Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-07-11

nation, and the observance of the
Sabbath conserves health.
DR.. John Richard Fare, testifying
| before a committee of the British
| parliament, appointed to investigate
| the relation of the Sabbath to pub
| lie health and morality, said, THE
ordinary eXertions of man run down
the circulation every day of his life,
| and the first law of nature, by which
| God (who is not only the giver, but
the preserver of life) prevents man
| from destroying himself, is the al
ternating day with night, that re-
| pose may follow action. But al
though the night apparently equalizes
the circulation very we'll, yet it does
not sufficiently restore it's balance
| for the attainment of a long life.
Hence, one day in seven, by the
bounty of Providence, is thrown in
| as day of, compensation to perfect
by repose the animal system.
2. The. possession of a clear head
and clean heart raises the pro-
ductive power of a man even more
! than does health of body, and re-
| ligious observance of the Sabbath
| quickens the intellect and strength
the British parliament, Lord Macau-
lay set forth clearly and cogently
the economic value of the Sabbath,
saying, 1--WE are not poorer, but rich
er, because we have always 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 no smoke ascends
from the factory, process is going
on quite as important to the wealth
of nations as any process which is
performed on more busy days. Man,
the machine of machines, the ma
chine compared with which all the
contrivances of the Watts and the
ArkWrights are worthless, is repair
ing and winding up, so that he re-
turns to his labors on Monday with
a clearer intellect, with livelier
spirits, with renewed corporeal vigor.
Never will 1 believe that what makes
population. stronger and healthier
and wiser and better can ever make
it poorer"
g 1t is indispensable to the pub
lie welfare and to the welfare of
the individual that the toiling null
titudes have day of rest and wor-
ship, but this cannot be had if the
Sabbath is given over to amusement,
excursions, etc. 1t has been most
forcibly and unanswerably declared
that the right of rest for each
requires a law Of rest for all" The
Sunday diversions which some de-
mand impose heavy burdens of Ia
Dor upon many others.
And laboring men should never
forget that they may thoughtlessly
lay hard tasks upon other laboring
men, if they join in the demand Tor
such diversions. How much do rail-
way engineers, conductors and fire
men now suffer on this account!
"a More important than rest is
religion, and Sabbathless people
clust inevitably become a religion
lees people. Montalembert put this
truth in a short, strong sentence
when he said, mo religion without
worship, and no worship without the
sabbath
If all men did as the advocates
of a Sunday for amusement pro-
pose, what sort of a country would
we have? Even business would be
injured, and perhaps, made impos-
sible, if all the people forsook the
churches and took to movies" and
ball games on Sunday. The value
of property would be immensely re-
duced, and the fruitlessness of in
dustry diminished. The men who
want IAN open town" on Sunday
wish to do, that prosperity had
given place to great depression.
And this fact should cause them
to stop and reflect.
What would such a city as Atlanta
become, if all the men in town did
as some do, and went golfing on
Sunday? who would wish to bring
up a family in such a Sabbathless
and Goddess city?
These men reap great benefits from
an institution which by both their
example and their talk they seek
to pull down. Is this quite the fair
thing? Is it quite the senslple
thing?
Is it altogether worthy Of man
to make himself a parasite on the
social system by course OF lie
which, if pursued by all would ruin
the community?
about the fanattcism of the preach
ers and the narrowness of the
churches has nothing to justify 1t:
Our national welfare rests on moral
foundations without which it would
topple and fall, and the preachers
and the churches maintain these
founda lions.
respect the sources of good form
which he draws the things by which
he lives. 1t is an indecent thing to
use the churches and then turn ana
abuse them. 1t is the spirit of
CRATER to derive financial benefits
from them and then do nothing to
support them. It is something worse
than the spirit of a CRATER to profit
by them, and then seek to overthrow
the day of worship withour which
their blessed work cannot be done
and their precarious influence can
not be eXerted.
A gentleman passing a coal mine
| in Pennsylvania saw a field full of
| mules, and in response to an inquiry
| concerning them he was told these
| are the mules that work all the week
down in the mine, but Sunday they
have to come up into the light, or
else in a little while they go blind"
And a people without Sunday rest
and worship soon go blind, mentally
and morally Who wants such blind