The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-24


1t is our earnest desire, so long as we con-
duct this paper, to Defend through its columns,
the institutions of God, and, so far as in us
lies, to advance the best interests of man. In
vindicating the claims of beth the Creator and
His creation to the Sabbath, we attain both
ends proposed. 1t is the day of God as it is
the day ofmGn. 1t ascends for its authority
to the throne Of the Almighty, and 1t reaches
with its blessings down into the dreariest
caverns Of human Wretchedness and despair.
At a time when the very existence of God is
not only questioned, but openly impugned,
andin city where, by public advertisements,
we are all invited to listen to lectures on not
the Divine, but the Deyil-begotten nature of
/ all religion--of all Sabbath rest and
OF all sanctuary service-we consider
! it high time for the press to utter
its not uncertain voice. This question might,
in the estimation of some be more properly
canvassed in the pulpit. 1t is true it is
question for the pulpit, for the Church is con-
eerned. 1t is also question for the press, for
the lgorld is concerned. In urging the claims
of the Sabbath, it should not be forgotten that
there were by Gods direct appointment three
great Paiadisaical institutions, and that the
Sabbath was one of them. The first in order
is Labor. The second is Rest on the Holy
Sabbath. The third is Matrimony. These
are the three conditions Of human existence.
If q man will not work, neither shall he eat
If a man do not rest in the midst OF
his labors, he will soon rest from his
labors altogether; and if folks neither
! IN, h.
will become extinct. No sane man will argue
that all things could go on prosperously if the
wheels of human industry should stop their
mighty whirl; nor can we get many out of
mad-house who would defend the abolition Of
marriage, and how is it that so many deny, if
not in words, yet in practice, the obligations
of that other institution Of Heaven which lies
between the two-delended, it would seem, by
both, because more sacred than theyP How,
we ask, can men fall down before and worship,
without any hypocrisy, two of these institu-
tions, and refuse even ordinary respect to the
most God-likH 81 the three?
The first idea of a Sabbath is that of rest;
and how sweet it is to the labOring mani Just
as certainly as the huge wheels and massive
bars of the machine viii wear and tear each
: other into destruction, il not repaired by the
mechanic and fabricated by oil, will man,
with all his exquisite proportions, wear down
, to premature death, if not refreshed with
sufficient and periodic rest. Nature Graves
her share ofrepose. Nor does she crave IN
vain, for when Saturday night returns, the
> poor, oyertasked man rests on happy exEoo,o
lion of that blessed Sabbath .,y5,cb reno;r,
the wear and tear Of six days, labor. and
iortlteq %','h its enjoyments, he goes forth
10 labor again, like a giant refreshed with
) wine. Above all men living the workingman
/. should be Jealous of the Sabbath. The rich
( mayspend half the summer in travel at the
: springs, or by the seaside, but the laborer is
II ever at the wheel; and such is his scantiness
ofreward for his toll, and the greedne3s oi
many masters who employ him, that If God
did not legislate tor him, and in spite of him.
self and his taskmasters, command him to rest
one day inseyen, he would not live half his days.
The French atheists presumed to alter the
laws OF Heaven, and decreed that France
should have Sabbath once in ten days. AS
well might they have commanded the summer
to smile upon the earth once in a thousand
years-as easily could CANUTE make the tide
go back, as could any man or monarch alter
with impunity tine regulations of the Eternal.
France tried two experiments unique as
awful. She tried to do without God, and to
do without the Sabbath. She could do neither
France must have God, though she does not
worship Him; and she must have a Sabbath,
though she degrade herself in desecrating it.
The Sabbath is like some lovely but lonely
island cut off from the great continent Of time,
around which swells and roars the everest
less "sea Of troubles" and from which man
may behold that "better land" "where the
weary are at rest"
ENGLISH COMPLIMENTTOO OUR ARMY.