Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-06-23
DIR. HOLLAND AND SUNDAY.

OF the Sabbath, ia the vital economy o
the American people, there Is no longel
any doubt. With all the periodical res
it brings us, we still find ourselves over
worked; and the wrecks OfpaFalysis Az
strewn around us on every hand With.
out it, we should find ourselves despOileC
of our efficient and reliable safeguard IN
the dangers which beset the paths o.
business enterprise. AS q matter b
economy, therefOfe-as eOnser .at0r O.
health and life and the power to work
the Sabbath, observed strictly as Il day
of rest from secular labor, is Of the ut.
most Importance. We cannot afford to.
day, and we shall never be able to az
ford, to give 1t up to labor, either in city
or country. Experience has settled this
point, and yielded upon every hand its
testimonies to the wisdom of the divine
institution. But a measure of soei.l,
moral, and physical health-as a mea-
sure of industrial economy-the Ordina.
ton of a day of periodical rest like thai
which the Sabbath brings US, would
come legitimately within the scope d
legislation. If we had no Sabbath, II
would be the duty of the State II ordain
one; and rs we have it, it is equally the
duty Of the State to protect it, and con
firm to the people the material and vital
benefits which it is SO well calculated &c
secure. tltfL i-.1
There are certain Otherfacts connected
with the observance of the Sabbath fn
America which are quite as well estab-
lished as the one to which we have al
iuded, the most prominent of which is,
that the high morality and spirituality
- ,nr, vo1,vsfv I0ar,-I
on its observance of the Sabbath. We
do not believe there is a deeply religious
community in America, Of any name,
that does not observe one day in seven
as a day specially devoted to religion.
The earnest Christian or Jewish workers
everywhere are Sabbath-keepers, in
their separate ways and days. 1t is
very well to talk about an everyday
Christianity" and better to possess and
practice il; but there certainly is
precious little of it where the Sabbath is
not observed. The religious faculties,
sentiments and susceptibilities, under
all schemes and systems of religion, are
the subjects of culture, and impera-
lively need the periodical food and slim
illus which come with Sabbath institu-
tons and ministries. The prevalence
and permanence of a pure Christianity
in this country depend mainly on what
a be done for them on Sunday. If the
enemies of Christianity could wipe out
the Sabbath, they would do more to de-
stroy the power of the religion they con-
tenn than all the Remains and Strausses
have ever done or can do. They under
stand this, and their efforts will be di-
rected to this end, through every spe-
cious protest, plea, OF plan.
The most religious and earnest of the
Catholic Clergy of Europe lament the
fact that the Sunday of their church
and their several countries is a day of
amusement. They see, and they pub
licly acknowledge, that without the
and American Sabbath they
work for the spiritual benefit of their
at a sad disadvantage. 1t is this
Sabbath, or Sunday, which
are told is to come to America at last
through her foreign population. We
hope not. We would like to ask those
who would rejoice in its advent, how
much it has done for the countries where
it exists. Go to Italy, France Spain,
Lreland-to any part of Germany, Cath
bic or Infidel, and find if possible any
so temperate, pure, chaste, truth
ful and benevolent as the Sabbath-keeD-
communities of America. 1t can
not be done. The theater, the horse
race, the ball, the underground, the
saloon, have nothing in them
hat can take the place of the institu-
ions Of religion. They are established
and praeticed in the interest of the ami
nal, and net at ali in the interest of the
moral and intellectual side of humanity. |
They can neither build up MOI purify.
they minister only to thoughtlessness
brutality. So much, then, seems
First, that we cannot do
without Sunday a a day of physical
md mental rest; second, that either
IS a consequence Dr. a cOncOmitant,
moral and spiritual improvement goes
with the observance of Sunday
s a religious day; and, third, that
a a day of amusement simp-
is profitless to the better and nObler
ide of human nature and human life.
Now the questiol relatingtO the OPEN
ng of parks, libraries, reading-rOOms,
to-, in great cities on Sunday, are not
loral or religious questions at all-they
re prudential, and are to be settled by
1t is to be remembered
nat there are large numbers of the
Dung in all great cities who have no
They sleep in little rooms, in
7hieh in winter they have no fire, and
an never sit with comfort. They are
7ithOut congenial society. They have
OF the entree of other homes; and they
lust go somewhere, and really need to
o somewhere. Christian courtesy does
luch to bring them into Christian asso-
aud ought to do a thousand
more. The least it can do is to
pen all those doors which lead to pure
l~fiuences and othe entertainment of the
atter side Of human nature. a
who seeks the society Of
BOD books, or the society Of those
love good books, or choose to wan I
ar out for the one look at nature and {
le one feast of pure air which the week 1
IN give him, is not to be met by bar or {
IN. Whatever feeds the man and ig- [
ores or starves the brute, is to be fos-
red as a Christian agency. The Sab {
lth was made TO man, and not man '
r the Sabbath. That is not religion, {
1T pagan slavery, which makes of I
1nday a penance and a sacrifice. It is {
that a man be in a library than /
one all the time. 1t is better that he {
ander in the park than even feel the (
mptation to enter a drinking saloon or {
brothel. The Sunday hOrse-car is JUS I
fed in that it takes thousands to t
lurch who could hardly go otherwise.
he open library is justified in that it is
road which leads in a good direction. {
he roads devoted to Sunday muse '
ent lead directly away from the {
Tristan church. All pure WAYS are c
avs that tend upward, toward God and