The times., 1899-07-24
SUNDAY DISSERTATION.
Christians, Says DR.. II. X. NnyIor
Are Largely Responsible.

! Christians, Says DIR. II. II. NnyIor.
Are Largely Responsible.
The decadence of the Sabbath was the
subject Of an interesting sermon last night
! by the Rev. H. r. Naylor at a union
meeting of the Epworth League and the
/ congregation of McKendree NJ E. Church.
fhe meeting was led by F. j. Mackenzie.
and the general topic of the evening was
/ Honoring the Lords Day" Several mem
oers OF the league made brief talks on this
subject, the opinion being that now more
than ever before was there tendency to
uesecrate the Sabbath. From the beginning
OF the Christian era following the example
! Oh Jesus Christ, one day each week was set
! aside for rest and worship.
| Dr Nayior took as his text the command
to keep the Sabbath holy In the history
oil the Christian world, he said. there has
never been so much sadness and misery
among Christian men and women as now
rms, he maintained, was because of so
great a desecration of the Sabbath The
| leaders OF all Protestant denominations,
1 ne said. acknowledge and deprecate the
/ decadence of the Sabbath, which. he said
is not confined to any one part of the coun-
| Try or TO any particular nation. This state
/ OF affairs. the speaker said is no doubt the
! result of the greater facilities which are
now oHered to people 10 obtain amusement
or transact business. In this connection.
! Dr' Nayior referred to the facilities of
transportation resultant from the discov-
| cry OF steam and electricity and the inyen-
ton OF the bicycle and the automobile
Ihese severally and combined, while no
doubt invented for the proper use OF man
are belng made instruments of to facili-
tate the desecration of the Sabbath. The
misuse OF these, he contended has a terri
! pie influence for bad upon society ANY
/ sunday morning, he said a person may
stand along the line OF any Of the electric
street railroads in the city and see thou
sands passing south. making their way to
! the flver front, where they will again take
! passage for some of the many resorts along
| the river. Then, again. he said. watch the
cars making north and thousands will be
seen bound for Glen Echo, Glen Sligo
| Cheyy Chase, or some other suburban re-
| sort.
1t has been estimated. Dr. Naylor said,
/ that over $4,000 people leave the city every
Sunday on excursions to some one OF these
places. The bicycle, he said. is very
good thing. and he was glad of its coming
but there are tens of thousands who use IL
as means for desecrating the Sabbath.
He also predicted that the automobile
would be powerful means of giving op-
portunity for the violation of the sanctitv
OF the day. The common use of these
methods for the Dissertation of the Sabbath
point to the fact, DR.. Naylor said. that
we are moving toward the European Sun
day instead Of maintaining our reverence
for the Lords Sabbath. In a great meas
ure, however, he said Christians are re-
sponsible for this because they take ad-
vantage and seek violation of the law in
this respect to suit their own convenience
In support of this statement, he said that
In 1860 no trains were allowed to run in
Massachusetts on Sunday except for the
purpose of carrying mail. A large num-
Der of people from Boston made a settle
ment in its suburbs and as a consequence
had no church where they could attend
service on Sunday. They stated the cir
cumstance to the manager of the railroad
and asked him to run 4 train for their
convenience to take them to and from
i church. This he did. excusing his viola
tion OF the civil and divine law by making
( the train carry mail. This was the first
violation of the law in that State, but now.
DR.. Naylor said, one hundred and sixty
trains go out of Boston every Sabbath
morning not necessarily, however, to carry
people to church In other ways too. DR.
Naylor said, religious people have been
| instrumental in violating the sanctity of
the Sabbath. Not long ago. he said he
! learned that those in charge of certain
camp meetings had received a rebate from
the railroad companies for the Sunday
travel to and from the meetings.
Another reason why the Sabbath is desc
Grated is because of the want of unity
among its friends. Some claim that the
Sabbath is Sunday; others that it is Sat
urday, and still others who say that it
is any one day. so long that we keep it
holy Mr.. Moody, whom Dr. Naylor char
acterized as the most evangelical spirit in
America. said that if persons business
was such that he could not keep Sunday
then he should keep some other day sacred
Many reasons are given by different people
he said, for keeping the Sabbath; some
because it is better not to do this or that
than TO do it; some on general grounds
that men and animals work better after
a day of rest; but these, he said. are low,
groveling ideas.
In conclusion. DR.. NaylOr said that he
could not answer the question as to how
to reform the decadence of the Sabbath.
The civil law he said. can never DO il for
it has never yet made Christian. Reform
in this matter, he said. does not mean
patchwork; it means revolution, and this
revolution must come from the spirit Of
God.