Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-06
Christian Endeavor Hour

stand In the gate OF the children of the
people. whereby the Kings Of judah come
in and by which they go out, and in all the
gates Of Jerusalem.
20. And say unto them, Hear ye the word
Of the Lord, We Kings of Judah, and all
Judah, and all the inhabitants Of Jerusa
lem, that enter in by these gates.
q. Thus saith the Lord, Take heed to
yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sab
bath day, nor bring it in by the gates of
Jerusalem.
q. Neither carry forth burden out of
your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do
We any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath
day, as 1 commanded your fathers.
%. But they obeyed not, neither inclined
their ear, but made their neck stiff. that
they might not hear, nor receive instruc-
ton.
"a. And it shall come to pass If We dill
gently hearken unto me- saith the Lord, to
bring in no burden through the gates Of this
city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the
Sabbath day, to do no work therein;
Is. Then shall there enter into the gates
of this city kings and princes sitting upon
the throne of David, riding in chariots and
on horses, they, and their princes, the men
Of Judah, and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and this city shall remain forever.
ana tney snail come from the cities
Of Judah. and from the places about Jeru-
salem, and from the land Of Benjamin. and
from the plain, and from the mountains,
and from the south. bringing burnt offer
1ngs and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and
incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise,
unto the house of the Lord.
p. But if ye will not hearken unto to me
to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear
burden, even entering in at the gates of
Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will
kindle fire in the gates thereof, and it
shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and
1t shall not be quenched.
The Lesson.
Lord Macaulay in 1916, in a speech in the
house of commons in favor of the ten-hour
bill, said:
For my own part have not the small
est doubt that If We and our ancestors
had, during the last three centuries, worked
just as hard on the Sundays as on the
week days, we should have been at this
moment poorer people and a less civil
lZed people than we are; that there would
have been less production than there has
been; that the wages Of the laborer would
nave been lower than they are, and that
some other nation would be now making
cotton stuffs and cutlery for the whole
world. OF course, 1 do not mean to say
that man will not produce more by work
ing seven days than by working six days,
but l very much doubt whether at the end
Of the year he will generally have produced
more by working seven days a week than
oy working six days week. We are not
poorer but richer, because we have
through many ages rested from our labor
one day In seven. That day Is not lost
While industry is suspended, while the
plow lies in the furrow, while the ex-
change Is silent, while no smoke ascends
from the factory, process Is going on
quite as important to the wealth of ma
tons as any process which is performed on
more busy days. Man, the machine of
machines: the machine compared with
which all the contrivances of the Watts
ana the ArkwrfghtS are worthless Is re-
pairing and winding up so that he returns
to his labors on Monday with clearer intel
corporeal vigor. Never will believe that
what makes a population stronger and
healthier and wiser and better can ulti-
mately make it poorer"
Some one has noted that Macaulay fai1ed
to practice his own theory, for his diary
records how, cit being Sunday he read so
many verses from the Greek Testament
and then devoted his customary daily six
hours to his history, which work. it seems,
he kept up without interruption on the
Sabbath 1t is not strange then, in view
OF his own strong views on the subject,
that he should have died at the age of
fifty-nine from exhausted heart.
Justice Strong of the United States Sill
preme Court quotes this: There is pro-
found political economy in the question,
What would house and lot be worth in
Sodom without a Sabbath, a church and a
preacher| and adds: IF those things
the community, whether they be business
or pleasure, during six days of the week,
are dropped on the seventh, and dropped
because 1t Is the Sabbath day, it can hard
~ be that the thoughts will not be turned
upward, and conscience and a sense of
moral obligation will not assert their
power The restraining influence of
churches and good men will be felt. and
more less control the cOD6uct
following week But we need not speculate
upon this subject. Our eyes are better
than our speculations. There are unhappy
communities to be found in our own coun-
try, where Sunday Is not observed as a
day Of rest for the people, where it is to-
tally disregarded. What is the condition
given to life, the person or property? I
verify believe, were our civil laws pre-
scribing observance of Sunday as a day of
rest Tor all our people universally obeyed
In their true spirit, life liberty and prop
erty would be far more secure than thew
are now"
DR.. Muzzey of the Ohio Medical College
said: There cannot be a reasonable doubt
that under the due observance of the Sab
bath life would. on the average be prob
longed more than one-seventh of its whole
period"
Sir Robert Peel, one time prime minister
OF England, said: Il never knew a man to
escape failure, except in body or mind, who
worked seven days in the week"
Rev. George T. Washburn, a missionary
to India. said: IF Sunday observance ia
a weight on the national prosperity Of
country. then the nations which do not
know a Sunday ought In the long run to
accumulate far more than the nations that
observe the Sabbath and rest from labor
seventh of the time. There are thirty
millions in the Madras presidency. 1t has
been for one hundred years under the Eng
fish government. and profound peace has
reigned. Thirty million people have had
one-seventh more time to devote to labor
than the people of the United States have
had in the same one hundred years. and
they ought to have accumulated a vast
amount of property more than we. What
Is the fact? There is not a non Sabbath
keeping nation that Is not abjectly DOOR
and In this respect India and the Madras
presidency is no exception. With natural
advantages for accommodating wealth as
good as we enjoy. the Madras presidency
has not today one-hundredth part as much
fixed capital and floating wealth as the
people of the United States and yet all this
latter has been accumulated in the last
two hundred and fifty years, and by far
the greater part of 1t In the last hundred
years. l believe the Sabbath and what le-
ultimately springs out of the Biblical Sab
bath may be credited with a large part Of
the great difference