Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/249



According to the latest views publicly expressed by both Christian and un-Christian clerics, it would appear that twentieth-century Society is not at one with Sunday. It no longer keeps the seventh day "holy." It will not go to church. It declines to listen to dull sermons delivered by dull preachers. It openly expresses its general contempt for the collection-plate. It reads its 'up-to-date' books and magazines, and says: "The Sabbath is a Jewish institution. And though the spirit of the Jew pervades my whole composition and constitution, and though I borrow money of the Jew whenever I find it convenient, there is no reason why I should follow the Jew's religious ritual. The New Testament lays no stress whatever upon the necessity of keeping the seventh day holy. On the contrary, it tells us that 'the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'"

This is true enough. It is a difficult point to get over. And despite the fact that the sovereign rulers of the realm most strictly set the example to all their subjects of attending Divine service at least once on Sunday, this example is just the very one among the various leading patterns of life offered by the King and Queen which Society blandly sets aside with a smile. For, notwith