The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-08-15
THE SUNDAY LAW

Aldermen at its last meeting in which
the aldermen present voted to so
amend our city ordinance as to allow
thesale Of ice cream and soft drinks
by drug stores, restaurants and foun-
tains on Sunday between the hours Of
and p. m, / feel that I should
make public statement setting forth
my position, in regard to the matter,
in order that the public, or at least
that portion of it which has favored
retention and enforcement of the law
as it stood, may know that am in no
way responsible for such action. In
fact this action was taken against my
earnest protest as the record will
show. In making my protest against
this action, and in making this state
ment want it fully understood that
/ gladly grant to every man the right
to his opinion in regard to the Sun
day question, or to any other ques-
ton, on which we may differ. At the
same time have my convictions and
a right to make them known.
I recognize also that there are good
people whose ideas of Sabbath OBJ
servance are quite different from
mine.
In criticism of me it has been said
that my ideas are pharisaical and not
in keeping with the teaching of our
Lord and Master. ! think I may be
able to prove that such is not the
case. But, in order to do so, it will
be necessary for US to go back to the
old Mosaic law and couple its teach
ing with that of our Lord. To be
sure the fourth commandment is clear
and there is no question about the
injunction there to keep the Sabbath
day holy. In addition to this, there
are very numerous references to Sab
bath observances in other parts of
the law Of Moses and these references
make it quite clear that the people
were to be very strict in their comp'i-
ance with the law. Violations Of il
we're punishable with death in man.
instances. Read numbers, 1882 81
and you will find where a man was
stoned to death for as small thing
as gathering sticks on the Sabbath.
And this was done at thecommand Of
God. In Exodus 35-2 we find these
words-"Six days shall work be done,
but on the seventh day there shall be
to you a holy day, Sabbath of rest
to the Lord: whatsoever doeth work
therein shall be put to DEATH" Surely
then, if God had not thought it of
vast Importance to the Jewish people
he would not have been so strict in
His requirement concerning the
fourth commandment.
You will find in Nehemiah, 1876
%, when this man Of God returned
to eJrusalem to rebuild the walls
thereof, and found the people carry
ing burdens into the city on the Sab
bath and selling all manner of goods,
that he Immediately put stop to it
and forbad the buying and selling on
the Sabbath.
It would prolong this article too
much to mention more of the many
references to the Sabbath law as it
related to the Jews, but if you care
to pursue the thought further and get
some better idea of the importance
which was attached to Sabbath OBJ
servance in the olden item, l will sug-
gest that you read Isaiah, 58:13-14,
Jeremiah, 17:21-27, Ezekiel, 20:12-
16 and verses 20 and 81.
But my critics say that the Jewish
law was abolished and is no longer
binding on us. That Christ released
us from it and that He reproved the
Parisees for their strict observance of
it. think there is quite little mis-
conception at this point. have
never yet found where Christ abolish
ed the law. His reproof Of the Phar-
isees was for their extreme and fool
ish ideas and traditions regarding the
law, and their unreasonable construc-
ton of it. They placed constructions
on the law which were never intend
ed to be there. Their objection to
the act of the disciples in rubbing the
wheat between their hands was one
of them, and He reproved them for
a thing so foolish and contrary to the
spirit of the law. And when He told
them, "The Sabbath was made for
man and not man for the Sabbath"
He meant to teach that the require
ments of the Sabbath law were reas-
enable and were intended for mans
good. The mistake of the Pharisees
was in adding to the law something
that God had never put there. Let
us be careful lest we detract from the
law and, in taking from it some of its
real teachings, subject ourselves to
censure just as severe as the Phari-