The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-08-25
n,aIsAsA 50
A CHRISTIAN VACATION.

Religion Should Not Be Abandoned Dur
ing Days of Rest.
Religion is an everyday, work-a-day
service, but it is also holiday privilege.
Religion Is not something to toll over
when one Is at his tasks and on exhibit
ton; it is something to rest in and be re-
freshed by and take comfort with when
by ones self and taking ones ease.
Some people think of religion as the
labor Of the Sabbath day, as carpenter
ing or bookkeeping is the labor of the
week day. One may do religious labor on
Sunday and get wearied by it and need q
rest from it; but the labor Isl not ones re-
ligion, though 1t is religious labor. Tho
hard working Sunday school teacher, II
busily employed during the week, may
find this Sunday labor exhausting and
may need vacation from 1t as well az
from the week day work; but when he
leaves his class behind him and goes to
the woods or the seashore or to some for
eign land for a summers rest, he doea
not leave his religion behind him where
he leaves his religious labor. They arp
mistaken who think all religion is In
labor. Religion may bid US labor in tho
church or the Sunday school, just as it
may bid US labor in the shoe shop; but
the labor is only the service which, for
the time, our religion sets us at, not tho
religion itself. That is deeper than hand
or tongue.
So when one leaves his home, for his
vacation, if he loved God before, he lovey
him still; if he loved his fellow men be.
fore, he loves them still, and Jesus Christ
tells us that the chief part of religion is
to love God most, and to love ones neigh
Dor as one loves himself. One who han
this wellspring in his heart-this which
is what religion or Christianity or con-
version or faith or conservation means
he carries his religion with him wherever
he goes, just as truly as he carries tho
organs of his body. He could no more
leave his religion behind than he could
leave his pulsing heart.
Religion has close relations to vacation.
"There remaineth rest for the children
Of God" Some of us do not think enough
of "the peace Of God which passeth all
understanding" God is not all task
master, bidding us go work in his vineyard
until shutdown. He will give us the noon
day hour and the evening hour. He is
an affectionate father, and lets us have
our play as well as our task. for both arc
good for rs.
The soul that loves God first and then
loves his fellow man will love them Just
as much in vacation as in term time: it
will be only the expression of the love
that will vary. The Sunday school class
may be left behind, but the affectionate
spirit will be affectionate still, and can.
not help finding some less laborious way
of expressing itself. One will not take
his rest selfshly 30 as to annoy others.
He will be thoughtful, tender, gracious,
kind. He may save his strength and do
very little; but there are many grasping,
insistent things which he will not do.
For he carries the same heart religion
with him, which interinits only its more
exhausting expressions, but still rests in
its abiding peace and love.
There are few cases in which vacation
will take one beyond the opportunity to
confess Christ. The voice may not do
it, but the very presence of the body will
do it on the Sabbath day. 1t is not a
WEAKNESS to go to Gods house on Sun
day morning; it is only change and
rest A Christian can at least, wher-
ever he is lin vacation, let every one know
what is his faith by taking the opportuni-
ties that come to him of worshiping with
Gods people in his courts. That may be
all that he feels he can do, but he owes
that much of example to those with
whom he spends his weeks Of rest. Ho
should not appear as goddess man. Very
likely that form of religious labor which
he wearies himself with during the year
should cease for awhile, but there should
be no question when Sunday comes where
he stands. II he observes his Sunday
rest and worship he will BIO all the surer,
In conversation and demeanor, to live O
real Christian life during the weeks Of
his rest. 1t is to be suspected that tbs
man who drops all his religious observ
ances during his vacation has made them
only toll and profession at home, ant
that he is glad to get rid of them for {
season. The beauty of holiness is a!
beautiful in summer as in winter.-Inde
pendent.