The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-06-27

the race. and do we not violate. its
sacred rights when We make it the
basis of our fun and laughter? This
is 4 popular desecration. which. like
UZzahs sin. has been committed so
long that it has not occurred to many
people that they are unntentionally
undermining the very book which
they desire most to defend.
The Sabbath is a sacred vessel. A
divinely instituted day. for rest and
worship and home. We cannot spare
the Sabbath. but we cannot keep it
if it is steadily allowed to become more
and more a social and business day.
All vices and enemies of our nation
thrive best where the first day Of
the week is Increasingly reverenced.
Dinner parties and hilarious outings
arranged for the Sabbath are direct
attacks upon the security of our re-
public. The perpetuity of nation
depends upon the reverence Of the
people. When the temples are empty,
the walls Of the citadel crumble.
When the affairs Of worship are neg
lected, virtue and purity are de-
throned, a nations protectors lose their
courage and spirit Of sacrifice and
there is speedily decline and fall. God
has put Himself on record as ready
to cause those nations to ''ride upon
the high places Of the earth" which
keep His Sabbaths. History fulfls
in every century the curses Of the
Almighty which have rested upon
those people who have destroyed His
holy day. Why do we argue the
question when he who runs may read?
The human body is sacred vessel.
What a marvellous gift is the voice.
with it's capabilities Of music and
speech. Alas. that ever its powers are
profaned Consider, too, the tastes
and appetites and muscular possibili-
ties and vital forces. What exquisite
joys God has invested in the human
body But, desecrated and disre-
garded, how this body may become
bundle of clashing nerves, prison.
pen full of cruel and warning enemies.
Gods great apostle wrote, "If any
man defle the temple of God" as the
body is called. him shall God de-
stroy; for the temple Of God is holy.
which temple ye are"
The human mind-soul-is a sacred
vessel. A man is not With "all dill
gence, for out Of it are the issues of
life" Man is the upward looking
animal. Lis mind has been created
with powers Of concentration and
analysis. that he might find out God.
When man uses his faculties against
his Creator, he has desecrated a sacred
vessel. Mans logical faculty and pow
ers of invention are often diverted 20
the injury instead of the elevation Of
men. A prostituted printing press 1s
doing much in vampire literature" to
violate the human mind. 4 bad book
or an immodest picture is a poisoned
arrow driven into the mind. from
which an absolute recovery is not pos
sible. Each must revere his own
mind, and shield himself from the
ten thousand inimical influences that
are intended to thrive on the spolia-
ton Of pure natures. How empty
would be the playhouses and how
bankrupt many Of the publishers If
the American people would suddenly
refuse to be any longer the recep.
tacles for the filth and corruption Of
many of the popular books and most
Of the popular dramas!
Josephus says that in the closing
scenes Of Jerusalem. such were the ir-
reverent and sacrilegeous practices OF
the people, that if the Romans had
not destroyed the city, some dreadful
Judgment like that which befell Sodom
would have come upon that city. Thus,
indeed. have nations and cities and
individuals disappeared under the dis
integrating processes Of irreverence.
AS the bold and wicked Belshazzar
was, in revelry and drunkenness, de-
filing the sacred vessels of the Lord,
a white hand came out Of the black
sleeve of the night, and wrote. in
letters Of fire. Thou art weighed in
the balances and art found wanting"
And that night the irrevVent young
king was found dead il his palace.
The inexorable penalty of irreverence
is death!
But they who bear reverently the
ark of God, who obediently follow the
commands Of God. who daily honor
in thought and deed the Son Of God,
who hold in highest esteem the priv
ileges Of the SONS of God shall enjoy
peace and joy forever more. for the
reward of reverence is life-here and
hereafter!