The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-03-17

Nss'O piOptI observance on the
Lords Day. Now what is a necessity MANY
dey out members of the Catholic Church spend
a day IN the week without eating a moutbful
Therefore the use of food one day in the week is
NOT necessity Where can find man who
Will go without food on the Sabbath dav for the
oaoodh pays sake2 Not one on the whole
green earth. Some subterfuge will be restored
on the plea of necessity. If had to choose be.
tween fasting all day or darkness all dav. |
would fast IN the light. | must have my physi-
cal aesthetics on Sunday as really as nv food
My intellect becomes agile and it would be tor
ture to bind me to one mental dish all day on
the Sabbath. Shall we be allowed to meet our
friends and indulge in pleasant Sunday con
verse, or shall we sit still and alone imaginino
that we are thinking of God and doing Him
service? think not This may have been done
formerly, but 1t can not be done now. The
whole world is setting in the direction I indi-
cate We can not stem the torrent: we can
only endeavor to exercise some control over its
course: Anything that is work is forbidden by
tne ola law. AS to any excitement or recreation
whlch leads TO excitement | am unwilling to
lay down any law for its control Between the
UNITS OF work and excitement there is very
broad domain of sin and wickedness and caprice
and whim, to govern which l can furnish no
precept. The Puritan idea of mercy was any,
thing that tended to relieve human suffering or
distress. My experience as a child is doubtless
similar to that of many of you. The Sunday
began on Saturday morning, and a dark shadow
seemed to follow me all the time. 1t was
unmerclful to me, as it is to every child.
Tor no child can understand or comprehend
the principles that underlie the laws as to the
observance of the Sabbath The large manu-
featuring establishments are filled with sons of
toll who labor for six days in the week from
early In the morning until night, and who, when
they retire to their homes, have only to lie down
for rest and slumber necessary to recuperate
them for the labor of the next day. A Puritan
Sabbath to such men is downright upright
eousness. Man must have the recreation need
full for body and mind and spirit and to tell
these strong, muscular frames that they must
a6soLttety rest on Sunday and sit in their houses
IN gloom and dependency, is unmerciful =
Moreover, to make the Sabbath day of dark
ness and gloom is to introduce the idea that such
is good and acceptable to God I consider this
an insult to God himself. God does not love
gloom for gloom's sake
Now here is absolute confusion of ideas
The speaker feels utterly unable to cope
with the subject, and yet he is not daunt
ed; he tears up a venerable and divine
institution by the roots, throws it before
the audience, and says: There it is!
am not certain I ought to have over
thrown it; | hardly know what to say
about it; but the old tree is gone any
how, and the best thing you can do, is
for each of you to set out new one and
less sombre one for YOURSELF
He did not stop here He resumed
the subject at his afternoon or evening
service, and proceeded then and there to
prove that the State had nothing to do
with the Sabbath.
Where, he asks, should the Government
3egin to interfere with religious matters2 With
the First Commandment or the Fourth
would take from the statute book everything
relating to the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth
commandments. What good has been done bv
the passage of the Sunday laws? They are =
dead letter. The law will be removed-it must
be removed, but then take care that the law of
God shall not be removed. 1t will be stronger
than ever. You can not execute the divine law
by policemen and Courts and so it will be until
the Kingdom of God becomes one with the king
dom of men. The Sabbath laws have done no
good to the Church or to God or to men. do
not ask the Legislators to assist the Church.
They can't do It, The streets of the New Jerus
allen are not to be measured by a carpenters
rule"
So that Mr.. Moore not only takes the
ground that the State has nothing to do
with the regulation of the Sabbath, but
he holds that the observance of the Sab
bath in the old-fashioned way is not bind
ing even on Christians He wants cor
tinental Sabbath German Sabbath
Recreation, and Music, and Dancing, and
Beer. Is this what God meant when He
said Thou shalt set apart this day-one
day in seven-and keep it hoh"? What
right has Mr. Moore to strike his pen
across one of the paragraphs of the Deca-
logue2 Is there no moral foundation for
the observance of the Sabbath? Then
there is no moral foundation for giving
portion of our time specially to God How
much shall it be? The Decalogue says
One Day in Seven-and this law was
proclaimed in Eden three thousand years
before Moses, and the buried cylinders of
Assyria show that the oldest races of the
Mesopotamian Valley, whence Abraham
came, had the same primeval law.
DEATH or VIM r. Ia YLOR.
The Church and the Commonwealth