The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-07-09
THE SUNDAY QUESTION.
A Subscribers Reply to the Rev. Mr.. Oar


resorted to special pleading, "May it please
this honorable court, the learned gentleman
has made very good speech-but, is it law?
The Rev. Mr. Day delivered very good dis
course upon Sabbath breaking from Deut. v
u, but from that standpoint, is it Law? i. e.
Divine Law? 1 assert without fear of success.
full contradiction that il is not Divine Law
The whole question of our Sunday laws is one
of expediency aud not of authority. In the
light OF Mr. Days text "Sunday is not the Sab.
bath"-and therefore his whole argument ia
worthless, and is mere petite principii In
the whole Bible there is no authority to be
found for the Christian Sabbath nor for a
Christian Sabbath, and the public teacher
ought to know it. The question whether the
state has right to enact Sabbath laws is fairly
open to discussion like the prohibitory liquor
law.
The clergy have become SO accustomed. for
effect, to speak of Sunday as Goods Holy
Sabbath day." perhaps, like some persons in
the habit of telling fictitious tales for facts,
they have 10 some instances learned to believe
what they say to the people and wish them to
believe; but the more intelligent among them
know it is not true. Ignorance on this SUBJ
ject is not innocent. If 'the man that violates
the fourth commandme ct is an i'm moral man."
so also he that bears false testimony in regard
to Sunday and the Sabbath sis an immoral
man." "Shall man lie for God?'' The Jew
who keeps the Sabbath instituted by Moses BY
Gods command, as he conscientiously
believes, is consistent and is bound to all that
Mr.. Days text requires so are all thuse who
accepsMr Days false application of his text
to Sunday, but no other man is.
1t ia recorded in the Gospels that the dis
ciples met together ION the first of the aoeek
Qfter the resurrection and once in the New
Testament it is mentioned that they scame
together on the first day of the week to break
bread;" and out of these two statements the
Christians have manufactured the Sunday
Sabbath and tell us it's observance is COM
manded in Exodus Xxx: Sill, and in Deut v; II,
IA. Let men keep what days they may agree
upon for days of worship and as many as COR
science requires, but let them not take false
positions to sustain them, for the premises be-
ing false the whole argument is worthless.
A SUBSCRIBER.
Views Of Rev. MIR. Buck.
Rev. Mr.. Buck, pastor of the Park street
church, preached Sunday from the text found
in Mark II; 27-sThe Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath" Mr. Buck
said in opening his discourse that what is
called the Sunday question comes up for dis
cussion from time to time. Fifty years ago in
the city of Philadelphia chains were put
across the street to prevent the passage of
carriages on the day that was called "The
Sabbath" But the question takes on modifi-
cations though successive periods. Fifty
years ago the discussion concerned the right or
wrong of riding in carriage; now carriage
riding where horses are employed is taken as of
course and the question is transferred to the
subject of steam carriages Is it right to ride
in carriages where horses are not employed?
there are those now who seriously and sincere
" and with deep feeling objecs to the rum ing
Of railway trains on Sunday as a proclamation
Of "the Sabbath" So the question recurs
from time to time. =
The speaker then proceeded to inquire into~
The grounds on which Sunday was called the
Sabbath. Hallam states that in the early part
Of the seventeenth century ''the use of the
work Sabbath instead of Sunday became in
that age distinctive mark of the Puritan
party" This was in 1921 and about that time
began to be colonized by men,
bers Of that party and SO originated the s;ngu-
lar custom of the country to speak of Sunday
as if it were the Jewish Sabbath, SO that it is
customary to this day to enjon
The sacred observance of that day by reference
But the Sabbath belongs to the Old Testament
he origin Of the Jewish SABBATH s and the
method of its observance. With this Sabbath
be said, Christianity had nothing to do and our
sunday observance has no dependence on the
commandment in the Decalogue. The Sabbath
was Instituted for the Jews and not for the
world; the Sabbath was the seventh dsy and
Sunday is the first day; the special reasons
given for Sabbath observance, such as that
God rested on the seventh day. or that God
had delivered the Israelites from Egypt and
established the solemnities of this day as
witness of his covenant with his delivered
people, cannot be applied to the observance of
Sunday. Paul rebukes with sort of fiery in
dignation the Sabbatcal spirit.
Promising he had proved that the Sunday of
Christendom had nothing to do with the Jewish
Sabbath the preacher proceeded to consider
the origin Of the former. Sunday had become
to be generally observed because it was SO by
the earlier Christians The custom has
descended to us and has precisely the
same sanction now that it had at its origin.
The only two intanees of Sunday Observance
recorded in the New Testament are when Paul
preached to his companions at T'roas on the
first day of the week and when "they were
altogether with one accord on the day of
Penteccst which fell on the fifst day of the
week. There is however abundant evidence
to prove that the Christians Of the post
Apostolic period did habitually assemble on the
firstday of the week for religious exercises.
From them we receive the custom
The reasons for its establishment among
them are complex. The Christians perceived
doubtless the need of setting apart one day,
dedicated to their religion, in order to give their
religion dignity in the eyes of the Jews who
had their Saba th. 1t is tolerably clear from
the writings of the early Christian fathers that
Sunday is not made sacred by any specific
divine appointment There is no indication
that it was SO regarded either by the apostles
or by those who Immediately followed them.
Nowhere among the earlier Christian writers is
the fourth commandment appealed to as con-
stituting an obligation to observe the Lords
Day, as Sunday is sometimes called, not be.
cause it is specially hallowed by God but as the
day OF the Lords victory.
Mr.. Buck next proceeded to argue that while
Sunday was not appointed by special divine
decree, it arose in the development of natural
want, an Inherent necessity, and therefore
Sunday observance is His appointment who
made our natures to need it. Sunday rest is
indeed necessity to body, mind and spirit.
What Jesus said of the Sabbath is true of Sun
dsy-it is for man. 1t is a day of rest and re-
cuperation. But its highest use IS higher than
this. Sunday observance is mans remedy
against his baser self; as he yields to its infu-
ences and lends himself amid its opportunities
to the higher exigencies of his nature he is
rescued from the perls of sel6shness and
meanness and manifold wickedness
In this consists the supreme use OF the day.
1t freshens from on high the dropping aspira-
ton; it calls the poor man from his toll and the
business man from his stocks, and the frivolous
man from his hippsnt pursuits to remember
the Eternal who demands rghteousness-in
tie faithful remembrance of whom toll is
lghtened, business is sanctifei and selfish
frivolity is ashamed In these uses it is easy
to read divine behest. Remember one day in
seven to set it apart,
Mr.. Buck said the observance of Sunday is
not promoted by superstitious and burdensome
ceremony. Lugubrious and artificial con-
strants are not proper Sunday observances.
The early Christians made Sunday festival
day, day of joy at the resurrection of Jesus.
1t is by wide departure from the original in
tent that one arrives at our present Sunday
customs A good day has been turned to
great burden. A serious Transformation has
taken place when Sunday is made to teach
that religion is something sad. gloomy and
irksome, sort of strait-jacket upon the
soul.
Regarding the days holiress,-which
means simply separateness-as COM
mended by the real uses which may thus be
derived from it, let us seek the best good that
we may gain from its separateness, as we may
be sincerely persuaded in our own minds, per-
hitting no man to Judge us in this respect and
yielding nothing to those popular errors that
are waiting still to be'traupled under foot of
men, remembering. however, that we sh ould
seek its best and highest uses at church, if we
are persuaded in our own minds, in the Sunday