SUNDAY CONCERTS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 462, 22 March 1909, Page 4

SUNDAY CONCERTS.

« PROTEST BY REV. J. J. NORTH. . DISCUSSION BY CONGREGATION. Sunday concerts were warmly attacked by the Rev. J. J. North in his sermon at the Vivian Street Baptist Church last evening on "The Secular Sunday, tho Enemy of the People.' Mr. North maintained that Christ was found, in tho Gospels, defending the Sabbath' from its enemies. In thoso days its enemies wero extremists, and as Christ drovo tho hucksters from tho Temple, so he drove the Pharisee* from llin Sabbath, which.they had defiled by their legal cackle. Christ advocated what might bo called the rational Sunday, a day of rest, social intercourse, and above all worship. In these days the Sunday was threatened, not by Puri- v tans,' but by the caterers for public amusement, and it was necessary that the day should bo defended in tho interests of our homes, our social life, and our ideals. The, Sunday as a day of rest was the greatest external gift of early Christianity. To-day Sunday was tho outstanding mark of the British people, aud its preservation was intimately connected with English dignity and freedom. The Stuarts, who threatened English freedom more than any other kings, wore supremely afraid of tho Puritan Sunday, and issued their Book of Games. They knew that people who had Parisian Sundays lost the habit of deep thought and also their love of home, and that people who ceased to caro for these ceased to bo a terror to tyrants. The Sunday custom had been vigorously attacked in this city. Professional entertainers were licensed to perform on Sundays. This week the ladies of tho comic opera had been licensed by the town clerk to sing for money, while a keen old woman who ventured to open her shop and sell for money was haled to Court. This custom had grown up overtly, but it had grown to very flagrant importance in our midst. Tovvn halls were supposed to stand for the ideals of a city. This was recognised in connection with the great town halls of Australia, yet tho Wellington Town Hall was used to subvert one of the most distinctive and useful of our customs. This was tho beginning of the "Continental Sunday." A fair line could not now bo drawn. If entertainers were allowed to earn money on seven days of the week, shopmen, artisans, and others should havo tho samo right, and there would he the whole bustle of Vanity Fair. It was a happy thing that tho churches were now unanimous on this question; Catholic and Protestant, they were resolved to stand together to secure this day from tho invasion of tho speculative element. It would bo necessary to discover the attitudo of candidates for tho Mayoralty and City Council, so that tho present tendency might be checked, and tho city stand with Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Christehurch, and Dunedin in this matter. After tho service, about 70 members of tho congregation remained, at Mr. North's invitation, to discuss the subject. Mr. H. Si. Smeaton stated that the Auckland. by-law was identical with that which the Wellington ministers desired, prohibiting all Sunday concerts except those given for charities. Several persons quoted conventional arguments against tho secular Sunday, and a Seventh Day Advontist urged the sole claims of Saturday to a particular sanctity. "Clear your own door-steps first," was tho advice of a young man, who urged that ministers, bible-class students, and general churchgoers encouraged Sunday work by using trums and trains on the first day of the week. Mr. H. N. Adams, of Dunedin, strongly endorsed tho attitude assumed by Mr. North, and emphasised the importance of taking a strict stand on the question. In summing up, Mr. North endorsed a statement that the Sunday entertainments had never been expressly asked for by the public. Tho custom had grown up silently, owing to the apathy of the people. He thought that ho had never seen or heard of more shabby treatment of a substantial and representative deputation than had been given to the deputation which waited on tho City Council in regard (o this matter. The Mayor had flouted tho deputation in the most open manner, and to this day the council had not had the common courtesy to give them a reply. As regards Sunday trams, there was no doubt that Christian peoplo objected to them on principle, and he thought that church-goers contributed very little to their revenue,