Article September 9, 1922 Issue

Work and Rest

ANNIE M. KNOTT

The fourth commandment has its foundation in a great human need, namely, the need of mankind to set aside a sufficient time in which to know God and His law, and to gain an ever advancing understanding of the blessings which follow obedience thereto. In modern times the requirements of this commandment are perhaps passed over with little thought as to their relation to all human need, and with an easy tolerance for the material sense which would usurp the place of spiritual sense in dealing with the subject involved.

Our wise Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has, however, made special provision in the Manual of The Mother Church (see Article XX, Sections 1–3) for the children who are being brought up under Christian Science influence; and so among the First Lessons taught in all Christian Science Sunday Schools we have the Ten Commandments. The utmost care is taken to impress upon the unfolding thought of childhood and youth the necessity for obedience to divine law, and the protection which this affords at all times and under all circumstances. While it is true that the children must study and repeat the commandments, as found in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, thought is lifted above the restrictive sense so often associated with the "Thou shalt nots" of the letter, to the sure results of understanding and obeying God, infinite Love, whose law is at all times loving and protective.

The fourth commandment begins with the requirement, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy;" and while there may be as many opinions as to the extent of this requirement as there are mortals, nevertheless the reward of intelligent obedience to divine law should lead all professing Christians to ponder ofttimes its meaning. It will not be denied, by Christian Scientists at least, that the right observance of the Sabbath day will unfailingly lead to the spiritualizing of thought and endeavor throughout the entire week, with the results promised in the older Scriptures, when the thought of the Sabbath was first impressed upon the Hebrew people in their journeyings through the wilderness. None know better than do Christian Scientists how constantly we all need to resist the pressure of belief in material law and the argument that we have not time enough in which to say and to do the good things that we know ought to be done. It is, however, true that where this belief is overcome by a better understanding of divine law, there will be no wasted hours; for even the leisure time will be devoted to right thinking, in such a way that worship, work, and pleasure will alike be governed by the law of Life and Truth, obedience to which always leads to health, harmony, and prosperity.

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