St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-06-13
The Sabbath.


ing Christian, makes the following all
the more significant from What many
call tcommou sensen view. He said !:
81 shall pitch my remarks in low key,
and aim at practical points. 1 speak of
the Lords Day, as made for man, espec-
tally the working man, whether he
works with his hands or his head. 1t
has been profanely said: If there was
no Supreme Being it would be necessa-
nv to invent one.' We say, if the Sab
bath be not decreed by revelation, it
must be enacted by statute. Man needs
stated times of rest. In order to have
rest, he must have quiet. Therefore
we must agree on time when all shall
rest together; and, in order to be effec-
tual, that agreement must take the
form of law. Every sentiment, faith,
tradition, which sustains the law makes
the rest more complete. And thus faith
comes to the aid of our physical and in
intellectual nature. Again, rest is
found not merely by giving up work,
not by talking of business, not by read
ing secular newspapers, not even by
reading secular news in religious pa
pers, but by turning our whole current
of thought away from the affairs of the
world.
New England shows the value of the
Sabbath. Here and in Scotland it is
most strictly kept. Hence comes some
thing of the energy, thrift, and endu-
rance which mark the New Englander
and the Scotchman. The enemy of the
Sabbath is the enemy of the human
race, especially of the working man.
What would it avail him to pass a ten
hour law, or an eight hour law, and rob
him of his day of rest ? The history of
New England began with the Sabbath,
kept in the shadow of great rock in
that weary land. Our fathers gave the
first fruits of their time to God. Richly
has He showered blessings on the chill
dren. Woe to New England if she ever
forgets to pay that tith of time. Well
did President Walker say, 1t we're bet
ter for New England that her ships
were sunk that her cities were burnt;
that her soil were devoted to barren
ness, than that she should forget to
keep holy the day of the Lord
We need the Sabbath here, more than
men need it elsewhere. AS a people
we are overworked. Already the over
tasked brain has its victims. Heaven
knows who will fall next. Spare us
the day of rest that saves u.s., If the
Lords day is given up in New England,
it will not be for play but for work.
We shall not have the Continental Sun
day, with theatres, and music, and tea
and beer gardens but monotonous
round of toll through the weary year"
Note: How literally this is coming
true, let the hundreds of thousands
forced to worksby Sunday street and
SVOdhi S'iS anu oOtttoI anu uluS anu
cigar shops open on the Sabbath an
swer. Even the employees of the
liquor sellers cry out against their en-
forced service with no rest. Insanity,
paralysis and other scourges are on a
fearfully increasing scale of prevalence.
Toll of body and brain with no relaxa-
ton is the chief cause of all this.-P.
'"Let us be practical Some men,
some ministers, not believing in the
texts on which the Christian Sabbath is
generally defended, assail it even from
the pulpit. But is Sabbath keeping a
practical dangerY How many families
in the State have been ruined by it 2
And again, in which parish of New
England is excess of faith the prevail
ing sin ? If you stumble over some
text in Genesis, Exodus, or Deuterono-
my, read with me the chapters of daily
life, human need and common sense.
Cease your attacks, if not from fear of
God on Sinai, for the sake of man on
His footstOol.
Attacks on the Sabbath ale insidious
and plausible. Now it is a Sunday
lecture for orphans, and the objects
sanctities the means. Now a good man
is gone to his grave, and is to be de-
Tended from attack, and the subject
sanctifies the means. speak, not with
out experience, of the seductive effect
of such pleas, but the result is, the Sab
bath is lost. Now good men ask that
the Library be open, and now for a
Gallery of Art; and a host of clerks in
each case, find no recreation even, much
less means of grace, but are kept at
their daily drudgery. For each plausi-
BILE argument in those cases, l will find
two for opening the Custom House. /
will tell of the passenger ship waiting
for clearance with the west wind saw
ing, go and the smooth sea saving.
Come Tomorrow may close the port
with north-easter. Shall not another
host of clerks be employed to keep this
institution open Mote: Judge Rus
sell was then eolleetorlof, the Port Of
Boston.l And the mails carry letters,
not OF business only, but of Affection !;
letters that tell of sickness, life amt
death. And so the post offices must de
kept open through the day, and the
mails must all be carried Day by dag
the stiffness of the Sabbath is invader
anew, and our day of rest is gone.
70 lIhaVe pleaded for the day as a need
OF humanity. If you believe with the
mass OF Christian men it has the Divine
sanction IL 70 l..,.,.... Il u, |