t ivispiM-sliip ol' united prayers ami oh'ons. insiead of the sent, ti'iv.i privateer., and cMl'iiue, rafts of to-day. SABBATH OBSIiHYANCE. " tt is better." says Joremv Taylor, "to plough upon l.oly days than t0 do uothui", or io do viciously." It i„ easy to enunciate ec-ioral principles, but their application io particular oases is always dillietilt. Si. I shall simply ask your attentions („ som,- )>r«>:ir| cohsid,.lious. and leave um ,:i determine your action m the light of ihese. ),j the Siililnuli is a humane institution. • It is ii.ii a tnhiii,. which Cod exacts i hut a -lit which He has bestowed on j the children of ,„,,„, allt | , v |,j cl , He | Would have tts value and Use wisely uiitl I effectively. Its purpose is twofold : (I) 1 that mini and beast may resi from their ' labor and repair their wasted energies: i V~) thai men. the immortal children of Clod, may cense from worldly distractions and l :k thoir Loads into cternitv lest they he overwhelmed. Wo are liilgnms and strangers on the earth, travelling across the trido wilderness to the City of God, and tlio Sjibbntk is as a well in the desert where we. inav drink

and replenish mir water bottles. There is no necessity for demonstrating our need oi this refreshment and reinforcement. \Yithout- il our lives would soon get arid and sordid. "Left to ourselves," says Thomas a [\enipis, "we sink and perish: visited, we lift up our beads and live.'' The Sabbath is our Day of Visitation, when Ihe din ceases and the mist opens, and we see the blue sky and hear the angels singing. You remember the beautiful doctrine of Pythagoras, that the houvonlv bodies make music as ihev wheel across the firmament; and when he was asked why wejiover hear "the music of the spheres, he answered that we arc so accustomed to it that wo never notice it. It is good for ns to pause and be still and hear the music of eternitv. And this is the use of the Sabbath. 2. Here then is the rule: t r sc the Sabbath so that it may serve its end Apply this principle to those particular cases winch you specify, and vou will easily coino to a sane decision. 'Regnrdmg the practice of working on the Sabbath, (piite apart from the religious question, it is bad police. .Remember Cassian's story about St. .John. " AVliv do you carry your bow unstrung?" lie asked the hunter who mocked at him for playing with his pot partridge. "Because, if 1 kept it alwav.s strung, it would lose its spring." " F.ven so," said St. .John, "be not offended at this rclaxath.n of mine, which keeps niv spirit from waxing faint." If vou would do well in your classes, close y'ouv abbai •• o'.-h.ii ''. ■' ':.. .' . ";.',.; ,\.]' end. According to this test, what about reading novels? Does it open the windows of the soul? Docs il furnish an outlet into eternity? Xo Sabbath has been well spent if we do not feel at its (dose as though wo had made an oxcurvisit, to the father's House.-Rev. 1). Smith. A LARGE I'IIAYI^tMIEETINC. First Church, Lo S Angeles California, of which Dr Charles E. Locke is present at a recent mid-week praver meeting, and found an attendance' of 1)02, though there was no extraordinary announcement, no concerted action, and no special programme.

In his tiirecl'old capacity as Christian gentleman. Christian teacher, and prominent citizen, the minister must emphasise the eternal.