Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1874-12-23
THE SABBATH THE LORDS
DAY.

Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn.
In his sermon to his congregation
the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian,
corner of South Oxford, ST.. Brooklyn
yesterday morning, the Rev. Theo.
dore L. Cuyler, d. d., placed this es-
timate on the value of religion : SIM
agine this city, or any other commun-
ty, to be deprived tomorrow morning
of all its Bibles and of all it's Christi,
anity. Suppose that by some extra
ordinary and terrible process this
city could be deprived Of all the re-
lirion in it. n We should drop
into an atheism worse than that which
any modern slientigt has dared to ut
ter. Property would go down so per-
cent. in "a hours. There would be no
security. All manner of sin would
grow up, rank and fiourishing. n
n One cannot imagine greater ca
lamity.
In the evening DR.. Cuyler preached
on the subject "Who Owns the Sab
bath p The text was Deuteronomy, w.,
IA But the seventh day is the Sab
bath of the Lord thy God 4
*." The preacher began by speaking
of the antiquity Of the day, The lib
erals erred in putting it at the discre-
tion Of the masses how the day should
be spent. His it was, His it should
be, and His it should continue to be
throughout all time. He described a
Puritan Sabbath, and commended it
to his hearers as an excellent exam
pie for all men to follow. There was
only one barrier that could protect
this sacred institution, and that was
the Fourth Commandment, embodied
in the popular conscience. The hap.
piest people in the world are Sabbath
keepers. The Sabbath should be a
day of happiness. But which was it
to be-carnal happiness or spiritual
happiness Was it to be made a day
of spiritual JOY or sinful jollity ? Was
it to be a day of rest for the body, or
day of mere physical recreation,
mirth, and merry-making? 1t had
be>a said plainly in that city that it
was question for the common peo-
pies Judgment as to what they should
do with the Lords Day. The speak
er would earnestly and solemnIy pro.
test against this. 1t seemed to him
that this was an astounding and start
ling declaration from the pulpit. Ii
this were to be, not only would the
day be lost, but all the innumerablo
blessings lowering around it and con,
nected with it. He believed that the
Sabbath should be primarily day fol
worship, and next for works and char
ity and strict necessity, and not for
miserable revels in dram-shops, con
certs, and theatres. He placed wilful
travelling on the Sabbath in the cata
logue of superhuities, wrong in Itself
and wrong in preventing Others from
observing the day. The people must
protest more and more loudly against
the hlIeous dissertations of the Sab
bath, against these internal theories OF
open dram-shops, open play-houses,
open haunts of temptation. The civil
law should be invoked in its protec
ton. 1t should be protected for sani.
tary reasons, and also because the law
should lean toward the protection O.
the orderly and conscientious class
rather than toward the dissolute. 1t
certainly could not be urged that the
Sunday laws were despotic or asentic.
NJ sins are in partnership, he said
..ud the Devil is at the head of it
The dram-shop and the brothel are
partners. Many haunt of evening
amusement sends its devotees, wher
the doors close, to the dram-shop and
the den of debauchery. Sabbath
breaking is an ally of all these vices
When the sense of obedience to Goo
dies out, we are gone as nation, tol
with that everything goes. Wher
the doors of the Sabbath school are
closed, and our youth turned out
among protaneness and ungodliness
what shall save our beloved flag from
rushing madly to early oblivion ant
immediate wreck
-.
FEMININE HATS.-''You meet re