We are sometimes accustomed to make rather gloomy comparisons between our
days and those of our fathers. The ground for our doing so is oftener
grounded in sentiment than fact, and yet there are some differences which
are deplorable. This is especially true with reference to the observance
of the precepts laid down in our religious teachings. We feel painfully
lacking when we reflect upon the sturdy faith of the pioneers who blazed
the way not only for our economic but also for our religious advancement.
Perhaps nowhere do we feel that there is more discouraging contrast than
in the matter of Sabbath observance. A little girl in one of our large
cities heard the minister say in his sermon, one Sunday, that in heaven
every day would be like Sunday. She told her mother, upon arriving home,
that she expected to find heaven a grand place, for if every day were to
be like Sunday, then the ceaseless round of theaters, cards, and ball
games would certainly be delightful. Between this conception of the
Sabbath Day and that of the stern Puritan who refused to allow his
children to play and be happy on Sunday, there lies a long distance.
Both are extreme views and neither could be said to be altogether
desirable, but if American life continues in its present direction, the
one may become as real as the other once was. We do not want our Sabbath
Day to be a season of agonizing gloom and long faces. Nothing could be
farther from the apparent attitude of Jesus toward it. Neither do we want
it to be a day of selfish pleasure and frivolity. But we do want it to be
a day of meditation, prayer, and quiet service. To keep the day holy does
not necessarily imply absolute passivity, but in a Christian land, the
Sabbath Day should be a day of rest. And yet the doors of many business
houses are wide open; petty amusements reap a harvest of small coin,
theatrical performances are given, and often the authorities fail to close
even the saloons. Not only must we face these facts, but also that many so
called Christians fail in very questionable ways to keep the day sacred.
We may well ask whence this great difference between our age and that of
the preceding generation. We are so justified by the fact that every
effect has a cause.
The tempter has many ways of accomplishing his purposes. He can not only
quote to his purpose, but he can also utilize the social forces to his own
advantage. Where such a force is the cause of men doing that which they
should not do, we can best do the work of our Lord by fighting the force
and not the act. We can not kill the dragon by cutting off the heads; we
must strike at the life-giving root of the evil.
One reason why the Sabbath is less a day of rest than formerly is probably
to be found in the fact that this is more an age of idleness than was the
former one. Our fathers appreciated and observed their day of rest because
they could not help but feel their need of it. They worked hard in the
woods or fields from the early morning till late at night, and moreover,
their work was of such a muscular nature that their evenings and Sundays
found them both weary in body and hungry in mind. The Sunday rest would
relieve the one, and attendance upon Sunday services would satisfy the
other. Thus, it was apparently to their own advantage to live the day unto
the Lord. Not only this, but the father did not toil out his days to
maintain his sons and daughters in lives of idleness and profligacy. Every
member of the family had his or her share in the work of making ends meet.
Thus, the whole family found itself weary enough to be ready for rest and
prayer on the Sabbath. It is but natural that one who loafs the week away
or goes on a continual round of pleasure-seeking should fail to realize
any need for rest and relaxation on Sunday. They are the people who are
usually found complaining that the preachers and Christians want to make a
man sit still all day Sunday and do nothing. The argument that laboring
men want ball games and other amusements to occupy themselves on Sunday is
fallacious. If they work on week days as they ought to work, they will not
be found complaining of too much rest on Sunday. Then, in this case, it is
not so much against Sabbath desecration as it is against idleness that we
need wage our war. If we can remove the cause, its effects must disappear.
A sermon on honest week-day labor is really a sermon on
Sabbath observance.
But all Sabbath breakers are not idlers. Some of them work as steadily as
the sturdy pioneer ever worked. But the occupation is of a different
nature. Where our fathers toiled with their hands, men now toil with their
brains. Our fathers wore out their bodies, while men now shatter their
nervous systems. Tired limbs induce rest, while weary minds and unstrung
nerves only hinder it. It is easy when evening comes to let go of the ax
or the plow, but it is not so easy to forget the knotty business problem
or perplexing professional difficulty. The need of such toilers is
recreation. We need to get such men to take down the almighty dollar from
its place as their guiding star and hang the higher and better things of
life in its place. In this case, a sermon against the “ambition which
o’erleaps itself” is a sermon against Sabbath desecration.
The two facts mentioned above as causes of Sabbath breaking contribute to
making this an extremely nervous age. Humanity is restless. It wants to be
about doing something, and it seems not to know just where to direct its
efforts. People seem to be afraid of themselves, and hence the quiet
chamber and closet of secret prayer is often unappreciated. If we chance
to feel a serious thought coming upon us, we get afraid, and at once seek
the crowd for fear that it may mature in our minds. We forget that great
visions must be seen in solitude and then carried out among the crowd. Our
lonely Sinais must precede our deeds of leadership. Every Calvary is
preceded by its Gethsemane, and quietness and solitude are not to be
despised. We need to learn the lesson of Isaiah, “In quietness and
confidence shall be your strength; in returning and rest shall ye be
saved.” Only small minds are always tossing upon a sea of restlessness.
Great lives know how to be tranquil. Such hearts know how to keep the
Sabbath holy. Thus, when we preach and work against restlessness,
feverishness, and worry, we preach and work against Sabbath desecration.
If we can but induce men to so toil that they will become body-weary and
soul-hungry, we shall not only further God’s creative plan, but we shall
also help humanity to really understand the worth of a Sabbath Day of
rest. The anxious nervousness of the masses and the cupidity of
enterprising amusement promoters spring to meet each other as by magnetic
attraction. When the masses learn to love the quiet of the home and
sanctuary and no longer so persistently seek that which does not satisfy
their nameless and misunderstood hunger, then such cupidity will no longer
be sustained and encouraged. When we learn the habits of health, and life,
and work that helped to make our fathers strong, then shall we have back
again the faithful observance of the holy Sabbath Day that helped to make
our fathers good.