g and Shining Lamp.

(JOHN V. 35.)

"Men as men
Can reach no higher than the Son of God,
The Perfect Head and Pattern of Mankind.
The time is short, and thus sufficeth us
To live and die by; and in Him again
We see the same first starry attribute,
'_Perfect through suffering_,' our salvation's seal,
Set in the front of His humanity...."
MRS. HAMILTON KING.

The Rest-Day--The Light of Life--Shining, because Burning--"Let your
Light Shine"--A Light in the Darkness

Our Master, Christ, was on his trial. He was challenged by the
religious leaders of the people because He had dared to heal a man and
to command him to carry his bed--his straw pallet--on the Sabbath day.
He was therefore accused, and, so to speak, put in his defence.

Of course we must not for a moment think that our Lord was lax in his
observance of the Sabbath, but simply that He desired to emancipate the
day from the intolerable burdens and restrictions with which the Jewish
leaders had surrounded it. It was his desire to show, for all after
time, that the Sabbath was made for useful purposes, and specially for
deeds of mercy, beneficence, and gentle kindness. The Lord Jesus was
maligned and persecuted because He was the Emancipator of the Sabbath
day from foolish and mistaken notions of sanctity.

It is of the greatest importance that we should do what we may to
conserve one rest-day in seven to our country and our world; and I
cannot help noticing in the story of the life of the great statesman
and Christian, who recently passed from us, how careful he was to guard
the day from unnecessary intrusion. It has been attested by those who
knew him well, that physically, intellectually, and spiritually, the
Lord's day to him was a priceless blessing. Let your rest on the one
rest-day consist, not in lolling idly and carelessly, but in turning
your faculties in some other direction; because the truest rest is to
be found, not in luxurious ease, but in using the fresh vigour of your
life in other compartments of the brain than those which have been worn
by the demands of the six days. Then, fresh from the Sunday-school
class, the worship of the church, and the sermon, you will return to
the desk or office, or whatever may be your toil, with new and
rejuvenated strength.

There is a great distinction between shining and burning: shining is
the light-giving, the illuminating, that comes forth from the enkin