Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-12-09
SUNDAY SCHOOL
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By BIN NYM.SOr1E

Lesson, Dec. IS Nehemiah l2:I5-22.
A great deal has been argued pro
and con as to the matter OF observ-
ing the sabbath day tho but little Of
1t has gone at the subject from an i'm
partial or judicial standpoint. Too
many of those who have spoken
and written about this holy day
have hecn actuated by either mo-
tiVss Of selfishness or by the
other extreme OF dogmatic Insist
eEce. The man who wants to desc
crate the sabbath will easily find
some excuse for doing so, but at the
bottom of his arguments we are pretty
sure to find the motive of selfish
greed. This was what brought the
matter to a head In Jerusalem. While
Nehemiah had been gone on his mis-
sion to the king abuses sprung up and
fourished, among them the disregard
of the sabbath day. Aud the reason
for this abuse was pure selfishness, or
love of gain. The jingle of the dollar
Is the most potent influence in getting
the ordinary man to forget his OBJ
legations. True, the Jews lived under
n different dispensation from ours, a
dspensation which made the civil
power the executive Of religious laws.
They had all the more reason to be
conscientiously pbservant. Ezra had
Taught tncIAl II StTltt W law,
but the priesthood seems to have
been Indifferent or negligent as to
seeing that Ezra's reformation bore
fruit.
Right here it is well to note that a
layman, s.Nehemiah, was the man to
"a discover and give battle to the evil,
and II was at his urging that the
authorities were awakened to their
duty in the case. We often become
so familiar with even the best things
that they become to US matter of
course and then it is that the man
to whom Righteousness is a new eX-
perience often calls us to time for
neglect The newly converted man
will frequently be the first man to
marvel at the continued strength of
evil while those who have long been
accustomed to religion will not have
taken the matter to heart. Which
brings US back to the primary posi-
ton that II is the people of God who
are mainly to blame if Gods COM
niands are not respected and Gods
holy day Is forgotten. Nowadays we
I've under the new dispensation, which
taught that each individual was a
free agent and could be saved or lost
as suited his fancy. The law of the
land no longer imposes religious duties
uJon its citizens, even Sunday laws
being rightly in bad odor with those
who believe in obedience TO God. We
cannot of course. make a man re-
spectful of the sabbath by enactment
nor IS il right We should attempt IT.
But mcst all sabbath desecration, and
many other evils. would be very weak
and unusual if Gods people were only
themselves faithful in the observance
Pagan merchants brought their
wares to Jerusalem to sell to q people
who believed that merchandising on
the sabbath was a sin. Yet these same
people laid aside their conscientious
srruples, or forgot them, in the anxiety
to drive good bargains with their
visitors xike the present time. the
Jewish nation was assuming q mer-
cantile ferment, the love of riches was
taking deep hold upon the people.
Neither F,Zra's teaching nor the re-
membrancc of what they had suffered
because their fathers were neglectfu!
of law obdience. sufficed to keep
them from slapping God in the face
for the sake Of little money. SO
do we. in careless forgetfulness of
rewards and punishments and the les
sons of history, always figure out that
we can sin like some others have
slnned and yet evade the penalty. We
cannot well blame the Tyrians for sell
ing to the Jews. They were not bound
in any covenant to keep the law of
Jehovah But the Jews, knowingly
SHINING. were the real culprits. As
long as Gods people will buy on the
sabbath there will be found somebody
to sell to them. The main thing is
not to close the gates and compel the
Jews to stay in and the Tyrians stay
ont, tho that fitted the time and place
of this lesson. We Of today are obli-
gated to serve God because we want to,
not because we have to. There is no
piety in enforced rectitude. There
would he no Sunday picture shows if
church people ceased to patronize
them. There would be no Sunday