Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-16
THE SUNDAY QUESTION.
DR.. Hugh Johnston Makes q Plea for
the Day Of Rest.


At the Metropolitan NJ 4. Church Sum
day the pastor. Rev. Hugh Johnston, ID. D.,
preached on the Sunday question, taking an
his text. Isaiah 5s:l3-l4: If thou turn
away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing
thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the
Sabbath a delight. the holy Of the Lord.
honorable: and shalt honor Him. not doing
thine own ways. nor finding thine own
pleasure. nor speaking thine own words:
then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord:
and 1 will cause thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth. and feed thee with the
heritage Of Jacob thy father: for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it."
This promise, uttered $500 years ago."
said DIR. Johnston. lis as fun of blessing to-
day as when IL was first spoken. The need
OF day OF rest is written upon our phys
ical intellectual and moral natIre. The
observance OF the sabbath forms a part of
that higher law which is forever binding
upon man. The fourth commandment is
Oh as perpetual obligation as the command
Thou shalt not steal,' or Thou shalt not
KILL
God has made one day of rest in seven a
necessity. This time is needed for the body
10 recover its vigor and the mind its tone.
The great Sir Matthew Vale says. When
ever i have borrowed from this day any
time for my secular employment 1 have
always found that IL furthered me less than
II mad let IL alone.
when the physical rest is combined with
religious privilege. the beneficial effects are
manifold. Ii is intimately connected with
the character of the people and the pros
perity of the nation. The observance of
the Lords day Is inseparably linked with
the industrial prosperity OF a people. Every
non-saobath-keeping country IN the world
is comparatively poor. What Lord Macaulay
said in his great speech no the tan hours
bill before the british parliament is equally
- rAa "a
poorer, but richer. because Ne have ahr ougn
many ages rested from our labor one day
in seven. That day is not lost. While in
dustry Is suspended. while the plough lies
in the furrow: while the exchange Ia silent;
while no smoke ascends from the furnace
or factory-a process Is going on. quite as
important TO the wealth Of nations as any
process performed on more busy days. Man,
the machine OF machines. compared with
which all other contrivances OF Watts or
Arkwright are worthless, is repairing and
winding up 80 that he returns TO his labors
on Monday with clearer intellect. with live
lier spirits, with renewed corporal vigor.'
The law was especially made to meet
the moral and religious needs of man. II
he has a religious nature that nature needs
to be pointed heavenward. needs the solemn
Sabbath pause, when he may subordinate
worldly Things to the claims of the Divine.
Here is the nnal reason of the Sabbath as
made for man: Remember the Sabbath
day TO keep IL holy'-that IL may make MIN
Sunday and you imperil the whole institu-
ton, both a rest day and a holy day.
The Sabbath is the very bulwark of social
order. Daniel Webster said: 1t. is the bull
wark of liberty, because IL is the bulwark
Of morality
Recently a special Sabbath committee
of the English parliament reported: 1t APP
pears I'm evidence that In each trade. in pro-
portion to the Dissertation of the Lord q
day, is the immortality of those engaged In
it. Mr.. Cutter of the New York Prison As
sociation says: sabbath Dissertation is Ill
most always connected with crime. and 10
the forerunner of it, He also says that
out of every 100 men incarcerated In the
Massachusetts state prison, at least ~ OF
them are Sabbath breakers. Neei you
wonder then that not only all Christians.
but all lovers or order ami all patriots.
should utter their protests against every
form of Sunday Dissertation. Our nation In
involved. like the Hebrews " OLD. In the sin
of Sabbath breaking"
Dr. Johnston devoted the remainder OF
his sermon to the consideration OF the SUM-
day newspaper, which he considered as not
being justified as a work OF either necessity
or mercy.