PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22612, 18 May 1945, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION

CURRENT VIEWPOINTS OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY (To the Editor)

Sir,—ln a recent issue of the Times you report Bishop Cherrington’s views on the air pageant held on a Sunday, and his rather sweeping condemnation of the Christian custom of observing the first day of the week as a sacred and rest day, indirectly referring to it as “heresy” and a “shibboleth.”

Surely the bishop is expressing personal views and not the accept&d teaching of the great Church to which he belongs. That Church for centuries has stood for the preservation and sacredness of the first day of the week. How does Bishop Cherrington manage to frequent Communion service where the Fourth Commandant is read, followed by a congregational response, praying for help “to keep this law”? Christendom does not keep the Jewish Sabbath (some exceptions), but the reference to the Sabbath and keeping it holy is a recognition of the “first day of the week” as the Christian Sabbath.

I am sure all appreciate the action of the Air Force to help the hospital chapel fund, but the choice of the day was very unfortunate. That wars are fought on Sundays, of necessity, is no reason for destroying the accepted order. General activities are assigned to their proper places in the scheme of things. If all followed the bishop’s lead, this great boon of the week rest (Sabbaton) and the Christian testimony it implies would be lost to us. Would Bishop Cherrington vote for an air pageant to be held on a Good Friday or an Anzac Day? There is ample evidence that the Apostles dedicated the “first day of the week” as a time for worship and rest. True, many Jewish Christians kept the Jewish Sabbath for a while, but this custom was abandoned when the Gentiles began to accept Christianity. Mention is made in Acts 20:7 of the Communion service being held in Troas on the “first day of the week.” This would be as early as AD. 58. Also, offerings were to be taken up “on the first day of the week”—l Cor. 16:1, 2 (A.D. 57).

In the Revelation, 1:10, John makes reference to the “Lord’s Day” —a term for the “first day” of the week. This would be about A.D. 69, and this term has been in use by the Christian Church since then, the references implying a change over from the Jewish Sabbath. The law crucified Christ, but He was raised from the dead on the first day of the week, and by this momentous event there was instituted the New Christian Order.

Apart from the Scriptures, evidence for this New Order is not wanting from the writings of the Fathers. Perhaps the most interesting document that has come down to us is the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” ascribed to the end of the first century A.D., a compendium of the Apostles’ important teaching. Therein is a definite reference to the Lord’s Day custom—“ But on the Lord’s Day do ye assemble and break bread and give thanks. . . ” There are grounds for believing that the “first day of the week” was substituted for the Jewish Sabbath at an early date. To these Apostles had been granted special privilege by our Lord in “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven.” The institution of the Lord’s Day was one of their ordinances.

The Day of Rest is a Divine institution provided by a wise God for our benefit and blessing. If needed by the Israelites, it is needed by us who are built of the same material. The Hebrew word “shabbath” means “rest,” “cessation.” On the Sabbath there was no labour for master, servant or cattle. No journey over half a mile was permitted, no burdens were to be carried and no fires lit. The people could not “do as they liked,” they must rest. This one day set apart for the Lord emphasises to us the Divine requirement for all to “love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.” For Bishop Cherrington to infer that keeping the Christian Sabbath is “heresy” and a “shibboleth” is to reveal an opposition to the established practice of Christendom from the earliest days and to join those who risk jeopardising this great and beneficent institution.—l am, etc., JOSIAH SALISBURY.