The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-03-14

w Z of
Readjusting tho eocial Day.
The International Sunday School Les
son Tor March is II The Lawful
Use Of the Sabbath. Lake 1910
5RY WILLIAM T. ML1s9
The old order changeth. yielding place
And God ifulfins himself In many
ways
Lest one good custom should corrupt
the world. cennyson.'
Gone, along with the broad bfim-
med hats and knee breeches. - the
Puritan Sabbath. Nobody need weep.
because because, # tr never =, 1 ~sd Dey Yet its
passing has left one Of the most per-
picking problems in American church
life today. The character OF the oo-
seryance of the Christian sunday
which is really . national institution;
not by drift. Certainly the good
folk who seem willing to let the Gay
become wholly secular II It cannot %
kept in the fashion Of their srana-
fathers are adding nothing 70 tno eol"-
ton of the difficulty.
The best authority to consult In this
crisis is not the "tired business man
but the farseeing, ever sane ana oi-
vinely authorized Teacher, Jesus mn; !.
self A candid consideration OF his
practices and words reveals clear
path out Of the perplex1ty wnlcn 10
confrontinR Christians in this TWEEN
tieth century.
The Pictures Beneath the Whitesvash.
That the great and essentia! He
brew institution called the SaD nnral
tons 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 De-
meath the whitewash and paint OF
custodians who knew not the real ma
ture Of what they were covering up.
The precious Christian frescoes IN the
mosque of st. Sophia, Constant1nople,
have thus been hidden by Moslem
overlay.
The old Jewish doctors of the law
had elaborated the ritual of Sabbath
keeping to the point OF absurdlty. "A
careful Jew could not catch q 1iea
this was a kind of hunting! The dis
lance one might travel. and the par
ticular tasks he might perform on
this day, all were reduced to an exact
tabulation: Rigid observance OF the
letter of the day led thousand pat
riots, under the Maccabees, to suffer
leath INTERESTINGLY, rather than fight
on the Sabbath.
Cutting athwart all this man-made
ritualism was the radical declaration
of Jesus that 1.-The Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the Sab
bath" That meant liberty 1t real
lied Gods benign purpose In the
day. BY those great words the insti-
tuition was once more set free to do
its holy service for the highest well
fare of man. Not q yoke Of oppres-
sion. but q character Of liberty and
helpfulness, was this best OF days, the
memorial of mans relation to God.
No Sabbath il well kept which Ii OBJ
served in a spirit of hardship, re-
straint and joylessness. The Sabbath
looking up and for lifting up; a day
for developing the s0odward aspect OF
human life.
The "Go.to.Churchr Idea.
A really organized enthusiasm for q
"Go-to-Church Sunday has spread
all over the land. Great cities and
small villages have entered into the
sourcefulness for propaganda that IL
notable. The advertising OF the
church has become a new movement
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 IL
the basis Of this lesson. Jesus in at
tendance upon the synagogue. the
church Of His day. That was His
practice. He stood for the best EVIL
dence of organized religion in His
some of it's shortcomings. but He
stood by 1t. He never broke loose
from the synagogue. From the van
tage point Of its services. He pro-
claimed a nobler type Of worship.
Nobody can md warrant in the
nP kA AnafoR fnR
spending all Of Sunday on the golf
links or in automobiling or in put
tering about q garden. He was found
arrayed with those who met for the
worship Of God on the Sabbath. That
10 the 1irst testimony anybody can Of
all other witness. Despite all He may
say. the non-church-goer IL under
stood ~ not being on the side Of God
and religion.
The scandalized Ecclesinstacs.
Our own days deep social sense II
firmly buttressed in the practice ana
teachings Of Jesus. He put human
Quet meant less to him than the
weli being of living men and women.
His conception OF the Sabbath was
OF Q day that u beautiful in ministry
to man. Tradition counted for moth
ing n against helpfuhem. Our own
SUNDAY 0uOuxQ DO y O6y 30 u0AR1UA 10
AL sides Of mans nature that It win
bind society together by . powerful
spiritual tie.
Tho aristocratfc ecclesiastics of
Christ.s time had ritualixed religion
to death. The minute matters of rites
and ceremonies and prescriptions and
regulations had displaced the essential
spirit Of the wholesome law Of .Je-
hovah. OF course their successors
are with us today ~ they have been
In every generation. The minutial OF
altar lamps and altar .trimmings
Whistler prayers shall be read from q
book or uttered e0temporaneously;
KhAthar thu miniatne ahall near a