Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1878-08-24
STUPIDITY.

A meeting has been held In San Fran
cisco BY certain clergy and laymss. and
an address drawn up to the Consti-
rational Convention which IL TO assemble
nsxs month. The petitioners asssrt that
the people Of California have wandered
far from the paths Of the living God. In
that his holy Sabbath Is proiansd by
them in seeking health and amusement
on that day by msans Of recreation for
body and mind. The petitioner there
fore pray that . clause may be incorpo-
rated 10 the new Constitution prohibit
ing the prosecution Of al secular work
on Sunday. closing up the ,hsaisrs and
public gardens. and making OF San
Francisco and other cities Of the State.
vast houses Of mourning on every
seventh day. The clergy and laymsn
are very earnest in this, their prayer.
and they forssss the visitation Of the
wrath Of God upon sinful California.
should the delegates to the Convention
prove rash enough TO neglect their Pc
tition.
And this appeal il made in this year
OF grace 1871 A year when Science
with its gigantic strides Is raising man
almost TO the throne OF Godhsad itself
A year whom all thsologiAns Of rscog-
nizsd ability are discarding the narrow
notions Of bisotry which would stem
the tide Of human advancement, and
interpreting religion by those broader
principles Of humanity which our age
and our civilization have laid down for
usl In this nineteenth century We are
calmly told that the God who has Gre
atsd and endowed US with such marvel.
Gus capacity for enjoyment. has forbid.
den Us to crafty that capacity on the
only day whom the great majority Of vi
are free to crafty ii. A larger human
ity would teach these bisots that the
God Of Love established the Sabbath
for the benihcent purpose Of giving to
us M day Of rest from labor ; that, a.
the Divine Master proclaimed. the Sab
bath Was made for man. and not man
for tho Sabbath. and that enjoying Gods
free air in the open fields or dslishtins
the mind by reasonable amusement, ID
the very best method Of obtaining that
rest and recreation which the Sabbath il
intended to give MS.
Il IL pleasant to feel that the petition
Of these animated mummiss will result in
nothing. The people Of California ara
not idiots. and they are not going to
transform the nineteenth century into
the twelfth. The action Of these rigid
Churchmen will have no effect but 10
reveal their own stupidity and injurs
the institution about which they cling.
In these days the church Is on the de-
fsnsivs. placed there BY the irresistible
logic OF events. There are thousands Of
good and intelligent men who cling to
the pure principles upon which IL |,
founded. and rightly look upon 10 As tina
great factor in the civilization and saliva
ton OF the world. These men, however.
have long since cast from them the cant
and hypocrisy which snshroudsd the
Christian church for so many centuries.
Having eyes. they see, and being inbued
with the power Of reason. they use IL.
The church. II IL would keep this better
element within the fold. must advance
with the advance Of science. To retro
grade Is to lose them irrevocably. Big
otry. such o. this manifested in Califor-
mia. Is the sursst lean TO ruin the in
fusnce OF the Christian religion. Let
us have no more Of 1t. II Is an insult
to the intelligence Of tho nineteenth
century.