The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1858-11-06
Shall We Have a Day of Rest!

The Sabbath question is earnestly discussed
in Great Britain, increased intimacy with the
Continent having given rise to party friendly
to the bolyday Sabbath Of Paris and Berlin -
The following from the Edinburg Witness pre-
SCENTS the issue In its true light, and furnishes
food for thought here as well as IN England:
Looked At IN its bearing upon national
life. is it advisable that the observance Of the
Sabbath which has hitherto prevailed in Great
Britain should be superseded 10y that mode Of
spending the day which is instituted in Con.
lmental cities Wordsworth alludes in one
Of his famous prcfaces. to those conditions of
excitement 10y which the public mind in his
day was stimulated and blunted. These
conditions have since been aggravated. We
live in an atmosphere of excitement. The
air seems to ring around us. Our science.
our commerce, our locomoton are all at
fever heat. If ever there was time in
which rest was required TO cool the burning
brow and soolhe the throbbing heart Of Tic ma.
ton, 1t is now 70 describe the life of men IN
continental capitals, we knew of no form of
speech SO adequate or expressive as his: they
sit down to cat and drink and rise up to
play. The idea that lcisarc can have any
Other purpose than amusement; that man
can DO desired or expected to exhibit hab-
itually or socially, any tokens of reverence
for Being higher than himself. seems to
have died out of the public mind. Not to
he amused, not to be excited. is not to live.
1t is startling to note the comment on this
state of things afforded 10y Partisan statistics
When the fountains of passion and worldli-
ness have been drunk to the drtgs, when the
Syrcn voice OF pleasure ceases to charm, re-
course is had at once to suicide. Man having
rio bitr1S l,ul In Ia III l.,
by the winds of Garth. the breeze fails, and
the bubble bursts. Paris, as French Jour
nalis once remarked, is the capital of suicide:
and it is the capital Of suicide mainly be.
cause Parisans have lost the capacity TO rest
and look upon themselves only as pieces of
ingenious mechanism for the assimilation of
worldly pleasure. Is it too much to saw
that the Sabbath, as representative. in its
secular aspect. of that greater stability and
power of rcpose, on the one hand, and that
nobler conception of man as a being not
merely of earth and time, on the other, by
which the British character is distinguished
from the French, ought not and vii. not be
permitted to pass from among our national
institutions? The observance OF the Sabbath
is an clement in the Sabbath is an element in
the national life with which we cannot dis
penSe. Its influence ptryades the nation,
reaching even those who are opposed to it,
1t gives certain concentration, coolness, and
compactncss to intellectual and practical
energy. 1t preserves healtiful, natural
tone of feeling in which simple pleasures
retain their power TO crafty. There is in i.
something opposed to revolutionary heat, to
fightmcsS and fcklencss. We are far from,
denying that the duty of Sabbath observance
may be misconciev.d and caricaturod bu,
We are assured that, as between men so be.
tween nations, the capacity of rcpose is a
sure test of character and we trust that
Great Britain may long be known among
European nations as that capable Of resting
and woIshlppins On The Sabbath.