INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER XXIV BY WILBUR F. CRAFTS E are apt to think," said Henry S. Baker, "that a rest of twelve hours, with a sleep of about eight fully recuperates us after a day of hard work at physical or mental labor or both. The microscope shows such a view to be wrong. Even twenty-four hours is not quite enough time, strange as it may seem. The microscope shows that more than thirty hours, possibly thirty-three or thirty-six, are needed to restore a cell to its proper size and condition after severe fatigue. In other words, man is so made that he needs a Sabbath from Saturday evening to Monday morning of complete rest to be as good as new. Without this he is never at his best, physically, mentally, morally or spiritually. So we find the fourth commandment is in the nineteenth century echoed from the biological laboratory with tremendous emphasis, and again we are compelled to admit that He who spoke at Sinai must have made the brain cell and understood its secret workings. Again is our faith made firmer that the Old Book is not wholly manmade." The Sabbath was made for man, body and soul, as the two railway tracks are made for the two wheels, and only on the smooth track of God's law can your life run smoothly or safely. Willen F. Crapto A CHAPTER XXIV BE A SABBATH OBSERVER GENTLEMAN who had great respect for the Sabbath was going to church. He was a peculiar man, and would sometimes do and say singular things. On his way he met a stranger driving a heavily laden wagon through the town. When opposite the wagoner, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and, lifting up both hands as if in horror, exclaimed, "There, there, you are going over it! There, you have gone right over it!" The driver was frightened, and drew up the horses in an instant, crying: "Whoa! Whoa!" He looked under the wheels, expecting to see the mangled remains of some innocent child, or at least a dog, that had been crushed to death. But, seeing nothing, he gazed at the gentleman who had so strangely arrested his attention, and anxiously asked: "Pray, sir, what have I gone over?" "The fourth commandment," was the reply. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." (Exod. 20:8). This commandment God wrote on "tables of stone" (Ex. 24: 12) thousands of years ago, and not only on stone but also in man's nature. Sir Robert Peel once said he never knew a man to escape failure either in mind or in body who worked seven days in the week. To observe it is a duty we owe to ourselves and to our God. To neglect or disuse it is to incur God's displeasure and with it the ills incident thereto. About a century ago, the National Assembly of France, consisting mostly of infidels, abolished the Sab bath. It was not long, however, before a wail of distress went up all over the land, demanding the recognition of this "Day of Rest," and obedience to the will of God. It is to the credit of our legislators that they have never suggested such a thing, yet hundreds and even thousands of men and boys desecrate it. But"A 'Sabbath profaned Whatever be gained Is a certain forerunner of sorrow." A PICTURE, TESTIMONY, FACT. Hogarth once painted a beautiful picture in which he showed the first step downward of a man who suffered capital punishment. It represented him when a boy playing around the churchyard while the minister was preaching. Not that all boys who do so will come to the gallows, but all are wending their way downward to worse offenses. A gentleman who had charge of a prison, in which there were more than one thousand prisoners, took special pains to ascertain the causes of their crimes. He said that he did not recollect a single case of capital offense where the party had not been a Sabbath-breaker. In many cases the prisoners assured him that Sabbathbreaking was the first step in their downward career. "Indeed," said he, "nineteen out of every twenty have neglected the Sabbath and other ordinances of religion." One of the most appalling crimes of the day is Sabbath-desecration. Thousands make it a day of pleas On car and boat, with carriage and bicycle, excursions are made. With bat and ball games are played. With gun and fishing rod life is taken, all which says, "Death to the Sabbath." O, my boy, are you aware what that means? It is an evil influence thrown against 75,000 Sunday-schools and 800,000 teachers to stop the religious instruction of 7,000,000 young people. It is an influence arrayed against 60,000 pulpits and 60,000 trumpets calling sinners to repentance. And more than this, it is an influence arrayed against the morality and integrity of the nation, for, as Judge McLean of the Supreme Court, said, "Where there is no Sabbath, there is no Christian morality; and without this, free institutions cannot long be maintained." A BRAVE BOY. One lovely Sunday morning some years ago, eight young men were walking along the banks of a stream that flows into the Potomac not far from the City of Washington. They were going to a grove to spend the hours of that holy day in playing cards. Each of them carried a flask of wine in his pocket. As they were amusing one another with idle jests the bell of a church in a little village about two miles away began to ring. It sounded in their ears as plainly as though it were only on the other side of the little stream along which they were walking. Presently one of them stopped, and said to his friend near him, that he would go no farther, but would return to the village and go to church. His friends called to their companions, who were a little ahead: "Boys! Boys! come back here. George is getting religious. We must help him. Come on, and let us baptize him in the water." In a moment they formed a circle about him. They told him that the only way in which he could save himself from having a cold bath was by going with them. In a calm, quiet manner he said, “I know very well you have the power to put me in the water and hold me there till I am drowned; and if you choose to do so, I will make no resistance; but listen to what I have to say, and then do as you think best. You all know that I am two hundred miles from home; but you do not know that my mother |