The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-01-17
4 He PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. G. G. MILLS.
Subject: Spirit Of the Lords Day.

| II. NILS, pastor OF Pilgrim Chapel,
preached Sunday morning on The
Spirit OF the Lords Day" taking as
his texts Romans 1878: "One man
! esteemeth one day above another: an
! other esteemeth every day alike. Let
every man be fully persuaded in his
! own mind" and Mark 2:27 The
! Sabbath was made for man and not
man for the Sabbath" Among other
| things Mr.. Mills said:
The glory OF the Christian religion
| Is its universaiity. IL fits all Sorts
| and conditions OF men. and when un-
/ derstood as Jesus meant II 10 be un-
! derstood. they receive il gladly for
! His appeal was always past tradition
| 10 truth. The court OF nnai appeal is
the spirit in man backed mp by the
experience OF the race. Christianity
| is rot the acceptance OF set of opin-
! ions, nor the observance of ritual. sa-
| cred places and days, nor the reiter-
ating OF numerous moral maNims, but
| 1t is getting the loftiest point OF view
with regard TO things In general and
ones relations to ones fellow men in
| particular. All Jesus teaching looked
toward the unifying of the moral law
| All progress 10 from unity. up
| through complexi,y back TO "A unity on
a higher plane. IN the beginning the
moral law was very simple: Thou
shalt not eat the fruit OF the tree"
that Is, Evil y deadly, do not med
die with it." Here we have the re-
| ligioD OF fear. Later mems notions
| or evil became hazy and We had the
| books OF the law and the ten COM
mandments. This might be called the
religion Of restraint. II meant 4 Sc
| ries OF thou shalt nots." Every
| thing was To he done by rule. The
evil was to he separate from the
| good. one nation separate from an
| other to preserve its holiness, one
meat set apart from the others, one
! day sanctihed. Then came Jesus with
q desire 10 put a spirit into religion
which should give il perennial fresh
| ness. Man was no longer 10 consult
an authority 10 find whether he
should or should not do a certain
! thing. He was 70 accept the guidance
of the inner light. He was not TO
separate the evil from the good, hut
| TO overcome evil with good" He
was To make the radiance of the one
day suffuse all the DAYS: he was not
! 10 think OF God afar OF watching His
universe go; but as nearer than
breathing. closer than hands or feet"
he was not so much TO be concerned
with getting men 10 heaven as get
| ting heaven into the world. This is
what may be called the religion of
/ the spirit. Now let us view the qucs-
| tion Of Sunday observance in the light
OF this.
First. the old Sabbath OF the Jews.
md as revived in great part by the
.
not measure up to the demands OF a
spiritual religion. Everything was
nicely regulated by rule. But the
man who takes his ethics predigested
IS in danger of moral atroDhy. The
body needs exercise or il will become
diseased: the intellect must be used
or IL will become fabby; the con-
science must be trained or Il will van
ish into nothingness. The cOmmu-
nifty is In duty bound TO give this fac
ulty OF conscience as free play as CON
ditions will permit.
On the other hand, the strong pen-
pie, those who tend 10 question au-
thority and who demand "A reason for
their obedience become more and
more blindly reactiOnarY. Thus il is
dangerous TO multiply restrictions be-
Nond what is essential, because men,
feeling themselves Cramped, break
the artificial barrier, but at the same
time there comes TO them a feeling
OF guiltiness. their COnscicnces are
hardened and they stand ready 10
break every law, as opportunity Of
fers. The old Sabbath. therefore.
was legalistic, il took no account OF a
mans attitude toward Tighto1Uen"es:
it only demanded that he fulfil the
letter OF the law. We see the result
OF it in the Pharisees, who were strict
observers OF the Sabbath, but did not
hesitate to practice hypocrisy, TO
grind the poor in the dust with un-
lust taxation. and in general to leave
fellow feeling entirely out Of their re-
ligion
=. But the question is immediate
ly put, IL the old Sabbath be abol-
ished, has not Sunday taken its place?
Not at all. Observance OF Sunday
was commenced after the death OF
Jesus. 1t was not 10 take the place
Of the Jewish holy day. but for time
the two ran side by side, Christians
keeping the Sabbath. with all its re-
strictions. on our Saturday, and cele-
brating the next day (Our Sunday
with great rejoicing In honor Of the
LOTd resurrection. Al the outset,
then, il was "A day OF cheerfulness
It was a festival, with JOY and glad
ness, and so strong was the feeling
that this was as il ought 10 be that
ve read in the "Epistle 10 Turibius."
one OF our Oldest documents: The
Manicheans have been convicted in
the examination which We have made
Cf passing the Sunday, which Is con
secrated TO the resurrection OF our
Lord, in modification and fasting"
Truly, here is case OF the tables
turned.
All reasonable Christians will hold
that this is what Sunday ought 30
mean--a day OF cheerfulness and rec
reation. There should be nothing
blue" about it, IL should be. I'm
truth. "the golden clasp that binds
the volume Of the week" But when
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