The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-18
BY WILLIAM r.lELLIs.

| what William Penn called "a puDHc I mind" seems to. be on the increase | among the serious thinking people of I the world. The big problems of the | day are receiving close and disinter- | ested attention. Small differences are sunk in pursuit of common goal. | Thus, throukhout Christendom. the pro- l blems of a proper observance Of the | first day of the week Is arousing con- siderable interest. In Great Britain there is a Lords Day Alliance which | Is sSsoficialiy sanctioned and supported | by the highest ecclesiastical officials l of the Roman Catholic Church, the | Anglican Church and the. Free Churches. All denominational differ | ences are put aside in order to unite l in a common defense of what Is felt | to be bulwark of all religion and good morals If christendom loses it's rest day as a holy day it suffers loss be- | yond the measure.
 The example of the Churches in Great Britain is big and noble. It puts to shame the petty and contempti- ble conduct of some officials or religi- ous bodies in the United States. For the recent conference upon the Lords Day held in Pittsburg ended in divi- sion. because of the claims of rival organizations to the credit of carrying on whatever campaign may be inau- guratedi Such miserable Jealousies in the face of great issues, would be incomprehensible had we not the ex- ample of contending- generals on the eve of momentous battles. A similar experience is reported in Pennsylvania where. in a committee room in the State capitol at Harrisburg, the sec- retaries of the Pennsylvania and Phila- delphia Sabbath associations respec- lively, once got into a disgraceful squabble as to which should have the glory of defeating certain anti-Sabbath legislation that had been proposed. The members of the, legislature pre- sent were rightly disgusted at the spectacle. These unpleasant incidents are related in order to emphasize the point that the real defense of the Lords Day, as the triumph of any other moral reform. Is not secured by professional agitators therefor, but by the active and spontaneous expression of Christian opinion. The custom of relegating reform work to hired agents is reprehensible one. Those who know intimately the sentiment at | law-making centers understand how frequently these men are regarded as mere c1nceited meddlers. It used to be said iat Washington that no matter good bill might be it was in danger of being defeated if certain professio- nal TeIOrmerS puDl1Cly aQVOcdteQ lI. Good citizens cannot relegate their civic duties to hired men. Only the personal vigilance, interest and activ- | ity of thoughtful men can protect the | sacred institutions which are our Chris tian heritage.
 Much of the perplexity which many persons feel over the observance of | the Lords Day arises from confound- | ing 1t with the Jewish Sabbath, or worse, with the Sabbath of the Scotch | and English Puritans. The extra-leg- alists among the old Jews read into beneficent Sabbatical provisions all sorts of irksome restrictions. They made Sabbath observance a matter of minute regulations. These burdens | too grevious to be borne, Jesus sum- marily threw aside. Therefore he was regarded as a Sabbath -breaker; and it | Is curious that whenever Jesus appears in connection with the Sabbath Ques- tion, 1t is usually as a violator of the existing laws. He taught a liberal
 view of the day. His conduct and words stressed the truth that the let- l ter killeth. The Sabbath was never
 meant to be a burden to man; much
 less the Lords Day which has succeed
 ed 1t
 Some persons, to be classified with
 the hair-splitting legalists of Christ's time, insist that Sunday observance to- I day Is a matter of detailed rules. Thus | they are fond of making abstinence
 from street-car riding a test of keep l ing holy the day. As a matter of fact
 the street car is used on Sunday prob | ably more than ninety per cent of the
 Christian dwellers in cities. In some
 places, as in Toronto, 1t has promoted
 the attendance upon the downtown
 churches. It enables many persons to
 do a vastly larger amount of Christian
 work on this day than formerly was
 possible. Yet it is quite common to
 hear public speakers (some of whom
 ride themselves) hold up as sinners
 the church folk who engages in this
 practice-thereby indicting most of
 their hearers, who are afraid to speak
 up in self-defense. lest they appear to condone Sabbath-breaking. Thus mul-
 titudes are forced to a dishonest and
 hypocriticai position by an utterly un- sUriptural condemnation of practices
 which should properly be left to the
 man does not ride in the cars on Sun
 day, let him be honored in his scrup-
 les. But as we love the Lords Day.
 and seek for its preservation as a
 vital factor in the better life of our
 time. let us abandon all petty and un-
 reasonable viewpoints concerning 1t |
 The Lords Day Is primarily a wor-
 ship day. It commemorates the res
 urrection of Jesus. Probably the early
 Christians only gradually abandoned
 doing business on that day, and trans
 formed to it the customs and sancity
 of the Jewish Sabbath. Even to-day
 in Japan many Christians keep oper
 their shops on the first dsy of the week
 Doubtless az Christianity comes to
 dominate the nation, the Japanese viii
 have the first day of the week free
 from business, and used for rest and
 worship.
 The Lords Day. like the Jewish
 Sabbath, Is a memorial day. It is (
 reminder of divine things; 1t points
 above. like the church spires. Taking
 man from the grif1d of six days 1a-
 Dor, 1t calls him, aside to worship the
 Risen Christ and the Father who sci
 apart one day in seven as an occasion
 to be remembered In his honor.
 There was wisdom in the early Jew.
 ish regulation, which. happily, has
 tinEed all Christian practice since
 that the Sabbath should be kept by
 he serving of the best meals and the
 wearing of the best clothes. On that
 day students were to relax theiB read I k0 twer