A Minister Views Sunday As Day Of Moral Inspiration

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 29, 6 December 1948, Page 4

A Minister Views Sunday As Day Of Moral Inspiration

I believe that the Sabbath is a Divine institution drawing its authority from the wisdom and .love of God that ordained it and from the sovereignty of God that determined its obligations. I believe that the Sabbath law found a place among the Commandments of the Decalogue because it defined a relationship between God and His creatures that was to be as permanent as man’s weakness and need of God. Its place on the Statute Book of British Common Law is a recognition oL its authority and- an acknowledgment of its claims. . 1 believe that the demands of the Sabbath are embedded in the constitution of men’s ’nature, and that the' Sabath was made for man because he is a man and not a machine or an animal or an angeh He needs its physical rest, its mental stimulus, its moral inspiration, its spiritual quickening.

Man can surmount the sordidness of his material surroundings only as he apprehends spiritual values and makes them the ultimate standards of his life. . ®

For six days he works among the material values of the world, among "things seen an<i. temporal. On the

seventh he should be given an opportunity to make fresh contacts with the spiritual values of life, to recharge the spiritual batteries, that give power, direction, and purpose to his living. ) For that reason the poorest drudge in the land, equally with' the leisured and carefree, should be set free to do business'with his Maker direct and unhindered. Neither commercial greed nor human, selfishness should be permitted to rob him of his birthright.

I believe the ’Sabbath is the bulwark of national righteousness, preserving the national conscience, developing the national character, and cleansing the national life. On this day the nation finds its soul—and the nations that have abandoned the Sabbath have largely lost their sense of spiritual values. Their national character has lost much of its strength and virility. I think it futile, and worse than futile to attempt to draw up a detailed list of “do’s and dont’s” for Sunday observance,' since observance in the mere letter, without respect to the spirit, may well be a breach of the Sabbath law. It can, however, be said in a general way that anything that is motivated by commercial -greed ' or thoughtlessness, selfishness that disregards the sacred rights and convictions of others is patently a breach of the Divine Commandment.

In the practice of my creed I would make Sunday my day of most serious thought, when I try to face problems and plumb depths that I merely skirt on other days; my day of public and community worship in the fellowship of kindred peace and A tranquillity, and my day of most willing and sacrificial service to the lonely, the stricken, and the sad.—Rev. Prof. R. A. Finlayson.