Editorial November 27, 1920 Issue

A Sabbath for the World

Gustavus S. Paine

The Sabbath which the world needs after a seeming period of upheaval is neither a mere truce with erroneous conditions nor a reaction into material inertia, but the true understanding of Principle which continues through all eternity. The word Sabbath means, of course, rest. Though the world of belief in matter may think it craves a repose constituted of inaction, the only real tranquillity there ever is or has been to desire consists in activity sustained by divine wisdom. This activity is not a struggle of conflicting forces. Neither is it listless monotony. What it is, however, is more important than what it is not. The Sabbath day which is truly to be kept holy, or wholly, is the day of the Lord, the eternity of indestructible consciousness, expressed with energetic variety. To explain it in this way is to put the truth in terms that may seem decidedly modern. Yet it is the same truth, whether it is stated in the figurative language of the Hebrews or in intellectual phrases of twentieth century English.

The Hebrew concept of the Sabbath was not merely of a seventh day but of a seventh year also, "and the sabbath of the land," we are told in Leviticus in connection with the plan for a sabbatical year, "shall be meat for you." The word Sabbath, however, does not necessarily mean seventh, except in so far as in figurative language seven has often denoted completeness in one way or another. Completeness of righteous action is, of course, the rest which is unceasing. The period of divine completeness, of quietness and assurance in vigorously expressing intelligence, is the forever kingdom of heaven. The words "work" and "rest" involve no essential contradiction. In fact, work of enduring value, produced by Principle, is restful in the most spiritually animated way. The keeping of the Sabbath, or day of rest, must continue on the workday as well as on the Sunday, in order to be whole or holy. In other words, one needs to rest in the very doing of righteous work. Only thus can one enjoy the boundless day of the Lord daily. This state of rest in action can be proved as one understands that the divine consciousness is all that can ever truly do anything. What infinite Mind does must be orderly, with no element of destruction, no jangle of limitations. Ever operative harmony is the divine Mind's state of rest.

On page 519 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy declares that "God rests in action," and on page 584, under the caption Day, she says, "The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day, and 'there shall be no night there.'" The spiritual day of the Lord is indeed as a thousand years. That is to say, the time of right doing is the eternity of infinite good. The one Mind knows this eternity now. In one of his hymns Bulfinch brought this out when he wrote of

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