THE SABBATH.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20254, 24 July 1937, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE SABBATH.

•iiiiiimiiiiimmiimiiimimmiimiiiiii “TO EVERY MAN HIS WORK.” I laid it down in silenoe. This work of mine; And took what had been -sent me— A resting tims. The Master’s voice had called me To rest apart; "Apart with Jesus only,” Echoed my heart. I took the rest and stillness From His own hand, And felt this present illness Was what He planned How often we choose labour When He says "Rest"— Our ways are blind and crooked, His way’ Is best. The work Himself has given He will complete. There may be other errands For tired feet; There may be other duties For tired hands, The present is obedience To His commands. There is a blessed resting In lying still. In letting His hand mould Just as He will. His work must be completed, His lessons set; He is the higher workman Do not forget. It is not only "working;” We must be trained; And Jesus "learnt obedience,” Through suffering gained, For us His yoke is easy His burden light, His discipline most needful, And all is right. We are but under-workmen They never choose If this tool, or if that one, Their hands shall use; In working or in waiting, May we fulfil Not ours at all, but only The Master’s will.

DAILY TEXT.

Bunday. 0 Lord God of our fathers are not Thou God in Heaven? And in Thy hand are there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not Thou ous God?—II. Chronicles xx, 6, 7. I am the Lord, thy God—Leviticus xxv, 55. My God, and my father’s God.— Exodus xv, 2. Monday. Shall not a people seek unto their God?—lsaiah viii, 19. The hand of our God is upon all them that seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all fhem that forsake Him. ... If tiiou seek Him He will be found of thee, but If thou forsake Him He will cast thee off for ever.—Ezra viii, 22; I. Chronicles xxviii, 9. I will seek Him whom my soul loveth. . . . The Lord, the God of Hosts, is His name.—Song of Solomon iii, 2; Amos Iv, 13. Tuescay. What saith my Lord unto His servant?—Joshua v, 14. As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall all thy God re'Joice over thee. . . He will rejoice over thee with Joy. He will rest in His love; He will rejoice over thee with singing.—Isaiah Ixll, 5; Zephaniah ill, 17. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thy heart. —Psalm xxxvil, 4. Wednesday. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God? —Nehemlah v, 9. The Lord commandeth us to fear the Lord our God for our good always. —Deuteronomy vl, 24. He said 0 that there was such a heart In them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that It might be well with them and with’their children for ever —Deuteronomy v. 29 Thursday. Who then can be saved?—Mark x, 26. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.—John iii, 16. We shall be saved from wrath through Him. For the wrath of God Is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness . . . but God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.— Romans v. 9; I. Thessalonians v, 9 Friday. Where shall wisdom be found?— Job xxviii, 12. The Holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ ... in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.—ll. Timothy iii, 15; Colossians ii, 3. Give me now wisdom and knowledge . . . the wisdom that is from above . . . and the knowledge of salvation.—Tl. Chronicles 1, 10; James ill, 171 Luke I, 17. Saturday. What saith the Scripture?—Galatians Iv. 30. in the Scripture of Truth. . . The

in the Scripture of truth. . . The Scripture hath concluded all under sin. . . . God hath concluded all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all . . . because He dedelight eth in mercy.—Daniel x, 21: Galatians iii. 22; Homans xi, 32; Micah vl 1, 18. • With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. —Isaiah llv, 8.

RELIGION AN MORALITY.

THE FAITH OF GENESIS. “Genesis the loveliest of all books except the Gospels.” It Is possible that no one had thought of that until Dr. Nalrne opened his “ Every Man’s Story of the Old Testament ” with this sentence. It comes very near to the truth. If the book be taken as a whole, its simplicity, its freshness, its atmosphere of a religion, undeveloped indee’d, but lacking neither graciousness nor power, and its picture-gallery of living men and women, bear a witness not easily to be set aside. There are' Christian people who are impatient with what they regard as the undue amount of attention given to the 014 Testament In the Church’s worship and in Its whole religious outlook. They think that the Christian conception of God has been adversely affected by the stress laid upon a literature In which the presentation of God is often not at all re'cognisably of the same character as that picture of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with whloh the New Testament has made so many generations familiar. It is an old complaint, as the' student of the Church history of the second century of our era knows well, and It is not to be put on one side as simply absurd. The Old Testament has at times been used In an Indefensible and Un-Chrlstlan Way. It has not always been remembered that as a guide for religion and theology and morals the’ Old Testament ought never to be treated as though It were perfect. Even of its profoundest teaching that is true. What God and righteousness mean, what human life should be and what may be its hopes, cannot be learnt completely, and therefore cannot be learnt with the’ wholeness of truth, from the Old Testament, if It Is studied by itself, without any reference to its fulfilment In the New. The dangers of a misunderstanding of the place of the Old Testament and of its value for Christian thought are much less than they were, but It would be a grave exaggeration to say that they have entirely disappeared. Yet, despite the perils of an overvaluation of the Old Testament, there Is far more reason to be conscious of the losses whloh must follow upon Its disparagement. An approach to the New Testament whloh dispenses with the' earlier literature is not likely to do Justice to that revelation of God In Christ which is the theme of the Gospels and Epistles. The unity of the two Testaments Is real, though it is a unity of two stages or levels in religion. Moreover, there is one respect in which the Old Testament has a value peculiarly its own. Th’e New Testament is obviously concerned, one might almost says exclusively concerned, with Religion and Its Truth. Of life in general, apart from a specifically religious interpretation of life and a particular relation of God to the life of man, It has little to say. But the Old Testament Is to a great extent a story of the fortunes of individuals and nations; It posses a historical and biographical Interest which puts It In line' with many other writings. Yet always there Is present in the Old Testament accounts of men and peoples this distinctive certainty, that the finally important fact about them is the relation In which they stand to God. Of oourse it is open to anyone to say that the Old Testament is here in error. But if it Is not in error, if, Indeed, every aocount of man in his Individual and social life' is utterly inadequate when it ignores man’s standing as a spiritual being who owes his life to the living and eternal God, then most truly may it be said of the Old Testament that “ whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture's might have hope.” /Not least of the Book of Genesis 13 that true. The clroumstances and the social characteristics of the age in whloh the Patriarchs of Israel lived have little' in common with those that prevail to-day. But that does not impair in any way our power to understand and honour the faith of Abraham, the patience of Jaoob and the transformation of his character under adversity, the steadfastness and magnanimity of Joseph. These are qualities which belong to the good life at all times and In all places. They are qualities which the' author of Genesis viewed as the signs of true religion as well as of true morality. And while we know many things that he did not know, we cannot know better than he did that that man - alone is blessed in his life who Is seeking to live in the presence of God and to do His will.