The record-union., 1893-02-13
TIE SUNDAY QUESTION.
Treated From the Standpoint of a
Unitarian Minister.
Rev. t. j. Horner's Elaborate Sermon
on the subject at Pythtan
Hall Yesterday.


bath day to keep it holy" Exodus Xxx.
81 ''The Sabbath was made for man, and
not man for the Sabbath" Mark H.,
I'll
What is Sunday? How did it origi-
nate? If observed at all, why and how
should it be observed?
These, said the speaker. are questions
to which l shall ask your attention this
morning, friends, in the hope that you,
in common with all good citizens, are in
terested in having them answered in
rational way. 1 would not be far wrong
in saying that the Sunday question has
been one of the prominent questions of
the day ever since the Reformation period.
Ever since the Bible was discovered
ana restored to the world there have been
literal Interpreters of it who have been
clamoring for Sunday supported by law
and enforced as rigidIy as the ancient
Jewish code. On the other hand there
have been those who have been just as
determined that no such Sunday shall be
established. We have the two parties
here in Sacramento to-day. The path of
reason lies always between Scylla and
Charybdis.
CHANGES IN NEW ENGLAND.
Now it cannot be denied that great
changes have come over New England of
late years in reference to the observance
OF Sunday, and many are the influences
brought to bear upon old customs by
time and the changes which progress nat
urally bring about.
Only a few years ago the horse-car
companies in Boston were compelled to
take the bells off their horses to please
the fathers who wished to ride to church
but didinot wish to hear the jingle of the
bells. 1t made Sunday seem too much
like any other day, but now, since the
introduction of electricity, the clang of
the gong is heard on every street and the
CLINT of the witches eye'' is seen on
Sunday just as on any other day, and the
rushing car jars the very foundations of
the churches. What would the city
fathers of fifty years ago think of the
changes if they were to see things as they
are to-day?
Another influence helping to change
the primitive simplicity of American life
is the flood of Old World peoples with
Old World notions washing upon our
shores every year. EmigrantS from
continental Europe and from Ireland
were never influenced very much by the
Puritan spirit of England and Scotland,
and so never adopted the habit of obsery-
coming to free America, of course think
that they should have liberty to keep
Sunday their own way.
Wherever ther. is a large German or
French population, whether Catholic or
not, and wherever the Catholic popula-
ton is large of whatever nationality, Sun
day is made holiday.
Sunday services, if observed at all, are
observed in the morning, and then the
rest of the day is given over to whatever
pleasures they think are innocent-judg-
ing, OF course, from their own standpoint.
hnt 4x,f. a., -
up with views tinged somewhat with Pu
rltanical colors and naturally our feelings
are outraged whenever any fragrant out
r~ge of the sanctity of the day is brought
to our notice; but, impercepibly to US,
we are all changing with the changing
order about us and would surprise our
selves II we could compare our own early
views with those we hold to-day.
THE PURITANs.
If we turn the pages of history back to
the Puritans themselves we are surprised
to find that it was considered sinful to do
anything on Sunday that was pleasurable
in any way.
To them Sunday. began on Saturday
and the merriest spirit assumed sub
dued air as the work was finished pre-
paratory to the Lords day. No food
could be cooked; no unnecessary noise of
any kind was permitted. Everybody
went TO church as matter of course and
listened to a long sermon on Gods awful
justice and the doom of those who were
not among the elect. Quietly they would
return to their homes and brood solemnly
over their Bibles for the rest of the day,
and talk of the awful presence they felt
that they were in.
The day of the Lord! Truly, to the Pu-
ritans it was holy day.
Speaking of the Puritans of Scotland, 1
find the following in Buckles History of
a 9 fob
town to hold market either on Saturday
or Monday, because they were near Sun
day."
at was sin for a woman to wait at a
tavern; it was sin for her to live alone;
it was also sin for her to live with I'M
married sisters.n 1T was sin to 90
from one town to another on Sunday,
however pressing the business might be.'
ut was a sin to visit with
friends; it was likewise sinful to have
your garden watered or your beard
shaved"
mo one on Sunday should nav atten-
ton to his health or think of his body at
ALL"
ION that day horse exercise was sinful:
so was walking in the fields or meadows
or in the streets, or enjoying the fine
weather by sitting at the door of your
house."
Bathing being pleasant as well as
wholesome was particularly grievous
offense, and no man could be allowed to
swim on Sunday" THAT it was a sin to
cleanse ones body might indeed have
been taken for granted, seeing that the
clergy looked upon all comforts as sinful
in themselves merely because they were
comforts"
"a Christian must beware of enjoying
his dinner; for none but the ungodly rel
ished their food"
Such, though in milder degree, were
10 -bn i
gave to America the idea of the strict OBJ
servance of the Sunday. They gave the
Bible the supreme place of authority, and
Moses ruled in their lives much more
than the King of England. Yet they
never seemed to know that the Mosaic
Sabbath and the Christian Sunday were
not one and the same day.
The Bible is yet appealed to by strict
Sabbatarians, and few people-I mig hit
say few of the common run of ministers
care to go to the trouble OF looking into the
history of the day to see what it really is.
IGNORANCE OF THE HISTORY OF THE DAY.
1 heard once of meeting being held,
the object of which was to advance the
Sunday observance cause. A good old
lady, in serene confidence, rose and read
from her Bible: And God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it, because
that in it He had rested from all His
labor" tGen. IL, 81 Then turning to
Levitt. xiii, 8, she read: six days
shalt work be done, but the seventh is
the Sabbath of rest; an holy convocation;
We shall do no work therein; il is the Sab
bath of the Lord in all your dwellings"
and so on through the Old Testament.
Feeling, no doubt, that this would settle
the matter. she sat down. All was quiet
for a moment, and then an old man, more
keen witted than the rest, rose and asked
fit was to advance the observance of the
= J 8 ~ IL