Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-02-14

to destroy the power of the religion they
contemn than all the Remains and
tSrausses have ever done, or can do.
They understand this, and their efforts
will be directed to this end, through
every specious protest, plea, and plan.
The most religious and earnest OF the
Catholic clergy OF Europe lament the
fact that the Sunday of their church
and their several countries is day of
amusement. They see. and they public
ly acknowledge, that without the Eng
lish and the American Sunday they work
for the spiritual benefit of their people
at a sad disadvantage, 1t is this Euro
pean Sunday, which we are told is to
come to America at last through her for
eign population. We hope not. We would
like to ask those who would rejoice in
its advent, how much it has done for the
countries where 1t exists. Go to Italy,
France, Spain, Ireland--to any part OF
Germany, Catholic or lnfidel--and find IL
possible any people so Temperate, pure,
chaste, truthful and benevolent as the
Sunday-keeping communities of Amer
lea. 1t can not be done. The theatre,
the horse-race, the ball, the cricket
ground. the lager-beer saloon, have
nothing In them that can take the place
Of the institutions of religion. They are
established and practical in the interest
of the animal, and not at all in the in
terest of the moral and Intellectual side
Of humanity. They can neither build up
nor purify. They minister only to
thoughtlessness and brutality. So much
then seems obvious: 1st.-That we can
not do without Sunday as a day of phys
ical and mental rest; 2nd.-That either
as consequence or concomitant, moral
and spiritual Improvement goes always
with the observance of Sunday as re-
iigious day; Srd.-Tnat Sunday, as day
of amusement simply, is proftless to the
better and nobler side of human nature
and human life.'
Since these words were published
thirty-five years ago, the religious OBJ
servance of the Sabbath by the Ameri-
can people has been impaired, and with
its impairment there has come to pass
corresponding deterioration of person
al piety in the land. We can not afford
TO go further in that direction. On the
contrary, we should retrace the steps
which We have taken, and recover the
moral ground which we have lost If
we continue the course which we have
been pursuing, we will soon break down
utterly the Sabbath, and when we and
our British kinsmen have lost the Sab
bath of our forefathers mankind Will
live in a Sabbathless world. Do any
among - M4sh TO LaSS 4 world without
sabbath? Surely the worst among us
do not desire that. But we will come
to it, if we do not change our course.
And what would be revolving to us if
it came to as suddenly. may steal over
us gradually without arousing our fears
until he have lost that which we can
not recover when it has passed away.
We may crumble away the Sabbath by
piece-meal, although we turn with hor-
ror from an effort to break 1T down by
one levelIng assault. The indulgences
Of luxurious era may narcotlze our
consciences to our utter undoing. The
automobile, for example, may be used
for Sunday diversion to the neglect of
religious worship, while we de-
lude ourselves with the idea that the
over worked man of the city must have
an outing in the country on Sunday.
Sunday concerts may become common
under the specious plea that they min
lister to culture and refinement Other
forms of indulgence will speedily fol-
low until the affairs of the churcnes
will be forsaken and the worship Of God
will be despised.
Alreaoy we have robbed thousands Of
their Sabbath that We may have our
Sunday luxuries and qualifications. If
the millions of railway employees and
men engaged in other like employments
were gathered together in one state,
thy would form a Sabbathless common
wealth., and the nation would be alarmed
by the spectacle. But since they are
dispersed among us, our convictions are
diluted by the fact of their dispersion,
and we care not for the moral destitu-
ton in which they are forced to live.
Every year their numbers are increased
by forcing other classes into the same
wretched condition of Sabbathlessness.l
1t is time to stop the process. If car.
ried further IT will end in the moral
ruin of the nation.
Here in Atlanta our Sabbath is being
filched from us by stealthy processes
which should be arrested. Some are
now urging that fruit-stores should be
opened for business on Sunday. Pray
tell, when did the purchase of fruits on
Sunday come to be a work of either
mercy or necessity? III
If we do not speedily reform in this
matter of Sabbath observance We will
soon gather on every day some very
bitter fruits which we DO not desire.
We have already sowed the seeds for
such a gathering
If a whole world without a Sabbath
would be intolerable, any Sabbathless
fraction of a world is not less undesir-
able, Financial values would depreciate
in world without a Sabbath. and we
are undermining the material prosper
ity of the country by weakening the
foundations of this most Indispensable
institution of religion. Shining never
pays and no form of SHINING is more
damaging than the proclamation of the
Sabbath.
Some misguided men among as are
pursuing most self-contradictory
course in this matter. They call them
selves christians, and invest money in
their churches; and then they encourage
certain violations of the Sabbath and
invest money in such ordinations of the
sacred day. Thus they pull down with
one hand what they seek to build up
with the other. Why should they set
their dollars to fighting among them
selves? Let all such men get on one
side or the other 1t is folly for them
to divide their resources in a moral
conflict oI such stupendous Importance.