New-York tribune., 1879-12-07
CONCERNING SEND1Y.

There Is probably nOtnlng ABOUT winch we
Americans diff,r more widely, apparently, than
the observance OF Sunday. One man keeps it
with all the gloomy rigOr Of the Hebrew Sab
bath it is the devil who tempts him TO eat a
ho, dinner or crack joke. His very dog
knows by the sour severity of his face that
the weekly time has come for him to 90 on
with his implacable, endless quarrel with life.
His neighbor welcomes the day as a happy
feast it is the Christians holy day; bis
Lord has arisen triumphant, eternally alive
why should not the children laugh if
they choose? Another wcll-meaning man
would fill up the day with church-gOing !;
and still another. Just as sincere in his belief,
rails against churches and clergymen as Phari-
sale frauds, and would drive lis all to museums,
concerts and beer gardens. But we question
If there is anybody who would do away with
the weekly holiday altogether; the craving for
1t is as strong in an American as the desire for
sleep; and it seems to us that, at bottom, the
idea Of Tie day is not 50 different after all in
the most pious and the most goddess. Just as
each man sees God in his own highest con-
ception. he makes Sunday ont of his conscious
ness of his own individual mental needs
The primal idea of Sunday never grew out
of n mans BRAN. No human intelligence ever
devised the plan Of forcing men to stop short
at stated times in their plOughing, buying,
cobbling, all the million ways of earning food
and clothes, to ask themselves, "What is the
"meaning of il all =? Where did come from
before | began this work Where am |
going? What am | TO do when the journey
"is over?" The Hebrew Oilie his father
Jacob, hard-working and money -cctting) was
forced into absolute idleness TO consider these
things. When there was nothing to hoard
but mamma and quails. lie was forbidden TO
gather mama or quails; he sat down with
his hands crossed at the door of his tent in
the desert, to think of the Unnamed One who
had driven him out of Egypt, of the pillar of
fire that led him, and the Holy Land before
Our own dav of rest has measurably the same
use as his. For six days the American plods
along. He wants to pay off mortgage, or TO
pass at college, or TO get an Office at the next
election. He begins 10 feel that that mortgage
or college or election is the sum total OF all
things it is a blank wall striking across life !;
he sees nothing above or beyond il. Once
week COD gives him pause. lie says to him,
" Friend, come up higher" lie leads him to
a hill above the plain whence if he chooses,
he con see his own path, the Hand that has
led him, ard the cloudy eternal heights he
VOID. What mole-hills on the way are the
mortgage ana the Office.
But Sunday is something more than was
the Jewish Sabbath. Jesus came when the
world had passed into another generation. 1t
was not enough, in His teaching, that man
should mortify his body to save hls own sOal
he must lift his neighbor up, both in body
and soul. He chose the Sabbath in which to
cure the man crippled for half a lifetime,
to feed the hungry, to cast out devils. He
made it the day. in short. in which the
brotherhood of man Should be most active
aud the recognition of G d most deep This
day, made sacred by our Lord, therefore, is
best kept when q man in it can bring God
nearest to himself and faithfully stiiycs to
help his brother man. He himself, il he be
intelligent and earnest, should know how Lc can
best do this. 1t may generally be by going 10
church il may sometimes be by going like
his Master, alone 10 the woods or the noun
tains; it may he by gathering party Of
homeless lads about bis dinneI-table, or by
sitting down e tie fire alone with his wife
and children.
The y Wy Olker. at rest this morning in
his house, has wider outlook than had tie
Hebrew in his tent. The one saw only the
dc sert land, the camp of his people the world
losde WIS a blank there VAS an unknown
land before him. haroah and his host were
de..d behind. Br. ho sax God behind all these
things. The wnoie world is open to the other.