THE CHRISTIAN SUNDAY SIXTY YEARS AGO

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 289, 6 September 1928, Page 12

THE CHRISTIAN SUNDAY SIXTY YEARS AGO

Sir, —1 was surprised to read iu your issue of August 23, a report of some words recently uttered by a bishop, who said: “If I were to have by lite over again, I would never have those drab Sundays of my days, etc.” The Sundays of some ot us, sixty years ago and more, were anything but drab, and after ■we were about ten years ot a"e we were neither sent nor taken to chureh. We went, at 10.30 every Sunday morning; and after we were about twelve or. thirteen, we usually also went at 7 or 8 a.m. We did not spend the later portion of the day at recreation, such as cricket. ... If we had been requested to abstain from attendance at the full church services during the time. 10.30 a.m. to about 1 p.m., we should have kicked somewhat vehemently, and our health of mind and body would have been minutely inquired after by the vicar, the precentor, and the organist, and in fact, by all and sundry. The choral, two or more hours’ services did not satisfy us, for the fully-sung service in the afternoon usually found us present; it consisted of hymns, litany, and baptism, all choral, and also catechising Of course, we attended again at absolutely full choral evensong, to which, we were neither sent nor taken. We went. We love to sing below For mercies freely given; But, oh, we long to know The Triumph-song of Heaven. That is what we were taught in our days over sixty years back, aud up to the present time one has never chucked up the sponge, or inserted cricket ; and the temptation to hop-Scotch and tip-cat has been resisted without serious detriment to one’s constitution. We certainly were not cramped for recreation, and our parents and church friends showed us they had a keen interest in our activities. We had our walks between . the church services, and our hymn singing at home, either in the afternoon, or after supper on Sunday night, or both. Also, you can bet your boots we could tackle the 10 or 20 mile tramp on the Saturday afternoon. Our young lives in those far distant days would have been drab, very drab, with-' out those many hours spent in that wonderful church, where we learned to love, worship, and adore above all Him in whom our soul delighteth. Our activities certainly had free play, and the danger of contracting fatty degeneration of the heart was greatly lessened by our indulging now' and then, on a school holiday, in a 30-mile stroll. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and sluilt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord: and I will eau.se thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken Jer. VI.: 16. “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way? And walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘wc will not walk therein.’ ” And that is what many people are saying to-day. I will conclude with the following lines, which will speak for me as to our Christian ’‘Sunday: This is the first of days: Send forth Thy quickening breath, And wake dead souls to love and praise, O vanquisher of death. —I am, etc.. A.H. Palmerston North, August 28.

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