Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-23

DAY or the week, commonly called SUNDAY (,
the public. IN any building, garden, grounds
concert room or other room or place within
the city and county of New YorK any inter
lude, tragedy, comedy, opera, ballet, play
farce, negro mlnstrelsy, negro or other dane.
ing, or any other entertainment of the stage
or any part or parts therein, or any equestrian
circus or dramatic performance, or any per
tOrmance ofJugglers, acrobats or rope-danc
ing"
Was there ever a palmer enactment thar
that2 Who made the law? You, who at tn,
ballot box decided who should 20 to Albany
and sit ID the Legislature. They made the Law
Ior you and for your families; and now l say
that any man who attempts 10 override that
law Insults you and me and every man wht
mas the right of suffrage in the State of New
York.
Still further: l protest against this inva-
sion OF the sabbath, because il is a foreign
war. Now, If you heard at this moment the
booming of gun in the harDOr, or shell
from some foreign frIgate should drop into
our streets, now long would you keep your
seats In the tabernacleS GU would want tO
lace the foe. and every gun that could be
managed would be brough hi in use, and every
snip that could be brought out OF the navy
Safd would swing from her anchorage and
the question would be decided You DO not
want foreign war, and yet have to tell YOU
JhaL TINS invasion Of Gods holy uay is a ior-
elgn war As among our own native born
population there are Two ciassC E, the good and
the bad, so It is with the people who come
from other sAOres-there are the law abiding
and the lawless. The former are welcome
here. The more of them the better we like it.
In this particular church there are represen-
tatives of all lands. | believe God intended
our national heart TO throb with the blood of
all people! But let not the laWless come from
other shores expecting TO break down our Sab
Sabbath.
How do you feel, We who have been brought
up amidst the hills of New England. about
giving up the American Sabbath? Ye who
ngarnN nsotnf III
Adlrondacks or the Catskills; ye who were
born on the banks of the Tennessee or the
Savannah, how do you feel about giving up
the American Sabbath? You say: 1--WE shall
not give IL up. We mean to defend il as long
as there Is any strength left in our arms or
any blood in our hearth Do not bring your
Spanish sabbath here; do not bring your
French Sabbath here; do not bring your Ger
man Sabbath here. 1t shall be for us and our
children forever, a pure, cOnsecrated, Chris
tan. merican Sabbath
VIII make comparison between the Sab
PAIN as some OF you have known it and the
Sabvath OF Paris. speak from observation.
One Sabbath morning was aroused in Paris
by great sound in the street. l said, ''What
IS thlsY "Oh," they said, this is Sunday"
An unusual rattle of vehicles of all sorts.
In9 voices seemed more bOisterOus than on
other days: II seemed as if all the vehicles
OF Paris had turned out for the holiday. The
Champs Elysees one great mob of pleasure
seeking people. Balloons flying, parrots chat
Win ioOtbdilh lOlliuSg pcuQlGIb uhMktIB
their knickknacks through the Streets hand
organs and every kind of racket, mus cal and
unmuslcal. When the evening came down
all the theatres were in full bare of music
and full blaze of light. The wine stores and
saloons were thrOnged with an unusual num-
Der OF customers. AT eVentIde / stood and
watched the eXcurslonists coming home,
tagged out men, women and children a Gulf
stream of fatigue, irrtablhtY and wretched-
ness; for | should think it would take three
or Tour days to get over that miserable Way
OF Sundaylng. 1t seemed more like an Ameri-
can Fourth of July than a Christian Sabbath
Now, IN contrast present one of the Sab
0aths IN one of our best American cities
Holy silence coming down with the day
dawn Business men more deliberately
looking into the faces of their children. and
talking to them about their present and fu-
ture welfare. Men SIT longer at the table in
the morning because the stores are not to be
opened ana the mechanical tools are not tC
be taken up. There are congratulations and
good cheer all through the house Houses OF
Oou vocal with thanksgivIngs for mercies re-
celved, with prayers for comfort, with chari-
ties Tor the poor, rest for the body. rest for
the soul. The nerves Quieted. the temples
cooled, the mind cleared, the soul strengthen
eQ ana our entire population turned out On
MONDAY morning ten years younger better
prepared Tor the duties of this life, better pre-
pared Tor the life that is to come. Which do
you ike best, the American Sabbath or the
Parlslan Sabbath? Do you know in what boat
the Sabbath came across the seas and landed
on our shores? 1t was in the MayfOwer. Do
you know In what boat the Sabbath will leave
us II 1t ever gous? 1t will be in the ark that
hoats over deluge OF national Iniqmties.
sun IurIhSr: protest against this invasion
Oh the Lords day because it wrongs a vast
multitude of employees OF their rest. The
D&rtenters IN case of the grOg shop, and in the
case OF the theatre the scene shifters the
ballet dancers, the call boys, the inDumerabe
attendants and supernumeraries. They arc
pald small salaries at the best. You see them
ON the stage in tinsel and tassel or YOU see
them IN gauze Whirling in toe tOrtures, and
you mistake them for fairies or queens; but
after II O'Clock at night you may see them
truuglng through the streets in faded dress
shlVerlng and tired, seeking their homes in
the garrets and cellars of the city. Now you
propose 10 TAKE from thousands of these en-
ployes throughout this country, not only all
opportunity OF moral culture, but all oppOr-
Lunlty OF physical rest. Let the crashing
JuggernauL stop one day in seVeni | OPPOSE
this invasion of the Christian Sabbath because
II tlsiawaT on the spiritual welfare of the people.
lou nave soul. Yes. Which of the saloons
or theatres on the Sabbath day will give thai
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 q
b0ursf Is 1t unreasonable to demand that
II you have six DAYS for the body and the in
teilect we have one Gay at least for our i'm
mortal soul? Or, to put it in another shape
do you not really think that our imperishabie
soul Is worth at least One-seventh as much as
our perlshaDle body. You must not forget
that ninety mine One-hundredths of all the
Christian effort of this country are put forth
on the Lords day. That is the day In which
the asyiums and the hospitals aud the prisons
are visited by Christian men. That IS the
day when the youth of our country get then
chief religious information. That is the dav
when the most Of the charities are collected.
That is the day when under the blast of 80. COO
American pulpits the sin of the land is as
saulted and men are summoned to repent
W hen you make war upon any part of GODS
day you make war upon the asyiums and the
penltentlarles and the hospitals and the re-
form associations and the homes of the des-
tItute and the church of the living God, which
is the pillar and the ground Of the truth.
am opposed to the invasion of the Sabbath
because 1t is war upon our political instItu-
tiOns. When the Sabbath goes down the re-
public goes down. Men who are not willing
to obey Gods law in regard to Sabbath OBJ
servance are not fit to govern themselves.
Sabbath breaking means dlssOuteness, and
is incompatible with self-govern-
ment. hat Is the matter with republican
ism in Italy and Spain? No Sabbath. France
never will have a 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 national prosperity going down il
darkness and blood. From that reign of ter
ror may the God of Lexington and Gettysburg
deliver us!
Still furt err: l am opposed to this invasion
Of the Sabbath because it is unfair and it is
partial. Why has it been during the past
lew weeks that some of the theatres have
been allowed to be open and Others not? Why
not have all open? Go further and see how
unfair it IS. While operas and theatres in
different cities are allowed 10 be open on the
sabbath day, dry goods establishments must
be closed and plumbing establishments and
the butchers and the bakers and the shoe
makers and the hardware stores. Tell me by
" hat law of justice you compel me to shut
the door ef my store while YOU keep open the
door of your theatre? May it please your
hOnors, Judges of the Supreme Court. when
you give to the opera and the theatre 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 who manage theatres and operas, and
confess that you do not care anything at all
about the moral welfare of the people, but
you only want more dollars. Indeed, the
leader Of one of the operas says in the public
prints that unless he can have the theatre
open on the Lords day he cannOt afford to
keep 1t running we are told by the operate
money on Sabbath nights in order to pay the
deficits of the other nights OF the week. Now
IN answer TO that l say that if men cannot
manage our theatres without breaking the
Lords day, they had better all go into bank
ruptcy together. We will never surrender
the Christian Sabbath for the purpose ofhelp-
ing these vlolatOrs pay their expenses. While
there may be difference of opinion among
some people about the prOpriety of having
theatrlcals during the week, think all lovers
of good order must unite in one solid, unan-
imOus resistance TO this Internal attempt to
the Christian Sabbath.
l congratulate our city that so far we have
almost entirely escaped the invasion, and my
confidence is in our Mayor and our Judges
and our police officers that the laws of the
State Of New York Will be executed. Above
ali my confidence is in the good hand of God
that has been over this city since its founda-
ton. But call this day upon all those who
befriend Christian principles, and those who
love our political freedom, to stand in solid
phalanx in this Thermopyl@ of American his
tory; for believe as certainly as stand here
the trir1rln1lh