The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1852-06-02
SUNNY Rrahing,
The Christian Sabbath.

The Institution of the Sabbath is at once
PROOF OF the goodness and ofthe wisdom
ot Its Founder. Experience has demon
S'rated that laborlng men, as we'll as In.
oonng animals, absolutely REQUIRE tba
Seventh day, As day ofphysical rest
Without this interval of rcposc, equal 70
seventh part Of their time, they would
wear out their physical energies, and dcs-
troy their ability to labor in a compara-
lively short period of time. Who knew
so Wei the capabilities and requirements
OF this finely wrought, and wondrous
frame OF ours, as lie by whose wisdom n
was created?
If the body thus requires the repose of
seventh day to preserve its faculties in
a proper and healthy state much more
does the mind require this periodical re-
lease from cXhauSting action. We have
some facts which make showing fear
fully clear and convincing of the necessity
OF tins day of rest to mans intellectual
lacuitlcs' There are records of eminent
professional characters who would not
iorego their mental cxcrtions upon the
sabbath, who became insane, even in the
prime of life; "thc over-wrought brain.n
giving way from inccSSant action: the
machinery wearing out by interminable
attriton. The rest of the Sabbath is
thus necessary to man, both as a rational
and physical being. The Sabbath is a
mercitul Institution.
But it becomes imncasurablv moro i'm
portant, if possible, when considered in
rf.tnr 20, -. Al
upon man as a religious being, and upon
nations rs religious communities. 1t will
hardly be stating the proposition too
strongly, to affirm, that, without the ex-
ternal ceremonies of the Sabbath; without
the Church, the classes and Juvenile
schools peculiar to the Sabbath; without
the calm, the quiet, and cessation from
worldly and secular labor, which now
occur every seventh day, reminding man
of the relation he sustains to his Maker;
i'll short, if every day to come were a
working day, and the Sabbath were strick-
en- from the list of Divine institution: that
man--that Nation-would soon cease to
cultivate religious knowledge; and would
become, at best, n community of Dcsis,
and rcpudiatc, i'll practice, the Christian
faith.
The only (nominally) Christian Nation
! that has made the experiment Of abolish
ing the Christian Sabbath, of which we
have a record, was the Republic of fFrancc,
during what was very properly called
"lhc Reign of Terror" The Sabbath
WAS abolished by order Of Governments
tn" Nation became partly Dcistical, and
partly Athcistical. To show their SUI
prcmc contempt for that Book, vencratcd
by the civilized world, as n Revelation
from Heaven,-a large concoursc of pco-
pie, in the streets of Paris, attached n
Bible to the tail of an Ass, and dragged
1t thus through the city! The scenes of
carnage; Of widespread lcgalized murder
Of wholesale execution of men and women
for the offence of being suspected of hold
improper political opinions; of a ruthless
prescription of the Nobility; of banishment
and death of the terrible ;scendencv Of
the sword and the Guillotinc, which were
enacted then i'll that troubled land, and by
that wild, inturiatcd, dcmentcd party in
power, called the Government, have now
become a part of the history of the 18th
ccntNry. If her crimes and her suffcrings
were consequent upon her abolition of the
Sahhath-hcr protant and sacriligious at
tempt to sever the obligation of man to
the institutions Of Religion; then the exam
pie Of France may never be copied by
any other people!
The observance Of the Sabbath is LinG-
ing alike upon Nations families and in
dividuaIs. Its PROCLAMATION by either is
ever attended with evil; and visited, soon
or or later, in some form or other, with
judicial infections. a voice still sounds
with solemn warning: "RemcmJer tie
.SaJbaM 10 keep 1t holy.'-Spartan.