The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-22
MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 1866.
The Sunday Question.

ference the controversy that is now going on
In this community with reference to what is
commonly termed the SUNDAY Question"
The issue is between those who would pre-
serve the sacredness of the first day of the
week, or the Christian Sabbath as a "holy'
day, of Divine appointment, for the physical
and spiritual welfare of mankind, and those
who would divest it of all religious import
ance and obligation, and treat it only as
season for sensual recreation and enjoyment
In such q contest we can have no hesitation
as to which side all truly wise and virtuous
citizens should choose, and it is our purpose
to stand squarely and firmly on that ground
on which we should wish to be found in the
last day, and at the judgment-seat of Him
who said that "the Son of man is Lord also
of the Sabbath" In matters of purely
worldly concern, men are apt to form their
opinions and determine their course of action
in obedience to motives of preju lice, passion,
or interest. But when they are required to
make up their minds and regulate their con-
duct In reference to things of Gods ordina-
ton, which not only bear with vital effect on
the temporal well-being Of society, but imme-
diately concern every individual soul in its
relations to God and eternity, the ordinary
considerations which govern human opinion
and action should be allowed no influence
whatever.
The SUNDAY question" need not and should
not be complicated by the discussion of any
particular violations of the Sabbatical law, or
assaults upon particular individuals who may
be regarded as violating the sanctity of the
Sabbath. Such course only arouses opposl-
ton which otherwise would not exist, and
strengthens an essentially bad cause, by en-
listing in its defense all that numerous class
of people who are ever ready to sink even
their moral convictions in order to help
man, or party Of men, whom they are led to
regard as the object OF persecution.
There is higher and broader ground on
which the character of Gods day, and the
duty of Christians in relation to it, may be
and should be treated. The public mind must
be convinced that the day is consecrated by
Divine law not only to rest from all unneces-
sary worldly labor, but to special religious
worship; that it was intended not simply to
refresh the body, but to refresh and edIfy the
soul; that men were not merely to cease
from manual toll on one day in seven, for the
purpose of physical health, but to so release
their minds also from temporal cares as to
allow them free and full contemplation of
those affairs and responsibilities which reach
beyond this life; that God kindly and merci-
fully appointed one day in every week in
which He relieved His fallen creatures from
the curse of labor, in order that they might
thereby better employ and qualify themselves,
under and in virtue of His grace, through the
sacrifice and mediation of His only Son, to
finally escape the penalty of eternal death.
There is, therefore, a fatal heresy in the idea
now preached by the advocates Of French
Sunday--a Sunday that is devoted only and
altogether to sensualism. They suppose that
the time was only meant for corporeal relaXa-
ton and repose, and that it may be spent just
as each person pleases to spend it, according
to his particular wishes and views to that end
II that theory were adopted, every American
Sabbath would be a saturnalia. We should
have our cities and rural districts converted
into scenes of confusion and tumultuous dis
sipation and debauchery, regulated only
by mems tastes and passions for what
they might variously conceive to be the
best mode of recreating their bodies
and amusing their minds. If such
ibertinism were once sanctioned by law,
it certainly would not stop with the running
of city passenger cars on Sunday, or any
other like innovation on the usual and time
honored observance OF the day. Once edu-
cate the people of this country to believe that
the Sabbath is day for physical rest only,
for fun and for frolic, tor any pastime what
ever that individual inclination might prefer,
and we would inevitably convert the Lorl's
Day into a jubilee of the Devil When
a false doctrine is fairly planted in
the popular mind, there is no telling
what fruit it viii bring forth. 1t may seem
very right or very innocent to make some
apparently slight innovations on our esta-
blished notions as respects the nature and
character of the Christian Sabbath. Those
who would invade its ancient sanctity talk
very glibly about enabling the laboring classes
ogo into the country and recreate themselves
every seventh day in the green fields, and all
that And in order to enforce the argument
which they address to the purely selfish and
personal affections of men, they tell us thai
Christ said the "Sabbath was made FOL
man, and not man for the Sabbath" But
they grossly misinterpret the meaning of the
quotation. 1t was never intended to convey
the idea that mankind were to use the Sab