Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-03-13
SABBATH FOR MAN,
SAYS THE TEACHER
Puritan Sabbath Has Gone Along
With Knee Breeches and
Broadbrimmed Hat
DAY NOT MEANT TO BE YOKE
On Other Hand, Secular Observ-
snces of the Day of Rest Are
Not to Be Countenanced
Tho International Sunday School Les
son For March is Is "The Lawful
Use of the Sabbath."--Luke 1910
IL; IL: Lie.
(By william T. Ellis)

Gone, along with the broad
brimmed mats and knee breeches' IS
the Puritan Sabbath. Nobody need
weep. because it never was a parti-
cuiarly Scriptural type of Lords
Day. Yet its passing has left one OF
the most perpleXing problems in
American church life to-day. me
character of the observance of the
Christian Sunday, which is really
national institution, should be deter
mined by purpose, and not by drift.
Certainly the good folk who seem
willing to let the day become wholly
secular if it cannot be kept in the
fashion of their grandfathers are
adding nothing to the solution OF the
difficulty.
The best authority to consult in
this crisis is not the tired business
man" but the far-seeing, ever
sane and divinely-authorized Teacher
Jesus Himself. A candid consid-
Grafton of His practices and words
reveals a clear path out of the per-
pleXity which is confronting Chris
tians in this twentieth century.
The Pictures Beneath the Whitewash
That the great and essential He
brew institution called the Sabbath
had become overlaid with the accre-
tionS of years, man made regulations
and practices. was fearlessly recog-
niZed by Jesus. In the same way,
many ancient masterpieces of art on
church walls have become hidden
beneath the whitewash and paint of
custodians who knew not the real ma
ture of what they We're covering up.
The precious Christian frescoes in the
Mosque of st. Sophia, Constantinople,
have thus been hidden by Moslem
oYerlay
The old Jewish doctors of the law
nI,h AaI he rift of 20 h.
keeping to the point of absurdity.
A careful Jew could not catch a flea
upon his person on the Sabbath, as
this was q kind of hunting! The
distance one might travel, and the
particular tasks he might perform on
this day, all were reduced to an exact
tabulation. Rigid observance of the
letter of the da. led a thousand
pc etriots, under the Maccabees, to suf-
fer death INTERESTINGLY, rather than
fight on the Sabbath:
Cutting athwart all this man made
ritualis1n was the radical declaration
Of Jesus that tine Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the Sab
bath" That meant liberty. 1t real
lzed Gods benign purpose in the
day By those great words the in
stitution was once more set free to
do its holy service for the highest
welfare of man. Not yoke of OPP
preston, but character of liberty
and helpfulness, was this best of
days, the memorial of mans relation
10 God. No Sabbath is well kept
which Is observed in spirit of hard
ship. restraint and joylessness. The
Sabbath is glad day, rest day,
day for looking up and for lifting
up, n day for developing the God
ward aspect of human life.
The "Go-to-C Church" Idea
reallV organized enthusiasm for
a "Go-to-Church" Sunday has
spread all over the land. Great
cities and small villages have entered
INTO the plan, showing versatility
and resourcefulness for propaganda
that is notable. The advertising of
ment in present-day religion All
this is helping the world to perceive
anew the profound considerations
which underlie church attendance.
Here we find, in the story which
is the basis of this lesson, Jesus in
attendance upon the synagogue, the
church of His day. That was His
practice. He stood for the best evil
dence of organized religion in His
lime. He found grave fault with
some of its shortcomings, but He
stood by 1t. He never broke loose
from the synagogue. From the van
lage point of it's services, He pro-
eldlDl6u d uOOlSi IyPO VI
Nobody can find warrant in the
words or example of the Master for
spending all of Sunday on the golf
links or in automobiling or in put
tcring about a warden. He was
found arrayed with those who met
for the worship of God on the Sab
bath. That is the first testimony
anybody can offer to the church;
lack OF II nullifes all other witness.
Despite all he may say, the nom
church-goer Is understood as not be-
Ing on the side of God and religion.
The ScandaliZed Ecclesiastics
Our own days deep social sense is
firmly buttressed in the practice and
teachings of Jesus. He put human
welfare about ritual. Churchly eti-
uuette meant less to Him than the
weIl-being of living men and women.
His conception of the Sabbath was
of day that is beautiful in ministry
to man. Tradition counted for moth
ing as against helpfulness Our own
Sunday should be q day so helpful to-
all sides Of mans nature that it will
bind society together by powerful
spiritual tie.