Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-05

city shall be full of boys and girls
playing in the streets thereof"
Zach. 3:5.
There is probably no question be-
| fore the public mind now any more
! important or more absorbing than
| that of rest and recreation; certainly
! none more universal. AS always
| there are the extremes-those who
| think of nothing but recreation, and
| those who see no place for it; those
| who will take no rest and would
have all their employees work all the
time, and those who want to work as
little as possible and rest as much.
AS always there is. but one place 10
find the true answer, and that is In
the Word of God.
The Bible~and Rest
And here we find in the very open
ing chapters the divine principle OF
rest laid down in the example of God
himself who rested on the seventh
day and hallowed it. In other words,
He established the principle that one
seventh of a mans time should be
devoted to rest, and rest that would
bring him into closer fellowship with
his Maker; since He not only rested
Himself, but made that day holy
day A most interesting notice of
this is found in Elk. 31:1i, where, in
referring to His creative work, 1T
says, for in six days Jehovah made
heaven and earth, and on the sew
| ed;" and the word ''refreshed' means
caught His breath" Surely it it
was necessary for Jehovah to rest
and catch His breath, it is far more
| needful for US. And actually TINS
| has been found to be true-it is alb
| ,4o.Ix wv
welfare of man and beast that one
! day in seven be devoted to rest.
! France tried one day in ten, but
| found it would not work. 1t is
! fundamental law of mems nature.
The Sabbath and Sunday
1t was not until the wilderness eX-
perience of Israel that any reference
/ is made to the Sabbath. Elk. 16:2l-30
contains the first mention of the Sab
bath in the Bible and here God forci-
day should be their Sabbath by not
giving them any mama on that day,
for He had given two days supply
on the sixth. But this does not
mean that there had been no observ-
ance of the one-seVenth of time prin-
ciple prior TO that time. On the 9TH
er hand, the very fact that 1T is mere
mentioned as 1T is shows that their
dereliction in the observance OF 1t on
account of their sin made it neces-
their backsliding by giving them
definite law on the subject
The idea of a seventh day as pc
culiarly Gods was not unknown
amongst other peoples. The Babylon
ians observed the 18th, 18th, 18th, 2lst
CThe 18th is the 39th day, Xxi, OF the
preceding month"; They considered
them, however, as unlucky days,
days which they had to Keep. sacred
or else incur the wrath of their gods.
Jehovah's idea, as given to Israel,
benefit of man and beast; it was hu-
manitarian. The reason for keeping
the seventh day holy as given in
the ten commandments was GODS
eek. 20:11.) But when Moses was re-
captivating the law after the vii
derness wanderipgs were over he
gave Gods reoenptive work as the
reason. (Deut. 5:12-15.)
How far Israel leaned toward the
heather idea is realized when we
appreciate that the Sabbath obserV-
ance question was second to none,
as an issue between Jesus and the
Jewish leaders. 1T is noteworthy
the law which He came to fulfill,
He made all the others more strin-
gent but was more liberal than they
in His Interpretation of the fourth
commandment. Not that He dlsre-
sarded it; but His attitude was that
men and beast, and must give. way
when necessity required a higher
law to be operative.
The practical question as to how
to observe this principal of the one
seventh of time now involves an
other phase of it. For while after
the death and resurrection of Jesus.
the early church observed the Sab
bath just as all other Jews had
been doing. But they also met
daily for the breaking of bread and
of prayer. Gradually, just when we
do not know, they began to observe
the first day of the week-the Lords
day, the Gay peculiarly the Lords
the dead and brought life and i'm
mortality to light-as the day of
worship. That the change has the
complete sanction of Scripture is at
tested by Acts 20:7, L Corinthians,
1872 and Revelation 1:1O. Ignatius
wrote, NO longer keeping the Sab
bath, but living according to the
Lords day. the day on which our
Light arose"
Christians are no longer under the
Sabbath as day of rest. That was
a Jewish institution. and was not
among the necessary things (Acts
15:2S-29) required of Gentle con-
NGTLS TO CHRISTIANITY. L duI uISilHClIN
includes the Sabbath as one OF the
things from which we are freed by
the death of Christ and to which
we must not allow ourselves to be-
come in bondage again. Galatians
$50 This does not mean. however.
that the fundamental principle of
the one-seventh of time for rest and
catching your breath and as pecu-
liarly Gods is abrogated. Any day
can be used for that, but at least
one day must. be. and will be if we
will have any sense of devotion to
Him who gave all His time for
us.
In other words. there is funda-
mental law of the one-seventh of
time that never has been and never
can b abrogated. There is also a
fundamental difference between the
Jewish Sabbath and the Lords day.
How to observe the Lord S day will
depend entirely on the individual,
and particularly on the background
of his life.
The Lutherans and the Calvinists
Of earlier days revolted against the
legalistic practices of the Roman
lists; while the evangelical Scotch
and the English Purita1s were stern
ly. severe because of the reaction
against the lax observance of those
about it. Your slant" comes from
one of these. The point of view of
many in this mixed population of
ours is entirely different and de-