The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-04-28
THE CHRISTIAN SUNDAY.
or SPECIAL SERVICES
BY DIR. RAIL-.
Delivered at Trinity Methodist Chuic
acknowledgement Reasons FOX the Or
servance of the Sabbath.

serVance Ofthe Sabbath.
At the Trinity Methodist Episcopal
church yesterday morning the pastor
Rev. DR.. Fl. Frank Rail, delivered the
second Of his special sermons on THE
Christian Sunday" Dr. Rail briefly le-
viewed the first sermon OF the seri IS
which he gave last week on The Story
Of the Christian Sunday" in which he
traced the origin and development ot
the Sabbath The subject of yesterday 81
address was why DO We Keep the
Christian Sunday The text, The
Sabbath was made for man, not man
for the Sabbath" is taken from the sec
ond chapter of Mark, twenty seventh
verse. DR.. Rail said in part:
The early Christians had no thought
Of keeping the old Jewish Sabbath, but
| they did keep a Lords day as time
| during which they might worship God,
| celebrate the Lords supper and make
| gifts, The Pharisees seemed to think
| that law was made solely for the sake
of law. In other words, they didn't
care how that law would affect you or |
so long as we obeyed it. This led them
| iii'piibAHtS''N'NO+
law said that work on the Sabbath was
unlawful, and the Pharisee, reasoning
| literally, came to the conclusion that to
| pluck grape on Sunday would be a
sin, since a grape was burden, bear
| ing of burdens was work and conse-
quently sinful So we must not con-
strue these Old Testament laws too lit
orally or rigidly. We do not keep the
Christian Sunday, strange as it may
seem to you to hear it, because it is so
laid down by the ten commandments.
The day spoken of there is the last day
of the week, while the day upon which
we worship is the first day of the week.
But IT is not only different day of the
week, but day entirely different in
character, Our Sunday does not pre-
sent the mere negative abstinence from
certain forbidden occupations, as does
the Sabbath of Judaism Christianity
comes in with a positive note. 1t gives
us something to do. And | may add
right here that the trouble with so
many of the splt-offs of our Christian
churches is that in our Bible men find a
law book instead of life book, a Cos
pei
There are, and always have and will
be. a number of positive reasons why
we should preserve the Christian Sum
day--irstly, because the day is needed |
if our church is to survive. The whole |
history of the Christian church demon
strates that fact We need day when |
people can come together for the pur- |
pose of common worship of God Sec |
ondly, we need it as day of rest, Sci |
entists, doctors of medicine and labor |
leaders have so testified. During the |
Paris exposition a Sunday rest conven- |
ton was held in Paris composed of men |
representing every kind of occupation !
from all parts of the earth. They were |
not called together by the clergy, but
by influential business men, by men |
high up in our industrial and civic life.
And 1t was the absolutely unanimous
vote of this convention that on human
itarian grounds at least one day in sew
en- should be a day of rest, Childhood
demands rules and laws: and so we find
it in the infancy of religion. Judaism
must needs have had it's instructive
rules.
"But the religion of law has passed.
1t has grown and blossomed forth into
the religion Of Christian spirit. Ours is
no longer a life lived by commands
from without, but a life ruled by the |
spirit of conscience from within. Chris
tianity is but a development Of religion,
but it is none the less sacred for that
reason. The marriage institution began
in polygamy and polyandry But we
don't condemn it for that reason. The
recent discussion about the continental |
has shown how wide and deep
and from what unexpected sources is
he opposition to it, Julia Marlowe in a
recent article concerning the stage pro-
tests against the Sunday theater. John
Burns, the British labor leader, recent
~, during the agitation In London | !
against the Sunday newspaper, uttered {
4 radical speech against the English
seven day publications.
zone never gains anything by not {
keeping holy the Sabbath day. As a
student | had more calls upon my time
han the average classmate, and yet {
never found it necessary to work one E
minute upon my college work on sun
lay; and | noticed that generally the | i
ligh-stand men in our classes were '
hose who respected and kept the Sab d
,ath day holy"' a
During his eloquent discourse DR.. g
Rail- took time to answer a number Of S
questions which he heartily welcomed. X
Jext Sunday being communion Sunday a
Dr. Rail has decided to postpone the S
bird sermon Of the series till one week t
ster. The subject will be How to o
Keep the Christian Sunday" b