Honor Through Idleness

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 4, 1909

Honor Through Idleness

THERE has been considerable discussion of the recent proposition to honor Abraham Lincoln by making his birthday a legal holiday and suspending all general business. In that discussion one of our exchanges, speaking editorially, touches a point which it is equally well to consider in the matter of the proposal to enact new and more stringent Sunday laws. We quote:—

What is the good of establishing a day of idleness and calling it a day of honor for Lincoln? People talk grandly of the cessation of labor to contemplate the memory and to honor the character of a great man. This is wordy bombast, and nothing more. There is no honor for Lincoln in mere idleness, which would be the resort of hundreds. True honor to Lincoln lies in, so far as possible, following his example, and in nurturing his spirit.

To establish a sabbath by civil law is merely to establish a day of idleness for all those who do not care to observe the Sabbath from motives of religious conviction; and those who observe it from motives of religious conviction do not need the civil law to compel them to observe it. Paraphrasing the above quotation, we can say that true honor to God lies in, so far as possible, following Christ’s example and nurturing his spirit.