The record-union., 1893-02-13

lans settled by custom upon the first day,
as that was the one on which the resur-
rection was supposed to have taken place.
They assembled early in the morning,
read service together. ate a common
meal and went their various ways. The
habit grew until Constantine fixed the
day by his regal seal, and so it has come
down TO US. AT first, before Christianity
became Roman, both the seventh and
1lrst days We're observed, but as the Jew
lsh influence faded farther and farther
away the seventh was dropped and only
the hrst was observed.
[ said the supposed resurrection day
because the truth about it is mixed up
with traditions so that little beyond sup
| position is available.
! In the Roman world Sunday was the
most important day OF the week, and
hence 1t was an easy matter to reform it
! into Christian holy day, as it was then
a custom to baptize every pagan cere-
mony with Christian form and thus
make it sacred to Christianity.
! The roman saturnalia was made to fix
the birthday of Jesus, and from that we
get our Christmas.
In the early days Sunday was happy
day-a least day. and so it has been con-
tlnued in Catholic countries.
Our strict Puritan Sunday came, as
said. IN the beginning from the Reforma-
| ton period, when the Bible was redis-
covered and believed to be infallible; and
Sunday having been established instead
OF Saturday before the Reformation broke
out no one gave thought as to whether
1t was the real Sabbath or not
In England and Scotland Sunday be-
came day OF gloomy thoughtfulness in
stead OF day OF joy, and there are those
In the world to-day, even in Sacramento,
who think it a sin to listen to a concert on
Sunday evening.
THE AMERICAN SUNDAY.
Now, having given you as best can
the history of the day, | wish to say most
emphatically that believe in Sunday as
| our institution; not in the Puritan Sun
DAY nor yet in the continental Sunday of
| Germany or France, but in the American
Sunday of rest and recreation, and what
can be more restful than worship-the
turning of the soul away from the rush
and turmoil of the world to let it drink
IN the rich dews of grace ever descending
from the Heavenly Father, who is, we
believe. more ready to give than we to
receive his divine life?
believe that the trend of public SEN
tlment ls steadily setting toward more
respectful observance of the day as the
years roll on, but not in a slavish regard
| Tor its sanctity. Since the Christian
world has fixed upon the first day of the
week and continues to observe that day, |
believe the secular world will adopt it as
its day of rest. 1t will not be observed In
the future because the Bible demands it,
Tor that cannot be proved, but, as Jesus
said, because it was made for man-that
is, In the experience of the world it is
! found best to rest at least one day in
seven.
In the mad rush of our American life
we need less excitement instead of more,
and hence believe the tendency will set
| towards a nj iAt floxr ,I1,.o
the noise and clatter of the work-a-day
world will be hushed, and the rush and
turmoil OF business will close, the whir
OF machinery stop and the weary round
Of the laboring man will be interrupted
| by day of family life such as every man
needs-more than the majority get.
| would not assert that it was every mans
duty to go to church on Sunday. If he
cannot accept the doctrines or creeds of
| the churches around him, he had better
stay at home, and, gathering his children
about him, teach them his own ideas
of God and of human duty. No man is
absolutely devoid of such ideas. If he
can gain strength and comfort from the
association of his fellow-men worship
ing at one common shrine, he will natur-
ally gravitate to that shrine and unite his
aspirations with those who believe as he
| believes.
But the best of all arguments for keep
ing Sunday as Sabbath of rest, is that it
conters great privilege upon humanity.
a privilege TO wake up and not feel that
one has got to get up and pursue the
ceaseless round of toll and MOL that the
week demands. A privilege to rest-to
worship-to give the soul an opportunity
to lift its voice and praise its Maker for
the joy of life.
| Violate these privileges and you de-
| stroy the most of the inspiration of life
Now GRANTING that Sunday ic ,1r;,,
lege to any one class of men, no other class
has any right to interfere with that privi-
! Iege, and when 1t comes to a matter of
right or justice, then the law must come
IN to protect one class against another
righteousness can never be legislated
into human soul, but one class can be
protected in its privileges against another
class.
Ii the majority of the workingmen
want Sunday they ought to have it, and
1t is the duty of the State to protect them
i'll it. If majority of men in any BUSH
ness want Sunday, the law should protect
them by compelling the rest to close on
that day in order that justice be done
to all. Nothing is lost, financially, when
all agree to suspend business on any
| fixed day, as the needs of the world will
| be continued on the next just the same;
| but the gain in rest and recuperation
gives life more color, more tone and more
soul, and should the best sentiment of a
community wish to use Sunday as day
OF worship. 1t has right to demand pro-
lection against those who would turn it
into a day of noisy revelry. The way in
which each man uses his privilege in this
world always proclaims the nature of the
man, and the higher the order of de-
velopment in any community the more
responsibility will be revealed in the way
this Sunday privilege is used. If he
turn it into day of revelry and gluttony,
it reveals the fact that he is little above
the animal; if he makes it serve the
higher interest of the soul, it places him
on plane nearer to the gods.
The Sunday of the future in America
it seems to me, will be day of rest, of
worship and of harmless recreation.
Those who would make it Puritanical
will lose what they ask by asking what
| is unreasonable.
With the general progress of the great
moral movement of the day-the abolition
of the liquor traffic, the closing of gam
bling houses, the general war now being
made against social impurity, l think
the Sunday will be purified of these pub
lie abuses and restored to the simplicity
of that of the early Christian centuries.
If my prophecy is correct it will be-
come again day of joy and peace to
the soul. If my prophecy is incorrect
l have not observed well the signs of the
times.
Whatever the end may be, be sure God S
will will be done in the end.
Let US not be fanatical, then, friends, but
| trust that
| As round and round we run
| Ever the right comes uppermost
| And ever is justice DONE
|