Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-02-08
'THE NEW STYLE SABBATH.
MODERN SUNDAY NEWSPAPER LARGELY
RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.
NOT like THE HOLY day CT Old.
Dr. STAIRS Says ihs Newspapers Furnish q
"Bash OF Blood and Fun"
[The Indeperde

of Pittsfeld, who was for q short
time pastor of fashionable CITY con-
gregation, once said, in his oaustic
Tway: "It is amazing hard work to
keep piety alive in this world. In
the country they sleep it to death,
and in the city they kill it by silks
and ice creams" If DR.. Todd had
lived twenty-five years longer he
would probably have affirmed that q
far moro formidable danger to the
the life of true piety in this land
comes from the new style Sabbath.
The communities to which he
preached half century ago held
what may be called the old fashioned
idea of Sunday as day of rest from
secular labor, and for the worship of
God. The life of evangelical religion
was held to be indissolubly linked
with the one of the Christian
churches, and their life to be de-
pendent on the proper observance of
Gods Day and of his worship in the
sanctuary. A steady and most de-
plorable change has been going on
in these latter days. A new style of
Sabbath is very painfully visible to
every careful observer; and the spir-
itual effects of this lowering of the
Sabbath-tone are undeniable. To the
church it means-"keart-f failurep
One of the outcomes of the new
Sabbath is the introduction, and i'm.
mensely wide establishment of the
secular Sunday newspaper. That
keen observer, Mr.. Moody, has re-
peatedly declared that he regards
the. Sunday press as the most formid-
able foe to the influence of the Cos
pei in our land. Whether the enor-
nous circulation of these papers be
one of the causes of the lowered tone
of Sabbath observance, or only one
of it's effects, we need not stop to
conjecture. He is certainly right in
regarding the moral influence of
sadly large portion of the Sunday
morning newspapers as antagonistic
to the spread of evangelical religion.
Many of these widely circulated
sheets are mere sewers for scandal
and social filth; they are filled with
hideous cuts, criminal Intelligence,
and other material that is either
trashy or utterly loathsome. Even
the cleanest and most reputable
papers offer many columns of sport
ing Intelligence, political and social
tgossip, tales, jests and frivolous mat
ter entirely unsuited to day which
the Creator ordained for his worship
and for the religious uses and bene-
fits of his immortal creatures. The
secular Sunday press does its utmost
to secularize the Lords Day, and by
SO doing it aims terrible blow not
only at evangelical religion, but at
public morality. The main hope of
our nation is in Bible conscience.
Everything that tends to lower the
reverence of Gods commandments
(aud "remember the Sabbath Day to
keep it holy" is one of them, and to
lower the claims and the duty of
Gods worship, is an irreparable
wrong to the church, the common
wealth and society. The new Sab
bath is giving us nothing worse than
this almost omnipresent press which
tends TO eat out the central and vital
idea of one day in seven as sacred to
God and the salvation of human
souls.
| No one will deny that vast num-
Der of people are kept from the house
of God by this Sabbath breaking
press; they are spending sacred time
over these blanket sheets instead OF
listening to the message of eternal
! %. Those who do go from them to
he sanctuary find sorry prepara-
ton Tor worship in what DR.. Storrs
h, 'sefy called a "a bath of blood
ana 'uD. / wish it were true that
no IN, nhcrs of the Church of Jesus
Christ " 70 supporters and readers
of thaae ion ,als II 10 ono nf tho