The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-09-24
Reflector Supplement.
The Anglo-American Theory Of the
Sabbath.
BY T. F. s.-ARTICLE III.

In article ii, of Aug. 81, first para
graph, third line, read basis for lapsiS;;
and in fifth paragraph, 10th line, read
shipyards for stripe yards.
In the further discussion OF the sub
ject, we here present stronger evidence,
an order of President Lincoln, issued Ill
consequence of an interview with dep
'utation of the New York Sabbath Com
mittee, which were accompanied by the
Secretaries of War, the Navy, Rear Ad-
miral FOOte, and introduced by Gov.
Morgan, Of New York.
In this order issued at Washington,
D. c., Nov. Is, 1862, The President,
Chief of the Army anu
Navy, enjoins the orderly observance OF
the Sabbath, by both officers and men
ia the military and naval service" AZ
ter reiterating the same arguments CIV
Ell by Washington and McClelland, as
TO the spirit in which our institutions
were founded and should ever be de-
Tended, he says: 1.-The General hopes
and trusts that every officer and man
will endeavor to live and act as becomes
o christian soldier, defending the dear
est rights and liberties of his country.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
These orders were read by millions OF
people on the day they were published,
and were translated into the German,
French and other tongues, have become
part Of our national history, and they
will remain precedent to our rulers as
long as our nation shall and will endure.
Let us add to this, now, the strong
endorsement of our theory from almost
every pulpit in America, TO say nothing
of the evidence coming from every
christian association confirming the pO-
sition assumed in these articles, we
have every encouragement to labor In
this cause. The laws of our land, the
traditions of our fathers, the national
tastes and habits, the dearest interests
of our families and the authority OF
Gods word are on our sides. Why
then should a peaceable community be
in despair at the apparent success OF
the anti-Sabbath element of any COM
munity or city-an element disregard
ing every sacred right belonging to the
welfare of the family and the nation?
Their days Of success are numbered as
were the days of that wicked ruler,
Nebuchadnezza-te and groans OF
judgment.
Let all the friends of the good cause
lift up their hearts and stretch out their
hands for the rescue of one of the most
conservative and benevolentin institutions
of the land. Come to the front line of
battle and demand the sacred rights of
the whole people at the hands of our
rulers whose business it is to admins
ter, not to abrOgate, righteous law, in
accordance with the Divine command
and its national Interpretation.
Let the observance of the Sabbath be
taken away, and you thereby destroy
tile most humane and most democratic
institution which, in every respect, was
made for man, but more particularly
for the man of labor and toll, of power
ty and sorrow. Take it away, and you
destroy a mighty conservative force,
and dry up fountain from which the
family, the church and the state receive
constant nourishment and support
In the language of another let me say,
Take away the Sabbath, and you shake
the moral foundations of our national
power and prosperity: our churches will
be forsaken, our Sunday schools emp
tied, our domestic devotiOns will Ian
guish, the fountains of public and pri-
waite virture will dry up: flood of pro-
family, RIGHTEOUSNESS and vice will in
undate the land; labor will lose its re-
ward, liberty be deprived Of its pillar,
self-government will prove failure,
and our republican institutions end in
anarchy and confusion, to give away, in
due time, to the most oppressive and
degrading military despotism known in
the annals Of history. All, yes, the end
of the Sabbath would be for America
the beginning OF the unlimited reign of
the internal ol-trinity Of MammOn,
Baecus and Venus-and overwhelm US
at last In temporal and eternal ruin"
No, it shall not be taken away
The Anglo-American Theory is too
broad and deep for that, so long as God
rules upon earth and gives it His pro-
lection and the watchfulness of His
people. Yes. it will continue its weekly
testimony to the world at large that
our freedom rests in law and order,
that we are independent of human tyr
amy, because we feel dependent on our
God, and bow in sacred reverence be-
fore the majesty and authority of the
Lord Of Lords and God of Gods. If
we honor the Lord of the Sabbath, he
will honor us, sanctlfy and override our
present calamities for our own good,
and make to us a bright day, when the
enemies of Gods day in Abilene shall
be overthrown by their own rashness
and be scourged by lashes from whips
made by their own hands. BLESSED is
the nation whose God is the Lord, and
the people whom he hath chosen for
h;c ny-n iuharitaDoa -