New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1893-05-24
TRIUMPH OF BIGoT 3 J, !.
So Says Rev. Shutter Of Minneapolis in
Referring to Sunday Closing Of ne
Worlds Fair.
This is an Age Of Democratic Thought, A
Land of Religious Freedom.

Rev DR.. Shutter of Minneapolis is one
of the popular preachers Of that town.
He is popular both because he is earnest
in what he preachers and because he en-
tertains liberal views. Last Sunday he
directed his attention to the opposition
to the opening of the Worlds Fair on
Sunday and said.
81 believe in the Sabbath. believe
III one day out Of every seven as a day of
rest from ordinary toll. What particu-
lar day, | do not care. | have no time
to waste on the discussion of so trivial
d question. The day already fixed upon
by the usage of the majority is good
enough. Why not adhere to it? I be-
licve in the sabbath as a day of rest, not
because God ceased from labor on that
tlay, but because man needs to cease
from labor on that day. The institution
is not based upon the words of Moses,
but upon the necessities of humanity. 1t
is sacred, not because it is SUPREMACY
blessed and hallowed, but because it sub
serves the welfare of man. There is but
one thing in this world that possesses in
shcrent sanctity and that is human nature.
&There is is but one thing truly divine
the soul, altar, ritual, ceremony, day
these are sacred only as they minister to
its development and culture. Man was
not made to keep the Sabbath; the Sab
bath was made to keep man, to keep
him in physical health and soundness
and intellectual vigor.'
1 On the subject of Sabbath observance,
Dr.. Shutter said:
& I'm our own age and nation ohser-
vance must be modified by certain con-
ditions of life and thought. You can
mot take the Sabbath of one period and
make it tit another. You cannot take
the Sabbath of one nation and project it
bodily into another. You cannot take
the Sabbath OF a village and fit it to the
multitudinous completely of a city. The
Sabbath is not fixed and unvariablc, but
flexible and capable of adaptation. 1t
is not rock that stands unmovable
through the centuries. but is rather a sea
whose waves adjust themselves TO the
conformations Of the shore and offer
themselves to the use of those who dwell
thereon.
':I'his leads ne to say that conceive
Il great mistake was made when it was
ordained that the Worlds Fair should
close it's gates on Sunday "a mistake
that | sincerely hope there may yet he
found some legal means to correct. It is
mistake for the Christian people Of
this country, this land of tolerance and
equality to insist upon anything that
looks like coercion. The object in clos
ing the fair is to bring it to pass that
more people shall go to church. But
this course will rather embitter multi
tudcs and turn them away from the
churches. They will look upon the ac-
ton as an invasion of their rights, and
will justly become indignant. The
church has lost magnificent opportun-
ity to show her sympathy with all class
es..ard conditions of men, to dogood even
to their enemies, to disarm opposition
by magnanimity.
I regret the attitude of the churches
towards the Columbian Exposition, be-
cause it is not wise for religion to invoke
the interference Of the state. The most
unfortunate thing the good people could
have done was to roll up those petitions
that frightened congress into attaching a
religious order to their appropriation
bil1, The petitions were a sign of weak:
Mss, not of strength, of waning power
and not of increasing domain. When re-
ligion appeals to the state to enforce the
observance of its sacred days, to prop.
and bolster lts..outWard institutions, the
blight Of death is upon its vitality and
spirit.
'sThe American Sabbath viii be and
must be the expression OF that other
American idea personal freedom. tits
none of my neighbor's business how I
spend Sunday, 50 long as z do not inter
fere with him. This IS the only limita-1
ton. On the other hand, he is not to in.
terfere with me. We may try TO infiu-
ence one another by persuasive argument,
by friendly counsel, but neither Of us has
any right to lift himself up before the
other and say on must Ifaman who
has been shut sup amidst smoke and dust
'l tie week thinks # will Dc him and
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