Responsibility of Sabbath-Keepers.
[We trust the following stirring words from J. Mc F. in the Sabbath Recorder, will not fail to incite all those who observe the true Sabbath of the Lord, not only to greater activity in spreading the light to others, but to greater carefulness in its observance.] Sabbath-keepers, though few in number, have immense responsibilities devolving upon them. Evils, great in number and terrible in results, spring from the non-observance of the Sabbath. The gross immoralities and vices prevalent in all Catholic countries originate to a fearful extent in their having no Sabbath. An article appeared recently in one of the periodicals written by a traveler in German cities. He describes one where the people were mostly Catholics. He says the difference between Sundays and other days is chiefly in their quitting business earlier on Sunday, in order to go to places of amusement. Catholics have nothing that can properly be called a Sabbath. They call a certain day Sunday, but with many of them it has no sacredness, a holiday, but not a holy day, therefore the tendency is to evil in many cases rather than to good, and so vice and wickedness are rampant, and the prospects for reformation among them in a great measure hopeless, unless they return to the keeping of the Sabbath as a day sacred to the worship of Jehovah. A home missionary has been operating of late in Utah. One great obstacle to success has been the difficulty to get the people out on Sunday. With business men, it is the busiest and most profitable day of the week. It is a day especially given to trading and pastime. But just what we might expect, is true—the people generally are horribly profane, and given to drink and fighting. They have no Sabbath to call their minds from earthly to heavenly things. We have an illustration of the demoralizing influence of Sunday, but no Sabbath, in the general character of the employees on our railroads, rivers, and canals. The profanity and obscenity is shocking, but it is not strange at all that it is so. It is the natural outgrowth of the life they live. No class of men will be moral, much less religious, without a sacred day of rest. If inquired of why they work seven days in a week, they say, we have to do it. It is well known that on many railroads, more freight-work is done on Sunday than on any other day of the week. The reason is, that there are not so many, or not any, passenger trains to occupy the road. Some of the managers and stockholders are church members, but they have such loose notions about Sunday-keeping that they allow themselves to sanction these enormous evils. It is painful to say it, but it must be said if the truth is told, that there are many church-members in what are usually called the evangelical churches, that are very far from being exemplary Christians. Why is this so? See them at their homes reading secular papers on the day they sometimes call Sabbath, and sometimes Sunday. Hear their conversation about worldly affairs, and you will not wonder that they lack spirituality. Men will not generally be holy unless they keep the Sabbath holy. The conclusion is, that we must return to Sabbath-keeping before there is a thorough reformation in the land. Therefore there is a great work devolving on those who hold Scriptural views of the Sabbath. They should be up and doing in good earnest.