The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-11-02
Breathing Words and Burning Thshght
Prepared for the Sunday HERAIB'

IN eastern leAaS On MS way IONIC lTOm con
gress, and requested him to bestow his in.
fluence and aid to secure the enactment Of
q Sunday and prohibition law. The follow.
ing is his reply. as taken from the biogra,
ply of the great man. now IN press and to
be Issued IN a lew days by Judge VIM.
Lewis:
/ agree with you that any unnecessary
amusement that is calculated to d'Hturb
and annoy persons engaged in religious
worship on the Christian Sabbath is wrong
and c%ensurable, such as horse racing,
gambling of all devices, and INDUCING in
the social glass in public.
You request me to use my influence and
exertion, such as l possess, TO induce the
legislature to enact a law to effect the sup
preston of the same. l understand by
that you desire the law-making power to
declare it q penal otfense for persons % a.
and perform certain acts on 4 particular
day.
, In regiy,'I hold and maintain that-it Is
far better to endure and suffer irool the Jus
of ever a greit evil than 20 violate, in the
least, a vital principle of gtvll and religious
liberty.
When tyrants ask you TO y1eldSgGe joJ Of
your liberty, and you consent thtietJ 10 is
the first link forged in the chain tn-. will
eventually hold you in bondage.
The Irish, that noble ACE, so prolific of
brave warriors, grand statesmen and bril-
liant orators, whose deeds of bravery have
immortalized every battlefield over which
waved the British flag, permitted the Eng
lsh lords to be centuries in forging their
letters inch by inch, here q little n there
a little, till To-Day they are in helpless
bondage.
The time to resist the encroachments of
tyranny is at the incipient stage thereof.
The CO Institution Of the United States says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting
ton says: ministers of the gospel being
by their profession dedicated to God and
the care of souls ought not to be diverted
from the great duties of their functions;
therefore no minister of the gospel or
priest of any denomination whatever shall
be eligible to the legislature"
The claus in our state constitution just
quoted, DISTINGUISHING clergymen, L think
is an abridgement of religious liberty. Had
j been q member of the constitutional con-
ventiou / should not have given it my sup
port. 1t violates the very principle intended
to protect, inasmuch as il recognizes the
right to control the free enjoyment of
religious belief by law. The men,
many of them, that framed and voted
for it were smarting from the effects of the
%tyrannical acts of the Mexican Catholic
priesthood, which was the cause, | have no
doubt, that inspired the enactment.
/ wish to be understood in my remarks,
that / have no prejudice against the per-
sons embracing the Catholic faith that
would debar me from ~accordingto them the
same rights due 10 any other denomination
of Christians, or n other religious creed.
History teaches us that men composing
all denominations of religious faith, when
clothed with ecclesiastical and temporal
power combined, have been tyrants.
Now, any law made by the law-making
power of state, intended to regulate q
persons religious or civil conduct on Sun
day, is in violation of the spirit of the con-
stitution of the United States, if not the
letter. That clause was placed there by
wise men; men who had been careful stu
dents OF history. They deter
mined that their beloved country
should not be the bloody battle-ground
of religious enthusiasts. They were not
ignorant of the early colonial history-a
history that disclosed the fact, that the
New England colonists enacted and en-
forced laws compelling persons to observe
and prescribe TO q particular religious faith.
Laws were enacted regulating all persons
conduct OF Sunday, which were so severe
that people dared not prepare food for
nourishmont. They were compelled TO
prepare the traditional Indian pudding and
Baked beans on Saturday IN he served mn
cold on Sunday. Ii is asserted that avs |
declaring Sunday the first day Of the week,
a day ofrest, and il 10 be unlawful for any
person 10 do certain acts on that day, that
are lawful on week days, is not in viola
ton oil the spirit or letter Of the constitu-
tion, because IL Is necessary for the moral
and physical good OF man to rest one day
out OF even.
Let us suppose that the Quakers, the
Jews, the Seyenth-day Baptists, and ethers
that believe that Saturday the seventh day,
is the day that God set apart as a
day Of rest and holy observance,
of the legislative branch Of the govern
and should enact that all persons
should abstain from labor, sale or barter Of
any goods, wares or merchandise on that
day under pain apd penalties affixed
thereto. What do you suppose that the
people. who believe that the first
day of the week Is the day that Christ or
as the dag Of sacred rest, would say
about such n Law as that Would not they
All proclaim that such n Law was i'm viola
lion Of the constitution because It in effect
abolished the Christian Sabbath as a day
Of rest and divine worship. thereby inter
ering with the free exercise OF religious
worship? They would rebel against the
Enforcement ofsuch a Law, and claim their
rights guaranteed By the sacred enactment
the law Of the land. which declares that
be free use OF religious wOrship shall not
be prohibited. We must remember that
his IL a land Of equal rights to the Jews
n well az the Gentiles.
The laws Of Mexico intended to prescribe
md regulate q persons religious belief
Eas the first moving csuse that inspired the
rerns patriots 70 draw their swords IN de-
enss Of enlightened freedom and religious
'olerntion.
The men that fought for and won her in
dedicsfed her soil "a be the
Ibode and dwelling place Of freemen Of
very kindred and tongue. coming from I
N nations 70 enjoy .uurnolesfed .asthey may
hink proper, the religious vieNs and Gus {
0ms tauEnf them In their native land Oar
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hare made great ereri0ns 20
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