The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-05-21
A WORD FOR THE SAB
BATH.

sometimes come over US IN regard
| to the flight of time; it appears t.
getaway with us much more swiftly
than in early days; days are shorter,
weeks, months and years must, we
| think, be shorter; yet, reflection
alone tells us they are still the same.
Whether this is due to the intense
activities of life, its pressing needs,
its uncounted wants, and unfHlfilled
desires, its fight is none the less a
fact: one, too, which probably comes
home more closely with the end of
each eek, for then there is that
suspension of labor which speaks
almost audibly, that another section
of our life has passed away.
That the Sabbath was Of divine
origin and appointment is every
where presumed, and the
fundamental truth of its
character is nowhere better
portrayed than when the Saviour
declared that "the Sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the
Sabbath ;" as much as to say that it
was an arrangement which, while
adapted to man in his constitution
here, both physical and spiritual,
was yet in conformity to an order
existing long anterior to his crea-
ton in the flesh.
In the very limited material of
which sacred history is composed, 1t
is recorded as among the most an
Gent Of appointments, and was evil
IDENTIFY intended to suDserve the in
tereSts of both body and spirit, of
both time and eternity. It is essen
TALLY an institution for man as an
organized being Of intelligence, and
is one of the most incontrovertible
evidences Of natural or intuitive re-
ligiOn. So far as nature is con-
suited, there are no outward evil
denceS of Sabbatic necessity;
the rills and rivers of
earth, the swelling tides,
the silent processes of vegetation,
the habits OF the animal kingdom
outside of mans control, are all
continuous and the same. If we
consult the heavens, there is no sus-
pension of stellar or planetary ac-
tivity; in everlasting procession
systems, noiseless as silence, move
in orbits, unfathOmed and uncom-
pretended, save of infinite wisdom
and design. If nature does enjoy
her Sabbaths, winter seasons may
be the time AID hour of rest; if the
stellar orbs and planetary worlds
enjoy a Sabbath, it must be the
period of individual millennium, or
when ceiestialized they have a Sab
bath which knows no end!
1t is evident that nam needs the
recuperative resources of the Sab
bath, or it would not have been APP
pointed; but yet mems ideas differ
in regard to the way in which
the Sabbath shall be used;
most are willing to abstain from
purely secular pursuits; the whirl
and rush of machinery, the roar of
the blast and fury OF the furnace
are in suspense; the factory and
foundry and mine exclude their
millions from the scenes of daily
toll, and there is vast amount of
oStensible reverence for the holy
day, although some would fair en-
force the rigid letter of Mosaic
times: "In it thou shalt do no man
ner Of work, thou, nor thy son, nor
thy daughter, nor thy man servant,
nor thy maid servant, nor the Stran-
ger that is within thy gates" and to
still further forge the letters against
recreatian, these continue to remind
US that "the cattle" were also TO
rest, and travelling on that day was
limited to what was called ga Sab
bath days Journey" or about a
mile. Others would take the oppO-
site extreme, and so far ignore hui
man needs and divine order, as to
make it purely a matter of individ-
ual choice as to whether the foun-
dry, the factory, the farm, the store,
the saloon or the theatre should not
go On as if no special sanctity, or
commandment, or recommendation
had ever been made on the subject.
Once admit the divine order, then
it would seem that there must
be some divine purpose to be OBJ
tanned. outside of physical rest or
recuperation, and the same record of
divine appointment indicates the
needs and advantages of public or
private divine worship. There is also
the time for reflection, involving a
sensible withdrawal of similar in
tereSts, duties, habits and methods,
ia keeping of the Sabbath day
holyp
This view would discountenanee
and uproot many things now prdc-
ticed in violation of this spirit, such
as may not probably be accounted
criminal, or as constituting moral
wrong, only so far as they prevent
that for which the Sabbath was in
tended; so that among Chris
tan people, excursions, pleas
ure parties, amusementS, and IN
necessary travel or labor should be
avoided. The habit of attending
divine service (as it is called) should
be universal, and the platform Of
the Sabbath is broad enOufih for the
meeting and blending of the masses
in prayer and praise, in Sacramental
observance, and in listening to or
intoxicating great and fundamental
truths, without any intrusion of
naTrOwness as Of creed, or politics,
or social standing; but in unity and