The Fourth Commandment Ignored
By Editor
THE Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst, of New York, recently preached a sermon on "the Lord's day," which is given in full in the Christian Union of May 20. The following brief extract is worth preserving:— "We do not keep the fourth commandment by hallowing one day in seven, unless it is the seventh day that we hallow. The seventh day is specified, and the reason for specifying it is specified, and every child who intelligently knows the commandment can tell why it is that it was the seventh rather than the sixth day that was ordained and consecrated to holy uses." After such a declaration, the Doctor's allegiance to Sunday can be regarded as nothing but a deliberate ignoring of the fourth commandment. He virtually says, "I don't propose to keep the fourth commandment." If he should make a similar declaration concerning the sixth or the seventh commandment, there would be a cry of indignation from all the religious journals of the country; but as it is only the fourth commandment that is repudiated, they have no concern. Will somebody tell us why the fourth commandment is not of equal importance with the third, the sixth, or the seventh?