The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-06
DR. CARL [. GREGORY BREACHES SERMON .ON KEEPING SABBATH
Touched Upon Sunday The atres and Pictures Shows.
 Discourse Conservative
CITES THREE REASONS
 FOR KEEPING SABBATH
'It Conserves Physical Good, Civil Good and Spiritual Good, Says Preacher--Dr. Stuart Absent
 From Pulpit Yesterday

from fuipit IeSteEuay
 In absence of Dr. Stuart, the pastor. who is attending the general confer- ence of the Methodist church in At lanta, Rev. Carl c. Gregory, assistant pastor, last night preached an elo- quent sermon to capacity house at the First Methodist church.
 Shall We Keep Our American Sab. bath?" was the subject of Dr. Greg orys discourse, and he handled it in a masterful manner.
 Three thousand years ago, from the summit of Mount Sinia, God gave to the world ten dateless, permanent and universally applicable commandments which have remained unaltered and obligatory. At that time God said Thou shalt not do this, and thou shalt not do that and thou shalt not do the other and then he said, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
 While most of the commandments are mandatory and imperative, the fourth one is a divine request. won- der if God did not think that humanity would always have enough honor to be mindful of Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
 '"rhe stability and character of our country and the advancement of our race depend largely on the manner in which we keep the day of rest. There are many false ways of keeping the Sabbath. but there is only one right I. |. keep it holy. We must keep it clean and consecrated and set apart for the sacred worship of God What does the Sabbath mean to you? I think to some people it simply means day of lazineSs. It is to some day of idle ness, of indolence of relaxation, ot languid bodily ease and luxury.s.
 ANIMAL SABBATH
 These people like slothful, slug gish Sunday. But if Sunday only means for you more gluttonous dim ner and q heavier sleep, it is not only wasted but degraded. It then becomes less holy to you than an ordinary day of labor. Such day as that is fit only for the lowest of animals and not for men. And none of us want an animal Sabbath.
 "Other people keep the Sabbath as
 
 day of pleasure and amusement, of luncheons and cigarettes, dinner par ties and excursions. They fritter away the day as a day of worldliness. as day of rabid heather sensualism and amusement. Is this the Sunday of the Lord Jesus, or is it the day of epicu- reanism? Is it the Sunday of Gods children or is it the Sunday of the weddings of decadent civilization? Is it the Sunday of Christian men and women, or is it the Sunday of crea- lures who have no duties to perform. no brethren to help, no souls to save? Is it not what St. Augustine calls a Sabbath of Satan rather than 8 Sab bath of God?' In American life there is an exaggerated idea of personal lib- erty There is confusion of liberty with license. People plead not for a liberty of self-control and self-preser- vation. but they plead for wild and reckless liberty that degenerates in evitably into state of lawlessness and anarchy.
 "Six days of the week are enough for amusement, the seventh is the Sab bath of the Lord. your God. It is not for work, and much less is it for rev. elry and excitement. It is the souls day. It is the day for the cultivation of your higher powers and the enlarge I bodies. the Tather of your spirits. the Creator of the universe has set apart this day for such uses, and you should not profane it with impurity. If you turn Sunday into q day of sport, the curse of God will rest upon you-not by an arbitrary decree. but by inevit- able consequences. It is wrought into the very order of nature and you can no more escape it than you can evade z tnd nn e. vered brain, a blurred conscience and a restless soul are the penalties of Sabbaths profaned
 SUNDAY PICTURE SHOWS Tt is appalling to me that a Christian should suffer himself to be seen in theatre or moving picture show on Sln- day. I marvel that men and women m Christian community, can be fount who would desecrate the day by fur nishing such amusement. l marvei sna' a Christian community can tolerate practices of this kind in the teeth oi one of the piainest of Gods laws. But | whatever the community may do nope that no individual who knows the worth of his soul will desecrate the sacred l hours of the Lords Day.
 There are those who observe the Sap bath as a day of restraint, and make Il l a day of unnatural restrictions anc needless regulations. The observance o1 the Sabbath should be precious privi- lege and not an irksome obligation, lol the Sabbath full of petty ana unnatura rules will make a good Pharisee, but 2 poor Christian. The Jews so completely misunderstood the day until It became meaningless fetish, instead or price l less boon. People who observe sucf petty rules and regulations or the Sab bath are usually fanatical and extreme and most unreasonable
 "The Sabbath should be day O religious joy and not one of gloom. l "We do not want lazy day, an nni nal Sabbath; we do not want an amuse ment day; a Parisian Sabbath; we d not want a restraining day, Phari saical Sabbath; but we do want a beau l tiful day. a holy Sabbath. Your Sun 1 days should be spiritual exclusively, { l day of rest and of worship. It should be a bridge thrown across life's troubled 1 waters, over which we may pass to 1 l paradise ot rest. recuperation and wor 1 ship.
 THREE I. ,ASONS GIVEN
 The silent, bean eul recurrence of tn weekly Sabbath is the one thing witt ! which God designs to a'l our thought away from the selfishne.S md tempta tions which surround us. Tl.~- are tire Ifrrefutable reasons why we should ob 1 serve the Sabbath. First, 1t will con
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