Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-05-26
The sabbath. A Law of Nature.

For the NORTHERN TRIBUNE.
The law must be Obeyed, for there is
no muscular frame so strong that it can
be disregarded; there is no pursuit so at
tractive that it can long cease to act;
there is no joy so intense that sleep can
always be driven away, that we may
taste the bliss uninterrupted; and there
is no sorrow so keen, however long
it may drive sleep from the eyes, that it
will not ultimately yield to it,-either
the calm sleep of the night or the calm
er slumbers of the grave.
The active mind and vigorous frame of
Napoleon once enabled him to pass four
days and nights in an exciting campaign
without sleep, but at last he fell asleep
on his horse. The keenest torture which
man has invented has been a device to
drive away sleep from the eyes, and to
fix the body in such position that it
could not find repOse, but even this failed,
for the sufferer would find repose on the
rack or in death.
The same law exists also in regard to
the mind. and it is as imperiOus i'm re-
gard to the intellectual and moral pow
ers, in order to their permanent and
healthful action, as to the muscles of the
body. No man can long pursue an intel
lectual effort without rep0se. He who
attempts to hold his mind long on one
train of thinking-he who is wrought up
into high state of excitement, must
have relaxation and repose. If he does
not yield to this law, his mind is I'M
strung, his mental faculties are thrown
from their balance, and the phrenzied
powers, perhaps yet mighty, move with
tremendous but irregular force, like an
engine without a governor" and the
man of high intellectual power becomes
raving maniac. And precisely thus
with our moral feelings. The intensest
zeal will not always be on fire; the keen
est sorrow will find intermission, and
even love does not Away glows with the
same ardor in the soul.
This law, cIntemplating our welfare,
cannot be violated without ineurring
penalty. There is no constitution, how
ever herculean, that can bear up under
forced and unnatural effort. The most
vigorous frame must yield, the most gi-
gantlc powers will find rest in the grave.
We often see this principle illustrated in
our colleges, and in each of the learned
professions. Many youth is cut down
by disregarding the law that the body
and mind must have rest, and by pur-
suing his studies far into that time which
nature has allotted to repOse. Many a
youth finds an early grave by seeking
that which no man should seek-the rep
utatiOn of trimming the midnight
lamp"
When will the world cease to mourn
over Henry Kirke White, name redeem
ed from the imputation of folly only by
the spleDdOr OF his genius and the purity
of his heart. and by that sweet pisty
which breathed in all he wrote, the pure,
sparkling, beauty of those gems for
which he laid Flown his life. The law
which imposes on the generous and ar
dent nature of youth the necessity of rest
from toll, would have taught Kirke White
and others of earth's illustrious ones to
pause and rests benevolent law; it
can never be violated without more ulti-
mate harm than good. We may regard
the Sabbath. then, as the pearl of days."
1t ia, in sense, Gods enclosure" as if
segment of the eternal Sabbath had
been inserted in the days of earth and
men wondered at their own happiness.
III.