The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-06-29

cradle way OF OuuuaylnS. LII seemed
J more like an American Fourth of July
than a Christian Sabbath.
The Puritanic Sabbath.
Now, in contrast, present one Of the
Sabbaths in one Of our best American
cities Holy silence coming down with
the day dawn Business men more de"
liberately looking into the faces of their
children and talking to them about
their present and future welfare. Men
sit longer at the table in the morning,
because the stores are not to be opened,
and the mechanical tools are not to be
taken up. A hymn is sung There are
congratulations and good cheer all
through the house. The street silent
until 10 o'clock, when there is regu-
lar, orderly tramp churchward. Houses
of God, vocal with thanksgiving for
mercies received, with prayer for COM
fort, with charities for the poor. Rest
for the body Rest for the soul. The
nerves quieted, the temples cooled, the
mind cleared, the soul strengthened, and
our entire population turned out on
Monday morning 10 years younger, bet
ter prepared for the duties Of the life,
better prepared for the life that is to
come.
Which do you like best-the Ameri-
can Sabbath or the Partisan Sabbath?
Do you know in what boat the Sabbath
came across the seas and landed Oh our
shores? 1t was in the Mayfower Do
you know in what boat the Sabbath
| II
be in the ark that floats over deluge
Of national destruction.
Still further, protest against the in
vasion of the Lords day because it
wrongs vast multitude of employees
of their rest. The play actors and &C
tresses can have their rest between their
engagements, but how about the scene
shutters, the ballet dancers, the callboys,
the innumerable attendants and super
numeries of the American theater?
Where is their Sunday to come from?
They are paid small salaries at the best.
Alas, for theml They appear on the
stage in tinsel and tassel with halberds,
or in gauze whirling in toe tortures, and
they might be mistaken for fairies or
queens, but after ~ o'clock at night you
may see them trudging through the
streets in faded dresses, shivering and
tired, bundle under their arms, seek
| ing their homes in the garrets and Gel
lars of the city. Now, you propose to
take from thousands Of these employees
throughout this country not only all op-
portunity of moral culture, but all OPP
portunity of physical rest. For heavens
sake, let the crushing juggernaut stop
at least one day in seven.
Spiritual Necessity.
Again, oppose this modern invasion
of the Christian Sabbath because it is a
war on the spiritual welfare of the peo-
pie. You have body? Yes. You have
mind? Yes You have soul? Yes.
Which of the secular halls on the Sab
bath day will give that soul any culture?
Now, admitting that a man has spirit
ual and immortal nature, which one of
the places of amusement will culture it?
Which one of the Sabbath performances
will remind men of the fact that unless
they are born again they cannot see the
kingdom of God?
Will the music of the "Grand Ouch
ess" help people at last to sing the song
of the one hundred and forty and four
thousand? Besides, if you gentlemen of
the secular entertainment have six days
in the week in " hich to exercise your
alleged beneficial influence, ought you
not to allow Christian institutions to
have "a hours? Is it unreasonable to de-
mand that if you have six days for the
body and intellect we should have one
day at least for our immortal soul? Or,
to put it in another shape, do you really
think that our imperishable soul is
worth at least one-seventh as much as
our perishable body?
An artist has three gems-a corne-
liam, an amethyst and diamond. He
has to cut them and to set them. Which
one is he most particular about? Now,
the comedian is the body, the amethyst
is the intellect, the diamond is the soul.
For the two former you propose six days |
of opportunity, while you offer no OPP
portunity at all for the last, which is III
value as compared with the others like |
500, 900, 900, 900 to farthing. Besides
you must not forget that nine tenths-
aye, ninety-nine e-hundredths-of all |
the Christian efforts of this country are |
put forth on the Lords day Sunday is |
the day ON which the asylums and hos
pitfalls and the prisons are visited by
Christian men. That is the day when
the youth of our country get their rei-
gious information in Sunday schools.
That is the day when the most of the
charities are collected. That is the day
when, under the blast of 60, 900 Ameri
can pulpits, the sin of the land is as
saulted and men are summoned to re-
pent When you make war upon any
part of Gods day, you make war upon
the asylums, and the penitentiaries, and
the hospitals, and the reform associa-
lions, and the homes of the destitute,
and the church of the living God, which
is the pillar and the ground of the
truth.
Recognition of Sacred Things.
l am opposed to the invasion of the
Sabbath because it is war on our po-
litical institutions When the Sabbath |