The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-06-12
THE HOLY SABBATH.

The HOLY SABBATH.
It's Vital Relationship to the Bible. the
Church and True Religious Worship
Fow 1t Should He Observed.
The Sabbath has its place with the
church and with the Bible as means
OF Christian nurture. The Church OF
Goo the Book OF God and the Day Of
Goo represent a trinity Of spiritual in
situations. Each is so related to the
Other two that neither of them can
long exist in vigor without the others.
The Church of God has for its Magma
Cha;ta the Bible; the Bible has for
fundamental truth the Sabbath. No
religion without worship, no worship
without the church, no church without
The Bible, no Bible without the Sab
bath-this is the necessary order.
Therefore, destroy the Sabbath and
you destroy the Bible, destroy the
Bible and you destroy the church.
The Sabbath is to be discussed along
broad lines of inquiry and application.
It's observance for a hundred years has
helped to make the United States a
great nation. Its observance in the
future will be potent in making the
United States nation far greater.
We suggest certain general lines Of
observance which may be followed
with special advantage.
The Sabbath is to be made a family
day. The family was the center Of
ancient life, the individual is the GEN.
ter OF modern life. 1t would be we'll il
the family could recover its place as
the social center. Sunday is the most
favorable time to make this restora-
ton. The father is in his home. The
mother should make the cares OF
home-making less than upon other
days. The children are free from
school and work and gather them
selves together about the hearthstone.
In song or reading or conversation.
they approach very near each to the
other in thought and feeling. The as
sociation OF early scenes we know is
strong. The place with which we
have the strongest associations IL
home, and the time with which we
have the strongest associations Is the
Sabbath. The Sabbath in home rep
resents the best influences and the
strongest of our early and our later
lives.
The Sabbath is to be made also a
day for the church. 1t is to be a day
of worship. of the study of Gods truth,
OF confession OF sin to God, of adora-
ton OF the character of God, Of thanks
giving to God and Of petition to Him.
To one who fails to observe Sunday in
and through the church, there is prac-
tically no Sunday. One can worship
God in the groves of His divinely-made
forest temples. One can convert the
woody glades into cathedral aisles.
We know that one may be in the spirit
on the Lords day by the shore OF the
resounding sea and on the mountain
slope as we'll as in the Christian tenn
pie. But we also know that those who
thus speak, speak as poets and not as
men. For those whose feet refuse 10
walk the aisles of the church, in order
to walk the leafy glens of the forest,
for those whose eyes refuse to
be closed in prayer within
the church of God, that they may
be open to behold glories on
mountain slope and landscape, for
those whose ears are unstopped to list
en- to the majestic symphonies OF the
oceans roar in preference to hearing
the voices of worship in the house OF
God, for them Sunday is not Sunday,
holy day, but only a holiday; for
them the Sabbath is time rather of
recreation than of rest, of work rather
than Of worship.
The Sabbath is also to be observed,
as it is properly called, as the Lords
Day. 1t commentaries the resurrec-
ton OF Christ. If it is given to man, it
is given by God; it is divine in its
origin, as it is human in its end and
aim. If the church is divine in space,
the Sabbath is divine in time. 1t is,
therefore, to be used as Gods day; to
be used as His day in thought, feel
NO, choice, mood and act AS the
Lords Day. it is, as Henry Vaughan
described it in apt phrase more
than two hundred years ago:
Heaven once a week." letter.
nifty in time" ''transplanted par
adise," "calm glory after six days
shower" "the church's love-feast,"
.'steps by which we climb above all
joys clamps that light man through
dark days." the milky way chalked
out with suns" "a taste of Heaven on
earth" ..the outer courts of glory"
In observing the Sabbath as day
for the home, the church and as the
Lords Day. We should not forget that
it is a time for thought It is not a
time of mental vacuity. Intellectual
emptiness is no. Sabbatical piety. The
idea has been 100 common that the
rest of Sunday means listlessness. that
by keeping still in body and mind we
are observing the Sabbath. For fear
one will think something wrong, he
rofuses tn think any thing. But Il Is