The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-07-20
THE SUNDAY QUESTION.
Rev. Or. DaIton's Sermon In opposl
tlon to Band Concerts.

4
Rev. DIR. Dalton, rector Of st. Stephens, re-
peated his sermon Of week ago on the band
concert question. taking for his text the COM
mand of Moses. Remember the Sabbath
| day to keep 1t holy "There have been,"
said DIR. Dalton, "many examples In history
| Of communities bearing In patience and
with apparent resignation for a long time
evils and expressions far beyond their
strength. until some original mind or promi-
nent spirit sets a fire, the flame Of which
continues to burn until the evil is entirely
consumed. Judging by the tone Of certain
generally anonymous articles In the news
papers we, In this city. have arrived at such
crisis. Judging by these, the people Of
this city and state, of the nation, Of the
whole English-speaking race, have long suf-
fered beneath an oppressive yoke that they
can no longer endure, and those who continue
to impose 1t being not over one-third Of the
population must be overthrown and a new
order Of things instituted. Certain people
profess to regard the Lords day as re-
straint that must not be imposed upon the
people any longer. The few people who
still desire to go to church may go; they will
not be molested. But those who like amuse-
ments on Sunday must have them, and they
must be paid for out Of the treasury that Is
filed by the whole people. What a contrast
between the sentiments Of these people and
those Of Christian people. There is objec-
tion to this distinction between Christians
aud anti-Christians. but Is not the matter Of
Sunday observance a true test? Christians
| hare- -sSar rainiced In the day IA thA hast and
brightest In the week. aud as an Institution
always to be maintained.
(which party is right? Which sort OF Sun
day is to be observed? As we are to answer
this. let us first see what we are to defend.
The most violent attacks have been made
upon the Mosaic Sabbath. All of its drastic
details have been exhibited and commented
upon, but that Is not what we believe now.
took my text from the Mosaic law, because
that gives the original foundation Of the
Lords day, but the day has gone beyond the
foundation" DIR. Dalton then paid his re-
spects to the writers OF newspaper articles
who, knowing nothing Of either secular or
religious history, undertook In some instances
to make Sunday descendant Of the wor-
snip Oh saturn, and In others to find fault
because body Of ministers who, from the
nature Of their business, deal more or less
with history Of all kinds, undertook to pro-
test against the invasion Of Sunday on his
t0rlcal as we'll as moral grounds.
He next explained how the Jewish Sabbath
arose, being given first with the idea Of en-
forcing nagn,d the . necessity ,'dy of rest upon
doctors came who tried to improve
upon the style of Sabbath observance. and
by Imposing structures not contemplated by
the founders of the day, called for rebukes
from the Savior and sarcastic remarks by the
Apostle Paul There Is not line In the
Bible that can be quoted showing these two
20 be opposed to the legitimate use Of the
Lords day.
DR.. Dalton sketched the attempt OF King
James l. OF England to break down the Sab
bath. and his utter failure, and explained Its
transplanting and growth In this country.
Up to the time Of the war. he said, there was
no thought in this country but Of full and
faithful observance Of the Lords day, but
since then when from the necessities Of the
case the strictness Of Sabbath observance
had TO be broken various and many attacks
OF different kinds, but all with the same OBJ
1ect In view, of opening the door had been
made. AT one time the innocent looking
project OF having the public library open
came forward for discussion; then the art
museum was asked to extend its business
over the entire week. Now we are asked to
allow band concerts, Soon we shall be asked
TO open the theatres. There are 10 this
city," said DIR. Dalton, linen who believe
that much good might come from perform
ances In the theatres on Sunday nights, /
have argued with such people myself"
We must soon decide whether Sunday Is to
be secular or religious day, and as help
Ing to decide this question let us look at a
few facts. IAN Of the people who are rec
oglized as leaders in the stability, morality
and sobrlety Of this city are found ranged
against this project. l do not say on the
other hand that all those who favor IL are
bad men, but do say that all Of the so called
dangerous classes, the bad, low and undesir-
able elements 10 our city to man are In fa-
vor Of them. People ought to be able to
Judge Of the nature Of the case from this"
The speaker said that there was no need
to speculate upon the case, as It had already
been tried on large scale. He instanced
two nations, the French and the English, as
the opposite parties In this very matter, the
French ridiculing the Sabbath, the English
observing it. In the turbulent unrest Of the
French and the straightforward soIidlty of
the English he found the answer to the
question. The matter will soon, the speak
er said, become one Of national importance
on account Of the Worlds Fair. which is
either to be kept open on Sundays or not, ac-
cording TO the vote OF the people. He
touched briefly upon the question OF foreign
population, saying that whatever weight that
might have In favor Of band concerts in New
I ork or Boston 1t amounted to nothing here.
he next spoke Of the attitude Of the Cath.
ollc church on the matter, denying the oft re-
peated assertion that that church has much
less regard for the Lords day than Protest:
ant churches have. This he proved by reso-
l1tions passed by the last Catholic congress
o. 9t pisnops calling for stricter observance of
the Lord's day, and by an extract from the
recent encyclical Of the Pope in which he
called upon faithful Catholics to abserye the
day as one Of rest and pious meditation. Re-
ferrlng to the plea that band concerts will
benefit the poor, DIR. Dalton showed that 1t
was delusion and a snare, and to the ac.
companying corollary that because the
churches opposed the concert plan they were
the enemies OF the poor he took exception In
emphatic tennis, pointing to our magnificent
charities, our school system and other real
| benefits, every one OF which Is fostered by
| the churches.
lie lastly defended the ministers against
| the violent attacks made against them In
| connection with the matter, claiming that
| they were In their character and conduct as
| he had observed for nearly 30 years In every
way as honorable as any other class In the
| community. That they represented major
| ity and not one-third Of the population ne
declared to be his firm belief, for In spite OF
what is said DIR. Dalton said ne was CON
MI haf aQQpntlHlIV a