It is right to love beauty and to desire it; but God desires us to love and to seek first the highest beauty,—that which is imperishable. The choicest productions of human skill possess no beauty that can bear comparison with that beauty of character which in His sight is of “great price.”
Let the youth and the little children be taught to choose for themselves that royal robe woven in heaven’s loom,—the “fine linen, clean and white,”[[365]] which all the holy ones of earth will wear. This robe, Christ’s own spotless character, is freely offered to every human being. But all who receive it will receive and wear it here.
Let the children be taught that as they open their minds to pure, loving thoughts and do loving and helpful deeds, they are clothing themselves with His beautiful garment of character. This apparel will make them beautiful and beloved here, and will hereafter be their title of admission to the palace of the King. His promise is,—
“They shall walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.”[[366]]
The Sabbath
“IT IS A SIGN BETWEEN ME AND
YOU; THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT
I AM JEHOVAH”
The Sabbath a Sign
The value of the Sabbath as a means of education is beyond estimate. Whatever of ours God claims from us, He returns again, enriched, transfigured, with His own glory. The tithe that He claimed from Israel was devoted to preserving among men, in its glorious beauty, the pattern of His temple in the heavens, the token of His presence on the earth. So the portion of our time which He claims is given again to us, bearing His name and seal. It is “a sign,” He says, “between Me and you; ... that ye may know that I am Jehovah;” because “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.”[[367]] The Sabbath is a sign of creative and redeeming power; it points to God as the source of life and knowledge; it recalls man’s primeval glory, and thus witnesses to God’s purpose to re-create us in His own image.