New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1917-12-14
INTERNATIONAL.
SNDMSQ1OM
LESSON
By E. o. SELLERS. Acting Director Of
the Sunday School Course of the Moody
Bible Institute, Chicago.)
Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Uut0n.)
LESSON FOR N IS
NEHEMIAH ENFoRcEs THE LAW
OF THE SABBATH.

tOLpEN the SAD
bath DAY to keep 1t holy.-Exod. 20:s.
Nehemiah remained In Jerusalem
twelve years, from B. G. IA to B. G
49,. He was then recalled and was
In Persia some years, perhaps five OF
seven, but returned about B. G. 420
the year ArtaXerxes died, for we know
that he returned by permission of thai
king. Therefore, the date of this les
son would be sometime in the summer
or early autumn of 428 or 427 r. c.,
16 or 18 years following last Sundays
lesson.
In the section, w. 1O-14, we see that
the gifts for the house of God and
the Levites, who led In worship. bad
been neglected. Whenever the house
Of God and its service of worship is
neglected, we may expect that the Sab
bath day and the worship of God will
also o o fall into contempt. Ezra has
hint as to his end. He may have re-
turned TO Babylon. seeing that his
work was completed, or have been re-
called by the king. Perhaps he brought
back information to Nehemiah at the
Persian court, Of the declensiOn which
had already started In the city Of Jeru-
salem. Three times in this chapter
the word remember" is emphasized.
Perhaps that offers a suggestion as to
u outline.
!. "Remember" ". 14) the Neglect
Of Gods House. wv. 1-14). The neg
lect of Gods house grew up out Of the
incursiOn Of heathenlsm into Jewish
life. Nehemiah realized that the pur-
ity of the ace depended upon absolute
separation from the mixed multitude.
difficulty Of having a priest wv. 4, 81.
who had dcfled himself and also desc
Grated the temple, and finally the por-
ton for the support of the priest and
the temple worship had been withheld.
". 10Y. This was the state Of things
II. "Remember" ". 12) the Sab
bath Day. wv. 1929. Nehemiah's
next and most difficult reform was re.
garding the fourth commandment. He
at once set about to learn the facts;
then relates what he saw ". 15). The
record also tells how he testified
against them in that they were selling
merchandise or the Sabbath day. He
with the mobiles that they
had done evil on the Sabbath day. ".
~. He testified against them that
the merchants and sellers of ware had
lodged about and within Jerusalem.
wv. 20, 21). The root Of the trouble
with Judah was that they forgot Gods
word and followed the devices and de-
sires of their own hearts. The Jewish
Sabbath in its outward form on the
exact day of the week is not binding
upon GENTLE Christians (Col. 2:16. 17).
It was given to Israel as a people,
(Deut. 81, p, as a memorial Of their
lellverance out of the land of Egypt
md the house of bondage. (Deut. 5:6).
The Christian, by the death Of Christ.
$ made dead to the letter of the law
IF Moses, (Deut. 7:4), but the prin-
,iple of the Sabbath is older than even
he law Of Moses and is IS binding
lpon the Christian believer as are the
many other principles which underlie
he Mosaic law. In It's exact form, the
day, the observance Of the
Sabbath belongs to the old order and
lot to the Christian order. Christ, who
Ose from the dead from. 7:4), rOse
the first day Of the week, and we,
IS Joined to Christ, are not under OBJ
lgations to the Mosaic law, but to
,hrist. Therefore, the Lords day, the
esurrection day. the first day Of the
week, (Rev. 1:1O; John q 20; 1:19-
6; Acts 27), is the day Of privilege,
lot of obligation and is more sacred
o us than the Sabbath day of these
ews. The Jews in Nehemiah's time
bowed their contempt of the Lords
ay by making 1t a day Of profit. hence
his exhOrtatiOn which we see set forth
4 this section. This should be a war;
lg and an exhOrtation TO us In these
avs of a s%ecularized Sabbath.
~. "Remember" ". 2s) the Holy
wv. 23-31). In this section
see that the priesthood had even
efiled themselves with women, and
gain this Nehemiah entered upon a
Lansing process. wv. 3O-31). The use
[ this word remember" in verses IA.
? and 20 gives strong emphasis to the
Tree cardinal sins against which Ne
emiah was battling.
~. Summary: As In Nehemiah's
me, so now, Sabbath dissertation Is
lie surest road to national ruin, and q
rye proportion of our present calam-
y can be traced to growing irrever-
ice for the Lords day. Jesus swept
way the cobwebs Of Sabbath irrever-
ice, but did not tear down the house.
e kept the principle, but removed the
with which the Pharisees
Id Jews had encountered 1t. Jesus
ught that the Sabbath was made for
and not man for the Sabbath,
fark 2:27, 2S), and he set himself as
example in this regard. for he is
ord of that day as well as the other
lys of the week.
The Sabbath is a day of rest and II
served, workmen without exception
III produce more than is possible II 1t
not observed. Recent confirmation
this principle can be found In the
port of the British ministry Of num-
ms. To observe the Sabbath or any
her divinely ordained principle tends
prosperity II Tim. 4:8).
The chief yalue of the Sabbath how.
er, Is In connection with the wor-
lip of God. The feeding Of the splr-
lal nature; the rest which Is to be