Article September 29, 1923 Issue

The Sabbath Day

MARY CAROLYN HAYWOOD

The fourth commandment is: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

Probably no commandment in the Decalogue has been subjected to more varied interpretations than the fourth commandment. This may be due to the fact that nearly every individual has a different idea as to what constitutes rest. To some, rest is merely inaction, stagnation, or laziness; to others it is pleasure-seeking; but to the Christian Scientist it is spiritual activity.

On page 519 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes, "God rests in action." Then man, as the perfect reflection of God, must likewise rest in action. Beginning on page 519 she also writes, "The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work." As men rise to the understanding of rest as holy work, their understanding of work will be uplifted, until they come into the realization that true work is not toilsome and laborious, but the reflection of the activity of divine Love; the work that no one can do of himself, but which can be accomplished because man is the reflection of divine Mind.

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