New Britain herald., 1917-03-26

II VI = N8400 problems and larger needs for recrea- tion and sunshine and fresh air. cannot help but feel that the man who works in the factory six days week from seven in the morning till six at night and then sleeps and lives in house none too well ventilated and lighted and probably not too we'll kept may need a differnt type of Sunday for his actual religious development, than our Puritan fathers who had the whole of out of doors before and be- hind and around them all of the time.
 T certainly think that 1t is no worse for this man to indulge in tennis or baseball or go to the moving pictures than for the man of more means to take his car and go to the Country club and play golf on Sunday. The automobile is depicting our church attendance. in some churches, far more than Is sports or moving pie lures. cannot, however, see the value that will come from pro- fessional sports where admission is
 
 but 8 few who receive the real re- creation. while the rest sit in the grand stand hunched over smoking and eating peanuts and drinking poor drinks. Compare this with amateur sports where the onlookers. stand in the open as a rule and move from place to place and where great many more usually take part, or at least where those who take part do so for the real sport and diversion they get from it not for the compensation they receive and it would seem that this latter form is far superior to the Oth- CT. Professional sports also draw large crowds to one place, and i'll the cars to overflowing so that the man who would like to take his family for a pleasure car ride Is often deprived of this opportunity, and those who arc on the more customery errands of the day are put to discomfort and often embarrassment. I don't see much arr gument for professional sports, where admission is charged. except the com mercial one, which most fair men op- pose, but with amateur sports I think it is different.
 When you take the question of the Sunday moving pictures there is much to say in their favor. They certainly is one method of reaching the at tention of men that is far superior to the average method. If their pictures are of a high order 1t is possible to teach through them, moral lesons that will be far more impressive than can be done through the ear. I know that it will be said that many of these pie lures are not of Q high order. But a picture that is not of a high order lis just as bad during the week as 1t is on Sunday. The thing we must do. it seems to me, is not to stop, or try to stop this fine method of impressing truth because it Is not now employed to highest advantage but to use all in- fiuence to raise the standard until 1t will serve the end we desire. Jesus said not to root up the tares lest in so doing the wheat be rooted up also. This principle certainly applies here. As to paying for these things on Sum- day I see no vital harm if the picture is not used just for commercial gain. Moving pictures cost and must be paid for by some one. It might be better if we could have municipal pictures of a high order, but the payment of money on Sunday Is not in itself 8 sin. We do 1t in our churches. or course the amount given r. voluntary. but nevertheless 1t is means of sus- taining the thing we are trying to do.
 .It seems to me that the whole mat ter is taken care of in the words of Jesus which have taken as text The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Whatever is for the highest interest of men, upon that day is right whether 1t agrees with the way we have been taught or not. And l must believe that what is right for one man in this age of may not be the thing that is good for all men. If Jesus were to come among us I think He would surprise a great many by His on some of these matters. l have no doubt but that many would insist that He was wrong because He differed from the Puritans and others. I do not doubt but that many would 1 declare that He was an impostor just as they did when He lived. To me the great thing Jesus wanted to do was to get men away from the idea or sacred days and sacred things and to teach them that all life is sacred and was in living all life in it's every relation and aspect up to the high standard of God. If this type of unselfishness and willingness to sacrifice. if this attitude of co-opera- 1 ton and service, If this thought of re- ligion as not a thing separate that can be attended to better on one day l than upon another but rather the high privilege of doing ones full duty 1 in all things and at ell times-if this 1 was our attitude think the question | of the proper observance of Sunday 1 would welt take care of itself. But | for the present, 1t seems to me that ]