The Hawaiian gazette., 1880-01-14
Bawaiiall Gazette.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY Il, is:
The sunday QacsIton.

ed not going; hut gone, There may he
communities which lie snohored outside the
channel Of The nineteenth century and preserve
the old-time Sabbath repose because they are
not in the new-time secular rush and hurry.
There may be some families where an attempt
is yet made to conform modern practice to an
ancient and reverencei theory: there are
families where the parents sail attempt 10
enforce On their children restraints which they
have cast OF from themselves; but The New
England Sabbath Of the seventeenth century
exists only as lis forts and sioCkades exist, in
curious monumental remains. Ii anyone doubts
this LEI him compare the authoritative PUri-
iAn law Of the Sabbath with the actual Sab
hath life OF to-day Here Is the Puritan law
IS found in the Westminster ASsemhly's Cate
chism:
The Sabhssh Is 70 he ssancsifed by q holy nest
IlS al thst day, even nom >Eoh worldly employ
ments and recrS2stlonS are lawful other DAYS
and spending the whole tlue IN the public Snd
Il-Ivats exercises Of Gods vo-Shir except much
as Is 70 be taken Up II the works Of necessity Snd
mercy.
Now compare with this searching law, much
more precise IN It's prohibitions than Old les
lament Or New Testament, the actual practices
q today, public and private, in town and
country. The elevated trains mingle the noise
Of their rattle and hang with the music of the
posIlu6e, Is the worshippeTs come pouring ont
OF the churches az noon: the hOTSe-caTs are
never SO fall. the drivers, conductors and
horses never 50 faded IS on Sunday; our rail-
roSis, relieved OF local traffic by the stoppase
Of business. seize the occasion Tor extra freight
trains. and their through expresses 80 ihup6-
eTinE across the country without a thought Of
rest: trains and steamboats, 20 thronged with
Sunday excursionisis u every variety Of creed
and nationality and in every form Of excUr-
son -~--r, r,n1p.a-r-1 NOM.
drinking bout. II We turn from public 10
domestic life similar evidences testify that a
Puritan Sabbath is among the traditions of
the past. The whoOp Of the milkmaR distuThs
our slumoeTs as on other DAYS: the groceries
and markets drive thriving business till
almost the hour If morning service. the cou-
ieciionegies and ice creameries I'll after the
close Of the evening service; we read of cold
Sunday dinners as We read Of churches with
ONT furnaces OF crEans-buIh are equally
remote traditions Sunday is the feast-day Of
the week. and therefore the busiest in the kit
chen. Sunday and weekday literature merge
into each other IS salt and fresh wafer in a
tidal river-no one can separate them; the
Sunday newspaper brings 10 our breakfast
table, Is . preparation for our Sabbath rest,
all the secular concerns Of The week-Inarkeis,
politics, social broils and scandals: ''Harper's
Oh the parlor table, and the Puritan Of 1879
glances Al Nas.'S last caricature before he
takes up the Unions religious editorial New
England last attempt 10 provide specifically
Sunday reading is abandoned because New
England reads % Sunday whatever il reads
on other days, and wants for lis Sabbath
practically, whatever II may protestant
!" Sunday Afternoon but +" Good Company
l! any reader thinks that We are making
national picture ont Of provincial details, OF
are imputins 70 New England the Sabbath
which Is really characteristic Of the Middle or
Western States, let him spend : Sunday at
Martha Vineyard. This lies on the borders
Of three New England States: Connecticut,
Rhode Island. Massachusetts, 1t was founded
by religious people for religious purpose.
lis cottages are still mainly owned by men IN
whose veins flow Puritan blood. II was
c2mp-meeting ground, and the oamp-nleeiing
Is sill there: but OF Sunday excursion boats
from New Haven, Hartford, New London,
Providence, New Bedford and Woods Hole
land a. Oak Bluffs ezcursionistS from as far
west s. Western Connection, end g =. =. .l,5Ita
- Boston ans y orcester. 4 brass band
parades the streets Half the shops are open
and doing good business. soda water and
lsger beer are flowing as if they were nine
teenIh century milk and Oak Bluffs were
nineteenth century Promised Land. Twenty
thousand people wander through the streets
Of the cottage city: one thousand gather II
the pavilion 10 listen 70 a sermon. On the
Sunday which furnishes Us our picture four
worsh5ppers respected the responses ST the Epis-
cupal service II the Union Chapel. The crowd
was orderly, good-ua:ured, happy: there was
drinking but no drunkenness, Publication but
10 disorder; but unmisiakably a crowd Of
pleasure seekers, not Of woTshipers either Of
God OF nature, and as Enthusiastically q crowd
not Of Germans, OF Irish, or French, but Of
full blorded New Englanders; Of sons and
daughters Of the Puritans.
We are not writing 10 commend nor 10 con-
dsmn the change SO rapidly taking place in
the American Sabbath, on!y 10 describe it and
70 emphasize the fact that whether the Puri-
ian Sabbath shall be retained Is no longer
practical question. Il does not exist. The
Sabbath Of the future viii not be the Sabbath
Of the past: whether there shall Be any Sab
bath, and what It shall Be, depends upon the
Christian people Of the United States. Re
tanned II cannot be, preserved II may be, NO.
6ifed Il must BE- Sunday newspapers can
not be suppressed, though they may be els-
waited Sunday trains cannot be stopped,
though theiT number may be reduced Sun
6av excursions cannot be prevented, though
they NAV be regulated by laws. We cannot 20
hack Il We would; II only remains to deter
mine IN what direction We shall 90 forward.
No nation ever needed day Of sacred rest
more than this hHrTying, busting, over-stinu-
lated, oysr-excited American people; what
that rest shall he, and how secured, Is not 70
be determined by men who lived before rail-
ruads, telegraphs and newspapers were dream
ed o. To protest mildly against Sunday
newspapers and buy them, 20 condemn Sun
day markets and 70 pztronize them, 70 laud
cold dinners and eat hot ones, viii only des-
troy what little reverence Is left for the day
To preach one Sunday and practice another Is
70 despiss the day and demoraliEe the con-
science Far better his course who refuses
70 read the Sunday newspaper, 70 ride in the
Sunday car, 70 trade II the Sunday market or
70 eat the Sunday dinner, for be has the merit
Of al honorable consistency; bus his influence
IN molding the social Sabbath Of the future is
infnitesiual. he Is consistent, but be falls
under the condemnation Of Christ: Ye can
discern the face Of the sky; but can We not
discern the signs Of the tiues?" He only
really aids II forming the Sabbath Of the
future who practices the Sabbath which he
breaches, and therefore breaches Sabbath
which he can practice. he who only cares
for q Sabbath for himself can, perhaps,
make II what he viii. But he who desires
Sabbath Tor his children and his community
may probably considers whether he had best
waste his strength n endezToring 70 retain
Sabbath observance which no longer really
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