Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-11-22
SUNDAY FOR WORKING
MEN.
A Pittsburgh Preachers View
OF the Sabbath.

The following extracts are from an
able sermon delivered by the Rev. DR..
Thompson, last Sunday, on the text,
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy" He said: In the grand and aw-
full amphitheatre of Sinai the minds OF
the Israelites were pointed to this print
tive institution, with the command that
they remember it as a day OF rest and
worship. But they have read history
to but little purpose, and specifically
and blindly meditated upon the wants
of man, who account the Sabbath jew
ish institution. Neither Adam nor
Noah were Jews; but both kept the Sab
bath. The Greeks were not Jews, but
they observed the seventh day. The
same can be said of the Phenicians.
Whence have all nations learned to con-
secrate one day in seven? Not from
the Jews, certainly; traditions in this di-
rection antedate Jewish history There
from Noah, and As Noah was not Jew
the sabbath is not Jewish; is not part OF
the ceremonial law; did not vanish with
the old dispensatiOn, but belongs to
us. We need the Sabbath as much as
the Jews; all nations need it, and all
classes inIevery nation need it.
The speaker proposed TO discuss
the Sabbath question from but one point
the workingman's need of the Sabbath.
To the Christian the Divine command
for Sabbath observance takes precedence
of any economic grounds or cirCum-
stances. But bold and persistent steps
are being taken to abolish or neutralize
the value of the Sabbath, and he only
desired to show that the workers cannot
afford to lose the Sabbath rest, and can
not afford to have its sanctity impaired;
that il is policy for us to remember the
Sabbath day and keep it holy. First
the gentleman plead for the rest
the Sabbath gives and the need the body
and mind have for that rest. Animals,
like human beings, need this rest, and
he cited instances 10 show that horses
which had been worked on the seventh
day soon became useless. The expert
mcnt of disregarding the Divine law Of
Sabbath rest is disastrous alike to labor
and capital, and the employer can no
more afford to work his operatives on
the Sabbath than the employed can al
ford to lit. Six hundred and forty
one medical men of London petitioned
Parliament against the opening of the
Crystal Palace on Sunday, containing
the following: "Your Petitioners, from
their acquaintance with the laboring
classes, and with the laws " hich regulate
the human economy, are convinced that
the seventh day of rest, instituted by
God, and cOeval with the existence of
man, is essential to the bodily health
and mental vigor of man in every station
of life. The speaker argued what was
urged applies with equal force to brain
labor, for mental exercise eXhausts the
physical system faster than manual la
Dor. 4 well known artist has said:
1--WE never knew man To work seven
DAYS i'm week who didn't either kill
himself or kill his mind"
The minister next considered the adj
vantage of a day ri rest for the working
man IN an intellectual point of view.
lie argued that the workingman needed
the night for rest and the seventh day IN
which to cultivate acquaintance with
the lofty themes with which the day is
associated. The opportunities for such
acquaintance are abundant. The reli-
gious library and the preacher afford to
the Sabbath keeper stepping stones to
an intellectual culture which is denied
to him who spends the holy day in la
Dor or revelry. The Sabbath is moral
necessity to the laboring classes, as the
two great bulwarks of the liberty OF the
masses are intelligence and virtue, and
all that tends to public morality tends
directly to the independence of the
working classes and deSpotS, aiming at
the destruction OF the liberty Of the FeO-
pie, do SO by efforts at the corruption OF
public morality. As Blackstone saws,
"a corruption of morals usually follows
a Dissertation OF the Sabbath In proof
ofthis statement statistics indicate that
who in Christian lands have no sabbath.
The speaker gave numerous examples Ia
bear out this argument
Whatever be the religion of the work
ingman he cannot afford to sacrifice
public morality, as the decline OF morals
would rivet upon him the chains OF ever
lasting slavery. For the sake of his
prosperity, children and the cOmmuni-
Nv he is interested 10 stand up for morals.
The speaker made an eloquent and for
chile argument for the observance Of the
holy day and the necessity of day OF
rest for all classes, 1t being necessary fol
the body, the mind. mans moral nature
"a an individual and member OF sOcie'
", and as the safeguard OF our liberties
He did not believe in the German Sab
bath of levelry and amusement, as the
intellectual pabulum to be found in ouI
theatres and concerts is very diluted
and offensive to good literary taste and
correct morals. lie did believe in that
Sabbath which delivers the mind from
the fretting anXieties of daily life and
gives it rest in thoughts that are calm
and calming by reason OF their grandeur
the Christian Sabbath.
The Chinese Mission at Boston.
The Chinese mission connected with
Mount Vernon church IN Boston Is ac'
complishing a good work. There is an
attendance of IS scholars, from u to &c
years of age. Each pupil has teacher
who instructs them from a book with
English and Chinese characters, and a
slate and pencil or slip of paper. The
school has been about three years in op.
peration. Since the beginning OF last
January there has been an attendance
of ITO. Miss Carter, the superintendent,
is devoted to this mission, and in visiting
the stores and laundries is invariably
well received. One man former pupll
recently went to Providence, anu ms ms 1 i
where he can find school teacher.
Another is saving money to educate
himself kr teacher. They are apt at
figures - Aaake remarkable progress in