p. 5 | GOD'S SIGN OF POWER by C. Edwin Johnson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 10, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 41.

GOD'S SIGN OF POWER.

By C. Edwin Johnson

"And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. 20: 20.

'Tis Sabbath eve, the joyous hour When holy time is ushered in, The true "Lord's day," God's sign of power To cleanse and save the soul from sin. At sunset, while the balmy air With songs of birds is trembling still, We lift our hearts to Him in prayer, That He perfect in us His will.

Faintly the twilight lingers still; The happy bird has sought its nest; Thoughts of His love our spirits thrill; We thank Him for His holy rest. The evening stars now flashing out In wondrous beauty from the sky, Remind us, once God's sons did shout— The morning stars sang songs on high.

Those shouts of joy, those songs sublime, Were sung at nature's glorious birth, When God had wrought six days of time, Creating all in heaven and earth. The seventh day the Lord did rest, And blessed and sanctified the same; And gave to man this loving test, That he might ne'er forget His name.

And when in flaming fire He came In awful grandeur from the sky, His will from Sinai to proclaim To trembling Israel waiting nigh, He wrote His law on changeless stone, Each word by His own hand was traced; He graved it thus to make it known No word would ever be effaced.

Of this great law, the fourth command Alone can tell us who God is, He who made sea, and sky, and land, And claimed the seventh day as His. 'Tis this command that shows His power; He spake, and, lo, all things had birth! Memorial of that joyous hour The Sabbath day He gave to earth.

This is His sign, His mark, His seal, His test to-day for every soul; Obey, and thus your love reveal, And be by Jesus Christ made whole. Blest sign of what God is to man, He who creates alone can save; Let popes dispute it if they can, And all the hosts of Satan rave.

A holy day for heavenly rest, Day that delights each loyal heart; And he is blessed, yea, doubly blessed, Who recognizes what thou art. In earth made new, thy holy hours For aye and aye with joy shall come. There, sons of God in Eden's bowers Will hail Thee in their new-earth home.

C. EDWIN JOHNSON.