It certainly comes little short of doing despite unto the Spirit of grace for a professed child of God to engage in any willful transgression, and then to think lightly of it. Do not solace yourself with the idea that it is only a small sin, and that the Lord will not take much notice of it. Such inspirations are directly from the enemy of all righteousness and can have but one result, namely, to lead us away from God. Our souls can enjoy perfect communion with Christ only by having perfect confidence in him. When we realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin, it will at once be apparent to us that God can tolerate on our part no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. While he can and does look with pity upon the repentant, contrite soul, there is nothing about his nature that can admit of a compromise with sin. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” said Christ, and this is certainly as true to-day as it was when first spoken. If we justify ourselves in wrong-doing by saying that the Lord will not regard it, we virtually make him a partner in our transgression. But God himself declares that he will have nothing to do with alliances of this kind. “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” Ps. 50: 21.
Nothing short of sincere repentance for transgression can meet the requirements of the case. Let the work be thorough. Let the motives which prompted the sin be examined in the light of an awakened conscience, and with humble confession to God, and loathing the thing which caused us to offend, let the iniquity be put away forever. Not until this is done can we have any right to expect acceptance at the throne of grace. But when this is done, and we present Christ as our surety, and plead his atoning blood in our behalf, we can just as surely expect that our merciful Father then and there does accept us, fully and freely forgives us, and is reconciled to us, as we could expect his condemnation otherwise. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1: 9.
But while we avoid the extreme of regarding sin so lightly as to excuse it or to expect pardon without due repentance, let us also be careful lest we drift to the other side of the question, and brood over our wrongs until they seem to us to be beyond pardon. It is far better to so continually abide in Christ by an exercise of living faith that we can at all times realize his power to keep us from falling; but if, in an unguarded moment, the adversary should ensnare us, we should with all possible haste seek freedom at the throne of grace from sin’s polluting stain. And while it is true that we should so sense the baseness and defiling character of sin that, viewed from a human standpoint, it would seem unpardonable, it is also true that we should remember that when we truly repent of our sins and come to God, through faith in our blessed Redeemer, we in one sense change places with him in the sight of Heaven, and that because of his taking our place, the righteousness and purity of the precious Saviour is imputed to us, while the vileness and depravity of our transgression is borne by the Lamb of God himself in our stead. Oh, the depth of the riches of his grace! “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.” Is it any wonder that even the angels in Heaven are astonished and amazed to see such matchless love and such tender mercy extended toward fallen men? Oh, while God in his infinite pity, although hating our sins, yearns to restore us to his divine favor, and patiently waits to be gracious unto us, may we make our peace with him through the blood of the everlasting covenant! “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Prov. 28: 13. J. W. SCOLES.
The Immeasurable Love of Christ
By Edward Payson, D. D.
UNLESS we could ascend into Heaven, and see the glory and happiness which our Redeemer left; unless we could descend into the grave, and learn the depths of wretchedness to which he sunk; unless we could weigh, as in a balance, all the trials, toils, sufferings of his life; never, never can we know the immeasurable extent of his love. But these things we cannot do. None but the omniscient God knows what he left, or what he suffered; none but the omniscient God, therefore, knows the extent of his love.—Edward Payson, D. D.
The Christian Under Moral Law
By Rev. Addison P. Foster
THE Christian is subject to law just as much as the unconverted. The great principles of the moral law as codified in the ten commandments are universally and forever obligatory. The Christian is saved by faith in Christ, but then faith in Christ involves obedience to Christ. No one has faith in him who does not seek to follow his directions implicitly.—Rev. Addison P. Foster.
GOD'S SEVENTH DAY MAN'S FIRST DAY.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
There is nothing that can be proved so conclusively that no one can find a chance to cavil, if his inclination or selfish interests prompt him to do so. The infidel Hume once said that if there were anything in the forty-seventh proposition of Euclid that crossed any person's selfish interest, or limited the power of any man or class of men, there would be hundreds who would dispute the mathematical demonstration that the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. And so it is. It is not difficult, with the mass of mankind, to gain their assent to the most absurd theories, if their passions or business interests lead the way; but it requires more than mere human reason to thoroughly convince a man of the plainest truth, against his inclinations. Only the grace of God can subdue the evil heart of unbelief.
By no other means than by the existence of the principle just cited, can we account for some of the (so-called) arguments against the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. One of the weakest of these is that the day which is observed by the majority of people is indeed the true Sabbath of the fourth commandment, since “God's seventh day was Adam's first day.” We would not think this objection worthy of notice in this paper had not several correspondents especially requested it.
What is meant by the expression, “God's seventh day”? Of course nothing else can be meant but the seventh day of time, according to God's count. This, it is claimed, is man's first day, because he could not have any knowledge of time that had passed before his creation! To be consistent, the advocates of this theory should keep as their Sabbath the seventh day, counting by sevens from the day of their birth. If this chanced to be on Wednesday, then they should keep Tuesday, for how do they know that there was any such thing as time before they were born? It will be replied that others have kept a record of time, and we accept their testimony and reckoning. Exactly so; and is it not possible that the same God who imparted to Adam the knowledge of the Sabbath, could inform him of the fact that there was a measurement of time before he was created? It seems that Moses found out a great deal about things that occurred before his own time, even as far back as the very beginning, because he was willing to take the Lord's word for it; and the first day of Adam's existence is rather early for him to be setting up his own reckoning in opposition to that of his Maker.
But it is strange that none of those who have stumbled at this objection raised by their leaders, have ever questioned the truth of the assumed fact. They have never thought to inquire if God's seventh day was indeed man's first day. This point can be settled by reading the first chapter of Genesis, which contains a record of the transactions of each day of the creation week. There we learn that man and the lower animals were created on the sixth day of the week. If Adam, then, as is claimed, commenced an individual reckoning of time, the seventh day of his week would have been the fifth day of the week according to God's reckoning. No one can deny this. We know it is claimed that Adam was created late on the sixth day, and that the next day was really his first day. Really, it was no such thing. We are not informed as to the exact hour of the day when Adam was created, nor does it matter; we do know that he was created on the sixth day, and, consequently, that was his first day of life. If a child is born on the 12th of June, the 12th and not the 13th of June in each succeeding year is celebrated as his birthday, even though he were born late in the afternoon.
Now why do not the advocates of the theory in question stick to the facts in the case? Simply because the facts would demolish their theory. If the facts were adhered to, they could find in them no semblance of an excuse for Sunday-keeping, and it would not be for their interest to advocate the observance of either the fifth or the sixth day of the week.
The absurdity of the theory is apparent enough, but we want to consider it a moment in the light of the fourth commandment. That says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” Did God mean by this the seventh day, or the first day? “Both,” say our friends; “he meant the seventh day according to his own private count, but the first day according to man's reckoning.” We have heard that the Jesuits say a thing that they do not mean, and which is not true, and make a mental reservation, or repeat the truth in an undertone; but this theory charges God with the same duplicity. The commandment was spoken to and for men, and must, of course, be in the language to which men are accustomed, otherwise it would be meaningless. Now if God's seventh day was Adam's first day, then man's seventh day must be God's sixth day; and, this theory being true, it follows that the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of neither the first nor the seventh day, but the sixth!
But this, and similar absurd theories, arise from the assumption that the Sabbath is a human institution, and that God has nothing much to do with it, except to advise man to rest when he feels like it. The fact is, that it is God's day upon which we are to rest,—the one upon which he rested, and which he blessed and set apart. It is “the seventh day” which is “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Man could not make a day holy if he tried; but God made the Sabbath holy, and he commands man not to desecrate it. Man had nothing to do with making the Sabbath; his only duty in regard to it is to keep it.
One word, in closing, to our brethren who may sometimes be at a loss to know how to answer an objector. Do not hold yourselves under obligations to refute at sight every assemblage of words that may be called an argument. Ask the objector first to prove his proposition, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred he will demonstrate that there was nothing to refute. In the remaining instance you may need to aid him by quoting a few texts of Scripture. E. J. W.
ROMANISM IN ENGLAND.
THAT Romanism is gaining ground very rapidly in England is beyond question, and this too in opposition to the well-known conservatism of the English people. This gain is not in proselytes which are made to Romanism, but in the sentiment of the people, especially the more aristocratic. Some entire churches have become Catholic, and many others are so now in all but name, and it certainly seems to be only a question of time when almost the entire State church of that country will do homage to the Pope. The following extract from a letter to the Irish Churchman and Protestant Review (London) will perhaps give the reader a better idea of the drift of the High Church than anything that we could say:—
“As a member of the Church of England, I have been simply astounded during the last few years at the rapid growth of Ritualistic practices, and the wholesale dissemination of Ritualistic doctrines in our Established Church, and at the barefaced effrontery of the High Church party in thrusting forward, on every possible occasion, the pernicious theology of the Church of Rome. The question which all this has naturally suggested to my mind—as I doubt not it has to the mind of many another—is, Where is this to end? Carlyle, in 1840, said, ‘Popery cannot come back any more than Paganism can.’ Dr. Ryle, bishop of Liverpool, writing in 1888, said, in the face of such proofs as those now furnished in the services, the practices, and the doctrines of the Ritualistic party, ‘It is absurd to tell us that extreme Ritualism has no tendency to Popery, and is not the highway to Rome.’
“With the doctrine of Transubstantiation—a doctrine against which our ancestors, three hundred years ago, contended with their very lives—ringing in our ears, and preached week after week in Protestant churches throughout the length and breadth of the land; with the practice of auricular confession growing up in our midst from day to day; with the introduction into our services of strange gestures, vestments, incense, candles, and a host of other relics of the Church of Rome, can we, as honest members of our grand old Church of England, come to any other conclusion than that arrived at by the bishop of Liverpool?
“Unfortunately for the Evangelical party, High Church principles have now attained such a hold on the minds of the people that the difficulty of combating the evil is becoming daily—I had almost said hourly—a more and more stupendous task.”
WHAT IS THE PROSPECT?
By M. C. W.
THOUSANDS are looking forward for the dawning of that promised, golden day, commonly known as the “Millennium”—a time when the gospel will prevail and wicked men and sinful nations will yield to its control. Many hold the view who have no idea of just how or when it is to be brought about, but believe it is soon coming, somehow. Vague ideas have been gathered from the theology and hymnology of the Whitbyan school, certain texts of Scripture have appeared to harmonize with these ideas, and the theory has been accepted because pleasing to the human heart. We would that it were so,—that the world might be converted by the preaching of the gospel. We would that the old wreck could be so renovated that it might sail into port a new ship, laden only with fruits of righteousness, decks clean swept, and every spar and stay and sail well in place, bearing no marks of its sixty-century conflict with sin and Satan; not manned with crew of blood-stained heroes, with gory swords and smoking guns, but strong and stalwart Christians, blood-washed and guilt-free. We would that all this might be sometime true, aye, in the near future. Did it rest in God’s willingness to save, it would be accomplished; but it does not. God in his infinite wisdom drew round mankind the circle of free-will, and into that domain even Deity will not enter. Life and death, blessing and cursing, have ever been set before man, but he must make free choice. And we have only to look over the history of the past six thousand years to learn what the choice of the majority of the race has been. God in his mercy has warned, entreated, and manifested his love in every way it was possible for Deity to do. Christ, the Creator of worlds, came to die to save mankind; but how few in every generation have responded to God’s wondrous love! He has also threatened, and divine justice has fallen upon many who have despised his messages; but the careless, selfish world go on thinking that God is altogether such an one as themselves. Some have believed, have obeyed, have given their lives for the truth’s sake; but the mass trample upon their graves heedless of the truth for which they died, or garnish their sepulchers, and despise their teaching. Says the apostle Paul, after speaking of his own827sufferings: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:13. Not for his time only was persecution to be rife, he holds out before the people of God no flattering earthly prospects. However desirable a converted world might be, the apostle presents no such spectacle before them. In holy vision, the future had revealed, as recorded in the verse following the one above quoted, that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Certainly, these texts do not indicate a converted world.
And this is not the condition of the unregenerate world alone. In the first five verses of the chapter from which the above quotations are made, we have a list of eighteen different sins held, “in the last days,” by those who have a “form of godliness” but deny its power. Our Saviour, in referring to the same time, says: “And because iniquity [lawlessness] shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. 24:12. Every base desire, every unholy passion, every fiendish act, finds its origin in those principles and in that condition of things so graphically portrayed by the apostle. The fact that this condition of things exists in the religious world, is what makes the times perilous. In times of fierce persecution from without, the church of God has put on strength. The conflict has purified her, even though thousands have died martyrs to the truth. They died, but they died a conqueror’s death—“made white and tried.” But when iniquity is within the church, woe be to her children. Evil is called good, darkness is set for light, error proclaimed for truth, deception found everywhere, and while great love is professed for the Bible and the Christian religion, the truths of the Bible are held but loosely. Some of those duties necessary to a life of godliness are considered of but little account or are ignored altogether. The form of godliness is held in theory, but its power is denied in practice. The prophecies fulfilling in our time, those rays of sacred light pointing out our present duty, are lightly regarded or entirely ignored by the leading religious journals and teachers. Ministers find it almost impossible to awaken the moral sensibilities of professed Christians in regard to truths plainly taught in God’s word. The people plead that “the Lord is not particular;” that certain practical truths are not consonant with Christian liberty (license, is the proper term); and that sins of ignorance in the past will excuse open, flagrant sin now. Just as if the passing of a counterfeit note for years, rendered it genuine and its use legitimate! In thus loosely holding the truth of God, in ignoring many of the practical duties found in his word, lies the peril of the church. Moral sensibility is thus blunted, purity of motive is corrupted, and true spirituality becomes extinct. Real, vital godliness is sadly wanting. The church, like Ephraim of old, has mixed herself “among the people,” is actuated by worldly principles and motives, “strangers devour her strength,” and she knows it not. Children are begotten, but in a month they are not found. There is a willingness to do, but not in God’s way.
Is the picture overdrawn? Is the view too pessimistic? We would that it were so, but we see nothing to warrant it. That it is not universally true, we gladly record. Thank God there are those in all denominations “that sigh and that cry for the abominations that be done in the midst thereof;” who are seeking for light in the dimness and thickness of the moral darkness that prevails; that still cling to the word of God and labor in his grace to perform every known duty. We appeal to our readers, to faithful ministers of the word, if these things are not true. And what is the prospect of a change for the better. Look at the Christian Governments—so called—to-day. Slumbering underneath them all are mines as deadly as dynamite fiends can invent, revolutions as subversive of all good as was that of France in the last century. Communism, Socialism, Nihilism, Fenianism are rife for revolution. Witness the dynamite explosions which have already taken place in our own country and in Europe, which the diabolical concocters boast are but the forerunners of what is to come, and that isolated attempts will be rare from henceforth. Men who hold human life of so little worth pause not at trifles. Some may be executed, but the morbid, unsatisfied mind of the ignorant and ill-disposed will consider them martyrs to a good cause, and their places will be more than filled. When will it end?
As regards each other, the true condition of European Governments is but very little better. Friendly and sympathetic, when not interfering with selfish interests; greedy, grasping, oppressive, jealous, and envious where selfish interests are concerned. Earth-hunger blinds their eyes to the suffering poor in their midst, while foreign wars and standing armies are grinding the faces of the toilers and burdening the Governments with still heavier debts. There never was a time when there was more for man’s necessities, nor a time when his needs and sufferings were greater. When will it be better? Who, or what, is to bring about that “better day”? Will the church do it? Is her divided and torn condition likely to effect such a revolution? Jesus, in praying for his disciples, utters the following petition: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” John 17:21. If the world is to be converted, is not that union necessary? Not unity in diversity, which so many prate about; not unity which ignores the truth of God; but unity in God and in his truth. A unity that springs from conversion to God through Christ, and a practical belief in the whole truth of God, would, at least, convert souls to Christ, and silence the boasting infidel in regard to the unity of that book. Tell us not that God did not design his followers to believe alike. The prayer of our Saviour is an emphatic denial of the false claim. The teaching of the great apostle to the Gentiles is against it. The divisions, and the effects of division, in the Protestant church are against it. And is this divided church to convert the world? No one would claim it who did not have a theory which he wished to maintain at all hazards.
Again: The plain, positive statements of the apostle above quoted, the parable of the wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24–43), the likeness of the days preceding the second advent to the times of Noah and Lot (Luke 17:26–30), the prophecies of Daniel and Paul and John concerning the Papal and persecuting powers of earth, the general tenor of Bible language,—all forbid the world’s conversion in the gospel dispensation. We believe in “that better day” most heartily; but it comes not till wickedness shall be destroyed by the execution of justice upon those who have despised God’s mercy. The proclamation of the gospel will then be past. It has accomplished its work. It has gathered that great throng which no man can number out of all kindreds and tongues and peoples and nations. Their robes have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. The earth, which has groaned so long under the curse, has been renovated and peopled by that requisite number of requisite character. The glory and knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” His justice has been satisfied, his truth vindicated, and from the fair face of his creation, sin has been blotted out. Where the trail of the old serpent left sin, disaster, death, and seemingly irretrievable ruin, it is said, “And there shall be no more curse.” Hail, happy day! Dawn, long-looked-for morning! Even so, come, Lord Jesus. But in the meantime, mercy waits and pleads with the lost. Probation still lingers. God is still merciful. He appeals to us with all the hoarded love of the centuries to come to him. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” M. C. W.
“THE MORNING COMETH AND ALSO THE NIGHT.”
By C. P. B.
In the twenty-first chapter of Isaiah is recorded a seemingly mysterious and contradictory prophecy, in these words: “The burden of Dumah. He calleth unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye. Return, come.” Verses 11, 12.
This language seems to have no connection with the rest of the chapter, and challenges the reader's attention by its peculiar force and solemnity. The figure used is one full of meaning. Anciently watchmen were stationed upon the walls of cities to give an alarm if danger approached, and to announce to the inhabitants the time of night, and especially the first indications of approaching day. The watchmen were held responsible for the safety of the cities over which they watched, and if danger approached and they failed to sound an alarm, they forfeited their lives.
This figure is used also in Eze. 33:2-6. The Lord there says: “If the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman; if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. . . . But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come and take any person from among them, . . . his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.” In verse 7 the application is made: “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.” Then, in view of the solemn responsibility resting upon the Lord's watchmen, what means the answer, “The morning cometh, and also the night”?
In many places in the Scriptures, light and darkness, joy and sorrow, are spoken of as coming together—not, indeed, to the same individuals, but at the same time to the two classes, which alone are recognized in the word of God,—the righteous and the wicked. Thus, in speaking of the day of the Lord, the prophet Joel says: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.” Observe the language of the last clause; clouds and thick darkness are spoken of “as the morning spread upon the mountains.” But will it be a day of darkness to the people of God? Will it not rather be to them a day of joy and gladness? Let us see. When the Lord comes “he will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it328And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25:8, 9; compare with 1 Cor. 15:51-54 and 1 Thess. 4:16.
From these scriptures it appears that to the righteous it will indeed be a day of triumph and rejoicing; instead of gloom and darkness, it will be to them the sunrise of a glorious eternity, the realization of “the blessed hope,” the time when their “eyes shall see the King in his beauty” and “behold the land that is very far off.” But to the wicked the coming of the Lord will be “a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness;” “for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?”
John, describing that day prophetically, says: “And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Rev. 6:14-17.
Well might the Lord's watchman say, “The morning cometh, and also the night.” But what reply shall we make to the all-important question, “Who shall be able to stand?” Let the Scriptures answer:—
“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high. . . . Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.” Isa. 33:14-16.
The same question (in substance) is asked and answered by the psalmist; he says:—
“Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth [testifieth] to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” Ps. 15.
Reader, with which class do you desire to stand? Will you be among those who will call to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them? or will you be of that number who will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the Lord, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation”? “The morning cometh and also the night,” which shall it be to you?
“Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” C. P. B.
STOPPING SUNDAY TRAINS.
By C. P. B.
Such is the title of an article in the Congregationalist of May 2, and as it gives a good idea of what is being done in behalf of Sunday in the single item of limiting railroad traffic upon that day, we reprint the greater part of it, as follows:—
“We welcome the announcement that, on what is known as the ‘Vanderbilt system’ of railroads, a great reduction in the number of freight trains on Sunday was made upon May 1. This system includes the Lake Shore, West Shore, Nickel Plate, Michigan Central, New York Central, and the ‘P’ roads. Hereafter, from six o’clock on Saturday afternoon until six o’clock on Monday morning no freight trains will be run on any of these roads, except such as may be necessary to convey fruit and other quickly perishable goods. This change is expected to reduce the Sunday traffic at least one-half, and to give a large number of employes the benefit of Sunday as a day of rest and worship. It is also stated that the management of the Grand Trunk Railroad, as well as that of the Delaware and Hudson road, have made the same change of policy. That of the Boston and Maine road also has just cut Sunday work down to the limit of necessity.
“This certainly is one of the longest and most practical single steps which has yet been made in the direction of reform in respect to Sabbath observance. As with other reforms, so with this, there has been plenty of voluble talk, but a conspicuous lack of sustained and wisely-directed endeavor. Recently, however, public attention has been directed to the subject afresh, and more judiciously than formerly, and systematic effort to redeem the fast-degenerating character of the day has been begun. This effort has been directed specifically to the reduction of Sunday railroad traffic, among other objects, and whether the action of the managers of the Vanderbilt and other roads has been due to the Sabbath reformers or not, it is directly in the line of their proper desires.
“The chief hindrance to the success of the new policy is likely to be a reluctance to adopt it generally. For roads which adopt it to compete successfully with other roads will be difficult, and possibly, in some instances, it may prove impossible. Fortunately the roads which are linked together in support of the proposed reform are so many and so important that they will be able to make a powerful fight for their policy. We believe that they, and it, will succeed. Its advantages are certain to be so great, if there be the wisdom in management which fairly may be expected, that other roads, instead of forcing its abandonment, are more likely to find themselves compelled to adopt it, and to become the more prosperous for its adoption. It will go far toward convincing railroad men of the good-will of the companies. It will have the sympathy and support of all Christian people, and of all who appreciate the value of a quiet Sunday. It will have the divine blessing, too, we may be sure.”
What warrant the Congregationalist has for assuming that this movement “will have the divine blessing” does not appear. True, the Sunday people call that day “the Sabbath,” but that does not make it so. We have the word of God for it that “the seventh day is the Sabbath,” “the Lord’s day,” and we have the promise, too, “Blessed is the man . . . that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it,” but the text has no reference to the keeping of Sunday.
Of course the movement will have the support and sympathy of “Christian people,” and also of many who are not Christians, some from one motive, some from another. But we have no idea that the railroad employes, who will now be compelled to do the same amount of work in six days, and for six days’ pay, which they formerly did in seven days, for seven days’ pay, will be so enthusiastic over the change. A few who have conscientious scruples against working on Sunday may welcome the change, even though it entail financial loss; others would probably prefer the old order. The men who can spend Sunday at home with their families may be benefited morally, to the others it will not in that respect be an unmixed good. But be the result what it may to the mass, it marks an important era in the history of the Sunday movement. Once the railroads have fallen into line for Sunday those who are laboring to secure rigid laws enforcing its observance upon all will find their task much easier than at present. C. P. B.