The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-09-21
THE SUNDAY spin.
Perverted The Scriptures.
MeT SEEN AT CHURCH.
BY RoBT. ]. BURDETTE.

AFTER n3rO week OF 0ar0 WORK, TO 60
to church Sunday morning, and
mounted your wheel and went on a
Century run" for a rest? And got
home at seven o'clock p. M, SO dead
tired that you couldn't go to church in
the evening? And, defending your
way of spending the day, you quote
the words Of the Savior, "The Sabbath
was made for man."
So it was, my son so it was. So
was the buzz-saw. And not two years
ago I saw man with every one OF bis
fingers and a part of his thumb gone
from his right hand just because ne
made wrong use of the buzz'saw. The
buzz-saw was in its place., doing good
work for man, to which end it was
made. 1t was fulfilling its destiny: 1t
was DONG the thing to which it was
appointed. 1t didn't move out of its
place hairs breadth to do the man
harm. 1t just kept on Saving wood -
and the man couldn't-or rather didn't
wait until the buzz-saw was through
it's work. He transgressed it Cstrans.
gressus"-.'trans," across "gradi," ;" step
to step across; he reached oyer it,
when he should have gone around it.
And when be drew back his hand
which he did Immediately, he didn't
haye the thing he reached for and he did
not have thefngers he reached with He
had not only not gained something,
but had lost something. And more
than that he had lost something that
he will never get back again in this
world.
All, my boy, I don't want to shut
you up in dingy boarding house, g
hot room, the dusty city, and the
smelly, dirty streets all the time. But
when you go out into God 3 country for
Gods fresh air, and rest OF body and
peace of mind, don't run oyer Goaa'
Sunday to get these things. He has
them for you; no one else can give
them to you. But you don't want to
trample on some of His greatest bless.
ings to get the lighter ones. Ihave no
more objection to your riding to church
than you have to my walking on Sun
day. If the Rey. Malachi Ezraman,
A. NJ, D. D., Ii. D., drives to church
in his carriage, or uses the street car,
there is no reason why you shouldn't
spin decorously up to the church on
your wheel. There is no reason why
you shouldn't any how, no matter what
the doctor does. II he wants 10 walk
to church, let him. If I could ride as
well as you do, / shouldn't walk unless
L preferred it, which I certainly do.
But you didn't ride to church. You
passed the doors of three or four nice
country churches on your spin, and
never so much as paused at one of
them. You didn't 60 out for fresh air
and rest and peace of mind. You went
out because you we're too lazy to- go to
church, or too selfish, or too mean, or
Just because you didn't want to. And
the meanest thing in the whole bust
ness is, that, after running away from
church, after denying God the rever-
ence and love and worship on His day
which is His due, after riding over the
Bible, you try to sneak passage out
of it to justify your treachery. Alb
my boy, not halt dozen verses away
from the one you quoted, you will find
what use the Lord Of the Sabbath
made of it ior man. Do you use the
day for man as he did, and yen may
write that text across your heart, and
have it craven on the handle bars OF
your wheel, and ride thousand miles
every Sunday if you. can, and God and
man will bless you for it. But don't
go racing and chasing over the whole
countryside all Sunday, having jolly
good time all by yourself, and then
come back quoting scripture to prove
that you were on missionary tour ali
the time. There was fellow long be-
fore your day, in the fourth chapter OF
Matthew, who had scripture right at
his tongues end, and who quoted from
the ninety-first Psalm lar more glibly
than you can, and yet he didn't prove
his point, and he knew all the time
that his application of the texts was
utterl. wrong.
"The Sabbath was made for man =
indeed it was; and so was Monday;
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
and Saturday. And 1t does seem to
me that, as God made all Of them, He
ought to have a goodiy portion of al
least one of them. "The Sabbath was
made for man." So was corn, but not
to make into whisky. So was the sea, but
not for piracy. The Sabbath and corn
and the sea were made for man, moi
for the devil. Remember that, my
boy. The Christian Union Church.
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
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