Editorial April 18, 1914 Issue

"Holy to the Lord"

Archibald McLellan

It has occasionally happened that Christian Scientists, in changing from their old beliefs about religion and the observance of certain forms and ceremonies belonging thereto, have become just a little bit unsettled in regard to the proper observance of the Sabbath day. They have taken too literally, or rather construed too liberally, Jesus' statement that "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." In their early enthusiasm some have been inclined to make the day very secular, with the exception of that portion in which they attend church service. It is only another instance, however, of the harm that results from taking a passage of Scripture and adapting it to suit conditions which must be bolstered up in some fashion in order to be at all justifiable, and this with an utter disregard for the context which gives the true meaning.

When we come to analyze it, there is nothing whatever in the incident which called forth this rebuke from the Master, that would in any sense sanction the practices for which this text has been made the excuse. The Pharisees, with their strict observance of the letter, would have haled Jesus before the authorities for doing a deed of mercy in healing the man with the withered hand, or for satisfying the hunger of himself and his disciples on the Sabbath day, and he simply exposed the fallacy of their contention by putting to them the unanswerable question, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?"

Jesus proved the spirit to be above the letter in his assertion that it is lawful to do good on Sunday as well as any other day of the week, and if as Christian Scientists we are careful to do on Sunday only that which is good, which will bear the Master's test, there will be no difficulty in maintaining a proper observance of the Lord's day. In whatever lapses there may have been, it must be admitted that Christian Scientists have but followed in the footsteps of many other professedly Christian people. They should bear in mind, however, that there is a great difference between liberty and license, and that simply by changing their religious beliefs they are not absolved from the proprieties of what is regarded as the Christian Sabbath.

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