SUNDAY OBSERVANCE.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18338, 26 May 1931, Page 13

SUNDAY OBSERVANCE.

A MANIFESTO. HAMILTON MINISTERS’ ASSN. NEGLECT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. The Hamilton Ministers’ Association at its last meeting adopted the following manifesto, which has been handed to us with a request for its publication: — . “To All Men and Women Who Acknowledge Our Respective Mlnls“Of late two matters of vital import claim our serious consideration the anxious economic situation that confronts us all, and the spirit that lies behind the growing tendency to regard Sunday as purely a day,of recreation, to the great neglect of public worship and witness. , . “Of the former we do not at tms stage presume to offer our opinion, but feel we can make our best contribution by trying to provide the right atmosphere and foundation. We ceas not, therefore, to lift our hands and hearts in ceaseless Intercession to the throne of Almighty God that He will grant faith, wisdom, courage, strengtn and the grace of unselfish service to all those whose position enables them to make some contribution, great or small, to the solution of our great and pressing problems; but we also humbly acknowledge that a

great part of our difficulties and problems Is the dlreot outcome of a totally wrong basis of life. We are convincel that life divorced from God is, and can only be, a mere travesty of what it can, and is meant to, be. The whole history of man again and again l demonstrates the truth of this, and proves to us that the troubles •and the downfall of nations in the past have all fundamentally risen from disloyalty to Almighty God, and disregard of His laws and wishes. So we are firmly convinced that our present troubles are directly traceable to the same causes. “We therefore solemnly call those of our people who acknowledge our ministries to recognise the truth of thiß, and seriously in the sight of Almighty God to examine their whole lives by the touchstone of the laws of God, and there to bewail their sins and offences, humbly seeking His pardon, through Christ, and asking for His grace and strength to build up the whole of life—at home, in the playing field, in shop or office, or in whatever work they are called to do—so that It may be pleasing in His sight and lived unselfishly for the benefit of our fellowmen. ■ , “Closely allied with this Is the second subject of our appeal—the use of our time, more particularly on the day we call the Lord's Day, or Suuday. “No use of this day that disre-

gards Its fundamental purpose—that of worship and rest—can by the ; Christian be regarded as satisfactory. “The immemorial dictum that man needs one day In seven for rest from work is apart from religious conviction fundamentally sound. Amongst the ancient Jews the performance of religious obligations was a daily matter, so that this aspect was not particularly stressed, but that of rest was. Under the Christian dispensation worship tended to take a more prominent part on the Lord’s Day, and soon there was extended to the Christians Lhe same privilege that attended heathen festivals —the-right of cessation from all. work. "We do not desire at this stage to weary you with an. examination of the history of conduct on the Sunday, but we do solemnly call you all back to a right regard for the value and sacredness of this day. Gratitude for the sacrifice and achievement of our Divine Master’s life and'work, alone, should demand from us a serious and happy consideration of the right use of this sacred day. Failure to give it the place is should have In community and national life, ultimately means divorcing God from life, and that will inevitably bring disaster. “Tha preserving of the Ideals of Sunday is absolutely essential to national safety and prosperity, so on that plane alone all seri-ously-minded people should give due heed to its demands. “But we would appeal to you on higher grounds—viz., that of providing one day in seven for all Christians to give honour and glory to Almighty God, and to thank Him' in corporate worship, to draw from Him inspiration and strength to face the week’s work and problems, and to witness' to our faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gained-'His great victory by His resurrection on the first day of the week. “We call our people to rally round us in this day primarily a time for worship, 1 then for rest to enable the body to do its work for the coming week faithfully and well. We believe that if these two principles are faithfully observed , all men and women of goodwill will be led to use the rest of )the day quietly and without giving offence to the scruples of any. “The principle enunciated by the great St. Paul that whilst all things are lawful, yet all things are not expedient, is one which is too often lost sight of. In determining what each ono will do on the Lord’s Day we would strongly urge Lliat a positive duly rests upon parents and others to do or refrain from doing certain . things for the sake of the children. We would Insist that parents have a positive duty to take their children to the corporate worship of Almighty God, whatever may be their own private desires concerning the use of this day. We would similarly insist, without pronouncing dogmatically upon the lawfulness or otherwise of taking part in games on Sunday, that It is a positive duty to refrain from such games where the playing of them is encouraging our children to disregard the primary duties for Sunday, or where the playing results Jn neglecting public worship by such players and unfils the individual for giving his best in his work during the week." JOSIAH SALISBURY, Church of Christ, President. JAMES HASLOP, Hamilton East Presbyterian, Hon. Secretary. G. R. BARNETT, Dean of Hamilton WILLIAM It. HOCKING, St. Paul’S Methodist. • > A. 0. HARRIS, St. John’s Methodist. LAWRENCE M. ROGERS, First Church, Presbyterian. DAVID 11. HAY, Waikato East Presbyterian. % i;:,:'-,,, . .... R. G. BYCROFT, Baptist Church. F. J. PARKER, St. Jame's'S,'f'Methodlst. ' • . H. G. GILBERT,, St. Andrew’s Pres- . bylerlan.. ; v