The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-06
DR. BARNWELL TELLS WHY HE |S IN FAVOR OF SUNDAY MOVIES States Sunday of Amuse- ment Better Than One
 of likeness TO
 AIR DIFFERENCES Ideal Sunday Not Free From Com- mercialism, and Golf and Auto
 mobiles and Public
 Utilities Cited

Utilities Cited
 At the morning service yesterday the Rev. Middleton s. Barnwell, rector of the Church of the Advent, preached a forceful sermon on Sunday amusements, having particular reference to the opera tion of moving picture theatres on Sun day. MT. Barnwen gave his endorsement to the Sunday movies, stating that the Sunday problem was not what we shall do.with the movies,'' but what will the non-churchgoing people do with them selves. MT. Barnwell said in part:
 Exodus, 31.15: "Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sab bath of rest holy to the Lord. Who soever doeth any work on the Sab bath day, he shall surely be put to death.'
 There is the law of Moses concern ing Sabbath observance. It has the combined merits of efficiency and sm- plicity. It leaves no room in our minds for doubt as to it's intention There is no loop hole through which the clever law-breaker may escape It prevents Sabbath dissertation by the simple pro cess of eliminating the desecrator If we are going to be Pharisees, and win to righteousness by the law, why not be good and thorough going Phari- sees? To those who would like to see
 this city governed by the Mosaic code, commend this law as most effective As matter of fact, the laws of
 Moses never were a success even in ancient Jerusalem. With all their dras-
 tic legislation, they still had Sab :
 bath problem to solve. For example, most of their clothing was tied about them with strings, and their law pro-
 hibited the tying of knots on the Sab bath. So certain kinds of knots were exempted. A camel drivers knot was unlawful, as was a sailors knot, but knots on the clothing. knots around wine-skins and knots on packages of food were permitted. It never was definitely settled. Some of the rabbis contended that any knot that could be tied with one hand was lawful. Another that only knots of perma- nent character were forbidden. And so on lad infinitum." Many volumes could not contain all the rules and regulations that were laid down for the proper observance of the Sabbat day, and we smile at these things, for
 we know that not in the least did the welfare of man or the glory of God de- pend on them
 The fault with the Mosaic code was this: It said in subtance that human welfare was naught where the sane : tity of the Sabbath was concerned. If a man works on the Sabbath, kill him. That was the spirit of the thing Man might suffer. and man might even be put to death but the Pharisaic peace of the Pharisee's Sabbath must be pre- served.
 ISLANDER AGAINST GOD That system of laws was called Gods law by the Pharisees. It was the grossest islander against God. God never made such laws. They were laws that the priestly faction and the sect of the Pharisees had foisted on Israel; laws that the religious extremists of their day and time invented for their own aggrandizement, and for the legal protection of the particular denomi- :, nation to which they belonged. The 1 system ended, as it deserved to end, in 1 utter failure.
 | And so in the providence of God, l there came another aw-giver. He came not to destroy, but to fulfill. He came to add to the old law the point of view | that it lacked. and which it needed | to make it effective and complete. He
 maintained that the Pharisees had the cart before the horse; that man was not made to die that the Sabbath might l be preserved, but that the Sabbath must give way when it's rules and reg
 ulations ran counter to mans welfare.
 '"The Sabath." He said. twas made for man, and not man for the Sabbath The issue could not possibly be more clear-cut. The well-being of man, physical, mental, moral and spiritual, I was the very first consideration.
 | And so, if we are to be Christians, one thing stands out very clearly: Sunday l legislation must be considered not as l bearing on the character of any particu- ! lar day, but as bearing on the happiness | of community and the welfare of God s | children. Any other point of view, il l seems to me, is contrary to the spirit | of the Master. Sunday observance must ' not be thought of in terms of the Old l Testament law of Moses, but in terms of the New Testament law of Christ.
 CHRIST ACCUSED
 There are eight separate instances ! given us in the New Testament where I Christ was accused of violating the l Sabbath ordinance, and in every case the | issue was the same, namely, the sanc- tity of the day versus the welfare ot 1 man. It was against the law to do a work of healing on the Sabbath. This | law Christ consistently violated. The | law that set iself against the welfare | of the people was wrong. It was not 1 Gods law at all. There could be no talk l of the "sanctity" of certain day when | the helping of humanity was at stake. | Seven times He healed the sick on the Sabbath day. Once he commercialized | the Sabbath by gathering a part of the
 harvest to feed His hungry disciples. in l the eyes of the Pharisees these were 1 crimes of blackest hue. They were scan- l zalized beyond expression. The Sab l bath of our fathers is endangered" they l cried, using the words we have heard so l often of late in Birmingham. 'We l have a law. and by our law, He ought to die" The matter was discussed in the Sanhedrin, council composed oi priests and elders, just as it is discussed l in similar organizations today They carried the matter to Pontius Pilate. He | was the nearest thing to city comniis sion that Jerusalem had. Pilate was politician. He remembered the influence that the Sanhedrin wiefded in the pol;ti cal life of Jerusalem. They had not city | codes to be misprinted in those days, SC Pilate used another tecmicality to avoit passing judgment. He washed his hand. of the whole matter and put it up to thu l people. They had no referendum il Jerusalem, so he simply led Jssus out ant called to the mob. What shall We do?' And the people did not see the true is
 sues involved They voted as their lead