The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-05-07
NEWSPAPERS OPINION
THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH

One phase of our. modern life which brings no
little concern to the hearts of many is the grow
mo disregard of the Christian Sabbath. DIR. Joseph
sizoo has recently written: "The fear has
arisen among many that the few remaining YES
tiges of the Sabbath will soon pass away. There
is haunting suspicion in the minds of a large
number of Christians that we have substituted the
holiday for the holy day, recreation for reverence
week-ends for worship, For many, Sunday is no
longer day of devotion but day of dissipation.
For good or i'll, the Sunday as once knew it is
no more, and the fear is that it is not likely to
be again.
Commercialzed amusements have not been slow
to take advantage of this tendency. For many
years they have been opposing the observance of
the day and sending out propaganda against the
laws that have held these interests in check, and
now that they have their side considerable
proportion of those within the church as well as
those not in sympathy with religion, or at least
not associated with it, they acting with prompt
ness. .,
In some of the states bills have already been in
trodueed looking to the repeal of Sunday restrc-
lions on the movies or other forms of commercial
lied recreations With the meetings of the egisla-
In the larger cities few of these laws have been
enforced. The purpose, therefore, is to get rid
of the laws so that they may no longer operate in
the smaller communities where as a general rule
they have been supported by Christian sentiment
and consequently have been enforced. If these
efforts succeed and the present tendency continues,
the fear voiced by the writer quoted above may
become a reality.
There should be no need of trying to convince
Christian men and women of the Importance CT
keeping the Sabbath or of the necessity of pre-
serving it as holy day. Non-Christians as well
as Christians have voiced their belief in its value.
Disraeli wrote: "The Sabbath is the cornerstone
of civilization
Voltaire: "You can only destroy the Christian
religion when you first destroy the Christian Sab
bath"
Sir Walter Scott "Give the world one-half of
Sunday, and you viii soon find that religion has
no strong hold on the other hall"
Judge Alton B. Parker: "There can be no spir-
ituality without Sabbath decently observed"
1t would be easy to fill several columns of space
with other quotations, equally as forceful as those
presented. DIR. Sizoo has summed them all up with
the statement that the spiritual life "can be main
tanned only in so far as We recognize these three
features Coos Day, Gods House, and Gods
Book" Go"
There is no thought of pleading for return
to the Puritan Sabbath of early colonial days. with
its rigid and often foolish restrictions its four
hour sermons, and it's often Pharisaic observance;
though there is something to be said for the Puri-
tan Sabbath contrasted with some present-day
viewpoints. 1t is plea, however, that the people
of God adhere more closely, both in their private
lives their public demeanor and their civil respon-
sibilities, to the spirit of His ancient law "Remen-
Der the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.'-Christian
Observer