Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-10-06


to mako his Sunday Il day OF hard
work In churchgoinR. so that he works
harder on the Sabbath than he does ON
any other day Of the week"
The Old Fanhtoned sunday.
Sabbath lconoclasts, is that the way
you would have man spend his Sab
baths? Well, already your modern
teaching In reference TO the Sabbath
too well has taken root Your pre-.
misses are wrong for you know not ~
what conclusions they tend. To see
whether your grandfather's Sabbath or
your own Is the better ] would havs
you compare the two side by side.
Thirty. fifty years ago the man wba
made Sunday q day OF pleasure vas
looked upon as Il blasphemsr, an out
and out enemy Of God, Of the church
and Of the better elements Of the social
community When Sunday morning
would como even tho horses and the
stock OF the farm knew st was q day
Of rest The farnily would arise lit
Ito later thnn usual Then they would
lingcr n little longer Mt the breakfast
table. Then The sweetest music Of tho
world would begin to sound rho old
village bell would send IT'S silyery notes
rolling down the valley. Then, after
morning prayers, the horses were hitch.
ed up, and father and mother md all
/ the children rode to town IN the pame
big wagon Then the pew was fam
! fly pew, and all the members were
there Then came the sermon. then
! 10
bountiful dinner. then the afternoon for
reading or restful quiet. then the sing
ing Of the hymns around the Old fash.
/ Toned piano. No Damrosch's orchestra
or Theodore Thomas stringed instr7,-
ments ever had such enthusiasts u
dieuces and participants rs those old
/ family oratoriDs about the piano, where
our sisters played and our fathers and
mothers and the rest Of the ia mty a.
joined In the singing Then the even
ing church service again or, II the
farm was 100 far away, the evening
prayers and early bed, You knew,
man. that old fashioned Sabbath day
meant more than mere cessation from
worldly work, 1t meant quiet com
munion with Cod II meant Bible
study and sacred readings as well as
mere rest DO you wonder that such
Sabbath az our fathers observed was
the very foundation Of church life. o.
Christian home life, OF Bible reading
and Of conservation to God
Alongside Of this beautiful Sabbath
day OF rest I want you TO place the
modern sabbath, with It's 50 called lib
eral IDEAS First, where do we find the
vestlhuIe of the Sahbath2 Namely, Sat
urday night To bed enrlyi Oh no
Saturday night has come. Ia our large
cities the street cars are crowded
Where nre the people gong7 Some TO
the theaters; others, alas to places OF
still more evil resort Men and WON
en-, tired from work now, are turning
this Saturday night into the hardest
kind Of work. hey are dssipatinc for
Pleasures sake To the nOnchurchgr,-
et, as h rule Saturday night Is only
too often a time for free indulgence Of
every desire that is bad
Sunday morning IS here Where do
we now find most of the nonchurchgo-
ers? Again crowdine our railroad
trains and cars; picnlcs, ball games
outing parties. where the breweries
and the wine sellers get their biggest
revenues. The beautiful pictures OF
the family Bible which we used to
study as q boy have given place to the
Silly plctorals Of the Sunday newspa.
per Everywhere on the Sabbath gin
simply runs riot. In many cities even
the saloons and playhouses nre full
Instead Of the quiet family group going
to the village church, now almost every
country road near an adjacent city has
rs yelling rioters, half drunk or entire
~ debauched, who ARE off for 3 day Of
sin. DO you mean to tell me sensible
man, that the modern way Of spending
the Sabbath is as profitable as day
OF rest and communion with God aS
were the sabbath days our forefatbers
observed
Rigid Observance of the Lords Dny
The rigid Observance Of u IDS day
as a day consecrated TO himself Is the
most Important foundation stone OF
the church OF Jesus Christ, Without
IL no true gospel conservation can es-
ist know that in some homes the
lines were too lightly drawn ano IN
them the Lords day was gloomy and
was WEAKNESS 20 the children. Hen
~ Ward Beechar, tie brilliant pastor
,, OF plymouth church used to give a
humorous description OF such Sab
baths He described ais brother and
himself Watching ths sun 60 down
over the western hills. In HIS ooyhood
Sunday WAS observed from the setting
OF the sun Saturday to the setting Of
the sun Sunday No sooner would this
sun sink over the western hills than
these two boys would let out grea t
yell. crying "Hurrah, hurrshl Sun
days over, Now for some fun" But
: though the Pur,tanic Sabbath was
sometimes very angular In the rigid
observance. ! claim that Sabbath had
: ten chances to where the modern Sab
bath has one Of producing such a fam
lily as Lyman Beecher developed.
, protest in the second place against
the iconoclasm which would eliminate
from our lives the divine principle Of
concern for the welfare Of others. Pro.
fame iconoclastic hands have been I'M
dermining the foundation stones Of our
sacred Sabbath. Aye, these enemies
!, of God have been doing more; they