The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-07-25

There is not word in it about pleas
ures on the Sabbath. Not word pro-
hibiting Sunday recreation. There is
no such commandment from one end
of the Bible to the other. The min
listers and church members who try
to prohibit Sunday pleasures are up
to the old trick of the Pharisees;
making new commandments for US,
where they don't think that God was
quite as strict as he ouASt to be.
I Jesus lays down a principle concern
ing this commandment which will help
us to understand its meaning The
Sabbath was made for man, not man
for the Sabbath" He doesn't say it
was made for the soul Of man. For
the whole Of the man For the spirit
of the man. For the mind Of the man,
For the body of the man. And estab-
lished, not to be, burden, but to be
a benefit. The weeks work takes
courage out of mans spirit, wearies
and numbs his mind, weakens the
body And the Sabbath was given for
the recreation of the whole man; to
repair the ravages which the work of
the week have made in every part of
his personality. II Jesus didn't mean
this, what did He mean? Did he mean
that after hard days work, day after
day, six days in success, a man should
deny himself mental recreation, deny
himself the physical uplift of the air
of God, simply in order that the
churches might be filled all day with
numb and weary listeners?
Our Catholic brethren in Europe are
far saner than our Protestant Puri-
tans. Tie devout Catholic attends
first to the needs OF his soul. He goes
to the house of God His spirit is up
lifted in the atmosphere of praise. The
burdens of the week drop from his
shoulders. He stands erect, as hui
man being, not simply as a social
tool. Then, with a heart void of Of
fense, he goes out into the city steers,
or the country lanes, to give mind and
body chance for their rest. In Ant
werp, for instance Sunday in Eu-
rope which ] remember clearly-we
went to the Cathedral in the morning.
The magnificent ceremonial of the
mass lifted our souls into the heaven
| lies. When mass was over, and we
streamed out into the Place Vierte,
just outside the cathedral doors, the
city bands were playing light and
catchy airs, the people who came out
of the service sat down and unbent,
the children played. and tumbled on
the grass, but it was rest and play
which had been consecrated by giving
the first fruits of the day to Him who
gave it for human pleasure and re-
creation.
Why shouldn't we all work for this
ideal, instead of trying to revive obso-
lete blue-laws?
But it is said that pleasure for some
means work for others. That is true.
But if pleasure and recreation, ON the
one day in the week when the grind
stops for little, and we have a
chance to escape. from the cogs of the
social and industrial machine, are a
necessity to man-and who will deny
it?-then we have the authority OF
Jesus Himself for letting the work go
on. Works of mercy and works of
necessity were rescued by him from
the stern prohibition of the old law
But it will be said that the people can
go to the theater and the moving pic.
ture show on other nights. Yes, they
can Go when they are all tired out
Go when brain and body are numbed
from constant and often excessive
work Go when the pleasure that the
mind demands can only be had by the
sacrifice Of the rest which the body
as imperatively Graves. Contrast the
Sunday evening opportunity. The day
has been a restful one. Mind and
body have unbent, and reached a con
dition of healthful equilibrium. The
man is in condition to.enioy, and be
profited by the enjoyment. And he
has had the rest of the day, and can
afford the late hour without having
his working strength for the next day
cut into by it. But he ought to go to
church, you say? Well, that is a
matter for him to decide. You have
no right to pass law compelling him
to go to church. Nor have you any
right to use the law to accomplish the
same purpose indirectly, by making
the day so barren and monotonous
that he hasn't anything else to do
And God has spoken to me, at least
in many ways. Sometimes, He has
| spoken to me more clearly from the