OBSERVING SUNDAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 692, 18 June 1929, Page 7

OBSERVING SUNDAY

RELIGIOUS DUTIES AND SOCIAL LIFE CONGREGATIONS’ DISCUSSION “Sunday observance is a matter which concerns everyone. As a day of rest from ordinary employment it provides opportunities both for religious duties and the cultivation of family and social life: it makes a pause in the round of work which is essential to health and efficiency/’

Tbat was the opinion on the question of Sunday observance given by the Rev. W. Lawson Marsh to the meeting of the Auckland Council of Christian Congregations last evening. Striking a blow on behalf of Sunday observance. Mr. Marsh said that, according to a certaiu Nicolas Bound, the fourth commandment had been riding Protestant conscience like the Old Man of the Sea siuce the seventeenth century. The Christian world stood for the observance of the Sabbath as a day necessary, not only as the Lord's Day, but also for physical health aud for efficiency. There was no doubt that New Zealand was following Europe and America. The Scottish churches deplored the fact that the modern Sunday was a “Continental holiday," but approved the abandonment of the old Sabbatarian ideas.

Mr. Marsh said that Sunday was necessary to the life of the community, although there were differences as to the question of recreation on that day. Certainly there should be no form of organised sport on Sunday.

The Rev. G. Gordon Bell said that Sunday observance needed conscientious attention from the community to be properly carried out. If Sunday today was not observed as it should be, was not the Christian Church to blame for having got away from the true principles of true observance? Christianity had become more moral and ethical than the pursuit of God for His own sake. The slogan should be: “The Lord’s Own Service on the Lord’s Own Day for the Lord’s Own People in the Lord's Own Way.” The question of observance was referred to the executive of the council after a brief discussion. A suggestion from Mr. Marsh that there be a big public demonstration on the question was also referred to the executive.