The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-06-05
Sunday Observance.

In New York 9 very powerful protest Il being
made against the desecTati0n Of the Sabbath. OF
late years a large proportion OF the inhabitants OF
that great and opulent city have permitted them
selves 10 convert the day into what is better
understood by the words, "a Continental sun
day" Theatres, ballets, operas, cIrcusss, aud
other dramatic spectacles are open on this dav,
and are filed - overcTOwding. whenever any
performance Of an unusually attractive character
has been announced. SbOpkeepers. Ia numerous
instances, keep open shop and drive good busi-
nesses. Billiard saloon prOprIetors and the owners
Of nine-pin alleys and gambling booths. carry on
their ~neiarious callings, while men and women
who regard the decent observances Of life are 10
attendance at churches and public places devoted
to sacred worship. The Christian Sunday, Nam
mon worship, the pursuit Of trade, religious ser
vices, gambling and horse racing, are allowed to
form one stra1ge and repulsive heterogeneous
whole, in and within = few miles radius Of Amer
lea great centre Of population. The American
journals, with some exceptions, have opposed
cOarsely, bitterly and in violent language any
attempts which have been made from time to time
IN the direction Of Sabbath reform. The vilest
nick-names have been applied TO those who opened
up the question whether from the platform, the
pulpit, OF through the press. Only one leading
Journal has stepped in, and with its powerful
advocacy has attempted to put a stop 10 the deg
radiation Of this day. This journal is the DAILY
Tribune. aud if any one thing more than another
has helped to bring this paper into great favor
among the rejecting anu EGpuluDIt l0EllOu OF tue
inhabitants of New York city, it is the uncom-
promising stand 1t is making against the inuOva-
tons brought about by so widespread a disregard
Of Sunday observance.
Without bringing into play any theological
considerations, we hold with our New York con-
temporary, that il is against the public interests
that the distinctions between Sunday and the
other days Of the week should be abolished. Rest
on one day in seven IL absolutely necessary for
the mental and bodily health of all who labor,
and it is not worth while to take into account the
infinitely small number of those who do h9Hyork.
For all others Sunday is a most valuable and sal
utary institution. 1t causes a break in the wear
ing aud destructive pursuits of life, and helps to
change those currents of busy thought which
seem to have something c~orroding in them. 1t
gives one day for the recuperation of the vital
forces in the preceding six. These are its obvl-
GUS physical advantages, but intellectually greater
are its moral Despite the sneers of little wits"
says the Tribune, and the more redoubtable
assaults of iconocIas.ic thinkers, the good which
is done by regular church-going is beyond COM
~putation. The preachers are not always wise or
eloquent-they are sometimes even offensive to
taste and repulsiye to sound reason. But the
vast majority ae good and earnest men, who
deliver not merely their own thoughts, but the
messages of an army of witnesses of transcendant
power and purity, on subjects of the most mo-
mentous importance. For an hour or two at
least in every week The church-goer is brought
face to face with great and lofty thoughts, Is
forced to contemplate a series Of imagee and
symbols which have done more for the world than
a thousand legious of soldiers could do, and is
made to mediate, with more or less earnestness,
upon his personal relations to his Creator and his
fellow men. There is no rule by which we can
compute the sum Of the result. The good resOlu-
lutiOns formed, the evil purposes relinquished,
the hearts quickened to higher ends and softened
to works of charity and kindness, on every Sun
day in this country, are simply past our imagin-
ing. The music of the thousand bells that fill
the air of the morning is an audible and evident
expression of a common sentiment as sweet as it
is ennobling but there is a far deeper harmony
in the millions Of prayers ascending at the same
moment from the earth bearing the unutterable
sorrows and aspirations of men. The Christian
Sunday is as much an Anglo-Saxon possession as
trial by jury. 1t would be Il national calamity
to see tive will not say desecrated, but-de-
graded" These are outspoken words of a journal
which has admitted TO its columns q wide latitude
to advanced thinkers, but which is now using its
vast power in maintaining n respectful, if not a
sacred observance Of a day which, if made to
become as other days, will ever after be regretted,
and can never be recalled.