The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-07-13

hence not to be occupied "a ordinary
work or mere pleasure.
We appeal to every believer in the
Bible whether God has given US this
day as a holiday, or whether it is law
full according to the Divine code t
yield It up to ordinary labor? =.
Such, certainly, vas not the 01d
Testament law. Did then the Savior
or his Disciples relax that law? On
the contrary, they ever recognized the
entire Decalogue asf binding upon
| Christians, and OF course the Fourth
| Commandment, with the other nine.
| They honored, observed and sanctl-
fed the Sabbath, calling it. after the
resurrection, with a peculiars enopha-
| sis. f" the Lords Day." 80
| & We may we'll challenge the advo-
| Gates of a Sunday holiday, TO show at
least q single instance in which the
Savior or his apostles made this a day
of work or sport.
We believe this Sabbath was made
for man, that ii s an antidote to the
earthward tendency of life, a relief to
the burden of laborssa6d that its, OBJ
~servance, according to the Word of
God. is essential to mans happiness
and developments. @93 s.
Man is an animal, but not a mere
animal. His physical nature, needs
continual care; air and exercise are
Indispensable BntNhe is also an in
tellectual and moral being; six days
are given for. his. material interests.
while ones only q is specially re.
served for his higher nature. Will
the race be advantaged by curtailing
ch is fraction of time devoted TO life's
noblest purposes, and assigning it also
to the interests of the body? Besides,
the leisure from secular pursuits was
in part designed to be devoted to be-
..nevolent duties; to give us the better
opportunity to- alleviate suffering.
Deeds of mercy have a double bene-
fit, blessing him that gives and him
that takes; and they give us such re-
Taxation as we need ON this day.
Certainly much will be lost to the
world if the selfish law of pleasure
seeking is to be supreme throughout
society. =
We venture to ask a comparison as
to health, intelligence and moral con-
dition between Sabbath-keepers and
Sabbath breakers. This is not a mat
ter for novel experiment. Let the
comparison be made as to individu-
als~ families and even nations and
will it not be founddecidedly in favor of
the former? Is not our national superb
ority largely due to its Christian char
acter, resting on its observance of the
Sabbath? ~ g 90
We wish we could be understood by,
our felloW-citiZens of foreign birth.
when we say that what they have
seen desirable in our land, and what
they have sought for themselves and
for their children through immigra-
ton to it. will be forever sacrificed, if
it be reduced to the same plane in
this respect as the lands from whence
they came. They have doubtless
sought our land, not merely for its
material advantages, but also for its
civil and religious liberty. But oblit-
crate the Sabbath; strike down the
affairs around which ~desparing Liber-
ty, less than a century ago., gathered
her hopes; let theaters, and concerts,
and parades, and c~arousals, take the
place of the holy duties to which
God has appointed this day, and they
might as well have remained in the
lands Of their fathers.
1t is a false presumption, therefore,
that to send the people into the fields
and parks for cricket playing and
other games, and into the places of
amusement, on the Sabbath, will pro-
mote their interests. Experience as
serts that neither greater health and
happiness, nor more intelligence and
virtue, can be thus extorted from the
day of rest. The divine law is so
compatible with the greatest amount
of human happiness that some, even
Christian philosophers, have abso-
lutely COMPOUNDED them as Identical;
and the law of the Sabbath is no ex-
ception. The God of the Bibleis the
God of Nature, and the Fourth Com
mandment is but the voicing forth of
natural necessities. The sun may not
cease to shine, or the plants to grow
waters roll, but all sentient and in
telligent life demands this proportion
of rest. And wherever it has been
denied, that same Nature has thun-
dered ferth its denunciations in tones
as unmistakable as any in the Word
of God. st
AS the friends of the laboring man
we claim for him a day of rest; but
the kind of pleasures prescribed for
him by misguided philanthropists, is
the severest toll. After it, he is not
refreshed and irvigorated on Monday
morning, and thus prepared to resume
his work. But further, the holiday
plan calls into actual labor many
thousands of men and women. who