THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 122, 4 March 1926, Page 4

THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH.

WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH IT ? Sunday Observance. Taking as his text, “ Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy ” (Exodus 20-8), the Rev. C. W. Brown, preaching in the Putaruru Methodist Church, touched on the question of Sunday observance. In opening his address the preacher stated that he spoke to his hearers as Christians. Had they been Buddhists, heathen, or atheists, he would have approached the subject differently. As Christians they desired to live as Christ wanted them to live. There were twelve commandments given to man in his early childish days which were the basis of all moral law. Christ had said “ If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments,” and in the “ Sermon on the Mount had also said: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach man so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.’” {

Sin kept no Sabbath. The man who. steals would steal on the Sabbath. Some times he met men who said that the law of the Sabbath had been repealed, but they could never show any place in the Bible where God had repealed it. If the other nine commandments were binding to-day, why was not tliis one. Was selfishness the reason? James told them that he who kept the whole law but one was a transgressor of the law.. Much of the ceremonial and ritualistic did disappear with the coming, of Christ, but this did not. Paul and Isaiah both spoke lightly of ritual long centuries before. Concerning the particular day of the week the preacher stated he would not say much except that no one could say at what hour of the clock God’s £ay began. They had to keep one day in the seven. If the calendar were altered as was suggested, Easter would be just as much Easter on a fixed date as on a moveable one. Some people would have them believe that Christ treated the Sabbath as a worn out ordinance. But Christ had said: “ I am not come to destroy the law but to fulfil.” He also taught that “ love is. the fulfilling of the law.” The fear of heir would not’TniiKe nffeh' keep the Sabbath, but he felt sure that the more a person loved God the more he would desire to keep His day. If they made Christ the Lord of their lives in all they thought and did on the Sabbath day they would not go far wrong. Sabbath desecration might change its form, but it was not new. Church leaders had differed in the past and might differ to-day: The Bible had much to say on the matter but it did not lay down many precepts. However, he believed the words of the text were as binding to-day as on the Jews of yesterday. The essence of the command was the word “ holy.” The Pharisees had made the Sabbath a burden with harsh rules and empty ceremonies, but they should not go to the other extreme. Perhaps the word “ rest ” had been stressed so much that the word “ holy ” had been missed. To be holy meant to be separate, as the vessels of the sanctuary were holy to the Jews, that was they were not used for common or ordinary purposes. To illustrate he would remind them that they had set aside certain buildings as sacred and they spoke of them as being- holy, and sometimes as being- consecrated. They were set apart for the worship of God and not for use as ordinary buildings. In like manner God had set apart one clay, and he thought they should apply the same principles to God’s day as they did to God’s house. Anzac Day had been set apart as a feaci-ed day by the law of the land.

A man could not plough on that day, and to make it a day of sport would be revolting to the public mind. Some people might say: “Suppose I go to church,” but he would point out that the commandment said nothing- about going- to church. Religion

was something- move than mere church attendance. Most of the “ hands ” at a mill were diligent in turning up at work on Monday, morning, and they went away with if smile on their faces. They went not because they liked work, but because -it was thenduty. Thus he thought that if all the professing Christians in Putaruru were as faithful to Jesus Christ as the timber workers were to the T.T.T. Co., there would soon need to be an enlargement of the churches. In regard to the rest of the Sabbath, they would declare themselves by their mode of holy living. Not that they were farmers or tradesmen or even sports, but that they were men of God, striving- to be holy as He is holy. Touching on recreation, the speaker stated that a certain pai-ty had told

him that he saw no harm in cricket, but that he drew the line at football. Another had expressed the opinion that it was better to play golf han read ‘ smutty ” books. Isaiah had asked them “ not to do their own pleasure ” on the Sabbath. Here they had the great Christian principle of unselfishness. On one day of the week they should live for God, and if this were done it would not be a clay of bond-

In conclusion, the preacher stated that he believed with the Bishop of Liverpool, who said: “ I tell the working- classes that if out- English Sundays tire ever turned into days of play and amusement, they will soon become days of labour and work. Jt is vain to suppose it can be avoided. It never has been in other countries. It never would be in our own land.” As.they went hfcme with the law of “ Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy,” he asked them to join with their friends in the Church of England in their response: “ Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this- law.”