THE CLERGY AND THE SABBATH.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 924, 17 September 1910, Page 10

THE CLERGY AND THE SABBATH.

Sir,—Wo should feel thankful; for the discussion oil 'Sabbath desecration that took ■ place at the Wellington Presbytery- on Tuesday, in that'it throws a little light on the minds and 'ideas 1 of , many Church'leaders. It- also leads, us to inquire;-as to-- the, right .these gentlemen possess : tp lay down arbitrary: rules, as■ to", what is Sabbath desecration and what ..is not. It is well knovv'ii that a clergyman's week-days are more free, if not more easy, than those l of the average workingman,, and therefore he' is less affected by spending 'his Sunday in'.towni and at church.;; If .ministers were employed during thei week in shops, offices, or factories, and preached and visited for the love >of doing good—instead of making Sunday their chief work-dajy—one - would; .then be- more willing to give ear to -their ideas about the Sabbath. , _lt. is also time to object to' the clergy's- amazing assumption that church-going is a sign of Christian conduct, -and that those who are outside the Churches are necessarily . irreligious. " This may be the creed of tradition, and of the Churches ecclesiastical founders, but there no other authority for such an opinion; There are many earnest Christians who never see the inside of. a church, yet who love God and.their neighbour, and make their Sabbath a day of rest by sponding it in tho gardens or fields, on the hills •' or at the' seashore—the places where tho Founder of Christianity laboured and t-aught. : —l am, ate.,- ■ READER.