Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-06-10


not fear that the common sense of this nation
will decide that we may not WELD the influence
| OF property in such manner as will array
| powerful motives OIL the side Of well-doing, and
against doing evil: for If this be wrong, the
government OF God would be the height of
compuision and injustice.
Were il even true, however, that powerful
persuasion is unlawful force, VIVA, must be said
Of that array OF motives, so constantly pressed
upon the friends Of the Sabbath, 10 lend the
influence Of their capital and patronage TO per-
petuate the violation Of that day? Is ii unlaw
full TO employ powerful motives for the preser-
walton Of the day; and, at the same time, LAW
full to urge, by powerful motives, US continued
and hopeless proclamation? We dfsclaim coer-
cion in any proper sense o. shat term; but we
avow our purpose, to employ all lawful motives
20 persuade our fellow citizens TO "cease 10 do
evil, and learn TO do WE'LL" on the Sabbath. day.
We have come to the conclusion, 10 withdraw
our capital and patronage from the proslration
Of the Sabbath, because no alternative remains
but this, or the ruin Of our Republic. The bu-
siness Of this young gigantic nation, gathered
from such soil, conducted with such enter
prise, and stimulated by such char acteristic
thirst OF gain, threatens 10 bear away, III one
deep and resistless stream, whatever is embark
ed on its bosom, to engulf, in one spacious vor-
tex, whatever falls within the circumference OF
its attraction. This tide OF business IS in SO
many ways interviewer, that individual resist>
anCe on the Sabbath, or the resistance OF a
Town, or City, or Slate. is hopeless. No al
tentative is left but union Of effort, and WITH
drawment from the appalling stream, and in
such numbers all over the land, as thai, il a
counter current Cannot Instantly be formed, a
remnant, al least, shall be saved. Already do
We approach the pefilous edge Of that CD araCt,
down which if we dash, nothing will be seen
but the wreck of our past greatness, and the
me MORALS Of our blasted hopes. Now, should
we fail 10 defer our countrymen from SO great
death, we claim, and we mean to exercise,
The privilege of cutting loose our own little
bark. The time TO do it his come, and instinct,
humanity, patriotism, conscience, religion,
have urged US to the deed-.And il is doneH
By tie grace Of God, the Members Of this
Union ,0iU exercise their rights Of proper
ty, for the preservation Of The Sa6bath, of
their families and their beloved country,
unangered and unuiOed.
And now we look for cooperation 20 the 60.
vernment OF this nation, the representatives Of
freemen, to aid US by their conspicuous and
powerful example, by their cogrnt arguments
in tie eabinet and halls Of legislation, and by
their manifestation of sacred regard for the
Sabbath in all the arr angements OF business at
the seat Of government, in the army and the
navy, and upon the highways of the land
We trust that those whom We have clothed
with power by OH" suffrage 10 "see 10 it, that
ihe commonwealth receive no detriment,"
while they guide The desiinies OF this great
i'm, mril not stop their ears against the sup
piica,ion, nor disap2oInt the hopes Of millions.
To the entire class Of our fellew ciiz-ps who
nc considerably, for amusement or gain, violate
he Saba b, we would say, Alas, brethren, why
10 you his evil thing? Do not imagine that
We shall engage with y,u in angry con,rc.
ersy Of words or deeds, or that VIZ are insensi.
Die to the difficulties which, by some Of you
must Se encountered, 10 retrace steps which
hould never have been taken, and 10 Withdraw
from alliances that ought never to :
ave been formed. But the emergency is tre-
nendous. The liberties Of your country, the I
Welfare of tae world, are al stake. Ii this ma S
ion fails in her vast experiment., the worlds
asst hope expires; and without the moral ener, c
les OF the Sabbath it will fail. You might as r
'ell put out The sun, and think TO enligh,en the
'orld with tdpers,-destroy the attraction of Il
ravty, and think 10 WELD the universe by hu- 4
IAN powers, as 10 rx,ingpish the moral illumi- a
alton Of the Sabbath, and break this glorious
Of The moral government of God n
nd when shall we stop, il not now? and how b
nall we arrest the evil but by voluntary assoc II
iation aid voluntary reformation? Will you
zen, beloved countrymen, for the piliful gain
Saba h-day earnings, rob the animal crea-
on Of that rest which their Creator gave 10 d
lem? Will you forego the means Of grace,
urchased for you by the blood Of Christ, stop r,
your families The wells Of salvation, and put il
1t the light of ft, and te ach your children to fc
DIRK out their destruction, instead Of their sal :
',ion, upon the Sabbath day? Will you be- 4
rge the citadel of civil liberty, and undermine
e pillar, which sustains the entire superstruc.
re. and bury yourself and your country in the !
ns of its mighty fall? You would not steal " "
'r rob for gain, nor send out pesilsne.e: ~" VI
e lanl-..i l.. .:ii l--0sS ano requires 10
'isen and rend. You would plead no liberty CT
conscience to do this, and no children's o.
cad earned by such enterprise. Why, then,
u you persist so deliberately, so eagerly, SO
hexibly, in the violation of the Sabbath, which
oI.o