The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-02-02
SABBATH REST AND RECREATION.

| WIN tne exception OF rallrOauS, uIuR StOfcS,
provision houses and newspaper establish
ments, no place of business shall be kept open
between the hours of 9 a. m. and 8 p. m. on
the Sabbath. In comparison with the Sunday
laws of many other States this one is reason
able and will, no doubt, meet with the
approval of majority ofthe people of Texas;
yet it is questionable whether any legislation
on the subject is proper. II the reader will
but reflect moment he will agree with the
writer that among Christians there is really no
Sabbath to be observed. When they speak of
the Sabbath they are, for the time being
Jews in belief. But even the Jewish Sabbath
as positive religious ordinance should be to
Christians without foundation, for Jesus de-
MED there was ever a day Of rest when he
said, "My father works hitherto and work."
His conduct was yet stronger; he repeatedly
violated both the Pharasaic and the Mosaic
doing he plainly intimated that the Sabbath
was to be observed as man chose-"The son
of man is master of the Sabbath" Says Rev.
Albert Barry, d. D., canon of Worcester,
"The notion of a formal substitution by
apostolic succession, of the Lords Day and
the transfenance to it, perhaps in spiritual
lied form, of the Sabatical obligation estab-
lished by the PRONUNCIATION of the fourth
commandment, has no basis whatever either
in holy scriptures or in Christian antiquity
Read St. Jerome: "All days are the same to
Christian" Read St. Augustine; he says
there is no obligation on Christian to keep
any Sabbath: "The observation of that kind
of Sabbath which consists in the rest of
single day is no longer duty for the faithful"
Luther, too: eff anywhere the day is made
holy for the mere days sake, if anywhere any
one sets up its observance on Jewish foun-
dation, then order you to work on it, to ride
on it, to dance on 1t, to feast on it, to do any
thing that shall remove this encroachment on
Christian liberty" Lastly, "The Augsburg
Confession" that grand preparation by Mel
anctho for entire Protestansm, what do we
see in it? "Those that judge that in the
place of the Sabbath the Lords Day was in
stituted as day to be necessarily observed.
are greatly mistaken" There are the author
tiles. What say you? Is there one word of
positive divine command for the observance
of day Of rest? Search the scriptures; you
will not. find it there. Dive deep into antiquity;
there, too, you are lost.
Granting that we have no divine authority
have we any reason for observing the Sabbath?
Certainly but no reason for selecting Sunday
except that it is now customary to do so. We
need day of rest, of relaxation; the Sabbath
is that, or should be. Centuries ago man,
powerful, gifted with greater vitality than we
of the present day, seldom or never needed
rest. 1t was % him luxury. Years passed
and the race of man, now competing, now
straining every nerve to its greatest tension,
found recreation, rest, necessary. The more
advanced we become the more pressing is the
for the more advanced we become
the harder do we work.
But who shall dictate to us how we shall
spend our day of cessation from labor ? Is
not the action of any Government in this
regard an encroachment on our liberty We
are free. Free to do what? To act as we
choose provided our conduct does not injure
our neighbors. Free to satisfy our craving
for that mental food denied to
US on our days of labor; to re-
ceve instruction from a sermon in
church; to breath the pure air; to walk, to
ride; to congregate in public places and
amuse ourselves, instruct ourselves, by listen
ing TO music; to dance; to sing; to visit public
libraries, art museums, gardens and concerts.
Can we do this on our work-daysY Yes, we
who are rich, we who ride in carriages, who
have servants to heed our every beck and
call, we of the upper class, the Mammon-
born aristocraey. But we who are poor
All! pause, reflect; it is impossible for us to
leave our stores, our Offices, our picks and
shovels, the utensils of our trade, be we
doctors, lawyers, journalists or street laborers,
impossible for us to rest whenever so disposed.
1t is for us, the workers of society, the great
foundation on which the whole social fabric
lies, for US who are the brains and bone and
sinews of civilization, for us the day is set
apart. 1t is ours; take not an hour, not a
moment from it. But do we have
1t when our law makers say this