The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1876-05-10

SUNDAY AND THE CENTENNIAL EXIT
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Quite a heated discussion has been going on
for some time IN regard to the opening of the
Centennial Exhibition on Sundays. The ar
gumenis in favor Of this are quite plausible
to some ears. bnt are nothing more than the
pleadiugs Of the demagogne. The "poor
man., say they, :. cannot afford to lcse his
time during the week to visit the show there
fore Sunday should be set apart for his partc
ular benefit. and the exhibition should be OPP
on to accommodate him. One writer has ev-
en- discovered that tho Sunday visit to the Ex-
hibition will be means Ut grace to he pe"plo
Ia view of the wonderful products of mans
skill will lead the mind up To the great Gre
ator who has given man these powers. Thu
argument is advanced in the Piii'a. Press by /,
person calling himself IL judge and protesting
the possession Of some brains. How wonder
full the discovery Moody aud Sankey have
only hereafter TO carry around Il clever sized
machine shop in order to lead men 10 rever-
cnce God and obey him
The actuating motive behind all these clap
trap arguments for the Sunday opening is the
everlasting greed for money, backed by that
rapidly increasing foreign element which hates
'Puritanism y and wishes To Introduce into
this country the Continental Sunday, which is
but daysof work and frivolity--work to the
poor aud frivolity to the better classes.
The owners Of horse railroad stock, ii keep
ers OF saloons and stands and the thousand
pect to make money out Of the exhibition are
all in favor of Sunday openings, while a few
men like John w. Forney, of the Press, (mere
moral weathercoclssl side with what appears
for til, instant to he the more popular side of
the controversy.
On this continent our forefathers set up q
government utterly opposed to the policy and
ideas OF the governments of the old world
While religion was divorced from the state,
so far as compulsion was concerned, yet re-
cognition of Christianity and a moulding of
the laws in consistency with its teachings are
constantly apparent. The observance of the
Sabbath was carefully guarded and the right
of man to one days rest in seven sternly en-
forced. Under these "Purtanical' regula-
tions our land has been blessed of God, our
people have grown up virtuous and God
fearing people, and the great mass of crime
that stands as an offset to this, is the work OF
those who were imported from other lands
where there is little respect for the Sabbath
and but few moral restraints.
Now, at the close of the first one hundred
years of our history, it is proposed to set
aside the land marks of the fathers and adopt
foreign customs. Mr.. Forney says it will look
SO narrow and bigoted in the eyes of foreign
ers to enforce the Sunday observances Poor
Mr.. Forney will he not get up few lords
and dukes, etc. for the occasion, as it may
10 X SO pebian to foreigners to see no noble
or titled people. Let us have his Royal High
ness, the Prince of Forney! No, Mr.. Forney,
we invite foreigners here to see the wonderful
progress of a nation in hundred years. tc
see It's institutions, government, and habits
the antipodes in most instances of those Of
Europe--and not the least wonderful of these
habits to the foreigner will be (if it Is per-
mitted) the quiet Of an American Sunday.
We have not room to discuss this question
at length, and can only say that the opening
of the Exhibition Oh Sunday Is but the enter
ing wedge to other effor;s f,r the seculariza-
tion Of the Sabbath. Under this plsa of ben
siitfingythe poor man. this work NAV 20 on
until. like ia Europe. the poor man has ssyei'
days work and six days pay. God has writ
ten on the constitution Of man the need Of oae
days rest in seven, and the individual or ma
ton that sets himself or itself against this
law Will most surely feel its effects in moral
aud physical decay. -.