The record-union., 1891-04-12
THE SUNDAY PAPER.
Rev. NJ. ]. Savage breaches a Ser
mon On 1t in BostOu.
Evolution OF the Puritan Idea and
Its Defects-How the Paper Should
be Read.

be Read.
From the pulpit Of the Church of the
Unity yesterday morning Rev. NJ. J. Saw
age, taking as his text: "Let no man,
therefore, judge you in meat or in drink or
in respect of holy day, or of the new
moon, or of the Sabbath day." spoke on
the subject: Sunday and the Sunday
Papers" He said: One thing is to me
constant source of surprise-to see how
largely people follow tradition and Gus
tom; and all the more so when, taking
their authority from the Bible, they per-
s1st In telling the world they ought to do
things which it does not command, and
not to do things which it does command.
Most people fail to look up the source of
authority in hereditary customs.
There has been recently held an impor-
| tant convention to re-establish certain
features of the Puritan Sunday, the pub
fishing of Sunday papers, and these men
| evidently suppose they are following the
command Of the Bible.
Let us see what the Bible teaches on this
| subject / propose reading all the i'm
portant biblical illusions.
First, then, refer to Exodus XIX, s, 8,
to creation, and in commemoration of his
rest he commands us to rest alSo
In Deuteronomy V, Il and Is, however,
the reason dates back to the delivery from
| Egypt, and nothing is said about the
creation; and that this command is SIM
ply and only command to abstain from
! any kind OF work-nothing else-extend-
| ing to your servants and cattle and
| horses; and [ do not believe that a single
| member of the convention recently met
even thinks Of obeying it.
There Is another passage, Isaiah lviii., l,
3, 4, reIteratlng the command to people
who had fallen away.
Let us for a moment consider this Old
! Testament day. 1t was nothing like any
| Puritan Sunday that ever existed. In
| the best Jewish authority the Jewish Sab
bath was never gloomy or sad, but
social day-a day of feasting, very like
our Thanksgiving Day The only thinp
the Jews did not do was to labor. When
! the day is spoken of as made holy"
keep in mind their meaning of holy. 1t
means just ''set apart''-dedicated to
special purpose. A man could do any
thing but labor, and within the limits it
was day of joy.
First, Mark IL, 27. Jesus had not
broken the original law, but the ira
dition, SO that the priests charged him as
a Sabbath-breaker. In Romans xiv. ).
Paul says: 'Let each man be fully armed
IN his own mind, not esteeming one day
above another" In Colossians H., is, in
| the important passage that / have taken
as my text, the law has been distinctly
abrogated-declared no longer of any
authority. Jesus breaks the Sabbath and
defends himself. u5Ht
The Old Testament, then. simply for
bids work. The New Testament says the
Sabbath Is not binding in Christendom,
| even 20 the extent of abstaining from
work. That is the entire sum and sub
stance of Bible teaching.
Now, let US see what the early church
did with the day. Those Jews who be-
came Christians kept the Jewish Sabbath
still. But when the conflict arose be-
tween them and those Gentiles who had
become Christians, and whom Paul had
taught not TO obey the laws of Moses.
And so the custom grew up, as years
went on, of taking Sunday morning to
celebrate the Lords Supper, because ira
| dition said that then it was Jesus was
| seen alive, after his death. The day thus
was forever made holy to them by this
temperance.
Alter this morning meeting, for more
| than 300 years, it was customary to go
about business, work or play, whatever
1t might be, exactly like the rest of the
week. 1t never occurred to them TO mix
| the Jewish Sabbath and the Lords Day,
Sunday; they were entirely distinct and
separate. AS the church became made
up of Greeks and Gentiles, the keeping of
! the Jewish Sabbath altogether died out,
and Sunday was the only day. a day, ex-
! cept for the morning meeting, just like
any other day of the week.
In 321, Constantine issued a famous
edict, making the first day of the week
| legal holiday. In accord with this. until
| the sixteenth century what is now called
the Continental Sunday was the Sun
| day of the church.
~
! the Puritan Sunday was commanded by
| the Lord from Sinai, whereas, it came
into existence only with the rise of Puri-
| tanism in England. There were two
causes that led to it. Sunday had become
a day of gross and cruel amusements.
The Puritans, be it said to their honor.
| were shocked by the drunkenness and
| degradation in England.
The other cause was the reversion of
| the Puritans to the Mosaic legislation
| They seemed to care more for Moses than
| for Jesus, and seemed to think they were
reviving the old Jewish Sabbath when
| they legislated for the new day. You
| know what the Puritan Sunday was.
l remember well. / had to go to
| church morning and afternoon; to Sun
| day-school at noon; to prayer meeting III
| the evening. l was not allowed to read
| a story; to walk in the fields: to laugh
aloud.
Let us now come to the true use of the
! first day of the week. We have this day;
no matter whence it came; it is ours by
| inheritance set apart. What shall we do
| with it? I would not work on 1t if I
| could help it, friends; if it is absolutely
necessary that you must work, why,
then, do it with free heart
Six days seems enough for toll, drude-
cry, confusion. 1t seems to me YOU
make an enormous mistake if you con-
cede one single hour of the seventh day
to the common place. In the first place,
rest; recreate physically; mark you,
however, the great difference between
recreation and dissipation. Use it for
| religion. 1t seems to me that were I a
business man, should like to go to
church at least once in the week, and see,