The morning times., 1897-01-11
PLEA FOR THE N[WsBOYs
Rev. Alex. Kent's Address on
Sabbath Obseryances.
MINISTER'S WHO COMPLAIN
He said That They Would Not OBJ
tect if Noise Was Made in Their
Interest of Religious Work-The
Changing Church Beils-He Says
the General Public Is Opposed.


! Rev Alexander Kent's plea for the news
| boys of this city, brought an unusually
large crowd to the Peoples Church yes
| terday morning.
The divine's quaint and apt manner OF
/ presenting some amusing anecdote TO bring
/ out the more forcibly some telling point
| would cause involuntary bursts of applause
| Rev. Kent took for his text, upon which
| he so ably based his argument:
| Il am afraid of you, lest by any means
/ 1 have bestowed labor upon you in vain. =
I;Galatians, w..
| The address began with history OF the
1 Hebrew Sabbath and the Christian Sun
/ day, for, as the doctor said, 1.-THE whole
| force of the contention of 'Sabbatarians'
rests upon the assumption that the Jewish
/ Sabbath was a divine institution. OF per-
petual obligation, and that by authority
7 OF Christ and his Apostles the obligation
was transferred to the present Sunday.
/ st. Panl,s lifelong opposition to the
observance of days, forms and ceremonies,
| was dwelt upon, and the 'Sabbatarians"
of the present day were declared to be
| the prototypes OF those early Christians
whom the great Apostle TO the Gentiles
/ Udi lllOSt tlGQuSAViy W icouhS III HIS SpiS
| ties.
| Rights and Freedom.
| .sThe growth of the soul in goodness, -
declared the speaker depends Neither
/ upon the observance or non observance Of
! special days or seasons, so much as on
/ loyalty to our own convictions and q
| respectful regard for the equal rights and
| freedom of others. All times and places
/ are sacred to hoiiest uses.
| Continuing, DR.. Kent said in part:
| When Christ was rebuked with a vio-
| lation of the Sabbath he appealed to the
| activity OF the Divine spirit in nature, and
| Justified himself on this ground: My
| Father worketh hitherto until now, and /
| work And he declared, The Sabbath
j was made for man.
Mems need of rest day depends alto
| gether upon industrial and social condi-
tions. If men worked only six or seven
hours day, the actual need of special
rest days would not exist at all.
l. ION the other hand, millions of workers,
kept in enforced idlenesS all but small
| portion of the week, do not need rest on
| Sunday. They need work-a chance to earn
something; and the very motive that led
1.-THE Jewish legislator To prohibit masters
from working their slaves or cattle seven
/ DAYS in the week demands that those who
are deprived of adequate employment dur
ing the week snail not be hampered in their
Opportunity of earning a living and meet
ing a public need on Sunday.
Against the contention OF those who
claim that the authority for the observance
OF Sunday rests upon the Fourth Com
| mandment l quote these words OF Martin
Luther: II anywhere anyone sets up its
observance cn Jewish foundation, then
] / order you to work ON it, TO ride on 1t.
TO dance on Ito do anything which shall
remove the encroachments on Christian
liberty And this from Tyndale, trans
lator of the New Testament: AS for our
7 sabbeth, we be lord over the Sabbath, and
may yet changeit into Monday, orany other
day, as we see need.
Root of the Complaint.
ut is this mistaken notion of Sunda J
| observance and Christian duty that le'
at the root of the complaint recently madt
by certain ministers 10 the District Com
Inissioners, and indorsed by a great many
more, against the newshoys, for disturbing
their Sunday quiet by crying their papers
They claimed that the cries of tht
newsboys interfered with the rights o
the people to quiet and rest on that day
and that they disturbed others in the
pious devotions, and altogether consti
Istuted n nuisance that ought to be abated.
while l have no disposition to ques
I ton the general sincerity of this plea, a
the same time have no doubt that thei
own notions of Sunday observance wer
1.-THE real cause of their action i'll th
matter.
IF the noise had been made in the in
terest of the church, and the extension
of it's work, l think it would not have
| offended their ears 1t it had been draw
ing the people to their church services, ant
helping to build up their particular Zion, 4
would have made sweet music in thei
, ears, even if the racket had been ten times
! as great as it was.
perhaps some of the boys have &C
casopally been noisy in proximity to place
OF worship during the hours of service
but did this require so harsh a remedy II
that to which the ministers resort ted
There are many noises in our city tina
interfere far more seriously with the hear
ing OF the sermon or the taking of nal
during its delivery than the cries of tn
newsboys.
Take, for instance, the almost incess IN
| rum bling and buzZing of the cars. and tn
continual changing of their gongs and be!l
TYnInm nYnDNNn