The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1903-10-16

S& 1S' distorted by the re-
15 strictions which the
- Scribes and Phari-
sees had placed
upon it. His effort was to deliver the
day from it's unbearable eXactions and
make it, as God intended, real day OF
rest. The cold Journalism of the letter
of the law had killed the freedom of the
Spirit of God in His relations to the day
Jesus at once struck at the root of the
matter when He declared: "The Sab
bath was made for man, and not man for
the Sabbath" This statement was so
radically opposed to the Jewish idea OF
the Sabbath as to arouse the bitterest
opposition. The Scribes and Pharisees
in their zeal for form and ceremony had
deified the Sabbath and made it some
thing for man to worship and serve.
Jesus corrected this error by declaring
that God had made the Sabbath day to
serve the needs of man. Here, then, we
have the first and fundamental doctrine
in regard to the Sabbath day, or the day
of rest. The other great truth, as
Jesus went on to declare it, was that He
was Lord of the Sabbath. He was not
to be crowded out of the day as God,
His Father, had been, for they had
so filled the day with burdensome re-
strictions and obligations that it had
become religion of cold and lifeless
forms and exactions. And not only was
He Lord of the Sabbath day. but the law
OF that day was one of positive and ac-
tive goodness. at is lawful to do good
on the Sabbath" Here, then, We have
before us the fundamentals of the Sab
bath day question:: THE Sabbath made
for man" "Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath"
and the law of the Sabbath, do good"
WHEN Jesus was on earth and en-
w deavoring to restore to its rightful
functions the day of rest which God had
established, it was the extreme of cere-
monial restrictions and exactions which
robbed the day of its true spirit and pur-
pose; but to-day the pendulum has
swung clear to the other side, and we
find that instead of the Puritanical type
of Sunday we have the ''wide-open"
Sunday, the Sunday when liberal views,
Indifference to Gods claims, and love
of pleasure prevail. Instead of the bur-
den of stern religious eXactions, there
is distracting and demoralizing free
dom in every department in life. The
laziness and ease which keep from
church on Sunday morning; the Sunday
newspaper, the reading of which rele-
feasting and social functions the pleas
ure outings. which take the whole or
part of the day; the rush of trains and
street cars: the grind of the wheels of
business; the din and pound of the work
shop Instead of the prescribed Sab
baths day journey of our Lords day
which the hypocritical Pharisees would
not allow to be overstepped even to
minister to suffering and needy crea-
ture, we have the bicycle or automobile
run; the long street-car ride to visit
distant friends; the picnic in the park
or the country. In Jesus day God was
crowded out of the Sabbath day by mans
superficial zeal in religious things; to-
day, God is crowded out of the rest day
by mans utter forgetfulness or partial
forgetfulness of Gods claims upon him
and his seeking the things and pleas
ures OF the world, so that there is lust
as much need of effort to redeem the
blessed rest day from the error and evil
which crowd it as there was when
Jesus faced His bigoted critics and de-
clared that the Sabbath was made for
man, that He was Lord of the Sabbath
and that the law which was to govern
the day was that of doing good, and the
same fundamental facts in regard to the
weekly rest day which have existed since
the foundation of the world. when Cod
rested on the seventh day and hallowed
it, exist to-day.
HE fact that the Christian world
observes the first day of the week
instead OF the seventh as prescribed by
the Mosaic law does not in the least
alter the great underlying purposes
and obligations of the day. We have
not space here to develop the argu-
ment that man, physically and spir
1tually, needs one day in seven for
rest. 1t is not necessary for lis to
recall how with the passing of the
Jewish dispensation in the rejection
and crucifxion of Christ and His
resurrection upon the first day of the
week ana the establishment of the
church of the Gospel dispensation
upon the day of Pentecost, the Jewish
Sabbath ceased to be observed by the
Christians, who in it's stead observed
Sunday, or the first day of the week.
But whether the seventh-day Sab
bath of the Jews or the first-day Sun
day of the Christians, they both rest
upon foundation principles which are
identical, and unchanged and I'M
changeable. The day of rest was made
for man. OF that day Christ is still
Lord and great Exemplar. The one
great obligation of that day is that
of doing good. 1t is not our purpose
to discuss the question of whether the
seventh day or the first day should be
observed, nor is it our purpose to
add to the great and confused discus
sion of what one can do and what one.
ought not to do on Sunday. Christ
did not attempt to outline a list of
the cans and the can'ts for the day,
but He did call attention to certain
fundamental truths in regard to the
day, and these are unchanged and un-
changeable, and they afford a sure
means of determining what one ought
-