The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-06-24
Subject Ably Discussed by Rev. \. g
Stahl at Green Ridge.
PRACTICAL, CANDID SERMON
With the Scriptures As Bosis. Sunday Is
by God Given for Absolute Rcst--AI
Secular Pursuits Except Neccs.
sitics Arc Prohibited.

ulsSuuTSe Is us lbllbWS.
Like rude awakening from beau
tiful dream of the night seems the ex-
perience of the race since the days or
the Eden tragedy. In the long ago
time there Is one bright gleam; in the
coming time there Is a long unending
radiance; between the two 1t is dark,
dark, oh, 50 dark. For n little while
we are holy and blessed in the full en-
joyment of the communion of God. In
the time yet TO come we may be holy
and blessed again in the full enjoyment
Of God to all eternity. This Is time
of darkness of conflict and doubt. Tru-
ly, the Light has come. but men have
loved darkness rather than light. The
Master says "lf man walk in the
night, he stumbleth," and all through
the long darkness men have been stum-
bling and falling; some, oh, how many,
to rise no more The path of humanity
has been path beset by dangers of all
kinds on every hand. and even the
deeper the darkness the greater tine
danger hath been. While the first pair
walked in the light of Gods truth they
walked in safety. In an evil day the
ruthless hand of the temptor put out
this light and substituted the false dim
tapor light of human reason. and in
that flickering. deceiving light, they
Dleu 10 Il ldli 80 SuNl, 81 vi w.
that sixty centuries have failed to tell
+ the story of its woes.
spoke to Them OF One Light.
1t is my purpose today, after having
called your attention to that wonderful
circle of lights which God has hung
round the horizon to illumine earth's
night of sin and woe. to speak to you
of one light which has n special, pc
culiar, a wonderful function. \ func-
ton which cannot be too greatly mag
nificd and which the present generation
is all too prone to neglect. The especial
office of this light is to direct our
thought and attention to all the other
lights. The Lord ordained that time
should be divided into periods of seven
days. and one of these days He set
apart as holy time, sacred to Himself.
in which day man must cease from all
his ordinary labors and turn aside from
his accustomed paths and direct his
mind from his usual thoughts and occu-
py himself with the things pertaining
10 God. to his own soul, and to his
eternal destiny. But this was not all.
In providing for mans higher nature
God was also providing for all parts Of
his being. The Sabbath was designed
not only to be a day for occupying our
selves with the interests of the soul; it
was intended also to be a great day of
rest, of recuperation. of upbuilding for
all the faculties and powers of mans
nature.
Now my friends. the question of the
value of the Sabbath day and the ques-
ton of our obligation to observe it as
unto the Lord are matters to be studied
not by reference to our own views but
by reference to Gods views chiefly as
expressed in the bible. l do not say
no voice on the subject comes to us
from nature, but while / believe that
God has in a manner written His law
in mans nature. which is shown by
experience to need the Sabbath, yet
Gods views are to be obtained chiefly
from His revelation. which we call the
Holy Scriptures. The holy day comes
into prominence in the history Of Israel,
in Jehovah's commands and in the
church of God. Now if 1t be in anywise
thought or said by any that the Sab
bath was merely a Jewish institution;
besides other arguments, it is sufficient
to remember that our Lord who came
to inaugurate the Gospel dispenSatiOn
for the world, erected the apostolic
college, established the Christian
church in its new life, issued his perma-
nent communion to preach the Cos
pei to all nations and promised His
these apostles and this church under
the guidance of the Spirit changed the
Sabbath from the seventh to the first
day of the week to commemorate the
great fact of the Resurrection and
taught the permanent obligation of the
Lords day to the world
How to Observe the Day
How is the Sabbth to be observed?
In the first place Il is TO be set apart
as Gods day. Six days are in a sense
our own time, this one day Is Gods.
Now what does God require us to do
with His day? We must do something
with it, we can't just it alone and say
this is Gods day We can't pass over
the day to Monday. The day comes
every revolution of the earth on its
axis and 1t stays twenty-four hours.
We must live these twenty-four hours,
we must spend them eating or sleeping
or visiting, or doing business, or
amusing ourselves, or worshiping God
and training our children in his fear, or
in some way we must pass the time.
Now God says we must turn away our
foot from doing our own pleasure on
His day and set it apart for His wor-
ship and service.
Now the views OF this church upon
the subject before us are carefully
drawn from the word of God, as fol-
lows: "The Sabbath or Lords day Is
to be sanctified by an holy resting all
that day, not only from such works as
are at all times sinful. but even from
such worldly employments and recrea-
tions as are on other days lawful, maxi
ing 1t our delight to spend the whole
time Except so much Of 1t as Is to be
taken up in works of necessity and
mercy in the public operate exercises
of Gods worship. And to that end we
are to prepare our hearts, and with
such foresight, diligence and modera-
tion to dispose and seasonably dispatch
our worldly business that we may be
the more free of 1t for the duties Of that
day" And let me say, brethren. that
without taking up the time of the con-
gregatton in so doing, ] will furnish
to any of you who may request 1t, the
| Scriptural authority for this summary
of duty in regard to the observance
of the Lords day. Now this Is to my
mind an excellent presentation of an
ideal observance of the Sabbath. And
If 1t be an ideal observance then 1t must
be your standard.
But the difficult subject remains of
the application of this general rule to
the special cases of our real Sabbath
life. What are we really to do and not
to do? Now, then, to be practical. the
proper observance OF the Sabbath be-
gins ON Saturday;i. e.. we are to make
such arrangements on Saturday as may
be necessary to enable ourselves, our
children, and our servants, and our
cattle to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Then you must settle when your Sab
bath Is to begin and end l believe
God claims twenty-four hours, and that
the Sabbath begins and ends when
every other day begins and ends-at 10