The Newtown bee., 1904-06-10
600 
TOWN TOPICS.
SOCIAL TOPICS.
THE LORDS DAY.-BY o. o. WRIGHT

The Sabbath question was an old
 one more than nineteen hundred years
 ago; and prominent topic of interest
 in Palestine, when Christ was on
 earth, even as it now is in our own
 land. But though an old question it | is always full of fresh interest because
 it is vital matter of the most practi-
 cal impOrtance; touching the general
 poets, material, social and moral. Break down the Sabbath and you cripple and destroy the best offices of
 religion the world has ever known. And when you strike out the offices of
 relig ion, law and order must give place
 to social and moral confusion, after
 which the destruction of property will
 follow; and peace, with every element
 of real prosperity, will depart.
 All this the experience of the world
 has conclusively proved, again and
 again. The Lords day is not a mere experiment in religion, nor the re-
 perstition which must and ought to
 lose it's hold on the conscience of so- ciety; but it is a grand fact, and prime factor in the progress and pros
 perity of every good institution. And as history repeats itself in the ebb and flow of the tide of empire, so this ques- tion concerning a period of rest, re-
 creation, and religious observance
 comes up again and again, at certain
 stages, and in diver SC phases of civiliZa-
 tion.
 From the beginning of the Christian era to our own day there probably has not been civilized nation in ChriSten- dom that has not legislated with ref erence to the Sabbath. The question
 is one of peculiar interest to us at this
 time. On one hand we still have the traditional Puritan Sabbath; and on the other the fast encrOaching Euro pean Sunday holiday. We who were brought up in our New England homes still cherish our old ideas and feelings about Sunday as a day of rest, worship, and other hallOwed associations. Our Public statutes still embody these Christian principles and protect us in the quiet enjoyment of our Christian population which continues to pour in- to our land comes with very different | thought and feelings about this mat ter. -... |
 The liberty of our country is violated | and abused by those who know not, and care not for our Christian home life. Our American population, born and bred under the influences of the New England Sabbath, have relapsed | more and more from the strict Puri- tan standard until there is danger of going to the other extreme of laxity in the matter; and when you have added to that the foreign idea of Sunday holiday, without religion, and with license to engage in sports and rioJous pleasures, the dangers of Sabbath vio- lation are become serious to every citi- zen who has at heart the social and moral welfare, and even the common safety, of the community.
 Admitting that the old Puritanical ideas are not practicable nor desirable in the changed conditions of our life, all the more we need to insist upon some standard that is practicable and necessary to the protection and best welfare of our homes and Christian in- The Lords day is a neces- sity and must be preserved from the abuses of the heather and the lawless. The law Of the Sabbath-reSt and WOr- ship-is written in the very nature of of things. Man and beast need one day of rest in seven. It is economy, health, happiness, to keep the Sabbath day. Society needs the moral and the spiritual culture of this holy day. The question is not Sunday or no Sunday, but how shall it be kept? Shall it be a day of rest or day of toll? Shall it be a time of quiet or time for revelry? A season for.spiritual refreshment and enjoyment or season of car nality? Shall the good decide or the bad?