LVIII. Work and the Sunday rest
1.Under the old dispensation God laid a very special stress on the observance of the Sabbath; while Israel was in the desert, He ordained by the mouth of Moses that any one who violated this commandment should incur the penalty of death. We, who live under the new dispensation, have to keep the Sunday holy. In the first place we must abstain from servile work on the Lord's Day.
2. The Sunday rest is, however, no arbitrary requirement for the working man, but a command of nature. A human being is not capable of incessant exertion, like a mere inanimate machine, and even the latter wears out, if constantly used. Scientists, and even medical men who are destitute of religious beliefs, and unchristian governments, have publicly proclaimed their conviction that one day of rest in the week is a necessity; they have unanimously asserted how highly important it is that Sunday should be generally observed as a day of rest.
3. And there is, moreover, something beautiful and elevating in the Sunday rest and Sunday celebration. As soon as he awakes on the Lord's Day, the truly Christian workman feels that he has been transported into a different atmosphere. The cheerful peal of the church bells sounds pleasantly in his ear. He puts on his Sunday coat instead of his dusty blouse, and repairs to church with a joyful heart, in order there to unite with all his fellow -Christians in the worship of God, his supreme Lord and Master. Great and small, high and low, rich and poor, are on the same footing in the house of God, and the meanest workman is conscious that within those walls his dignity as a Christian outweighs marble palaces, high offices of
