MY IDEAL SUNDAY.

Grey River Argus, 8 July 1922, Page 3

MY IDEAL SUNDAY.

PICTURES AND AMUSEMENTS. V riting in the London Magazine, Canon the Hon James Adderloy, the well-known and popular Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, London, outspokenly expresses his views on the question of whether Sunday should be puritanical and dull, or reasonably free from the repression of natural inclinations. Many Christians are disturbed in mind by the increase of demands for Sunday sports and entertainments. In the war some were troubled by the news that agricultural work was being done on Sundays, but not so much by the news that some successful “stunts” were being carried out on the battlefields on the same sacred day. Others are alarmed at poor people having a glass of beer when they might be drinking in the words of a preacher, but are not at all alarmed at the condition of their own souls while indulging in whiskies at home—saving for the price! Others object to those who dance and sing and act on Sundays, but have no objection to singing bad music in the drawing-room or the streets, provided the words are ”-religious.” Many people, .' gain, have no objection to sleeping or doing nothing on Sunday; what they think wrong is to do anything besides going to church or chapel. All this points to an extraordinary i .... *. •. *i., j

confusion of mind as to what the day is and is not. Ask a modern child what Sunday is, and what would lie say, if he could freely express himself? Prob bly something like this: “Sunday is the day when you must not do the things yon most like doing. Sunday is the stupidest, dullest day of the week i when we are not allowed to go to the .■ pictures. Sunday is the day when we i lie in bed longer than other days.” How many Christian children would say: “Sunday is the day we keep < every week to commemorate our Lord’s resurrection. Sunday is the happiest < day in the week when we have plenty 1 of time to worship our Lord, when we can stretch ourselves and run and jump ( and dance and sing to our heart’s con- : tent, and live the new life which our ; Risen Lord has put into us. Sunday is the day when we can use all our , spiritual faculties to the utmost.” Even the small minority who, rs ] they fhink, “keep Sunday, ’’ do not get ; out of it what it is meant to give them. | We : re told that the British Sunday f has made the British raoe what it is. This may bo so. But are wo a perfect , race? I would rather say: “Bo wo so < called religious people keep our Sun j d y in such a* way that the outside , world is likely to be attracted by ns towards Christianity?” *■ Hirst of all, Christians must them- <. solves get a clearer view of what Sun- . day is and is not. Numbers of the , best people in the country are estrang- , cd from Christian'-■ - 1 1 nusc of the < Sunday question, while, numbers of good Christians are quite unnecessarily disturbed. Let us then get at the facts and form our own opinion. Lot us consider (1) What is the Sabbath? (2) What is the Christian Sun- . dav? (3) What is the connection, if , any, between the two? (4) Is recrea- ( tion permissible on Sunday for a Christian’ (5) Has the Christian Church the right to interfere with those who wish to keep the first day of the week ( in their own way? Modem Idolatry. What is the Sabbath? Christ laid it down that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. This means that even the Jewish Sabbath was primarily a philanthropic institution to help men to a more spiritual life by giving them icgular rest for their bodies and minds. It was not a day arbitrarily made by God on which, for His own supposed benefit, Ho wanted men to please Jinn by offering sacrifices like slaves. God wanted m: n to love Him and to realise the beauty of a family relationship with the Highest. God seems to say: “You shall have a day free from business and traffic on which you shall have every opportunity of cultivating your spirit, so that you may become a better man all round.” At first, for an agricultural race like the Israelites, this meant having no farm work to do. Christ’s treatment of the Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount seems to show that theie is a temporary significance in some of them, with an underlying spirit which is eternal. In the case of the Second Commandment we see this clearlj. The Israelites were living among nations who made images of birds ami beasts which tended to give people a false idea of God. They were told to have no ilmges at all as the best way to guard their imagination about God. That danger has passed away from , us and we can safely make pictures and statues which ’he literal wording of the Second Commandment undoubtedly forbids. We e:n put flowers round Disraeli’s image or doll our hats to a cenotaph without risk to our souls. • . . Our danger of idolatry now lies in the direction of the selfish worship of wealth, and we understand why St. Paul calls covetousness idolatry. n the same way we may be coming to sea the inner meaning of the Fourth Commandment. Rest mens to us non much more than having no work to do. In proportion, as we come to under stand what rest means we shall see the eternal meaning of the Sabbath, and it mav lead us into surprising changes as to what we mi y do and what we may not do on Sunday (if we want to make a Sabbath ot that day). But we are dealing now with the Jewish Sabbath. Whatever the Sabbath meant nt first, when it got into the hands of the legal-

ists and casuists it became a great burden to the faithful, just as Sunday became afterwards. It is a way that priestly theologians have in all ages and in all religions. They tend to turn what was instituted for man into something quite different, instituted by a capricious god as a means of catching out the unfortunate man when he breaks the rules. Of course, it is not a real god this priest-made deity. It is really the priest himself who is devising ways by which ho himself will become inorc and more necessary to the man by assisting him to dodge this fiendish sultan in the sky. ; Christ was the arch-opponent of this sort of thing. He insisted that God was our Father, the sort of Being Who could never impose absurd burdens of this kind, defeating the very object of a father’s heart. It is not surprising that He came into opposition from the Pharisees over this Sabbath question, and it is exceedingly probable that He would denounce much that is taught in His name about Sunday at the pre- I sent day. It is worth noting tho kind of length 1 to which the Sabbatarians went when they had a free hand in interpretation. Among the 39 prohibited actions on tho Sabbath were these: “Sewing two stitches,” “writing two letters,” “beating with a hammer.” You might ' tie a knot if you could untie it with one hand, but not if it required two. A pail might be tied to a well by a band, but not by a rope. A Sabbath Day’s journey was two thousand cubits, but if before the Sabbath a man deposited two meals at the boundary he could go two thousand more cubits further. Treatment of people in danger of death was allowed, but certain ailments were excepted. He who had the toothache might net rinse his teeth with vinegar unless he was prepared to swallow it. afterwards. Some Pharisees went so f; r as to teach that you must not eat an egg laid on the Sabbath. Whi.t wonder is it that when the great Reality arrived, when the true Man, for whom the Sabbath had originally been made, saw how He hr d been cheated of the gift of His Father, He denounced these hypocrites. It was Christ’s attitude to the Sabbath which as much as anything else, cost Him His life. Now turn from this to see what Sunday is. It is the first day of the week when Christians come together to break bread, the d- y of Resurrection and New Life, the “Lord's Day’’— that is, tho day of the Lord Who said that the Sabbath was made for man. . It is not tho Jewish Sabbath. Many Jewish Christians at first observed both S: turday ami Sunday, but St. Paul knew nothing of a Sabbath on the first day of the week. “Let no man judge, you,” he said to the Gentiles, “in respect of a Sabbath Day.” To observe such a day was a return to the weak j and beggarly elements of Judaism. Let every nr n be persuaded in his own i mind about the observance of any j special .lay. Here is the crux of the controversy. ! If the Sunday is the Jewish Sabbath, then we have nlre.-Mv by common consent broken it irrevocably in a hundred ways. If it is not the Jewish Sabbath, then it Ims a Christi: n law of its own ; v.hieh is tho only one which binds ns as How. then, .lid we get this idea ot a ! Sabbatarian Sunday! It is easy to nee. Tim old observance of Sundav, as a Holy Day of the Church, savoured too much of Popery. ; It w: s natural for the Heformers —or, I rather, some of them —to turn to til-: i Bible for authority. They could only | find it in the old Sabbath law*. God ! had consecrated one day in seven. This, I they said, was the Divine law for Sun- | day observance. But it is interesting I to note that both Luther and Calvin wcro not great sticklers for doing nothing on Sunday. To them, it s: voured of Judaism, and we are told that some good Protestants did not think it wrong to play bowls on Sunday. Unfortunately, the great mass of the people began to neglect the Holy Communion on Sunday, and the Puritans took it out of them by imposing all sorts of novel restrictions. Unfortunately, too, some of the Catholic-minded people of Stu: rt times were rather slack in their morals, and tlm idea of a “bad Sunday’’ when you played games got associated in people’s minds with excessive ritualism and indifferent morals. There was the same prejudice against a “Ilioh Church’’ Sunday as there now is against a “Continental Sunday.’’ This prejudice comes from a very unfair comparison between churchgoers and non-clmrdigoers. It is unfair to say: “Look at the crowds going to the Grand Prix, and then look at tlm crowds going to hear the gloomy ‘dean at St. I’:.ill’s.’’ Jim fair thing to do would be to say: “Look at the Easter Communicants at I St. Paul's and compare them with th” weekly* commiinicants at Montmartre,’ or perhaps '‘Find out how many of the people going to tlm Grand Prix have already been to church, and then find out how many of the buyers and sellers in tlm Brick Lane bird market, or the so-called ‘Church Parade’ in Hyde Park, have been to church at all.” While 1 am on tlm subject, of tlm Continental Sunday, it is as well to remember that tlm laws of closing are quite ns stiingen : in Catholic countries as in Protestant ones, and that there is a real desire on tlm Continent to get times of rest on the Sunday and to make it up to those who have to work on that (Illy by a day off in the week. I believe I am right in saying that the State the: tres in Paris, while open on Sundays, are closed on Mondays. But tlm great lesson taught us by the Continental Sunday is that rest does not mean doing nothing. Recreation is perhaps a better word than rest. Our Continental friends know that recrea*

I tion means “mnking again, or afresh.” Their games on Sunday aro not an of fence against the law of rest and recreation. Ou the contrary, they are po sitively recreative and therefore in themselves a, proper way of keeping the weekly festival of the new creation. I do not apologise as a. Christian fur advocating recreation on Sunday. It seems to me what Sunday is meant for. As a Christian, I include my worship as part of the recreation. I do not feel that I am doing one thing in church and something quite different when I play a game on Sunday. Wo must break down this divorce between what we call secular amusements and religion or spiritual occupation. This is especially the case in the matter of Sunday theatres. Sunday Theatres. The drama is the art of all others that appeals to the spirit of man. It combines the principal arts of music and painting and others. Why, in the name of reason, should the exercise of this great art be forbidden on the Festival of Recreation? Why should the appeal to tho spirit be monopolised by the clergy on the day of r 11 others when tho circumstances of rest and quiet are most favourable. I argue only from the standpoint of’ a Christian who believes in Sunday as a day for spiritual recreation. I am ! asked a simple question: Aro Sunday theatres wrong? I answer, “No.” Or, I am asked: Would you think them positively a good thing? I answer “Yes,” with certain conditions such; as I should annex to many other harm- ■ less things which it may not be ex-, pedient to do on all occasions. It is ’ not wrong to smoke in church, but it > is not expedient or decent. If you say: j “There are bad plays which you sure- I ly do not want people to act or see ; on a Sun-lay,’’ I reply: “Why, cer- I tainly, but then I don't want them acted or seen on a week day cither. “• This brings me to another question. Should wo make Sunday the day for special kinds of plays of a more spiritual character I am inclined to say “ Yes.” 1 do think that the profession, if they want to open the theatres on . Sunday, ought to consider the churches I a little, because they are undoubtedly instituting a. serious competitor with the pulpit and the altar. Our best preachers cannot possibly compete on . equal terms with the actors. After! all, we have been in the field a long • time, and if wo graciously admit the I drama on Sunday, the drama must behave decently to us. An ideal Sunday for Christian play- 1 goers would be something like this.’ There would be early services for th l ' l rapiilly increasing number of people , who, while wanting to worship on a Sunday, do also want to hr.ve plenty of other rest and refreshment during the major part of tho day. I am not dealing with games, so T will not say anything here about golf and cricket. Let en< h man take his bodily recreation j rs suits him best, having regard, of course, to his servants and caddies and chauffeurs who may want to take their recreation in another way. Nor am T dealing with children. Theirs is another problem. Wo have already opened the cinema, : nd I must leave my brother clergy to suggest what to do about that. Incidentally, I may remark that tho Sunday school might be worked much more successfully if two things were done. 1 should have an early morning school, like the Catechisms in France, and in the afternoon several parishes in towns : t least might unite to run a children's cinema with which most attractive lessons might be given. To return to the grown-up people. The hardworked business man might perfectly well, without infringing his duly to God, find some very heathful recreation at a theatre on a Sunday afternoon. Thu business man has been in a stuffy office all day and very likely wants to get fresh air on a summer’s evening. Such a man might find a Sunday e\ i ning play quite a good thing after getting his fresh air earlier in the day, which he could not do on a week day. MY IDEAL SUNDAY. But to continue my description of an ideal Sunday. I should like Christians to take a groat deal of trouble to manifest this ideal Sunday to the world. They should first of all be very careful to show that they can devote a large amount of the day to pure worship. They should get up early and go to Communion. Then they should have a short service provided for them at eleven or thereabouts (until they can bring themselves to break with the old tradition and come earlier or later). Short services, not lasting more than an hour, and. if possible, even less should bo provided. Those who like sermons should be catered for, and those who like a. quiet lime in church with a little mus e, or a Mass, or both. Recreated in the highest way of all. they should still have a very large part of the day for bodily recreation and for mental refreshment. They would be doing a really good action by go ing to a play, not only to themselves but as an example to others. r l bishops might do a good work by taking the lead in organising worship, games, and plays. They would bo real pastors feeding their flocks. The moral effect of a complete Christian Sun day shown to the world would gradually wean foolish and wicked people from their stupid Sunday as at pres-enl “kept.” I can imagine few things more morally and spiritually helpful than such a Sunday led by, say, the Bishop ot London in the eyes of the whole population. Early Communion at Fulham Parish Church. Sermon or Eucharist or both, at 11 a.m. Catechising ol tho children at the same time in some large hall. A cricket match in the

uj icrnoon piayeu oy communicants. Admission free to everybody, blackguards ' . and all. Refreshment (If necessary, provided by Jews who could show that they had kept their own Sabbarti well 1 the day before). An evening service at G p.m., with a sermon by “Wood bine Willie” (or by the northern prelate who is called “Corona Wiiiio”). This service would not be compulsory. •At 8 p.m. Shakespeare, or any good I play, in the nearest theatre. The . bishop and his faithful flock in the I stulls or tho pit. This would be varied sometimes by a miracle or a mora- ; lity play acted by church people to show what they could do, ur by 'a dance. I Nothing will persuade me that my friends at St. Jean de I.uz are wicked who, after plenty of church-going un a Sunday, end up with a dance in thMarket Place when the. whole population comes out to dance the Fandango. I A fresh, pure, breezy Sunday of this kind would soon make our miserable I “kill-joys” sneak oft’ like beaten i hounds, and after a few years the | I Christian Sunday-kcepers would hold ! the field and England would once more . be a land of morry saints. | SI’NDAY IS A DAY FOR RECREATION. I That concludes my rejTy' Gie ob- | jeetors to Sunday recreation from the , religious point of view. To sum up, i I decline to defend it against those who look upon the Sunday as a Jewish Sabbath. Tho Christian Sunday is a day for recreation, spiritual and bodily. Therefore, we must give every opp< rtunity for both in churches, inent res. and playing fields. Christians have no right to force their Sunday on r.on- ’ Christians any more than they woub! have a right to force people to be communicants. The best, thing for th mu .to do is to show by their examphwhat a sane, healthy. Tippy Sunday they can spend with churches, theatres, and playing fields at their disposal. In this way they will persuade, and not force, others to keep the Third’s I>r.y without sin. : In conclusion, I would make some remarks in reply to the Trade I. nions who insist on a Sabbath on economic grounds. Of course, they must resist a ' seven-days working week. If the stage j unions are too weak to resist profiteer- ; ing managers, the other unions must • support them rs they vrould if a seven- . days week was proposed for any other i trade. i Open the Theatre and Close the Club. I i A great deal of Sunday work is unr; necessary, and might well be given up in favour of other Sun work of a more useful character. It would be ) more useful to have Sunday work in ] theatres than in West End clubs. A balance might be struck in this way. Let all the West End clubs be closed two Sundays in the month, and the theatres opened. That would mean rest for two sets of persons on alternate Sundays. Them there arc the provin rial touring companies whom nobody seems to trouble about, and who now ° have a most terrible Sunday spent in C travelling from place to place. It has 0 become a common joke to say: “What s ill that siding, Bill?” Answer: “Oh, L only fish and actors!” II I A friend of mine who knows th” <J | conditions suggests that Friday, and 11 not Sunday, should be the Sabbath for ■ v I provincial theatres. The company ie (would travel on that day. They would ‘‘‘open on Saturday afternoon or evening, •nd again on Sunday. From a JS i Christian point of view, the stage people would be far better off. Instead <1 of being in a train on Sunday morn filing, and unable to get to church, thex 11. (would be settled in their lodgings and 1, I free to attend church on Sunday mornrt I ing before the matinee, or all day be d fore the evening performance (suppos(j ing, ns is probable, there w: s no □ .-matinee). Instead of arriving nt a 'town on Sunday afternoon and find — ing all refreshment places shut, and wandering about to find lodgings, they would arrive on a Friday, : nd be abi--x l to get all they want. I It is worth considering these things a 'before rejecting the idea of Sunday j performances on the ground that it is [unfair to the actors. The above proiposal is far fairer than what is now at I forded io provinci'l companies. How • -ever, this is not my business as a par--1 ( son. I am simply asked as a Christian to say if Sunday recreation is an of I fence against the law of God, and I b say it is not.