The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-01
For February Is Jesus Lord of the
Sabbath'-Mark 2:13-3:6.
WAR Times and Sunday observance.

War Times and Sunday Observance.
Some stay-at-home. conventional
persons would be startled to know
what havoc war has already played
with the time-honored usages of re-
ligion, and of the Sabbath especially.
1t requires a deal of mental adjust
ment to enable them to perceive that
men may be deeply religious and yet
disdainful of old church habits.
Let it be confessed, frankly, that a
great multitude of Christians are be-
wildered and uncertain in the face of
the new aspects of the Sunday sub
ject- Bound by precedents and prac-
tees, eager to do right, they find
themselves helpless in the face of the
real Sunday question. Many of the
old positions of the churches with re-
spect to details of Sunday observance
have been utterly and irrevocably lost.
Christianity cannot maintain today
the kind of Sunday that was kept a
hundred years ago. The new times,
with their general diffusion of knowl-
edge, which has robbed the preacher
and the Sunday service of the function
of principal intellectual leadership;
and the many new inventions. as of
steam and electricity, and the auto
mobile which have changed alto
gether mans conception of a neigh
borhood, have created conditions for
which there is no solution in the de-
tailed arguments of the church faith
ers.
A Live Issue.
Both state and church are involved
in the present uncertainty. If the
Christian Sabbath is to go, the entire
character of the civilization of North
America will be affected. Sunday has
been a vital factor in the creation of
this unique western life. The Lords
Day, as Canada and the United States
know it, has been one of the greatest
forces differentiating them from Eu-
rope: In all the continent of Europe
there is nothing like a Toronto, or
Boston, or Philadelphia. or southern
Sababth. Travellers from abroad COM
ment upon the peace and restfuiness
of the American Sunday. Has that
Sabbath been outgrown? Are We
ready to discard it?
The point is pertinent He is blind
to the drift of the day who does not
see that the institution of the Chris
tian Sunday is seriously mcnaced.
Great influences are at work to make
Sunday a mere holiday. The opening
of all places of amusement, the popu-
larity of Sunday athletics. and the
drift OF men away from the churches,
all show the tendency to use this day
as secular day. That Sunday may
not lose it's sacred character, and be-
come mere holiday. without eventu-
ally becoming a work day, is propo-
undertake to naintain.. / pass it by,
to point out the fact, sufficient for
present interest, that the church, gen.
orally speaking, is today in a dazed
condition, seeking desperately to hold
on to shrods of the Puritan Sabbath.
In spite of ecclesiastical resolutions,
of countless sermons, and of special
organizations, the undeniable drift of
our time is away from the sacred OBJ
servance of the Lords Day. This loss
means the disappearance of our his
torical rest day. the day of peace, of
worship and of idealism. The best in
our American life is inseparably bound
up with this institution of the Sab
bath, which has nourished alike our
patriotism, our domestic ideals, and
Or religion.
Can the Church Afford to Lose the
Sabbath?
The time has arrived when we may
consider fearlessly what will happen
TO the church if Sunday becomes like
whether the Sabbath is merely an ad-
vantageous prop sustaining the
church, or whether it is a vital insti-
tuition. essential to the existence of
Christianity Certainly our Sunday
makes church-going easy and natural,
and affords time and leisure and sane
ton for specific Christian work. 1t
gives the right of way to religion.
In open competition with all the de-
vices of modern amusement, can the
church hold her own? If Sunday is
not different from other days, may
we expect the stated worship of God
in public assembly to survive? 1t I'M
questionably would, even as it sur
wives in heather land. but the expe-
rience would be costly to both the
church and the world. Such an event
wouldsbe a calamity of the first order.
All historical considerations aside, the
Lords Day is a monument to the
place of the church among men; it is
an expression of the present life and
activity of the church. 1t stands for
the power of religion among men.
This being SO, the best way to in
sure the permanence OF the Lord s
Day is to vitalizo the church, SO that
the Sabbath may take its character
from the upswelling life of the Chris
tan community. Let the Sabbath be
the consequence of the spiritual mind
of the people, and there will be no
question about its observance.
Picture or thu Frame?
Sometimes a picture is so elabor-
ateIy framed and surrounded with
such overwhelming detail, that the
picture itself is lost sight of. In
somewhat this fashion, the "don'ts"
of the churches have often shut out a
vision of the real character of the
Lords day. Men have sought to
make the. Sabbath to prevail by pro-
hibitions. The persistence of the
Jewish and Puritan ideals of the day
have singularly affected the Christian
church, despite her emancipation
from the old dispensation in other re-
spects. The ancient Jews created an
elaborate system of regulations for
their Sabbath. The Puritans went as
far, or farther. They succeeded in
creating a day that was built on the
principle that ones neighbors should
not do what one thought wrong.
That type of Lords day can no
longer prevail. The issue is very
much bigger than petty questions
about whether to coo& meals on the
Sabbath, or ride in the car, or walk
abroad, or read the Sunday news
papers These are ncidentals for in-
dinidua1 decision They hinder q