Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-02-18

ekeeuted, and bad laws repealed. Strong
measures should be taken % CARRY out t1o
laws against grog-shops and debepcheries.
The murder that occurred near the city
limits after debauch, last Sunday evening
shows os real danger. But what can this
Sabbath MOVEMENT do on their principle,
but take the drinkers now distributed
thoughout the city, and concentrate them
in q few secret holes which are Piously closed
on Saturday 10 gain the right TO open on
Sunday You are rot any safer with the
large evil concentrated in q few spots. Bat
even should a strict impartiality b. swefved
from, and Jewish as well as other saloons be
closed on that day, but little win be accom-
plished the snake viii Only be driven into
the grass; we shall only drive the disease
out of sight, where we can not reach il so
well. LetHs have the laws enforced every
! day Of the week, and not Sunday more than
any other lad thing is rs bad on Wedhes-
day as on Sunday. AT the same time we are
to deal with men as men; the tendency TO
make Sunday day for debauchery and riot-
ing is a fearful perversiou, but it is not with
out an important suggestion; II tells US that
when nature demands day Of rest, she
demands il as q day of recreation And if
by any narrow means of Church or State
the people are unable to take einnocent recrea-
tions, they will fly to those which are vicious.
Close. the theaters and the concert. rooms
jollity as can be had for few cents glass.
j believe in my heart, that a mammoth con-
cert in our Opera-hOuse every Sunday even
ing, made up of the union of our singing So
eieties, and conducted on a cheap principle,
would close up more dTanl-shops than the
labers of this Sabbath organization for ten
centuries. This city very much needs Sun
day.eyening concerts, and ere long il must
have them /; and as they will be peculiar to
Sunday evenings, they need not more than
the churches, dread any clause against ''com-
mon labor" and may be made as much for
the glory of God as the other. The Sunday
evening concert is an institution even in
Boston, where the theaters are closed by law
on Saturday night Wherever il prevails it
has, in the end, been prosecuted only by the
rum sellers, whose customers it takes away.
And let it be known everywhere that this
is a day of recreation. Recreation is new
creation; it is a renewal that the worn form
of man needs, and his jaded nerves call for
delight and amusement it is q renewal that
his tired and tempted heart needs, and we'll
enough does he who feels called on to min
lister in its holy of holies, avail himself of
that quiet day; it is renewal that the spirits
need, therefore let cheerful communion of
friends bring help to each and all. Let it be
humanized and it is in that moment Chris
tian and the song of the news boy on that
day, bringing its charities to his scanty home
will not be noise any longer-but mingle
sweetly with the music of Sabbath bells. o
my friends, religion is a cheerful thing;
never was it meant to be an exaction and a
scourge upon the human heart; but it was
meant to press the Universe to mans lips
as a cup brimming with joy ... al
Now let every man ask himself which is
the true friend of the Day of Rest, he who
would make il fetter, or he who would
make it friend2 1t is written, "Woe unto
him that created sim" Every man creates
sin who fastens a law beyond that of con-
science upon mankind; he has undertaken
to add to the laws written by the finger of
God upon the tablets of the human heart
and what is the result The man is out
lawed by breaking a law which none had the
right to set up over him. Personal inde-
pendence is made into disloyalty the man
is wronged and the majesty of the law is
dimmed. Or suppose the law to be obeyed,
! formally, what is gaihed2 A dear, heart
less conformity; OF rather an apparent con-
formity, with contempt for the day and its
self-styled friends, within. Moralism and piet-
ism can not be made matters of coercion !;
when they are they only add to the number
of whited sepulchers which move aboutius
We can scarcely imagine God TO be pleased
with solemnities that have been wrested
from men by the police. But would not
he he the truer friend of the Sabbath who
| SuOulu ~ W iueu as Ju6iF DeSJ ITleQ0--
/ as day sacred because ministrant to all the
needs Of body, mind and spirit which clamor
for its restoratives Of quiet and joy2 Would
he not be the true friend Of that Day who
would strive to render it so attractive in
itself that men should need no coercion to
welcome it and sustain it The Committee
aims, it says, Ito combine public senti-
ment;" but they will never combine it by
binding New-England religion upon German
consciences, nor compelling those who live
in the Nineteenth Century to live for one day
of the week in the Fourth. If Puritanism
and the Fourth Century still walk in oul
midst they must be respected; but let them
not hope to WELD the scepter of the present
or the future; they have had their day, and
there are some old pages of history written
in very "hlack letter" TO show how they
ruled Arius, Lerietus and others but now
MAN wears the crown, and only so far as
things exist for him can they prevail in his
kingdom. ,..