The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1900-02-23

the Puritan and Pilgrim fathers, are Of
ten guilty. The love of gold, greed is
the besetting sin Of many Americans.
Greedy, selfish corporations should not
be allowed TO force labor on Sunday.
Equally greedy and selfish laborers
should not be permitted to disturb the
peace and sanctity of the day of rest by
Sunday work. Confectionery, ice-crea M
and cigar stores should be closed with
the grocery and dry goods stores. One
OF the greatest enemies of the Christian
Sabbath Is the Sunday newspaper. Many
of these sheets are immoral and purely
| sensational. All Sunday papers divert
| attention and meditation from the pro.
per channels Of the Lords day. These
| sheets supplant the Bible and good
books in thousands Of homes. They dis
sipate the very idea and spirit OF the
Lords day. They bring to the Sunday
| morning breakfast table accounts OF muir
ders, divorce cases OF the most sensation
al character, prize fghte, baseball,
sports Of all kinda, as we'll as all kinds
OF secular business matter. A great
amount of special Sunday labor is re.
CURED In the circulation Of these papers.
Sunday newspaper trains are run; news
stands and stores are open and a vast
army OF men and boys is engaged in de-
| livertng and selling these papers. For
Example, in Boston alone 1900 boys are
licensed to sell these papers. Thousands
| and thousands Of papers are bought and
sold on the Lords day. During the past
year efforts have been made to introduce
the Sunday newspapers into London,
but the proposed evil received q decided
veto. In my opinion, Christian should
not sell, buy, nor read Sunday news
paper. We are morally bound to defend
the ganctity of the Lords day and in no
| way should we encourage it's dissertation.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CHRISTIAN
SABBATH
is threatened by the tendency to convert
this day into holiday. Sunday pleas
nre'seeking has become great evil, al
evil that every thoughtful citizen and
every Christian should fight. Ii we d,
not want a European Sabbath with all
its attendant evils, Sunday sports and
pleasure-seeking must be limited by law. |
Thousands of people who have come |
from foreign shores would make OF the |
American rest-day anything but |
Christian Sabbath. The day is being
desecrated and its spirit demoralized BY |
fishing, hunting, century runs, great |
excursions, Sunday sports, and the full |
opening of pleasure resorts. Every |
bright Sabbath finds the country Lied |
with bicycle riders who have forgotten |
the sanctuary and the sanctity of the |
Lords day. Excursion boats carry hun
dreds Of people from city to city and to
pleasure resorts. Trolley cars enjoy the |
largest patronage on Sunday of any day |
in the week. Sunday golf, baseball and |
other sports rob people of Sabbath quiet. |
Theatres and show houses of various |
kinds are open Sunday nights in many |
OF our large cities. These things, unless |
limited and controlled by law, will de. |
stroy the American Sabbath.
Christian people are sometimes led into |
pleasure-seeking on Sunday. Frequent |
ly it Is difficult to draw the line between |
seeking. We must honestly grant that |
there ID such thing as lawful Sabbath |
recreation. We cannot enter into partic- |
ulars, specifying what is right and what |
is wrong. Two principles, however, may |
be enunciated, viz, we should avoid such |
rcarao tsnn xryiI1 f,aa ~vy xx,ian n~aos,r.cza
ordinary pleasure seeking on Sunday land |
we should avoid such recreation as caus.
es anyone else to work. This idea OF |
making social visits on the Sabbath, caus- |
ing the hostess to absent herself from
church service in order to prepare an ex-
ira dinner.-this Ia an evil that Christians |
should guard against. This practice |
makes the Sabbath the hardest day In the |
week for many women. Christian house |
keepers would do we'll to invite their |
guests to accompany them to church, |
and then to serve them with such meals |
as the duties and observance OF the
Lords day permit. Conventional eour-
tesy should always be secondary to duty
and principle. The Sabbath is not hol-
iday, but holy day. Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy
HOW SHALL WE PROTECT THE sANCTTTY
OF THE LORDS DAYp
In three ways, viz. ~ by example; (2)
by education; (3) BY law. Let everyone
who loves purity and strength in Ameri-
can institutions. everyone who loves the
Lord Jesus Christ, s'Remember the Sab