Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-01-30
Disregard of the Sabbath
Is o. Cropping VI emGce
To Our Civilization

be more fierce and pitiless in proportion
as all parties are less religious.
Let no man say that concern for the
maintenance of the Sabbth is mere IA
naticism The greatest statesmen of
the world have perceived and proclaimed
the importance of maintaining the Sab
bath.
Mr. Gladstone was not a fanatic, but
in an address against the Sunday open
ing of museums in England he said:
From long experience of a labor
ious life, l have become most deeply inl-
pressed with the belief that the alterna-
tions of rest and labor, at the short in
tervals which are afforded by the merci-
full and blessed institution of Sunday,
are necessary for the retention of a
mans mind and of a mans frame in
condition to discharge his duties, and it
is desirable as much as possible to re-
strain the exercise of labor upon the Sab
bath, and to secure to the people the
enjoyment of the day of rest"
III the same debate in the British par
limantet the Early of Shalrtsbury said:
Sunday is day so sacred. SO impor-
tant, so indispensable to man, that II
ought to be hedged round by every form
Of reverence. Its adaptibility to the
wants and necessities of society, the
wisdom of it's institution, proves 1t to
be Divine; and the working people OF
this countryside great bulk of the
working people-regard 1t in that light.
They differ, no doubt, many of them
Some take a religious view of the mat
Ter; others take a more political view
of it; but all are of this mind that the
sanctity of the Sunday is to them great
protection"
The Earl of Beaconsfield was a He
a-11
to have had little sympathy with the
observance of the christian Sabbath. But.
he took the same position on the ques-
ton and spoke in the course of the dis
cussion as follows:
"Of all Divine institutions, the most
Divine is that which secures day of
rest for man. l hold 1t to be the most
valuable blessing ever conceded to man.
1t is the cornerstone of civilization, and
its fracture, might even affect the
health of the people. The opening of
museums on Sundays is great change,
and those who suppose for a moment
that the proposal could be limited to
the opening of museums will find they
are mistaken"
And Mr.. Broadhurst, who was a Trade
Unionist member of the house of COM
mons, said:
ITO those who live a ceaseless life
of toll, the Sunday is that which the
cooling stream in the desert is to the
weary traveller. They know they will
arrive at it, and 1t is one of their great
hopes in life that they on that day of
the week feel that all men are equal
for twenty-four hours and that they are
having a foretaSte at least of a future
in which they shall share with all NOR
tails the results of a life of labor. What
%,Irz
mans Sunday. 1t is the OILY day he
has to himself. If you attempt to be-
gin opening places of amusement, you
will soon have places of work open, too,
and thus the poor man will lose that"
Earl Cairns, in the house of lords,
echoed the sentiment which Mr.. Broad
hurst had expressed in the house of
commons, and said: IF the state once
enters upon a course of this kind. the
only point at which it would stop short
is the point which has been reached
in foreign capitals, where there is abso-
lutely no protection at all to the work
ingman in the observance of the Sab
bath"
Wage earners would do well to con-
slider the utterances of these thoughtful
men. and to rise up against any sort
of PROCLAMATION of the Sabbath day wheth-
er by moving picture establishments, or
by any other parties whatsoever.
Some will say 1t is progress to disre-
gard the Sabbath day. Such talk is the
merest folly. There is no real or en-
during progress ever achieved by the
trampling under foot of moral laws.
Progress which is away from principles
is not advancement toward any good
thing, but needless and headlong move
ment towards every conceivable disas-
ter