Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1893-01-12


es have now declared in favor OF opening
the gates seven days in the week. Among
the most prominent clergymen who
have thus expressed themselves is DR..
II. w. Thomas, of Chicago. In a re-
cent sermon touching on this subject
he said:
Imperfect as may be the present social order,
| the public intelligence, liberty, justice, and
general well being and doing of the nineteenth
century are very far in advance of the first CEN
| tury. But almost every step of this progress
| has been resisted by an unwtse, narrow and
logged conseryatism Royalty and ecclesiasti. !.
| new truths of science and religion have been
| contested at every step; and In the herce bat
| ties radicalism has sometimes been destrue-
| tive. In our most Intelligent and liberal age
| the extremes of radicalism are less violent and
| dangerous and where chureh and state are
| separated, ultra-conservatism has lost the
power to enforce its demands. 1t can make ugly
| faces, call hard names, silence and expel
scholars and preachers, but can no longer Inn
prison, Danish, and burn heretics; but 1t still
| stands in the way of the larger life of man. An
illustration of this Is seen in the meetings and
discussions of the American Sabbath Union,
| and in the extreme conservatism In attitude OF
| the churches opposed to opening the gates of
| the Worlds Fair on Sunday. The mistake OF
these generally well-intending people is In two
things: they fail to see what this World Ex-
position Is and what IL is for, and their inter
probation of the meaning and uses of the Sab
The nations Of the earth have gladly con-
sented to unite with our country in great
Columbian celebration of its discovery In
| this will be brought together the results, not
| of four centuries alone but OF all the cent
uries-the results of learning, art, science, gov
ernment. religion. Necessarily, the cost is
| large; but 1t is not a business, was not prof.
ected to make money but was made possible
| by the money given by the people of our own
| city by the different States and the nation and
| by the governments of the world. It is not a
business for gain, but great and friendly
gathering of the millions of earth, each land
bringing its richest treasures, that all may re-
jOice in the peace and progress of these great
years. 1t Is a school, church. such as was
never possible before, nor can soon be again.
Its educational, its moral, its religious value
] to those who look upon the galleries
OF art the halls of machinery the collections
of antiquity, the results of all industry and
learning and the growing beauty and good OF
the world, will be incalculable. II means for
| each one larger life, aud for the millions of
comparatively poor and ia6oTing people this Is
enlarge the life OF the young, a vision to bless
| the aged before they go hence And vet these
conservative puritanical Sabbatarlans would
close the gates of this world school and church
on Sunday, and in the name of Him who said,
1t ts lawful 20 do good on the Sabbath dayl"
Let the machinery be stopped Saturday
night; let the morning hours of Sunday be for
rest and worship; then open the doors, reduce
the rates, and thus honor the rational observ-
ance of the American Sabbath by giving the
poor and the laboring classes the best possible
opportunity to see and enjoy this wonder of
the ages. And the preachers and the educated
Glasses could not do better than to go and
mingle freely and kindly with the people, as
guides and teachers to explain the great works
Of art The labor can thus be lightened, and
the day be rich in blessings to all And why
object to the necessary work. and to receiving
Snsy bs at the sgSsdes It not ySrk b to open
ence between asking the people for money at
the gate and asking them for money as soon
as they get inside the church?
All time ie sacred; labor IL as sacred as rest
The command to work six days is Just as bind
Ing as IL Is to rest the seventh Nature makes
Cn2n Aa.a
one in seven of mans days for rest, and man
hall0ws the Sabbath In thought and feeling
and act by deTottng 1t to bodily rest and the
Improvement of the higher life, and hence q
portion of the day should be given to worship;
but the Sabbath Is for man, to be used for
his greatest COED, and hence no cast-irOn rules
can be laid down for its observance; there may
be times when IL is more religious to work
than to rest or 90 to church. Christianity is
eey ss@ 81 f1e and Ret Ht the
letter, and not the spirit of the Sabbath, that
these rigid conservatives are contending
bath day day ut the IMPOSITION; tn but clos
ing the gates will not bring such quiet,
nor will opening them add to the noise and
confusion, nor much, IL any, lessen the travel.
IL closed on Sunday, people will stay over
Saturday and 60 home Sunday or come Sun
day to be here Monday. There will be two or
three hundred thousand strangers here every
Sunday for six months; we have to face this
condition OF things; and in no other way can
there be found so much quiet, so few tempta-
tions to wrong, and so many opportunities
and incentives for the good, as in opening the
gates of the Fair. To my mind IL is not only
narrow and unwise TO close the gates on Sun
day but q great wrong.
And we must all regret that the advocates of
the Sunday closing have ceased to be reason
able not to say gentlemanly and honest, in
their methods. IL is humiliating when minis
ters of the gospel declare that it were better
to have the cholera in our land than to have
the Fair open Sunday, and say that those who
are opposed TO their views are "disreputable,"
and speak sneeringly of those who observe tho
seventh instead of the first day of the week as
the dav OF rest