PICNICS ON SUNDAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22835, 20 March 1936, Page 15

PICNICS ON SUNDAY

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In regard to the observance of Sunday as the day on which our Lord rose from the grave, and which, in consequence, we call the Lord’s Day, Mr Gardner states, inter alia, “I find this teaching to be built on tradition, and not soundly Scriptural, and so, therefore, not truth.” Now. here is what St. Mark has to tell us in chapter xvi, 0; “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week.” St. Luke xxiv, 1-3. and St. John xx, 1-10, are equally specific. In fact, in each of the four gospels this fact is clearly stated. Some of your other correspondents have ably pointed out that the early Church of the Scriptures kept the first day of the week. Ignatius, a companion and disciple of John, who wrote about

TOO A.D., says: “Those who were concerned with old things have come to newness of confidence, no longer keeping Sabbaths, but living according to the Lord’s Day, on which our life as risen again through Him depends.” Barnabas, early in the second century, says: “We keep the eighth day with joy, on which day Jesus also arose from the dead.” Justin Martyr, writing 134 A.D., says: “We all assemble in common, because it is the first day, and because on the same day Jesus Christ, our Saviour, rose from the dead.” Clement, of Alexandria, writing in 174 A.n., says: “The old seventh day haa become nothing more than a working day.” Tertnllian, of Carthage, writing about 200 A.n.. says: “ Sundays we give to joy. We observe the day of the Lord's resurrection free from every hindrance of anxietv and duty, laying aside our worldly business.” In the quotations which I have given from the Scriptures I can find no ambiguity, the fact being clearly stated that our Lord arose from the grave on the first day of the week. Many of us could learn a lesson from the church fathers, quoted above, in their observance of the Lord’s Day. One thing I like particularly about them was their reason for keeping this day holy—namely, that it was the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. —I am, etc.. Owaka, March 17. J. Fleming. TO THE EDITOR Sir, —In read in the Daily Times many years ago that there was an old law which provided that all those who did not attend church or place of worship once on a Sunday were fined one penny, and that the law has never been repealed. Some people may say that a penny is nothing, but that sum may, at that time, have been a half-day’s pay or a full day e pay. If a similar law was put in force now it would stop Sunday picnics and excursions.—l am, etc., G. W. K. Milton, March 18.