Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-06-26
American People Stand
More in Need of Religion
I han Rut bag a s.
BY BISHOP w. A. GAMBLER.

moral preparedness Tor war, as Well as
a military preparedness, and it must
not be overlooked. 1t is to be feared
that in this matter of moral 'preo
paredness" the American people are
more deficient at this time than in
the matter of Military preparedness"
1t has been proclaimed by the high
est authorities of the nation that the
war into which our country has entered
is a war waged for the sake of freedom,
and the bonds which have been floated
to maintain the war have been called
Liberty bonds" This view of the war
is doubtless just; but freedom may
be destroyed by the moral deteriora-
ton of the nation as we'll as by the
assaults of foreign foes. The wisest
philosophers and statesmen have taught
us with absolute unanimity that free
institutions cannot survive the perish
ing of religious faith among a peo-
pie.
Prof Goodwin Smith, who was very
far removed from anything akin to
fanaticism, said, without religious
sanctions men never have been able to
live under a government or law"
Political institutions which do not
rest upon moral foundations must, by
the very nature of things, speedily fall
into ruin, and morality without re-
ligion is impossible.
If these things be true with refer
ence to nations during the peaceful
periods of their history, how much more
are they true in a time Of stress
and strain? The American people can
not afford to go into war without at
the same time turning anew to GOD.
There has been a revival of faith In
France, and in England 1t is said the
people are becoming more religious
than they have been for years. The
people of the United States will do we'll
to return from their backsliding and
folly, to their places of wor-
ship. and seek again the God of their
fathers. without such a revival of re-
ligion the nation will lack the moral
life required for the sacrifices and SER
vices which the war will demand.
But there can be no revival of re-
ligion among us If we countenance
longer Entertainments upon the SAB
bath. The christian religion can not
flourish in default of Sabbath observ-
ance. Even Voltaire, the French inf
del, perceived this, and said There Is
no hope of destroying the Christian re-
ligion so long as the Christian SABBATH
is acknowledged and kept by men as
sacred day" The reverse of Voltaire's
there is no hope of preserving christian
ity if tie Sabbath is overthrown. Years
ago Justice MCLEAN, of the Supreme
Court CT the United States, declared,
where there is no christian Sabbath
there is no christian morality; and
without this free institutions cannot
long he sustained"
To the same effect spoke that brilliant
Virginian, Judge Randolph Tucker, who
said "Ah! my friends, break down the
fence of christianity and liberty, law,
and civilization will perish with It,
wish to testify my belief that the instl-
tutional custom of our fathers in re-
Numbering the Sabbath day to keep 1t
holy as the conservator of their chris
tian religion, is the foundation of our
political system and the only hope of
American freedom, progress and glory.
Our people cannot preserve so much
as clear perceptions of right unless
they observe the Sabbath day and main
tain the reverent habits of worshipers.
A gentleman walking near a Pennsylva-
mia coal mine saw a field full of mules.
In response to his inquiry about the
mules, the boy who was with them said,
These are the mules that work all the
week down in the mine, but Sunday
they have to come up into the light, or
Wherever the people of any community
do not climb out of their pleasures and
tolls once week itno the quiet and
clarifying atmosphere of the Sabbath.
they become too blind to see clearly the
things which make for their highest
welfare and prosperity Edmund Burke
said most truly, that They who always
labor can have no true judgment" 1t
is equally true that they who do not
labor, but pursue pleasure from week
to week and never observe the Sabbath
or attend religious services, lose their
capacity for sound judgment concern
ing any matters of importane.
All these things being true II is re-
grettable to the last degree that some
are proposing various concessions dur
ing the war to those who would en-
croach upon the sancity of the Sab
bath day. A so-called preacher in Bal
timore went through the profane per-
Torrance of Diminishing his congrega
ton that they might work their gardens
on the Sabbath. Such cheap clerical
demagogy "wearies indignation and ia
tigues disgust"
The American people are not so short
of potatoes and so long on piety that
gardening may for a time supercede
goodness. They may need corn, but they
need far more sorely conservation. They
need rutabagas far less than they need
religion. Our country was never more
rich in material things than 1t Is now
and it is the most profrane folly and
foolish profanity to suggest that there
is any slightest necessity for any among
us to be working in gardens or fields on
the Sabbath day in order to save us from
hunger. Such proposals are the merest
pretexts for destroying the Sabbath I'M
der pretense of meeting the exigent
needs of this critical period In our ma
tional history.
Akin to the proposals Of this kind we
may expect to see all sorts of exhibitions
offered professedly in the interest Of
one good cause or another. Ball games
and movies" will be advertised as CIV
ing their gate receipts to relieve the
blind in France or the starving in Bel
GUM. Let not the people be deceived
by any of these things. Those who
propose such things are not the leaders
of humane efforts; they are simply taxi
ing occasion from a time of war to
break down the Sabbath day as far as
they may be able. They do not care so
much for the needy as they are con-
cerned to overthrow the sacred institu-
ton which interferes with their plans
and pleasures.
The American people can not excuse
the proclamation of the Sabbath with
plea of necessity. We have not so much
as the want of ordinary comforts, to say
nothing of real necessaries. to tempt us