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IHE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. G. G. MILLS.
r Subject: Spirit of the Lord's Day.
<•
i Brooklyn, N. Y.—The Rev. Grover
C. Mill 3, pastor of Pilgrim Chapel,
Sunday morning on “The
•Spirit of the Lord’s Day,” taking as
piis texts Romans 12: B: “One man
weteemeth one day above another; an
jether esteemeth every day alike. Let
jovery man be fully persuaded in hie
own mind,” and Mark 2:27: “The
(Sabbath was made for man and not
iman for the Sabbath.” Among other
things Mr. Mills said:
• Tlie glory of the Christian religion
ife its universality. It fits all sorts
•nd conditions of men, and when un
derstood as Jesus meant it to be un
derstood, they receive it gladly, for
(His appeal was ajways past tradition
ito truth. The court of final appeal is
the spirit in man backed up by the
experience of the race. Christianity
its not the accentance of a set of opin
ions, nor the observance of ritual, sa
jcred places and days, nor the reiter
ating of numerous moral maximß, but
It is getting the loftiest point of view
with regard to things in general and
©ne’s relations to one’s fellow men in
.particular. All Jesus' teaching looked
:toward the unifying of the moral law.
’All progress is from unity, up
■through complexity back to a unity on
a higher plane. In the beginning the
moral law was very simple: “Thou
•halt not eat the fruit of the tree,”
that is, “Evil is deadly, do not med
dle with it.” Here we have the re
ligion of fear. Later men’s notions
of evil became hazy and we had the
ifcooks of the law and the ten com
jWiandments. This might ,be called the
{religion of restraint. It meant a se
jries of “thou shalt nots.” Every
.thing was to be done by rule. The
;«vi! was to be separate from the
®*>od. one nation separate from an
other to preserve its holiness, one
imeat set apart from the others, one
fdav sanctified. Then came Jesus with
[» desire to put a spirit into religion
:which should give it perennial fresh
ness. Man was no longer to consult
lan authority to find whether he
jahould or should not do a certain
,*!»ing. He was to accept the guidance
of the inner light. He was not to
separate the evil from the good, but
to “overcome evil with good.” He
was to make the radiance of the one
day suffuse all the days; he was not
to think of God afar off watching His
universe go; but as “nearer than
ffcreathing, closer than hands or feet;”
•tie was not so much to be concerned
>witb getting men to heaven as get
.ting heaven into the world. This is
what may be called the religion of
rtbe spirit. Now let us view' the ques
,tion of Sunday observance in the light.
<of this.
First, the old Sabbath of the Jews,
»nd as revived in great part by the
•Puritans of three centuries ago, does
not measure up to the demands of a
spiritual religion. Everything was
nicely regulated by rule. But the
man who takes his ethics predigested
ffo in danger of moral atrophy. The
Sbody needs exercise or it will become
■diseased; the intellect must be used
or it will become flabby; the con
science must be trained or it will van
ish into nothingness. The commu
jjiity is in duty bound to give this fac
ility of conscience as free play as con
ations will permit.
; On the other hand, the strong peo
ple, those who tend to question au
jthority and who demand a reason for
itlieir obedience become more and
more blindly reactionary. Thus it is
dangerous to multiply restrictions be
yond what is essential; because men,
rfeeling themselves cramped, break
the artificial barrier, but at the same
time there comes to them a feelipg
of guiltiness, their consciences are
hardened and they stand ready to
break every law, as opportunity of
fers The old Sabbath, therefore,
eras legalistic, it took no account of a
man's attitude toward righteousness;
it only demanded that he fulfil the
'letter of the law. We see the result
•f it in the Pharisees, who were strict
observers of the Sabbath, but did not
;hesitate to practice hypocrisy, to
grind the poor in the dust with un
just taxation, and in general to leave
fellow feeling entirely out of their re
ligion.
2. But the question is immediate
ly put. If the old Sabbath be abol
ished, has not Sunday taken its place?
Hot at all. Observance of Sunday
was commenced after the death of
Jesus. It was not to take the place
of the Jewish holy day, but for a time
the two ran side by side, Christians
keeping the Sabbath, with all its re
strictions, on our Saturday, and cele
brating the next day (our Sunday)
with great rejoicing in honor of the
"Lord's resurrection. At the outset,
then, it was a day of cheerfulness.
Sit was a festival, with joy and glad
mess, and so strong was the feeling
•that this was as it ought to be that
we read in the “Epistle to Turibius,”
one of our oldest documents: “The
Manieheans have been convicted in
Ahe examination which we have made
»f passing the Sunday, which is con
secrated to the resurrection of our
Lord, in mortification and fasting.”
Truly, here is a case of the tables
turned.
Ail reasonable Christians will hold
that this is what Sunday ought to
mean—a day of cheerfulness and rec
reation. There should be nothing
“blue” about it. It should be, in
truth, “the golden clasp that binds
the volume of the week.” But when
we seek cheerfulness and recreation
we should be careful that we get no
spurious substitutes therefor. Rec
reat means just what it says. Re
create, that is, to fit for the duties of
the week. To put new life into your
self to stand the stress and turmofl of
life. Some men think they can do
this best by assembling 5t the house
of w’orship, some by walking abroad
in God’s out of doors, some by at
tending some innocent place of
amusement, some by just staying at
home and resting, some by a com
bination of these.
We must not lose sight of the fact
that “the Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath." It is to
help man, it is something to satisfy
his needs, not a dark law with a pen
alty attached. Now, the deepest need
of man and especially Americans is
rest. There is something very sweet
about that phrase, “The weary are
at rest.” We ought to seek to make
the day a real day of rest. It is the
“souVs jinrary day.” On other days
it is all too true
The world is too much with us; late
and soon,
Getting and spending we lay w r aste
our powers.
Suppose you lived in a splendid
seven-room house and some friends
should come to call on you for a
time. You would give them the free
dom of the house, but all would im
mediately realize that all rooms are
not the same, at least that the great
parlor stands off by itself with a dig
nity all its own. You go in there
dressed in your best clothes ana reel
ing that there is not quite the same
freedom there as there would be in
the dining room, but you rather like
it. You would not think of having
your house without a parlor. It is
that which exalts the whole. So it is
with our Sunday, it is the “golden
clasp.” We may be a little stiffer
than on other days, but it should not
be the stiffness of the prisoner
hemmed in by restraint. It khould
resemble the dignity of the king, not
doing all that we have a right to do.
The question of Christian liberty
now arises, and it is really about this
point that the whole storm has raged
of late. There have been extremists
on one side and on the other. Some
have maintained this to be a Chris
tian country and that therefore all
who come to our shores must fall in
line with the views of our Puritan
ancestors. All places of amusement
are harmful on Sunday and should
be closed. On the other side are
those who maintain Just as vigor
ously that New York is a cosmopol
itan city and therefore should be a
wide-open town. Each party sees
only one side of the truth. If the
two were to come together we would
have a full-orbed view, a reasonable
solution. It is true, as Burke says,
much as we dislike to admit it, that
“all government, indeed every human
benefit, every virtue and every pru
dent act, is founded on compromise
and barter.” Those who stand for
a strict observance of the Sabbath
forget that to some this would mean
much misery, because all men are
not built alike. To compel an illiter
ate man to read his Bible would be
robbing him of his day of rest, while
to others it would mean real repose.
Those who stand for no observance
at all forget what we owe to such ob
servance as we have had hitherto. It
is because many of our citizens week
after week have maintained their re
lations with religious institutions that
the backbone of the country has been
kept. When a man or nation loses
grip of the higher things, when the
windows of the soul are closed and
covered witn cobwebs, we are pre
pared to look for dissolution and
decay.
What, then, are we to do? How
are we to arrange-matters so that
the beneficent results of Sunday ob
servance shall be retained and yet
keep the day from being “blue,” save
to moral wrongdoers? Certainly not
by keeping on the books the law that
is now there. According to the de
cision recently rendered, practically
all forms of innocent amusement are
prohibited, including even stereop
ticon lectures at churches. Up till
last week the law was evaded. It
will be evaded again as soon as mat
ters quiet down a little. This will
promote disrespect for all law, and
this would be more demoralizing than
a liberal law. Permit me at this
point to say that I have no sympathy
with those w’ho on the one side think
that driving people away from Sun
day vaudeville will drive them to the
saloons. I know many people in this
neighborhood who attended these per
formances and none has as yet taken
to the bottle. These people are not
after all very different from our
selves. They are ordinary American
citizens. Nor have I any great belief
in the wisdom of those who think
people can be driven to church by
driving them out of the Sunday thea
tre, and if they only come to church
because there is no other place open,
I doubt whether it would be worth
their while to come. The spirit ia
which one attends is everything.
The solution, then, seems to be to
have a law in which are specified
those forms of amusement that the
great majority of the citizens are
agreed are harmless and which shall
not disturb the public peace or ser
iously interrupt the repose and re
ligious liberty of the community. But
this is only the first step. The law
must have public sentiment behind it
or become a dead letter at the outset.
This public sentiment should be kept
aroused by the moral teachers of the
community as well as by the news
papers and by all good men. We
should then have a day which would
mean for all a day of rest, for rest
does not mean inactivity, but har
mony. It means doing that which is
most congenial. The man who loves
his fellow men and longs for the day
when there shall be one brotherhood
on the earth and men shall have one
aspiration—to do. the will of God—
may repair to the assembly of wor
ship and renew his allegiance to the
old ideals; the brother who, worn
out with the toil of the week, felt
that he needed all his time to re
create himself by harmless amuse
ment, wotrio not ue nindered, though,
he might well be pitied. All would
have more regard for the weightier
matters of the law. -
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTS FOR JANUARY 20.
Subject: Jesus Cleanseth the Tem
ple, John 2:13-22—Golden Text,
Psalm 93:5—Commit Verses 15,
10—Commentary.
TIME.—27 A. D. PLACE.—Jerus
alem.
EXPOSITION.—I. The zeal of
Thine house hath eaten Me up, 13-17.
Jesus was an obedient Son of the
law and went up to the passover ac
cording to the commandment (Deut.
16:16; Luke 2:41). He found in the
temple men selling oxen, sheep and
doves, and also changers of money. A
similar state of affairs can be found
in many churches to-day. All these
things had something to do with the
temple services, hut it was being car
ried on for private gain, and Jesus
was greatly displeased. The defense
of buying and selling in the house of
God often made to-day is that all this
has to do with the support of worship.
But this does not make it right in
God’s sight, as is plainly taught by
this lesson. Jesus put it all out of the
temple iu no gentle manner. If He
were to go to-day to our places of
worship with our fairs and festivals
and auctioneers of pews, etc., etc.,
doutbtless He would put them out
also and would be no more gentle
than He was with ..hese ancient de
alers of the house of God. It was
aot the force that there was in the
icourge of cords, nor the muscular
energy that Jesus displayed that
drove these defilers out. It was the ■
majesty of His presence and the con
sciousness on their part that they had
no business there. Gentleness and
thoughtful consideration for even the
birds were with His severity;
He did not drive out those who sol*
the doves, bat simply bade their own
ers carry t'nsm out. He gives a rea
son for His action, namely, that God's
house should not be made a house of
merchandise. How many that profess
to be followers of Jesus have for
gotten these words of their Master.
In the use of the words, "My Father’s
house,” He shows His right to act as
He did. It was His Father's house
and it was His business to cleanse it.
The cleansing of the temple was only
temporary. All these things were
brought back again (Luke i9:45).
All religious reforms among men are
temporary. Man is prone to back
sliding and we cannot live to-day in
the power of a reformation wrought
twenty years ago. Every new genera
tion must have its own reformation
and every new year must have its own
revival. When Jesus cleansed the
temple a second time He was even
more severe. He said that they had
made the house of God a den of rob
bers instead of a house of prayer
(Luke 19:46, R. V.). Men in their
defiling of God’s house thus go from
bad to worse. At a later date the
disciples in recalling this incident saw
in it a fulfillment of Old Testament
prophecy regarding the Messiah (v.
17; cf. Ps. 69:9). It was zeal for His
Fathe’r's house that constrained Jesus
to the present action. Is it zeal for
God’s house or is it zeal for our own
ideas that constrains some of us to
attacks upon the modern defilement
of the house of God?
11. The sign that Jesus was tho
Messiah, 18-22. Both the disciples
and the Jews recognized in Jesus’
assumption of authority and in His
■words, “My Father’s house” (v. 16),
a claim to be the Messiah. The Jews
at once demanded a sign to back up
this claim. Jesus gave them a sign,
a sign which they did not understand
at the time, the sign of the resurrec
tion (v. 19; cf. Matt. 12:38-40;'
16:1-4). His resurrection from the
dead is God’s seal to all the claims of
Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus
from the dead is one of the best
proven facts of history, and it proves
everything that is essential in Chris
tianity. It is God’s seal upon Jesus
Christ’s claim to be a teacher sent
from God who spoke the very words
of God (ch. 7:16; 12:49; 14:10,
11, 24). It is God’s seal upon Jesus
Christ's claim to be a divine person
in a unique sense (ch. 5:22, 2S«;
10:30; 14:9; Mark 12:6, R. V.). It
Is God’s seal upon Jesus Christ’s
claim that He was to be the ludge of
the world (ch. 5:22, 23, 28, 29). Not
even the disciples of Jesus understood
His words at the time, but after His
resurrection they remembered them
and they served to confirm their
faith, as well they might. The final
outcome was that the disciples be
lieved the Scripture and the word
which Jesus had said, i. e., they be
lieved the Old Testament Scriptures
which prophesied these things and
the words of Jesus upon which God
had set the stamp of His own endorse
ment. Happy is the man to-day who
believes the Old Testament Scrip
tures and the word which Jesus
speaks. Jesus’ miracles at this time
led many to believe in Him, but Jesus
saw the superficial character of their
faith and did not believe in them (vs.
23-25, R. V.). When men believe in
Jesus with that true and saving faith
which leads them to commit them
serves to Him, then and only then
does He commit Himself to them.
LEADING QUESTIONS. What
characteristics of Jesus come out in
this lesson? What fulfillment of
prophecy is there in the lesson? What
sins of the modern church are re
buked by this lesson? What does the
lesson teach about the resurrection of
Christ? How did the disciples show
their wisdom? What is the best les
son in the passage?
It is God’s.
Government is the lamp. Public
opinion is the oil. Leadership is the
light. The mvstary of the combustion
»'®ioogs to Gcd.«»Home Herald.
GRAFT BY WHOLESALE
Charged to Men Who Were the Erstwhile
Guardians of Old South Caroliua
Dispensary Affairs.
One of the biggests candals in the
history of South Carolina is now being
unfolded at Columbia in connection
with the state dispensary.
For months Attorney General Lyon
has been at work on this case, gather
ing in evidence and facts that lead in
startling directions. In this great work
Colonel T. B. Felder and General Clif
ford L. Anderson of Atlanta have been
engaged in assisting the attorney gen
eral.
The Investigation leads in many di
rections and threatens to involve peo
ple all over the country. It is said on
good authority that arrests will bt
made in Atlanta, Macon, Columbus and
Savannah shortly.
One of the worst cases appears to
be that of Uullman & Co., whiskey deal
ers of Cincinnati, which claimed that
the states owes them $35,000. The com
mission declares that the firm owes the
state $63,000 overcharges and fraudu
lent charges. B. Erlich of Atlanta
has made confession as to his connec
tion with the matter.
"During the 14 years of the dis
pensary, the amount stolen and grafted
aggregates between $4,000,000 and $5,-
000,000, conservatively estimated."
This is tiie statement of Attorney
Felder, after trial of the first civil
case in connection with the matter .War
rants have been issued against forty
or fifty men all over the United States,
says Mr. Felder, charging them with
conspiracy to cheat and defraud the
state of South Carolina, with perjury,
and with accepting bribes*
It is stated that among those who
will be indicted by the grand jury In
Columbia at the February meeting will
be residents of Atlanta, Macon, Au
gusta and Savannah.
The South Carolina dispensary case,
involving as it does millions of dollars
and hundreds of people, many of them
prominent and charged with serious of
fenses, promises to be one of the most
interesting and hardest fought cases
on record in this country.
STRANGE STORY OF YEGGMEN.
Bank President Gave Them Combination
of Safe While Walking in Sleep.
A strange confession was made to A.
F. Thomason, president of the National
Bank of Hattiesburg, Miss., by James
Harper and W. T. Smith, safe blowers,
brought back to Jackson from Seattle.
Harper says the president walked in
his sleep. He and Smith watched the
bank for several nights, and frequently
saw Thomason enter. They had sup
posed that he was in full possessiqn ol
his senses until they caught glimpses
of him under an electric light with eyes
closed and hands extended, creeping
over a muddy crossing. Then they
conceived a plan to enter the bank with
Thomason. They declare that Thom
ason gave them the combination to the
safe where they got the money and that
they left asleep in the bank.
RUSS OFFICER ON EVANS’ TRAIL.
Czar’s Representative is Following Our
Fleet to the Best of Ability.
The importance attached by the Rus
sian admiralty to the lessons to be
learned from the voyage of the Ameri
can battleship fleet under Rear Admiral
Evans is shown by the fact that a Rus
sian naval officer, Commander Alexis
Diatchkoff, is following the fleet on its
trip around South America, traveling
from port to port by whatever means
he can. i
RATE LAW DECLARED INVALID.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decides New
Statute Unconstitutional.
The 2-cent rate law In force in Penn
sylvania has been declared unconsti
tutional by the state supreme court,
which handed down an opinion Monday
affirming the opinion of the common
pleas court of Philadelphia, rendered
last September.
MAJOR HANCOCK ARRAIGNED.
Army Officer on Trial By Courtmartial Be
cause of Weakness for Booze.
Charged with conduct unbecoming an
officer, in that he was addicted to
drunkenness and that he had broken
a solemn pledge to stop drinking, Maj.
William F. Hancock, coast artillery
corps of the United States army, sta
tioned at Fort Barrancas, Fla., was
arraigned before a general courtmar
tial at the department of the gulf head
quarters in Atlanta, Monday.
FIGHT BEGUN
FOR FORESTS
At Meeticg of Appalachian Asso
c ation in Atlanta*
APPEAL TO GOVERNORS
Chief Executives of States Asked to Send
Delegates to Washington in Inter
est of Pending Bill.
Resolutions calling upon the govern
ors of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia,
Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky to
appoint delegations from their states
to appear in person before the commit
tee on agriculture in congress, to urge
a favorabble report upon the bill to
create a national Appalachian forest
preserve of five million acres, were
adopted at the meeting of the Appa
lachian National Forest Association,
In Atlanta, Thursday night.
Prior to the close of the meeting It
was announced that the women’s clubs
of the United States would take this
matter up and at once begin an end
less bombardment of personal letters
upon the congressmen importuning
them to secure the enactment of this
bill.
Governor Hoke Smith, who presided
at the meeting, announced that he
would at once call upon every civic
organization in the state to appoint
delegates to go to Washington on Jan
uary 30 to appear in person at the
meeting of the house committee on ag
riculture, before whom this measure i 3
pending, and urge a favorable report.
He also stated that he would write
to each of the southern governors af
fected by this resolution, calling upon
them to name a delegation of twenty,
from the state at large, to attend this
hearing.
The resolutions adopted were as fol
lows:
The Appalachian National Forest As
sociation In convention assembled, rep
resenting a membership throughout the
sotuhern states, with accredited dele
gates from the Atlanta section cf Amer
ican Institute of Electrical Engineers,
the Georgia Federation of Women’s
Clubs, the Atlanta Woman’s Club, and
chambers of commerce or boards of
trade in Atlanta, Macon, Athens, Bruns
wick, Columbus, Cornelia, Dublin,
Rome, Ga., Newberry, 3. C., Charleston,
Belton and Spartanburg, S. C., Hunts
vlie, Mobile, Birmingham and Opelika,
Ala., Nashville, Tenn., Louisville, Ky.,
Asheville, N. C., the Greater Charlotte,
N. C., do resolve as follows:
Whereas, Official statistics show that
the people of the United States face
within a decade a lumber famine, due
to the wasteful and extravagant use
and wanton methods of lumber and for
est fires; and, 0
Whereas, Our Appalachian forests
are now being rapidly depleted and
are about our only remaining sources
of hardwood supply; and,
Whereas, We recognize that forest
coverings are essential not only to our
timber supply, but are of supreme im
portance to climate and agriculture, to
water supply and navigation; and,
WTiereas, the cutting already done
has shown its baneful effects through
out the south, and demonstrates forci
bly from many standpoints, the neces
sity of the conservatism of .this source
of our natural wealth; and
Whereas, The perpetuation of our
forests can only be done by the natu
ral wealth; and,
Be it resolved, That the Appalachi
an National Association and affiliated
bodies, earnestly urge upon the con
gress of the United States the estab
lishment of national forests, in the Ap
palachian region by the prompt pass
age of the Appalachian-White moun
tain bill.
Resolved that the governors of all
the southern states be requested to ap
point at once delegations of not less
than 20 members from their respect
ive states to attend the hearing of the
Appalachian-White mountain bill on
January 30 before the house committee
on agriculture and that the governors
themselves head their respective ,dele
gations.
Resolved, That Governor Hoke Smith
of Georgia be requested to use his good
offices witli the governors of other
states, in order to insure their prompt
action in this vitally important mat
ter.
Resolved. That copies of these reso
lutions be sent by the secretary of the
convention to all congressmen and sen
ators from the southern states, re
questing their hearty and active sup
port and their votes for the meas
ure.
