The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-23


Rest for the soul The nerves quieted, the
temples cooled the mind cleared, the
soul strengthened, and our entire popu-
lation turned out on Monday ten years
younger, better prepared for the duties of this
life better prepared for the life that is to come
Which do you like BEST the American Sabbath
or the Partisan Sabbath Do you know in what
boat the Sabbath came across tho seas and
landed on our Shores9 1t was in the Mayfower
Do you know in what boat the Sabbath will
leave us if it ever goesl 1t will be in the ark
that floats over deluge of national iniquity.
Still further. protest against this invasion of
the Lords Day because it wrongs a vast multi
tude of employees of their rest. The bartenders
in case of the g-shop, and in the case of the
theater Inc shifters the ballet dancers, the
call boys, the innumerable attendants and super
numeraries. They are paid small salaries at the
best. You see them on the stage in tinsel and
tassel, or you see them in gauze whirling in toe
fortunes and you mistake them for FAIRIES or
queens; but after II o'clock at night you may
see them trudging through the streets in faded
dress. shivering and tired, seeking their homes
in the garrets and cellars of the city. Now you
propose to take from thousands of these employ
es throughout this country, not only all oppor-
tunty of moral culture but all opportunity OF
physical rest. Let the crushing Juggernaut
stop one day in seven
l oppose this invasion of the Christian Sabbath
because it is on the spiritual welfare of the
people. You have a soul Yes Which of the
saloons or theaters on the Sabbath day will give
that soul any culture! If you gentlemen of the
restaurant and the opera have six days in the
week In which to exercise your evangelical and
heavenly influence ought you not to allow
Christian institutions to have twenty four hours?
Is it unreasonable to demand that if you havesix
days for the body and the intellect we have one day
at least for our immortal soul! Or, to put 1t In
another shape, do you not really think that our
imperishable soul is worth at least one seventh
as much as our perishable body? You must not
fOTOaf hnuOr6dthS q
the Christian effort of this country are put
forth on the Lords day. That is the day in
which the asylums, and the hospitals, and
the prisons are visited by Christian
men. That is the day when the youth of our
country get their chief religious information.
That is the day when the most of the charities
are collected That is the day when, under the
blast of $4,000 American pulpits the sin of the
land is assaulted and men are summoned to re-
pent When you make war upon any part of
Gods day you make war upon the asylums, and
the penitentiaries, and the hospitals, and the re
form associations, and the homes OF the destl
tute, and the church of the living God, which is
the pillar and the ground of the truth.
POLITICAL PHASE OF THE QUESTION.
/ am opposed to the invasion of the Sabbath
because it is war upon our political institu-
tons When the Sabbath goes down the Re
public goes down. Men who are not willing to
obey Gods law in regard to Sabbath observance
are not fit to govern themselves. Sabbath break
ing means dissoluteness, and dissolute-
ness is incompatible with self-governmeut.
in Italy and Spain9 No Sabbath. France never
will have permanent republic until she quits
her registering Sabbaths. Let the bad work go
on and you have "the commune" and you have
''the revolution and you have the sun of ma
tional prosperity going down in darkness and
blood. From that reign of terror may the God
of Lexington and Gettysburg deliver us
Still further, am opposed to this invasion Of
the Sabbath because it is unfair and it is partial
Why has it been during the past few weeks that
some Of the theaters have been allowed to be
open, and others nota Why not have all open?
Go further and see how unfair it is. While
operas and thcaters in different cities are
allowed to be open on the Sabbath day, dry
goods establishments must be closed, and plumb
ing establishments, and the butchers and bakers,
and the shoemakers, and the hardware stores
Tell me by what law of Justice you compel me
to shut the door of my store, while you keep
open the door of your theaters May it please
your honors, judges Of the Supreme Court
when you give to the opera and the theater the
right to be open on the Sabbath day. you ought
to give, at the same time the right to all com
mercial establishments to be open, and to all
mechanical establishments to be open. What is
right in the one case, is right in all the cases
But. come now and be honest, you men VINO
manage theaters and operas, and confess that
you do not care anything at all about the moral
welfare of the people, but you only want
moro dollars. Indeed, the leader of one of
the operas says in the public prints that
unless he can have the thater open on the Lords
day he cannot afford to keep it running We
are told by the operate aud theatrical leaders
that they must get money on Sabbath nights in
order to pay the deficits of the other nights of
the week Now, in answer to that say that if
men can not manage our theaters without break
ing the Lords day, they had better all go into
bankruptcy together. We will never surrender
the Christian Sabbath for the purpose of helping
these violators pay their expenses. While there
may be a difference Of opinion among some
people about the propriety of having
theatricals during the week. l think all
lovers of good order must unite in one solid
unanimous resistance to the internal attempt to
massacre the Christian Sabbath.
l congratulate our city that so far we have al
most entirely escaped the invasion, and my CON
fidence is in our mayor. and our judges, and our
police officers, that the laws of the State of New
York will be executed. Above all, my confidence
is in the good hand of God that has been over
this city since its foundation. But [ call this
day upon all those who befriend Christian prin-
cples, and those who love our political
this Thermopyl@ of American history; for
l believe rs certainly as i stand here that the
triumph overthrow of American institutions
depends upon this Sabbatic contest Bring
your voices, your pens, your printing presses,
and your pupits into the Lords artillery corps
for the defense ofour holiday. Decree before
high heaven that this war on your religious
rights and the cradles of your children shall
bring ignominious defeat to the enemies of God
and the public veal. For those who die in the
contest battling for the right, we shall chise the
epitaph: These are they who came out of great
tribulation. and had their robes washed and
made white in the blood of the
Lamb" But for that one who shall
prove in this moral crisis recreant to God aud
the church there shall be NO honorable epitaph.
He shall not be worthy even of burial place in
all this free land; but perhaps some steam tug
at midnight may carry out his poor remains and
drop them in the sea, where the lawless winds
which keep no Sunday will galiop over the grave
of him who lived and died traitor to God, the
church and the free institutions of America
Long live the Christian Sabbath Perish forever
ali attempts to overthrow it!
Magazines Received.
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