Arizona republican., 1901-01-29
There Is printed in the news col Gmns of this paper this morning


 Umns of this paper this morning a
 communication criti- SUNDAY cising the ministerial CONCERTS. association on account
 of a stand it has re- Cently taken against secular concerts on the Sabbath. The particular con cert in the minds of the ministers and the critic is that which is to be given at Doris thcater, at which the cen tral performer will be Godowsky, the great pianist We regret that the ministers have construed this perform ance to be a Sabbath-breaking act. for whether 1t be or not, they have invited an opposition which will weaken their influence in this community. The pas tor of church is yet. to certain ex- tent, regarded as the spiritual dA- rector of his parishioners, and when- ever his direction is successfully re- belled against he emerges from the contest weaker man.
 We do not think 1t will be enough for the ministers to say that they have been impelled by their stern sense of duty, whatever the the result may be, to oppose this concert. for the divine law itself is by no means clear or comprehensive in its definition of the acts which con- stitute Sabbath breaking. We have no doubt that If Godowsky appears at the Doris theater next Sunday he will be heard " many Christian men and women who cannot be made to believe that their enjoyment Is sin in the sight of God, though It may be considered one by the pastors of the churches to which they belong. The concert will not be to them an Idle recreation, a passive amusement, but an active and educational enjoy nent The churches of which mem bers of the ministerial association are pastors presumably permit forms of Sabbath recreation and amusements which would have been held by s;Hct Sabbatarians of a half century ago to be a dire sin. Then the ordinary routine of life about the home was suspended. There was no preparation cf meals. but everything was ordered to make the day as miserable as possible. We acknowledge now that our fathers were wrong in their manner of Sabbath observance. and We believe that the Sabtaths of today rebound more to the glory of God than hose of hfty years ago did. We believe, and it has been admitted with sorrow by church men. that the breaking away of large bodies from a long established faitht that the unwholesoms Hberality, amounting to no less than atheism, now taught from the pulpit by emi- nent divnes under the authority of a wing of the Presbyterian church, are incidents in a revulsion from a rigid and gloomy rlety which God nevef ordered. It Is not now regarded as a sin if one finds enjoyment in a Sun day drive; nor, so far as we know. do the churches forbid any of the inno' cent cations in which church mem bers and Christians of undoubted sin cerlty today indulge. We fear thai many of them In this instance will in uuire why, to listen 10 the pianist Go dowsky Is wrong. and why to listen tC the unskillful daughter of nelghbol trying to play secular music is not wrong. They will, no doubt, want t' be shown the authority which meas ures. accepts and rejects the variou: kinds of Sabbath recreation and en joyment in which they themselves car see no sin.
 The ministerial association has don' some good in this community and w believe. as some of the members VII admit, has made some mistakes It. operations have hitherto been con ductcd as an auxiliary in politics o social affairs and it's influence has no been determined and perhaps no closely considered. In this Issue | stands alone on one side backed, m doubt. by many members of tn churches and on the other side is yer! large and respectable element of so "iety, made up in part also of mem bers of the churches whose pastors ar "