One reason why the Sabbath is less a day of rest than formerly is probably to be found in the fact that this is more an age of idleness than was the former one. Our fathers appreciated and observed their day of rest because they could not help but feel their need of it. They worked hard in the woods or fields from the early morning till late at night, and moreover, their work was of such a muscular nature that their evenings and Sundays found them both weary in body and hungry in mind. The Sunday rest would relieve the one, and attendance upon Sunday services would satisfy the other. Thus, it was apparently to their own advantage to live the day unto the Lord. Not only this, but the father did not toil out his days to maintain his sons and daughters in lives of idleness and profligacy. Every member of the family had his or her share in the work of making ends meet. Thus, the whole family found itself weary enough to be ready for rest and prayer on the Sabbath. It is but natural that one who loafs the week away or goes on a continual round of pleasure-seeking should fail to realize any need for rest and relaxation on Sunday. They are the people who are usually found complaining that the preachers and Christians want to make a man sit still all day Sunday and do nothing. The argument that laboring men want ball games and other amusements to occupy themselves on Sunday is fallacious. If they work on week days as they ought to work, they will not be found complaining of too much rest on Sunday. Then, in this case, it is not so much against Sabbath desecration as it is against idleness that we need wage our war. If we can remove the cause, its effects must disappear. A sermon on honest week-day labor is really a sermon on Sabbath observance. But all Sabbath breakers are not idlers. Some of them work as steadily as the sturdy pioneer ever worked. But the occupation is of a different nature. Where our fathers toiled with their hands, men now toil with their brains. Our fathers wore out their bodies, while men now shatter their nervous systems. Tired limbs induce rest, while weary minds and unstrung nerves only hinder it. It is easy when evening comes to let go of the ax or the plow, but it is not so easy to forget the knotty business problem or perplexing professional difficulty. The need of such toilers is recreation. We need to get such men to take down the almighty dollar from its place as their guiding star and hang the higher and better things of life in its place. In this case, a sermon against the “ambition which o’erleaps itself” is a sermon against Sabbath desecration.