The Bossier banner., 1894-08-09
This is what they call grand sacred

the rights of the people" to have just
such amusements on Sunday as they
want to have. 1 wonder if the Lord
has any rights. You rule your family,
the governor rules the state, the presi-
dent rules the whole land; wonder if
the Lord has a right to rule the ma
tions and make the enactment. "Re-
member the Sabbath day to keep it
holy" and if there is any appeal
to a high court from that deci-
sion; and if the men who are warning
against that enactment are not guilty
of high treason against the maker of
Heaven and earth They have in
our cities put God on trial. 1t has been
the theaters and the opera houses,
plaintiffs, versus the Lord Almighty,
defendant; the suit has been begun,
and who shall come out ahead, you
know. Whether it be popular or I'M
popular, | now announce it as my
opinion that the people have no rights
save those which the great Jehovah
gives them. He has never given the
right to man to break the holy Sab
bath, and as long as His throne stands,
He will never give that right.
The prophet asks question which l
can easily answer: ''Will man rob
God?" Yes They robbed him last
Sunday night at the theaters and
opera houses, and charge upon them
the Infamous and high-handed larceny.
l hold the same opinion as sailor l
have heard of. The crew had been dis
charged from the vessel because they
would not work while they were in
port on the Lords day. The captain
went out to get sailors. He found one
man and he said to him: "Will you
serve me on the Sabbath?" mo"
''Why not?" WELL" replied the old
sailor, ''a man who will rob God AL
mighty of his Sabbath would rob me
of my wages if he got chance"
Suppose you were poor, and you came
to dry goods merchant and asked for
some cloth for garments, and he should
say: ''I'll give you six yards" and
while he was off from the counter
binding up the six yards you should go
behind the counter and steal one addi-
tional yard. That is what every man
does when he breaks the Lords Sab
bath. God gives us six days out of
seven, reserving one for himself, and if
you will not let him have it, it is mean
beyond all computation.
Again, l am opposed to this desecra-
tion of the Sabbath by secular enter
tainments because it is war on the
statutes of most of the states. The
law in New York state says:
''It shall not be lawful to exhibit on
the first day of the week, commonly
called Sunday, to the public, in any
building, garden, grounds, concert
room or other room or place within the
city and county of New York, any in
terlude, tragedy, comedy, opera, bal
let, play, farce, negro minstrelsy, negro
or other dancing, or any other enter
tainment of the stage, or any part or
parts therein, or any equestrian, circus,
or dramatic performance of jugglers,
acrobats, or rope dancing"
Was there ever a palmer enactment
than that? Who made the law? You,
who at the ballot-boxes decided who
should GO to Albany and sit in the leg
islature. You who in any region exer-
else the right of suffrage. They made
the law for you and for your families,
and now I say that any man who at
tempts to override that law insults you
and me, and every man who has the
right of suffrage.
Still further: / protest against the
invasion of the Sabbath, because it is
foreign war. Now, if you heard at
this moment the booming of gun in
the harbor, or if shell from some for
eign frigate should drop into your
street, would you keep your seats in
church? You would want to face the
foe, and every gun that could be man
aged would be brought into use, and
every ship that could be brought out
of the navy yard would swing from
her anchorage, and the question would
be decided. You do not want for
eign war, ana yet l have to tell you
that this invasion of Gods holy daH is
a foreign war.
As among our own native-born popu-
lation there are two classes-the good
and the bad: so it is with the people
who come from Other shores-there are
law-abiding and the lawless. The for
mer are welcome here. The more of
them the better we like it. But let not
| the lawless come from other shores ex-
/ pecting to break down our Sabbath,
and institute in the place of it a for
eign Sabbath.
How do you feel, ye who have been
4
brought up amid the hills of New En-
gland. about giving up the American
Sabbath? Ye who spent your child
hood under the shadow of the Adiron-
dacks or the Catskills; ye who were
born on the banks of the Savannah, or
Ohio, or Oregon, how do you feel about
giving up the American Sabbath? You
say: I'VE shall not give it up. We
mean to defend it as long as there is
left any strength in our arm, or blood
in our heart! Do not bring Jour Span
ish Sabbath here. Do not bring youl
Italian Sabbath here. Do not bring
your French Sabbath here. Do not
bring your foreign Sabbath here. j
| shall be for US and our children for
ever a pure, consecrated, Christian
American Sabbath"
| | will make a comparison between