Physical Advantages of the Sabbath.
THE advocates of no-Sabbath occupy a peculiarly unfortunate position. Sunday-keepers are unfortunate enough; yet not so much so as the former, since they agree that the Bible enjoins one day of rest in every seven, which physiology demonstrates that the human constitution needs. But those who discard all Sabbaths are at war with both scripture and science. A Sabbath is necessary to the physical well-being of man. Yet those who contend for the abolition of the law, are so far at war with this great truth that they claim that the law which enjoined this needful day of rest, was, for the very reason that it contained such a precept, a curse, a yoke of bondage which none were able to bear! Can inconsistency be found to equal this! The state of things which the no-Sabbath theory carried out, would produce, is well described in the following extract. The intelligent, well-grounded Sabbath-keeper occupies an enviable position. He is in harmony with revelation, in harmony with the claims of our nature, in harmony with his own conscience, and so far as his practice in this respect is concerned, is at peace with God. Let us cherish the Sabbath as one of the most precious institutions vouchsafed to us by the great Author of all things. As great a blessing as it is, viewed in the light of our physical wants alone, it is still greater, when viewed as the great memorial of Him who made heaven and earth, the observance of which is an act of obedience in honor of his great name. Under the heading placed over these remarks, is found the following in Humphrey's Medical Journal: The Sabbath, viewed merely in the light of a day of relaxation and refreshment, cannot be computed too highly by the working classes in particular. The statesman, the merchant, the manufacturer, can often escape the duties, or emancipate themselves from the thrall of business, and vanishing from their respective engagements, may embark for foreign travel, and luxuriate awhile in some invigorating clime; or, wandering up and down in our own fair land, may halt at spots rich in historic interest, or may visit the wonder-teeming cities reared by modern enterprise; or else, if wearied with the excitement of such scenes, may turn aside for a season to the margin of the ocean and there inhale health and gladness from its bracing breezes. Suppose the Sabbath to be by all people abolished; what a sad picture this world would soon present! Think of labor thus going on in one monotonous, eternal cycle. Think, as your imagination beholds the unvarying wheel of work, the treadmill of labor, thus going round, and round, and round, without a change, without a pause, from morn to night, from week to week, from month to month, from year to year—think, if you can, of the desolation that must follow this absolute reign of labor over the whole realm of time. The delicate and fragile would be speedily crushed. Feeble constitutions that, with a seventh day's fostering care, might eke out their residue of strength for many years, would break down with a sudden crash. Incipient diseases, which nature, invigorated by adequate rest, might overgrow, would be developed with a deadly rapidity. An intense labor would be found a dreadful forcer of the seeds and rudiments of decay which are imbedded more or less plentifully in all of us. Under the vassalage of such a gigantic oppressor as unrestricted labor, earth would reek with the sufferings of her offspring, while the all-absorbing prayer of the millions would be for rest, or the quiet slumber of the grave! The mere physical advantages of the Sabbath, independent of those of our intellectual, domestic, moral, and religious characters, to the mass of mankind, are above computation. It is one of the best gifts of God, and should be cherished as an heir-loom of every family.