“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;
Six days shalt thou labor and do all they work;
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates;
For in the six days the Lord made heaven and early, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Exodus 20th chapter, 8 to 112 inc.
One of the greatest curses of America today—yea the world—is the desecration of the holy sabbath day. The open theatres, moving picture shows, garages, drink-shops, drug stores, bathing beaches, and etc., and etc., flaunt defiance in the very face of Almighty God. How can CHRISTIANS in “Christian America” (?)—and especially in the South—violate this sacred commandment of the Great Maker of heaven and earth, and still hope to enjoy His blessings?
Johnston County above all counties in the State—and Smithfield more than all towns in the County—has been supremely blessed by our gracious Heavenly Father. We have been visited by no great calamities, no earth quakes, tornadoes, floods, nor great epidemics, and our County and Town has been blessed far beyond our deserts. Our people in grateful remembrance of the blessings of the past and the protection afforded by our gracious Heavenly Father, and in humble recognition of the source from which flows all earthly blessings, are planning to give a great Thanksgiving service in Smithfield on Monday, September 3rd, and at the very same time our City Fathers have, as it were, flaunted in the very face of Almighty God defiance to His laws and commandments by providing for the desecration of the holy sabbath day by allowing drugstores in Smithfield to keep open (the drug-stores alternating and keeping open-house each Sunday) for the sale of cold drinks, ice-cream, cigarettes, cigars, and etc.
If ye love me ye will keep my commandments,” said our Savior. Does the action of our City Fathers demonstrate to your Lord that we love Him? We might stand in our churches and on our streets and cry with loud voices form now until judgment day that we love the Lord, yet our actions speak louder than our words. “What ye are speaks so loud that I can’t hear what you say” is too true. “Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven,” said Jesus while on earth.
“What shall it profiteth a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Will a man rob God? God has given man six week-days in which to labor, drink dope and suck cigarettes if he pleases. Isn\t that sufficient without taking (robbing God of) the seventh which has been blessed and hallowed by Almighty God as the Sabbath day? If a generous hearted friend having seven dollars had given you six would you be so mean and depraved to take away from him the seventh dollar? Some mean man, I imagine you’d say. No meaner than he who would take (by desecration) from God the one day—the sabbath day—which he has reserved for Himself and worship, after He has given us six days for work and pleasure, and greatly blessed us in the use of those six days! Who knows that our gracious and mercifully Heavenly Father will continue those blessings when we show such a rebellious spirit and openly and defiantly violate His commandments. Awfully dangerous doings, and I, for one, do not think we can afford to take the risk. Too much at stake, my fellow citizen-Christians, or Christian-citizens, which is preferable?
--F.H. Brooks
From the editorial page of The Smithfield Herald, Friday, Aug. 10, 1923.
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