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ip|-: IHmiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiMiimiiiiiimmiMiiiiiiiiiiiHMimiiiiiiiiiiHiiiimmNniMiiuiiHiiiM SABBATH IN WAR-TIME iff! >iM»0 An often letter read by the Rev. Roy Edwin Bowers in the Wilmetle "^^'-•■■W^sm^y^'m^^ Congregational Church. iitiiiiitiiiftiinrmliiffirffljiinftHiiMiiiffl l(nlill3llllirilllinUIIIIIIIIIIIMIItniHIMtllllll!MHIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIHIMMIMII!lll:lllllll^ WS& IfStS"' My dear Mrs. Christian: Your note of honest and straight- forward protest against knitting in church is at hand. I take pleasure in giving you my answer without de- lay, for you are not the only one who is disturbed about this and other innovations that are springing up rapidly in these unsettled times. You will be interested, and, 1 imagine, amused to know that the heartiest approval of knitting in church came to me from a Seventh Day Adventist, who thinks it will help to break the grip of Sunday on people, so that they may finally go back to the Jew- ish Saturday for their Sabbath ! Of course the Bible itself is our first teacher; and while you and I as Protestants would never yield our freedom of conscience, and if there ever appeared to be a conflict be- tween the Bible and our conscience we would obey conscience rather than the Bible, wc are not much afraid of such a conflict arising. The Prophets And the Sabbath. Turning to my Old Testament, I find that the Sabbath is always a day when business stops; practically, what we would call a legal holiday. There is no command to go to temple or synagogue, but only to cease from the business of the week and to see to it that all laborers have a day of rest. It is also regarded as a day of mirth and gladness. You remember what Nehemiah commanded the peo- ple, (8:9-12), after they had assembled on the Sabbath to hear the reading of the law: "This day is holy unto the Lord your God; , . . Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy unto the Lord' . . . . And all the people.went their way to .eat, and to drink, and to send por- tions, and to make great mirth, be- cause they had understood the words that were declared unto them." '£§ It was natural that various interests should try to get control of this leisure time for the benefit of the institutions they represented. The ^^^ priests and the teachers of the law ?v' is especially felt that here was a great opportunity. It is interesting to see, however, that while their writings are full of discussions of Sabbath observ- ■MSI .Ilfttp also remembered that next day, the first day of the week, when Jesus rose from the dead; the day which hence- forth they called "The Lord's Day," the happiest day they had ever known. So it was not at all strange that the early church gradually changed its Sabbath from the Seventh Day to the First Day; and in making that change it left behind most of the old Jewish observances and regula- tions.. It is very significant that at the famous council in Jerusalem, when Paul was given instructions as to the behavior and institutions of Gentile Christians (Acts 15:1-21), the Sabbath was not mentioned even by James, the most loyal of all the Apostles to the Jewish customs. St. Paul had troubles of his own with the Sabbath, due to the efforts of the Judaizers to make the Pharisaic observances customary' in Gentile churches. So we find him writing to Galatians in protest, (4:9-11). and also to the Colossians, (2:11). He could not bear the thought that they should come into bondage to that law which, as Peter said at the Jerusalem coun- cil, was "a yoke which neither our fathers nor we are able to bear," (Acts. 15:10). St. Paul felt, that the matter was one that should be left to the individual conscience, as he wrote to the Romans (14:5-6): "One man esteemeth one day above an- other; another esteemeth every clay alike. Let every man be fully per- suaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that re- gardeth not the day, to the Lord he regardeth it not." Outside of the Gospels the picture of "The Lord's Day" which I like best is in Revela- tion, where John says: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I saw. . . . . and I heard .... and I worshipped." Add to this picture those of Jesus in the synagogue, in the homes of his friends, strolling through the fields, healing the sick; add to them the picture of Paul and Silas in the Greek City of Philippi. on the Sabbath going out to a picnic ground by a riyeisjjde, wh<»re a meet- ing for prayer was regularly held, and there so speaking that Lydia, the suc- cessful business woman, was con- verted, and I think we have a very ance, the prophets have very little to good background for our own thought say about it. The only time the First about the day. kSH;\a Isaiah mentions the Sabbath (1:13) is to denounce its hypocritical wor- ship. Second Isaiah, writing in the time of the exile, mentions it several times with approbation. Jeremiah, if we except one short passage which Old Testament scholars believe to be a later addition by some priestly writer, never so much as mentions the Sabbath. Ezekiel of course, as a priest himself, has more to say about it, but the only other prophets who refer to it are Hosea (2:11) and Amos (8:5). I take this to mean that it was an established institution, which therefore did not need the support of the prophets; also that they did not care about making it a priest-ridden day, as was evidently the ambition of the temple-cult, and so they did not join with the priests in rule-making. How Jeaiu Kept the Sabbath. In the Gospels we find that Jesus accepted the Sabbath as a good thing, just as the prophets did. He observed gi|p.i it by going to the synagogue, (Lk. §||§f|; 4:16). by visiting and dining in the ^SSlH,;,,homes of his friends, (Lk. 14:1, Jn. ||^P1*2:1), by quiet recreation, (Mt. 12:1), ||§i|f and by doing good, (Mt. 2:10-12). T H^l^vdo not suppose he would ever have *J pr^mentioned the Sabbath, any more * [than did most of the prophets, if it v|!fhad not been for the way the Scribes ^!|and Pharisees attacked him as a Sab- i£|£$bath-breaber, because he paid no at- g;|i|tention to their elaborate system of glifpetty and foolish rules for Sabbath jobservance. But when they raised IpH^l^the 'ssue- ne was bound for con- ^g|g|science' sake to stand up and defend »g|||jS|himself. The intensity of their feel- f*f|.flying about the Sabbath is best shown i^^MMpy the fact that it: was w,,at they PJgfef>||:considered his desecration of the Sab- ^|S&y;Kbath that stirred them up to plot his ^||;||pdestruction, (Mt. 12:14). The in- |p)Svi|atensity °f Jesus' feeling about their i|i||i;^|:jhypocrisy is shown by Mark's de- ||g:^|p|iscription of his indignation at their P^H;^jhardness of heart, caring more for M^M\-.;.}M:Ha Ipfal nlncrvarro tlion f,-... *U~. ,..»! The Sabbath And the Fourth of July. Yet, as I have turned back and read over this statement, I must con- fess that it does not seem to be a very enthusiastic argument in sup- port of the Sabbath, does it? But. the fact is, the Bible sort of takes the Sabbath for granted. It was an in- stitution already ancient when the Bible began to be written. The need of it is as old as the creation of man. We may well doubt whether any Bible would ever have been written, whether there would ever have been any prophets, any apostles, any Christ, if there had been no Sabbath. It is the secret of the wonderful progress made by Jewish and Chris- tian peoples. It is the foundation of modern progress. I agree with you that if all professedly Christian na- tions had always used the Sabbath as Jesus would have it used we would not be in the great war. Such an institution is like the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving Day. No American ever thinks of advocating or defend- ing them; he takes them for granted. But every year we hear a great many people finding fault with some ways of observing them; think how hard we have worked to fet a sane Fourth of July! And we didn't get it finally until the war forced it on the coun- try. Yet I should like to see how those people who worked so hard to get a sane Fourth would look, if some one should argue from their criticisms of that holiday that they wanted to abolish it! So we need not be con- cerned because Isaiah, Jeremiah. Jesus and Paul seemed to say more in criticism of the Sabbath than for it. They simply wanted to make it still more worth while. St. Paul began his work in any new center by going first to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. It is hard to see how he could have accomplished anything like what he did do if he had not had his con- gregation already thus gathered. When the Christian groups, especially in Gentile cities, began to meet on the first day of the week, and to call it the Lord's day, instead of the Sab- bath, he did not care; it widened the use of a great institution and made it capable of introduction anywhere. because it was no longer a Jewish feast day; and the freer their could in the plots that led to the crucifixion.' make it from the legalism and formal- |SS|vp|fThey remembered also—how could, isIT» of the Jewish Sabbath, the more t§§tlllwtney ever forget—that dark Sabbath truly, as Jesus said, they could make ||iti|ill when Jesus lay in the tomb; but they the day serve human needs. m£j0 &<iM ..rv,s.;;i|ia legal observance than for the wel- K^gp'^fare of the sick and suffering. IfillllR "Serenth Day" and "First Day." jj^j^P Naturally the early Christians in g|||%iSpJudea observed the Sabbath as they ^^|^phad been accustomed; yet even they p§p|Sff| felt 'ess enthusiasm for it than they ||||||p|!did when they were Jews, for they ||j§a^|gcould not forget the part it had played Modern Improvements and Mistakes. Now as we look around us today, and observe how many different no- tions and ways there are of keeping the Sabbath, I wonder what Jesus or St. Paul would say about them ? That, of course, no one exactly knows; I feel fairly confident that they would not like some things they might find us doing, but they would like some other things very much. ;'^£;>i*:$.£^ Casting Out Fear. I am sure they would both rejoice in the absence of that un-Christian and superstitious spirit of fear that even until very recently prevailed, making Sunday a grim and gloomy day. People did not do many things they would like to have done, for fear God would punish them for it. That attitude always grieved Jesus. He resented an idea of God that would make him like a cross and vindictive school-master, watching over his little kingdom of the school- room, eager to catch and punish some wrong-doer. That is not the kind of God Jesus called "Our Father." So if you find the old fear still hanging over you, if you worry lest judg- ments will befall some wayward child for not keeping the Sabbath day holy, just remember St. Paul's sensi- ble words to the Galatians about putting off that old yoke of bondage to fear from their consciences, and putting on the spirit of children who love and trust their Father. This is a great, wonderful, beautiful world in which God has placed us. and it is a very small part of a still greater and more wonderful universe. In such a world the eternal destinies of nations and of immortal souls are not going to be fixed by petty tests, such as some very strict Sabbatarians still try to apply, but by the broad questions of justice and mercy. I am sure also that Jesus and St. Paul would approve the common-sense way in which we are learning now- adays to decide what is best to do on the Sabbath. In their time com- mon-sense was very seldom consulted. Instead the Scribe or the Rabbi would unroll huge commentaries on the law, and hunt for some jot or title of wisdom to apply in a given case. But ive don't care even if we are called inconsistent, so long as we are convinced that we are decid- ing a given case on its merits; as Jesus did when they came at him with legal precedents to prove that he was breaking the Sabbath. He was content to show them that it is impossible to make a rule that will apply in all circumstances. About Knitting in Church. Take for example your own ques- tion about knitting in church. Five years ago, or one year ago, who would have thought of it? But now, when our boys are risking their lives for our sakes every day in the week and Sundays too, many a woman feels she ought to be loyal to them every day and Sunday also. I can't imagine a woman taking advantage of this new custom to knit for her- self or for her friends at home; and if she insisted on knitting while I preach or some one else speaks, and then tomorrow should go to a card party and keep her hands full of cards three hours at a stretch, I should call her a downright hypocrite. But I don't believe any of the women who knit in this church fool them- selves that way. And on the other hand, as I see them snatching a few minutes from exacting cares for quiet thought, and for fellowship with others in the House of God; and as I see their hands busy with some- thing that will suggest comfort and cheer and blessed thoughts of home, some time, to some boy across the seas, I sort of feel like being a priest, and taking holy water and sprinkling it on the work in token of its saving mission to that boy, "over there." I would like to have him know, and remember every time he wears it, that it was made in two sanctuaries; the sanctuary of a pure and loving home, and the sancutary where peo- ple meet to pray for him. Perhaps if he knew that, it would keep him from sin. And I hope that every woman who knits in church will weave a golden thread of prayer into her work, for him who may wear it, and for the cause he serves. If this is the spirit of the work done in this room, I shall not fear the desecration of the Sa.hbath or of the sancutary. In the raire way I think Jesus and St. Paul would approve many things that some people do on the Sabbath, that others at the same time ought not to do. Jesus answered the ob- jections of the Pharisees against all kinds of work by showing them that priests and ministers often work harder on the Sabbath than on any other day. You and I could not do our religious work on Sunday with- out the help of the Public Service Companies; your children require the visit of the milkman Sunday morn- ing; your husband perhaps feels he must at least glance at the Sunday pafter to keep up with the times: if ! the Railroads were not operated peo- ple might freeze for lack of fuel, and armies might be defeated for lack of supplies. In summer, park police, playground keeeprs and many others who help people to play and enjoy recreation on the Lord's day, work harder then than on any other day in the week, because there a,re so many more who are free from toil and that is their one opportunity for pleasure. As we think of all these technical Sabbath breakers, we see that they are not breaking the Sabbath in fact, because they are rendering service that the world needs. They are do- ing good on the Sabbath day; and that, as Jesus said, is lawful. Sunday Golf and Gardening. But I think we must admit that some of us, most of us, in fact, are getting a little careless about our own use of the Sabbath. When so many are working and playing all around us, we sort of fall into the way of it ourselves without asking i any questions. ] think Jesus would rebuke us for this. I am sure St. Paul would for he faced the same situation then. That was why he wrote to the Galatians, "Ye have been called unto liberty; only use not lib- erty for an occasion to the flesh, but by liberty serve one another." The great fault Jesus and St. Paul would find with us today is, that we are often,selfish and self-indulgent and somewhat almost sensual in our use of the Sabbath; and the danger of this is so great for all of us, that people like yourself are justified in serious anxiety for the future se- curity of the day. I think as you do. that judgment must begin "at the House of God, and that we who call ourselves Christians ought to be much more careful than most of us are, about using Sunday in the right way. Take for example a druggist or a real estate man or a physician, who from the nature of his work cannot altogether close up on Sunday; each of those men must have it out in ihs own soul, to make sure that he is not commercializing the day and making it one of sordid gain. Then there is the matter of recreation; should a Christian play golf, or work in his garden on Sunday? I don't think we can decide all cases, but only each by itself. I know I ought not to play golf on Sunday, for I have time for it on week days. I don't think a man should play golf if he is en- couraging his own boy or some other boy to run away from Sunday-school to caddy for him. I think also that he ought to impress that boy with reverence for religion by getting through in time to go to church him- self, and by being there. £ A good many this year*" sis last will garden instead of golf, as a patriotic duty. It is a man's business, how- ever, as St. Paul says, to be thor- oughly convinced in his own mind; i. e., he needs to think out a Christian course of conduct. Some one asked me an odd question the other night: Why is it that we may admit a man's right to work in his garden Sunday, but we resent his running his lawn- mower? Perhaps because he not only works himself but brings the racket and clatter of the week-day into our rest day. It is like a smirch on a beautiful picture, a crashing dis- cord in a piece of music; we can't help feeling that the man is selfish, in serving his personal convenience at the expense of our enjoyment of a quiet day. Questions Boys and Girls Ask. But you have no doubt found, as I have, that the hardest questions are asked by our boys and girls. They take Jesus very literally when he said. "The Sabbath was made for man." They feel that in that case they are free to use it for anything they like; that they can have all the fun they please Friday and Saturday, and then get their lessons Sunday; or that they may play the same games and enjoy the same amusements on Sunday as on week days. But I have yet to find a normal boy or girl who cannot be led to decide the matter honestly and fairly, if it is put qp to him in the right way. He can readily see that Jesus would speak in a much different way to people who are overly strict, like the Pharisees, than he would to a group of gay youngsters, who are not strict at all. I think if he were speak- ing to them he would quietly say, "It is lawful to do good on the Sab- bath Day;" and I think he would heartily approve St. Paul's advice not to use our liberty selfishly, but "by love to serve one another." The Christian idea of the Lord's day grows directly out of the event that created it. not Moses going up into Mt. Sinai, but Jesus rising from the dead, after he had given his life for the world. If we are risen with him into a new life of purity and unsel- fishness we ought, as St. Paul said, to "seek those things that are above." the fruits of the Christ-like spirit of service. Especially should we try to do this on the first day of the week, the day on which he rose from the dead. Sunday in. Jesus' day; we a ;J ought to try to live it as he would : ^ ; '* if he were here now. He made the '.vl Sabbath a happier and better day ^^; :| then than it had ever been before, :^:%)/:y;, and if we should honestly try to make -i:y .:'j-^ it his day now, it would have the ^ ^ 1 same effect. *§,,,,■■ „V" Pleasant Sunday .Afternoons For the l^-£$-\% ?;{ff Jackies. ;Xs^ivii; You asked about knitting in church, >kmy:Wt:: That is a sample of the questions ^^i^& about Sunday that have been raised ^S^% by the war. The young folks are »?™^ asking others; e. g., in order to give jflf^^ a pleasant Sunday afternoon to some pfffe^ soldiers or sailors, would it be right i^Si'i •' not only to entertain them in orai- ■{^gmmmts. nary ways, but also to do such things ^p4!*ff as dance, or play billiards with them? ||S*_ ^ How would you answer such ques- iSIp|p|p| tions? For myself, I think Jesus |5^H|g would heartily approve the idea of ||||||||§| using the day for unselfish service ||§||l||ffl to our soldiers and sailors. He would !^||f|p^ always be glad to see us making :f:fi|||l§Si them happy; but I think he would ^§§ll||t look very closely at these particular ;S§KJSi§ ways of doing so. I think he would ;fill|||lS ask us first of all to be sure that we ■'^■^^i were not doing these things, in fact. ;ii§^|f|$3l because we would particularly enjoy |fet|la||i| them ourselves. When we had de- tpffttf§S$ cided that we were doing them not >|§|§f|fllf for our sakes but for our guests, I &{^*sa2 gards the dancing, I am afraid he lfj||f§f| would not feel it was very safe on ^^^^ Sunday or any other time. The con-§||f||Jl^ ditions attending soldiers' and sailors'SSSs^PH ves are not quite normal; hence the3*tSgS Y. M. C. A. has finally decided that gfp| the risk of doing more harm thanft|§l| good is so great that it must refuse ^S^! the use of its for them. I thi if we are govern* in this delicate matter. flRllSfP As for the billiards, it is a fairiliSilll challenge to do,, some very serious |p||^« thinking. Personally I can see no^^g objection to men or boys having such§11811^ a game together. I am not so clear |||l|§§^i about it if girls are giving the enter-§g|||§||< tainment, for what girl does sinks af|t|§f great deal deeper into the soul. Much S;3p would depend upon whether all par-»^ ties concerned were oi the right sort ;p|S?/ and I think all our girls should clearly»? •p understand that there is a far greater^ J| good to be striven for, than just tof^K give a pleasant Sunday afternoon.;^ ? The real object should be to make^? j impressions' and plant memories inl^S* -1 the minds of those soldiers and sail-i™ ors, that will be 'like a life belt tolp',;$i them in some moment of moral dan-$i!;i •* ger when they are thousands of miles <| a away. A Christian girl or woman^&€i,»„ should always think that far thoughtgj^l before she decides about these seem-Stl??^^ ingly simple things close at hand. .'•'■W5'i^"" Let Me Have Your "Corns Back." Well, I see I could keep writing on and on, and not come to the end of< the questions and inquiry like yours^ starts; I fear this has not been very satisfactory to you, for you have not- been able to interrupt with questions; and comments that would help to bring out the truth. But I want to: tell you what writing this letter has done for my own mind. I can see more clearly than I ever did before that Sunday is the greatest kind of an opportunity for the noblest, mostS self-controlled, most useful and mostg unselfish living. I am glad that ther war and modern life are making us decide all over again the principles that ought to govern the day. If we go at this task as Jesus and St. Paul did, we shall come into a larger lib-, erty and a larger opportunity, and I believe we shall be able to save the day from those who would use it selfishly, sordidly and corruptly. I assure you that I have no idea that I have met all the difficulties in your mind, but with this as a be- ginning, perhaps if we can talk things over, we may come to a satisfactory conclusion. ... ::::W'M': £} Thanking you again for your fetter, I am, Yours sincerely, ROY E. BOWERS. I ||Spg ^0m3 ■?.f*!W3»»4 18ft' in Evanston ,"*"" &£? Singer Rotary X^ million year ELECTRIC SINGER $3230 to $50.00 USED MACHINES $5.00 UP « Repairing on all machine* Our prices »re lower than agent* ■> WE DO HEMSTITCHING ^ " PATTERSON BROS. Phone E<rtF!«»en S54. 1522 Sherman Ave ■:\^\ _ EVANSTON % WM'M WE HAVE NO AGENTS Sfifff.: ::fi'S- :«?'; Ilif