The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-03-02

without impeachment or neglect OF d.
vine Service; and that women shall
have leave to carry rushes to the
church for the decorating of IT, accord
ing to their old custOme. But Mithail
Wee doe here account still as prohibited
all unlawful games to bee used Sun
dayes only, as Beare and Bull-baitings,
lnterludes, and at all Mines In the
meaner sort of people by law prohib-
tied, Bowling"
Oppose Sunday Recreation.
The unhappy Charles LIS tar-reaching
r~eatiirmation of his fathers decree runs
thus:
Now out Of the like pious love for
the service of God, and SURPRISING any
Humours that may oppose Truth, and
for the Eese, Comfort and Recreation
OF u we'll deserving People. we do
Rattle and Publish this our Blessed
Fathe's Declaration.
I'VE command that no man do Trou-
bic or Modest any of Our Loyal People.
In or from their Lawful Recreations;
ton Of This Our Command be made by
Order Of the Bishops through all the
Parish Churches of their several Do
ceses respectively"
This act OF Charles made the Pur-
ttans more h ever convinced of the
ulSC1 pIOlllSdGy, luc lIIc0CCl1ldO 6OA-
l%essness OF their ruler and his associ-
ates; and the holy horror in which they
held 1.-The Book of Sports" Is revealed
by the fact that when they came n
power the common hang1nen in Cheap
side and other small places" were or
dered to burn all copies OF the book,
which were commanded to be surren-
dered to them by those possessing them.
With Charles dethroned and behead-
| ed, there was ushered in the reaction
against indiscriminate Sunday recrea-
ton that has its effects boil in Eng
land n this country to this day. For,
however much strict Sabbatarians may
deplore the circumstance that the law
maker of England and in America has
practically ceased to regulate Sabbath
recreation, and the tendency to greater
liberality OF views on this head among
all classes. it is incontroNertible that
Sunday amusements of the present are
exceedingly tame when compared with
those peculiarly pursued on Sunday, un-
der churchly sanction, during the
reign of him who is responsible for the
King James version of Holy Writ.
The Inception of the Sunday Idea.
How did the Sunday question rise UP to
displace the Sabbath question? The an
swer is found in the story of the instltu-
ton OF Sunday itself.
AS far as human records OF one sort or
another reach Jack into the dim days OF
the races childhood, 1t has been proved
hat 1t was the wel-nigh universal prac-
tice to rest on the seventh day. and many
OF the primitive peoples also observed the
day with ceremonies. more or less elabor-
ate. of a religious nature. As every one
knows, the seventh day Is expressly
named in the Decalogue as the Jewish
Sabbath, and the chosen people are COM
manded not only to rest on that day, but
also to keep II holy" Archaeological
have discovered that the Babylons rested
on the seventh day. when they e~ndeavored
to propitiate their idol deltes. This day
they called Sapattu. which has been trans
lated day OF rest for the heart" and
from 1t the word Sabbath is held by many
schoiars to be derived. The Delphic or
acle's utterances are said to have been de-
day the Greeks refrained from ordinary
labors. as did the Romans and Hindus:
while even to this day the Arabs OF the
desert persist in making their sacrifices on
the seventh day. Thus. long before
Christ's time, the seventh day OF tho week
holy one with by far the greater mum
Der Of peoples who hemmed in the Israel
ties on all sides.
Christ himself. being q Jew, observed
the Jewish Sabbath, but not in the man
ner of tho Pharisees. His was a Sabbath
for humanity. and not a time set apart
for the observance OF theological hair
time and again. But he arose on the first
day OF the week. His second appearance
was on the first day of the week. Small
wonder that Jews though the disciples
were. the first day of the week immedi-
ately came to have a deep religious s!gni-
ncance in their eyes hitherto not accorded
to 1t by the ancient world. Not later than
twenty-siX years after the resurrection. 1t
had become the custom for many OF the
disciples to meet on 1.-The first day of the
week" for worship and encouragement of
one another. Here Is biblical testimony
to this. effect:
And upon the first day Of the week
when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached unto Them" This
happened in Troas. in Asia Minor, in the
year 50.
Worshippino on Both Days.
Blu the disciples and the first converts
to the new religions were Jews. almost
wholly. The Jews. as a people, have al
ways been marked for their tenacious hold
OF old customs, especially those bearing
the stamp OF divine origin or author.za-
ton. h more natural than that the
first followers of the Christ should wor-
chip not only on the first day Of the week,
but worship and rest on the seventh day
the scriptural Sabbath-as well? In this
way the m of their beloved lord was
honored and the fourth commandment OBJ
served both in letter and in spirit. Also,
there was fasting on the Lords day as the
first day Of the week soon came to be
called, and obviously 30. This secondary
observance Of the Sabbath was then
strongly insisted on by several Jewish
sects.
So particular were those Christians
known as Ebionites to observe both days
that they ave come down to US as among
the chief examples of the followers OF
the dual observance. Long after Chris
tian observance OF the Sabbath was OBJ
solcte elsewhere, the churches in Constan-
tinople held public services on both days,
though the law prohibited sabbatizing.
But as the Gentle influence waxed strong
er in the church and the Jewish less, there
grew up q decided prejudice against pay
ing the slightest attention to the Sabbath,
and one after another Of the churches took
to worshiping on the Lords day only. Ig-
natius. one OF the fathers who preached in
the first decade of the second century and
was beheaded as a result. wrote that those
Christians to whom he preached were mo
$3.50