The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-07-30
How to Keen the sabbath.

Henry Ward Beecher's Sermon, May g.
Every house of any consideration has a best
room. 1t is usually furnished with the choicest
things a man can afford. Whatever there IS that
stands apart from the common uses, the parior re-
oeiyes. 1t is the room of honor. Now, what the
uarIor is to the house, SO is Sunday to the rest OF
the week. The week is a house, and Sunday Is
the best room in it. 1t is a day to be looked up 10
as the best day in the week. In these WORDS Oh
Isaiah we see that Sunday was to be honorable !;
n is memorable. 1t was a declaration that it men
will lay aside a day for worship, the Lord VIII
bless them. 1t is to be a day upon which a man
yriII saw .. II * n delight" We are to bear this
in mind, that whatever you do on the Lord s day'
Won NAV take this as it's character-it must be
pleasant: made pleasant by a higher manhood,
by the enjoyment of Christian joys. 1t IS to the
dav of the week which is to act on our higher ma
ture. 1t should therefore, carry this feeling OF
joylulness in a mans nature. The whole truts OF
the nrophet's words are, then, that You shall SO
I enioy the Sabbath, that your higher nature shall
saw it is a delight and honorable. As the cooper
would never think of working at his barrel while
entertaining company at his house, so the Sabbath
is to be kept separate from the rest of the week.
Keep your shavings and your DIRT out OF the Loru 3
day. 1t is not then to be n working day. L am
( not superstitious on this subject. / don't think
that if a man, walking in his garden on the Sab
bath, should see a weed and pull it up, it would
be marked down against him on the Lords book.
/ regard it as a day in the week when n man can
! say, i am uOI Il CiCTh, I'LL LOI an apIAOhIiNS =
am not to crouch to any one to-day, l am a man.
A man stands on his manhood that day. Where
fore, | say that Sunday should not be a working
day, because it must be unlike other days. Sunday
is the poor mans, it is your day, 1T is my day, 1t
is liberty day. 1t is not to be IA visiting day. L
am not superstitious about this either, l believe
that the question is not, can i, or can | not visit?
but rather, what sort OF visiting would do me
good, make me better? l have known ministers
going to preach on the Sabbath, after the service
not to be asked even to go to dinner, from an
over-scrupulousness on the part of their parishion-
ers, who were afraid Of breaking the holy day. 1
do not think it is wrong, either, to write letters
home on the Sabbath. Every child should be SO
brought up that, when he thinks of home, he
shall think Sunday the best day, as the culminat-
ing Joy Of the week. 1t is in the light of making
this a day of Joy that We can discuss the question
of walking and amusement on the Sabbath. Now
| am decidedly in favor of walking upon the Sab
bath. And if any go, all should go don't let the
children encounter temptation alone. But it
must be done soberly. So far as the working
classes are concerned, it may be an occasional
truth that it is wise TO take them out of their
dirty, filthy homes, and give them an excursion
down the bay or up the river. Singing birds and
beautiful flowers are very pleasant, but stop
give them first moral culture and the means of in
terpreting these beauties, so that they can see
Gods handIwork in every flower. L set my face
like flint against Sunday, q day of pleasure for the
rich man and a day of bondage for the poor man.
| wouldn't sign a petition against running the
cars on Sunday. If there Is any sin in it, l think
that it is just as bad to ride in a carriage to
church as in a horse car. In arguing for a sacred
Sabbath, 1 am arguing for the poor man. 1t is
his day. 1t is his bulwark against oppression.
Many have supposed that Christ set his face
against the Sabbath. He did not. He explicitly
declares that Sunday was made for man, not man
for Sunday. Sunday is made to serve man. 1t is
made to make man frecr, nobler. l remark, sec
ondly, that a negative Sabbath is a poor way of
keeping it as well as can be. The prevalent idea
of the Sabbath is that you must not do something.
Have you brought up your children SO that they
like the Sabbath? Ii you havn't so used the
Sabbath day, then you have broken it. When
you come to church, don't look as if you were
going into a sepulcher. Don't pause %solemnly,
and go up the aisle with a disconsolate visage.
All if our Lord was a crowned depot, this would
be right but he is not he IS a God of love, of
mercy, of forgiveness. Men ought to be striving
to make this day a more cheerful day, a pleasanter
day, than all the rest Of the week. Brothers,
friends, fellow citizens, there is nothing that L
care so much about as the sacredness of the Sab
bath. But L don't think yon can make it so by
law it must be supported by public opinion.
Here is a day hallowed by 1000 years of observ-
ance. Let us keep it SO that it may be a delight
to the Lord. Be assured that not long after
Sunday has been abolished will it be kept except
by the sword and bayonet Of the depot.