Stephens City star. (Stephens City, Va.) 1881-1883, 1882-02-18
Old.Fashioned Sundays. y

ant" exhibit wide variation from those
which were in vogue in times which the
| Oldest people remember. In the olden
times there were two services in the
sanctuary on the Sabbath, one in the
forenoon and one in the afternoon, a
brief recess dividing the two, and no
Oldest Sunday School in this country is
said to have been established since the
year 1906, and Bible classes and prayer.
meetings are Of no greater antiquity.
During the week preceding the regu-
lar administration Of the Lords supper,
a preparatory lecture was preached, but
other weekly lectures or exercises were
exceptionally frequent. New England
was then inhabited by farmers, and each
parish contained widely scattered pop
ulation, with few facilities for frequent
assemblies. The Sabbath gave them
rest and society. The meeting-h house
precincts afforded kind of exchange"
for the neighbors, who, before and be-
tween and after meeting" discussed
their crops, stock, politics, and what
folks strove in vain to get through with
the weekly accumulation of gossip and
chit-chat.
The boys and girls had high old times
on the sly during intermission, when,
haunting the horse-sheds, or skirmish-
ing in the field just over the feLce,
they escaped the espionage OF parents
too busy with their tongues to use their
eyes to advantage. Oh, those steps,
gatherings on the meeting house i've up
to watch the different "teams" dr. ofteA
and discharge their lovely and enlnd
blushing freight ! Those larks
the meeting house aud in the "gallery,"
and back by the stove, and on the way
home with the girls Those firtations
in the choir behind tho red curtains !!
There is no such joy in the Sabbath of
these days. At home the children
learned texts of Scripture and catechism
and quietly waited for the lightning of
Gods electing grace to strike them, if
it was so decreed, taking the failure of
such lightning stroke unconcernedly, as
it must be all right either way.
When the Sunday-school and prayer
meeting began to be instituted here and
there, opposition was made by many of
the most devout and godly church
members to all such innovations. 1t is
a curious fact that the early church of
New England would not tol lerate the
'plain ":reading OF Holy Scripture--that
is, the reading it without comment.
They, curiously enough, called il
"dumb" reading-those sticklers for
the work of God. 1t is not twenty
years since, in one of the prominent
CONGREGATIONAL churches of Hartford,
the reading of Scripture was confined
to the forenoon service. The 'long
prayer" was terror to the young. 1t
must have been suffered by adults as a
convenient kind of penance. What a
weariness, too; it's interminable nasal
monotone
Then came, at long intervals, the
communion season, after the second
service, when most of the men and some
of the women and all the children
would 60 sadly out, leaving the elect
to their solemn feast. Tender scenes
we have witnessed at such times in the
rude old NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. never to
be forgotten while memory lasts. The
pastors fearful cheeks and faltering
accents, the solemn silence in which
the holy emblems were received, the
weird, quaint music of the old minor
tunes sung without instrumental ac-
compartment and by thin and quiver.
ing voices. With mute wonder and
often uncomfortable emotion, the boy
at his mothers side would watch the
ceremony, discerning it only as great
and holy and tender sacrament of di
vine love that could make his mother
weep for Joy, and even melt the ayfuI
clergyman down into lovable human
being.
Far from the men and women of those
days was the modern notion that lay
men are especially competent to i'm
part biblical instruction, and the mod
! ern usage which relieves the clergy
from almost all responsibility for tht
working of the machinery for the relig
ious education of children. No rudel
shock can well be conceived than that
which would be experienced by sundry
of the good forefathers could they sud
denly revisit the regions they once in
; habited, and especially the sanctuarie
wherein they formerly worshipped
What with ''slips" for the old pews
| DTGdCuluk Idllo anu uCphS III AiihOoCool
BILE pulpits overhung with sounding
boards, stained glass, steam heat, car
; pets, organs, chants, and other popisf
ceremonies, heads bowed in prayer, ant
no chance to 'swap horses" between
services, they would be miserable in
deed, and aghast with horror at our i'm
provements.
How much are we advanced, after
allp Men talk of greater decorum
reverence, and SO on, but we canno
forget that the Sabbath of our boyhoot
had simplicity and sacredness tina
atoned for it's occasional severities, ant
certain possibilities of stealthy, homes
fun for bright boys and girls such q
the gradual Decentralization of the da.
and the decorum of modern worship
utterly forbid.