The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1895-06-07
MORE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.

Recently the tines Democrat c0nlnlente
: on exhibitions Of g%revious religious intoler
ance that had taken place in the two Souther
, States of Tennessee aud Georgia.
: In both of the instances in question tn
honest and Industrious citizens who rest
, ed from their work on the seventh day, accor
: ding 10 the command Of the Decaloguc, an
kept that dav holy to the Lord, were fined an,
thrown into Jail because they did not also res
from labor ON the first day Of the week. 1t i
! q mere question Of religious belief and prac
tice which day of the week, the first or tn
: seventh, is kept as the day Of rest or tn
Lords DAY and that the majority of the PEG
pie of a State or nation should fine and i'm
prison a minority who do not agree with then
on the point, is neither more nor less thai
persecution for the sake of religious belief-l
STYLE of persecution which was in vogue three
four and five centuries ago but has long gont
out of date among all nations pretending tt
civilization aud enlightenment.
We are astonished to see that this same re,
ligions intolerance is finding place IN Missis'
sippi. Here is a special dispatch which wa.
published in our telegraph columns Yesterday
and which explains itself:
aberdeen, Miss, May 20.-Mr. John
Nash, a seventh day adventist, was yesterday
arraigned in Justice Rye's court, at Amory,
in thist Monroe) county, on the charge of work
ing in his field on Sunday. Nash pleaded gull
ty and undertook the management of his own
case, using the Bible for his law book. He
keeps Saturday MS religiouslv as a priest
keeps Sunday. The ease was continued until
the second Saturday in June.
''The Mississippi statute bearing upon the
subject, in section 1921, provides that "Any
one who shall labor or employ any one else to
labor on the Sabbath day at any other than
household duties, works Of necessity or
charity, or on railroads or steamboats,, shall,
on conviction, be fined not more than $50 for
every such otiense."
We do not profess, of course, to anticipate
what The result of the trial of John Nash, Sew
euth-Dav Adventist, will be when it is held
by the Monroe county court, but as the ma
iority of the people OF Mississippi have passed
a law prohibiting the minority of their num-
Der from working on the first day of the week,
on which day the majority perform their re-
ligious celebrations, the chances are that Mr..
Nash will either hand over $40 Of his wealth
with costs, of %course) to the State, or that he
will be sold out by the Sheriff, or go to prison
until the fine is paid.
ANY one of these results of the coming trial
would be a disgrace to the State of Missis-
sippi. The religious belief and practice of a
citizen, especially when he is a good and hon
est citizen, ought on no account ever to be in
terfered with. The chances are that such a
citizen has more religion in his little finger
that the average legislator who made the blue
law to punish him has in his entire compost
tion and that n Seventh-Day Adventist by
conviction should be maltreated by the State
ON the strength Of a merely secular order to
abstain from work on a certain day of the
week, is equivalent to a relighting Of the fagot
which hurried martyrs up to heaven severaI
centuries ago. 1t is simply religious persecu-
ton Of the narrowest, most bigoted and most
unenlightened sort and the grand State of
Mississippi would do we'll to wipe the relic OF
batbarism from her statute book.
New Orleans Tines Democrat.
We have had occasion to state not
~unfrcqnently that the great city of
New Orleans severely needed educa-
ton upon the subject of proper Sun
day observance. The foregoing ar
ticlc of the Times Democrat, one of
the leading papers of that city, puts
the truth of statement beyond
the shadow Of a doubt. If the laws
Of this country, from Maine to the
Gulf Of Mexico, from the Pacific to
the Atlantic, proclaim any one thing,
that thing is that Sunday shall be
observed as a day of rest. The Times
Democrat comes out boldly and advo-
Gates the breaking of that law in that
it takes the part of the l~aW-brcakcrs.
The miserable subterfuge of ''Rclig-
lous Persecution will avail the
Time democrat nothing. That self
same argument was used by the advo-
Gates of MormOnism and was worked
for all it was worth. The Mormons
brought up the Old Testament and
attempted to defy the laws of this
land upon the subject of polygamy.
But the highest court of this great
country put the stamp of rcprobation
upon their rotten system, and blottcd
out the STAN of Brigham Youngism
from our national escutchcon. Wher-
ever the occasion rises, it will, in the
same way, blot out Times-DcmOcrat.
ism. If the SEVENTH Day Adventists
wish to keep Saturday as their day OF
rest, they are free to do so. TheiI
liberty in this respect is untramclcd,
But if they insist upon working or
Sunday they are not good and honest
citizens, as the Times Democrat calls
them they arc l~aw-breakcrs, and are
amenable to the penalties put by the
law, which, as citizens, they should
honor and respect. For the common
good any government has the author,
ity to establish a day Of rest and en-.
force its observance. Does the Times
Democrat deny this? Our country
made its selection and chose Sunday
as that day. But it is "A lamentable
fact that "A paper Of such wide circIla.
tion as the Times Democrat should
throw its influence against the law
and with the law-breakers.
Let the majesty of the law be up,
held
The following Mississippi Congress.