The Grenada sentinel., 1903-10-10

- Scribes and Phart- |
- sees had placed |
unon II His effort was to deliver the !
day from its unbeareble eAact1ohs ahu
make it. as God intended. a real oas OIL
rest, The cold Journalism OF the 1cttef I
of the law had killed the freedom Oh the
Sp:rit OF God in His relations to the oay.
Jesus at once struck at the root OF ti'e
matter when He declared: The SAP
bath was made for man. and not man TOT
the Sabbath This statement was SO
radically opposed to the Jewish IDEA OF
the Sabbath as to arouse the oltterest
f,nnosition. The Scribes and Pharisees
In their zeal for form and ceremony nao
deiffed the Sabbath and made II some
thing for man to worship ana serve.
Jesus corrected this error by declaring
that God had made the Sabbath DAY 10
serve the needs OF man. Here, then, We
have the first and fundamental doctrine
in regard to the Sabbath day. or the Gay
of rest The other great truth. as
Jesus went on to declare 1t, was that lie
was Lord Of the Sabbath. He was not
to be crowded out of the day as \ioa,
His Father, had been. for they mao
SO filled the day with burdensome re-
strictions and obligations that # had
become a religion of cold and ifeless
forms AID 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 ut 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"
W/ HEN Jesus was on earth and en-
w. deavoring to restore 10 its rlghtful
functions the day of rest which God had
established. it was the extreme OF cere-
moniai 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 demoralizinE free
dom in every department in life. The
1aziness and ease which keep from
church on Sunday morning; the Sunday
newspaper. the reading of which rele-
gates the Bible to the dusty shelf; the
1east!ng 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 a 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 man Z
superficial zeal in religious things; to-
day. God is crowded out of the rest day
by mans utter f0rgetfulness or partial
forgetfulness of Gods claims upon him
and his seeking the things and pleas.
ures of the world. SO that there is Just
as much need of effort to redeem the
blessed rest day from the error and eyi
which crowd 1t as there was whe,
Jesus faced His bigoted critics and de-
clared that the Sabbath was made fo,
man, that He was Lord of the Sabbath
and that the law which was to govern
the day was that Of doing good and tn,
same fundamental facts in regard to tn,
weekly rest day which have existed sine
the foundation of the world. when Go,
rested on the seventh day and hallowe,
it, exist to-day
HE fact that the Christian vor1
observes the first day of the weel
instead of the seventh as prescribed b
the Mosaic law does not in the leas
alter the great underlying purpose
and obligations of the day. We hav
not space here to develop the arRu
ment that man. physically and spi1
ltually. needs one day in seven fo
rest. 1t is not necessary for us t
recall how with the passing of til
Jewish dispensation in the rejectio
and crucinxion of Christ and hi
resurrection upon the first day OF til
week and the establishment of th
church Of the Gospel dispensatio
upon the day Of Pentecost, the JEWS
Sabbath ceased to be observed by ii
Christians, who in it's stead observe
Sunday, or the first day OF the wee]
But whether the seyenth-day Sal
bath of the Jews or the first-dlay Su,
day OF the Christians, they both re-
upon foundation principles which q
Identical and unchanged and III
changeahIe. The day OF rest was mat
for man. OF that day Christ is stl
Lord and great Exemplar. The ol
zsg tza.nA