American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1844-11-30

refer its origin to Him who made man, and
who knew his wants as his Creator alone could
know them. That it was made for man as
man, is proved by all its bearings upon all his
wants.
AS period of rest, after six days continu-
Gus toll, it is indispensable to The laborer With
out this gracious interval his health and vigor
prematurely decay as certainly, although not
as speedily, as if debarred from the refresh
nient of sleep; and health and vigor are the
poor mans capital. The statistics now so
greatly accumulated that we cease to gather
them, showing the fearful waste of life in those
employments which know no such suspension,
are full of warning and instruction. Sad in
deed is the lot of the laborer without this iu-
bilee of the week to recruit his exhausted en-
ergies; when he may wipe the sweat from his
brow and lift up his body and lift up his spirit,
alike bowed down by daily toll.
Nor is this interval of repose, as law OF
our physical nature less necessary to intellectu-
al occupations. The mind must be stately
unladen of its cares, as the body of its bur-
thens, or a SIMILAR penalty must be endured
The ordinary effects Of systematic violations of
the Lords Day, by men Of business or profess
sional men, are less clearness of perception
and power of discrimination, and soundness of
Judgment, and generally by a dminuton of
intellectual vigor; often followed by sudden
breaking down of the overtasked mental tacul-
ties; in other instances the result is lunacy or
self-murder. In short, moral and religious
considerations apart, nothing is gained by
violation of the Divine commando truth oft
en- learned too late. If a man would make the
most of himself in all respects, he will do well
to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
But the demands of our moral and social na-
ture for the blessings of a sanctfed Sabbath
are still more imperative, and take hold of
higher results. We cannot dispense with this
pause from the ceaseless pursuit of pleasure,
gain or distinction-we need it to moderate
our passions, to chasten our desires, to purity
our motives, to elevate our aims, and to seek
the salvation of our souls. 1t is here the Sab
bath chiefly discloses the divinity Of its origin
and the benevolence OF its purpose
1t speaks in Gods name to the tide Of world
liness-''thus far shalt thou come, and no far
ther;" and communes with him of eternal retri-
butions-ponts his burdened conscience to the
only Saviour, and to that Heaven whose end
less felcities none shall know but the pure in
heart and the pure in life. In its Legitimate OBJ
servance it is a season of hushed passions and
of tranquil enjoyment, disposing the heart to
kindness and good villa season for the atfec-
VI llt JoullS llOii uutiOo
to God and their fellow beings-for the privi-
leges of private and social MISUNDERSTANDING
upon the instructions of an intelligent Christian
ministry, and devoutly reading the inspired
words of truth and love in the holy volume
The subjects of thought and conversation are
pure and elevating in their nature, and it would
be strange, indeed if the Sabbath sun, as it sets
upon family or community who had thus hal
lowed its hours of light, did not leave them
happier wiser and better than when he rose.-
Can any doubt the effects of day thus spent
on mental and moral character, or the power
of that restraint which it throws over the con-
duct2 Nearly three entire years, or one seventh
of the life of every young man, who leaves his
home on reaching the age of manhood, has
been spent under such influences. These are
not the families, nor these the individuals, who
are nusances to society. 1t is not he who fears
God, and keeps his Sabbath, that robs his
neighbor or murders him every body knows
that; nor is his place among the debased of his
species in any respect, or any where-least OF
all here. You cannot keep man ignorant or bru-
fish in this country if you give him his Sabbath
and he observes it according to his Maker will
He will be raised by its concentrated influences,
and will understand and value his civil and po-
litical rights, and will respect the rights ofoth-
ers. The wiley demagogue must seek some
where else his tool or his victim.
With population thus nurtured, we all feel
that our laws would be obeyed and our liberties
as nation safe; but there can be no such with
out the Sabbath and its appropriate sanctiica-
ton, and there is no such where it is unknown
and unhonored. We beseech our fellow citi-
zens to maturely consider this conclusion and
the facts which are inevitably involved it.
If these are the happy issues of obedience to
this wise and gracious command ofour Creator,
we are warned by his words and awful provi-
dences, that its proclamation is proportionally
dangerous. However pure and healthful the
fountain, poison be cast into it, it sends forth
only streams of death, and so will desecrated
and polluted Sabbaths work our more speedy
and dreadful ruin Our principle of selfgovern-
ment as people must be abandoned, and we
and our children must pass under the yoke of
despotism.
There is much to encourage us. The Sab
bath, like the Bible, is to great extent embed
ded in our affections, our most cherished asso-
Citations. and in our social and civil usages. AL
most universally the places of public amuse-
ment are closed; and as general fact and in
growing degree there is cessation from open
labor; and those from whom this privilege is yet
withheld--for withheld it is in instances fear
fully numerous-have begun to feel it the sor-
est evil of their poverty that they cannot obtain
that even as boon which is theirs by inaliena-
BILE birth-right-by the legacy of their fathers.
OF the strength of this desire for deliverance
there are the most convincing proofs before the
Convention, and among the motives which
have assembled us here, many of us from dis
tant homes, were the affecting appeals of this
very class of our prescribed fellow-ctizens for
the help which public opinion and public SYM
pathy may bring to their relief Shall it be de-
MED? and especially Spall the sought-for aid be
withheld by those who have the power to grant
l it; and that for the sake of gains uncertain at
the best, but which if realized, will bring no