Article January 2, 1943 Issue

The Commandments: Passports to Power

[Of Special Interest to Youth]

ELIZABETH WOOLLEY

Like a great bell the words, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy," ring in the mind. Remember the day. What day? What is the Lord's day? Is it just twenty-four hours at one end of the week or is it the well-lighted consciousness in which God's goodness continuously appears? You and I know that goodness never had a beginning; beauty and substance never began. They are of the nature of God, and He has expressed them always. But sometimes, all of a sudden, the warmth and spontaneity of unselfishness expressed by ourselves or another makes the whole world begin to glow with well-being. The ancient records call this appearing of new and beautiful ideas to consciousness, creation. Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says of this appearing of good, "This unfolding is God's day" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 584). This is the day we celebrate.

Did not the people that Moses led out of slavery experience this good? Of course. Gradually, through obedience, a new day dawned for them. Moses saw Spirit face to face. What appeared to them was a land of health and abundance and progress all theirs. This was the beginning of the appearing of God's creation to them in a way they could understand. Is it any wonder that Moses saw that if this progress was to continue, a regular time should be set aside for all people to acknowledge the presence of God and be grateful for it—that this was a needful help to them in realizing His ever-presence? Now, it does not take any great astuteness to see that materialism (that do-nothing, know-nothing tendency) would like us to forget the day, or to make it just like any other.

Someone asked an American Indian why he drew horses with broken lines instead of a continuous one. He said, "Oh, I leave spaces for the spirit to come in." For us Sunday is, in a sense, a space for Spirit "to come in."

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