Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-09-12

auu Id anu Cnou Snalt honor Him
not doing thy own ways nor finding
thine own pleasure The Sunday
dissertation incident to the base ball
games and other sports allowed and
countenanced in our larger cities
Is demoralizing in the extreme, and
is a disgrace to our American Chris
tIan civilization, while in Europe the
evil Is beyond the power of words to
express. The six week DAYS should
be enough for the healthy develope-
ment of the body 10y manly exercise,
without robbing God of the Seventh
which He claims as His own.
". We must not read secular
literature. The daily newspaper
must be laid aside; the magazine
healthy profitable at other times,
must be closed; the novel, that fruit
ful cause of mental dissipation and
moral degeneracy, must be locked up.
These things fill our minds with dis
tracing thoughts and draw them
down from heaven 10 earth Think
for one moment how hard it would
be to fix your thoughts on yOur pas
tors sermon if you had been reading
Ivan hoe, Rob Roy, Nichols Nickiebv.
Ta,v of Two Cities. Lauua Dune.
Hugh Wynne, Janice Meredith or
other novels of high standard and of
pure morals before coming to the
house Of God. You just could not
fix your thoughths on higher things
with such preparation, nor could YOU
hope 10 retain those higher thoughts
in your mind if you returned to the
novel after the service.
". We must not engage in social
visiting on Sunday. If our friends are
sick or in affection, of course. it Is
our duty and our privilege to visit
them to offer them our sympathy aud
the consolation of spiritual comfort
If We have an old friend or relative
who would be cheered by seeing US.
then it is our duty and privilege to
make the visit But the ordinary
and usual Interchange Of visits is not
to be engaged in. But you say, chow
natural and pleasant it is for the
young man who is busy all the week
to visit his young lady friends on
Sunday evening" Yes: it is natural
and pleasant; but like many other
things which are natural and pleas
ant, 1t is wrong. 1t is natural for
some people to steal: it is natural to
most people to lie but suppose no
one would argue from these facts
that lying and stealing are right. 1t
was my good fortune TO attend, dur
ing a part of my collegiate training,
college where old fashioned ideas
prevailed on the matter of Sunday
observance, where the "old-time re-
ligion" was considered good enough.
The boys never thought of visiting
the girls on Sunday any more than
they thought of going to the moon.
This system was not hard on either
boys or girls. Seldom did a young
man leave college misogynist and
there was not an old maid upon the
Hill during the time of my sojourn
there.
Remember them these four prohi-
bitions: lst, daily business; 2nd,
athletic sports: 3rd, secular reading:
4th, social visiting. "Et ex ILLS
/ disco omnes.
DUTIES.
Having considered briefly and
imperfectly what we should not do
let lis now ask "what may we do or
Sunday for the glory of God, for the
good of our fellow man, and for oul
own proft?"
|. Our duty is to attend public
worship in church as often as posi-
BILE, to derive what good We can from
the services, to try to join in th'
prayer and praise, and to gathe
strength and inspiration from tn,
spoken and written word. "Neglec