NO one who is watching the trend of events can shut his eyes to the fact that the anti-Sabbatarian movement is gathering in strength and boldness as the years go past. The enemy seems to have set his plans to capture this strong bulwark of religion in the land and to lay it in ruins if he possibly can. Under his banner he has gathered a mixed multitude who though divided on many important points in the plan of campaign are all united in the common objective of razing the Lord’s Day to the very foundations. Atheists, Communists, Free Thinkers, Lovers of Pleasure, Mammon Worshipers and others of like stamp are all united in the determination to wipe out the Sabbath Day if they can. To these must be added the great multitude of Antinomians, advocates of False Charity, and the motley crowd of Gallios that are not only a dead weight to the Church but a menace to its very life. Such is the formidable army with which Sabbatarians are faced. Our opponents make their appeal to self interest, to the pleasures that appeal to the flesh and they have an audience to which their appeal comes with tremendous effect. We make our appeal to the Lawgiver of Heaven and Earth and there have not been signs wanting in recent times to encourage such suppliants that their appeal has not been made in vain. This was seen in the fate that overtook the Bill sponsored by Sir William Jowitt, late Attorney-General. But though defeated the anti-Sabbatarian forces are determined to show fight and only recently paragraphs have appeared in the press intimating that it is the intention of Sir Herbert Samuel, the Home Secretary, to introduce a Bill similar to that which went down in the wreck of the Socialist Government. The Bill though introduced by the Home Secretary is to be voted on without regard to party ties. This device is not clever enough to cover the Government’s responsibility in the matter and we trust our readers will write to their M.P.’s to vote against the Bill when it comes before Parliament. It was not for legislation of this kind that the present Government was returned to power and it would be well-advised to leave off giving a helping hand to the devil. The Bill, of course, applies only to England but we may be sure if it gets the sanction of the legislature that an attempt will be made to introduce a similar bill for Scotland.
In a newspaper forecast of the Bill it is indicated that it will follow much the same lines as that which was introduced by the Labour Government. Its purpose is to give local authorities the option of granting licences or refusing them for the opening of places of entertainment on Sabbath. The attitude of the local authority is to be based, however, upon the demand of particular localities. The Bill, in effect, will give to every area the right to determine whether it will have “Sunday” cinemas or not.
Another menace to Sabbath observance in this country is the newly projected Sabbath programme of the B.B.C. authorities. It seems that not only is the Sabbath Day a dull day to the lovers of pleasure in this country but that the programme of the B.B.C. was too dull to appeal to the perverted tastes of thousands of listeners-in. No one who has read the Sabbath programmes of the B.B.C. would go away with the idea that it was planned in accordance with rigid Sabbatarian principles or that it was severely Puritanic but it seems it was too dull for thousands. Accordingly a “Sunday” director has been appointed and it is his business to remove this dullness and to make the Sabbath programme the best of the week. We quote the newspaper announcement: “The new regime will begin in a month’s time. Several changes are already agreed upon. Among the features proposed is a broadcast play once a month. Another innovation will be the introduction of a raconteur to broadcast a short story, humorous, tragic, or romantic. It is possible that the B.B.C. dance orchestra may play suitable music during the 6-7.30 period, the programme to include old-fashioned waltz music, concert versions of music from popular plays, such as ‘Cavalcade,’ slow fox-trots, and all that which the band world calls ‘sweet music.'” This will probably remove for a few weeks the terrible dullness that comes over certain minds once a week like the spirit that brooded over the mind of Saul but what of the dishonour done to God. It will be noticed that the hour chosen for this part of the programme is between six and seven-thirty—hours which in most places are devoted to public worship. Surely the god of this world has stolen a march on the people in this country when such a programme has been planned.
Another menace that must not be overlooked is the increasing number of shops that are opening in our larger cities for trading purposes. Mr. W. S. Morrison, M.P., in a speech recently delivered alluded to this and said that there were about 40,000 shops open for business in London on the Sabbath. If Sir Herbert Samuel would turn his attention to this matter instead of wasting time in introducing an anti-Sabbatarian measure into Parliament it would be more to his credit and it might stave off the day when like his predecessor he will be forced to retire to well-deserved inactivity in the affairs of the nation.