The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1890-09-09
The Famous Blair Bill Furnished
aText for Yesterdays Lib
eral Lecture.
The Gentleman'S Effort Last
Evening-A Synopsis of
Both Addresses.

cluded, congregated at Harmonic hall,
yesterday afternoon, to hear the sec
ond of series of three lectures by j.
E. Remsburg, the Liberal or Free
Thinker, given under the auspices q
Sedalia Secular Union No. 1. There
was a noticeable absence of ladies, only
three being present. AS Judge j.
A. Halstead. president of the Union,
did not arrive until late, Mr.. Rems.
burg was introduced by VIM.
Mathews, vice president.
81 shall take for my subject this
afternoon, "said the speaker, Sunday,
or the Sabbath Question" but, in-
stead, the famous Blair bill would
have been more appropriate as the
topic under discussion.
After asking whether the Sabbath
was made for man or priest, Mr.. Rems-
burg took up the bill in question,
and for nearly an hour he picked it
into particles, to the evident satisfac-
ton of his auditors. The passage of
the measure, he said, would be step
toward class legislation, and virtually
meant a union of state and church,
something that was obnoxious to every
liberal-minded citizen.
Leaving the Blair measure tempo
rarity, the speaker returned to the
first day of the week as the christian
Sabbath and divine day, and de-
clared that it was nothing of the kind,
nor could anyone show him to the
contrary by referring to the bible.
Every day of the week had been
the sacred day of some people at some
time, but the gentleman stood pre-
pared, so he said, to donate 500 to
any person who would show him where
the bible says the first day of the week
shall be observed as the Sabbath day
and kept holy.
Where did Jesus stand on this ques
ton? asked the speaker. He never
enjoined the observance of the Sab
bath. In fact, he was a Sabbath
breaker; and for his dissertation of
the day the Jews wanted to take his
life. Instead of keeping it holy,
Jesus not only broke it himself, but
encouraged others to break it, telling
them that it was made for man.
Next to Jesus, the most important
character from a christian standpoint
was Paul, and his views were substan-
TALLY the same as those of Jesus re-
garding the observance of Sunday.
The christian Sabbath of to-day, said
the iberalist, was instituted by that
imperial creature, Constantine, and
prior to his edict 1 defy any one to
show me that it had an existence.
Why was it established? Let me
tell you. Because the clergy could
not close their eyes to the Importance
of a uniform day of observance. The
christian Sabbath of to-day was then
the chief day of the week with the
psgans, although its Observance was
confined to the cities and towns, PEG.
pie in the country being permitted to
follow their usual avocations. Prior
to this time every day in the week. as
previously stated, had been observed
as the Sabbath by different people.
The speaker then gave several in
stances of punishment for Sabbath
breaking in the old puritan days,
which were pronounced barbarous in
the extreme. One incident captured
the audience. 1t was the
story of little boy who
had religiously observed the Sabbath
and was told by his father that if he
would continue to be good he would
60 to heaven, where every day was
Sunday.
"Well, if I 60 there, papa" said
the child, "can l go down to hell
on Saturday afternoon and have some
fun ?"
The speaker quoted Martin Luther,
John Calvin, John Milton and other
founders of the christian religion to
prove that there was no necessity for
keeping the Sabbath holy, and main.
tanned that it was a human instead of
a divine institution. All teaching to
the contrary, he said, was to fill the
pews of the churches and the pockets
of the priests.
Leaving the Sunday question, Mr..
Remsburg returned to the Blair bill.
On its introduction in the senate it
was said to be accompanied by pc
tition OLA, 49, 700 names, the largest
petition in the worlds history. IfI
given the original petition the speaker
would agree to copy every name on a
single sheet of note pa
per for instead of its having
contained more than fourteen |
million signatures the number was
really about 400, the remainder hav-