Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-01-15
THE COUNTRY HOME
CONDUCTED 81 MRS w. u. FELTON,
Blue Laws and Sabbath Observance

Blue Laws and Sabbath Observance
Bishop Warren Gambler has writ
ten a very admirable article for
the Sunday issue of the daily At
| lanta Journal, one that [ can COM
mend to the readers of The Coun-
try Home Column; with all my
| heart.
The bishop and myself have not
always been harmonious in what
we have written for the daily Jour-
nal and The Tri-Weekly Journal
on ecclesiastical problems, and
while he speaks from an eminence
and my humble efforts are on the
ground floor, with the rural popu-
lation of Georgia, 1 feel it duty
to echo what he has written on the
subject of blue laws, and Sabbath
| observance.
When the famous revolution took
place in Paris, and had a strangle
| hold all over France, and is known
! to history as the French Revolu-
tion," the masses of the French
| people had grown weary Of civic
righteousness and resolved to Ego
| it Wild with mob law They for
sock Bible teachings and proclaim
| ed Atheism as the ruling creed in
| that country. They forgot God, and
brazenly renowned the obedience to
| the ten commandments.
| They were only a law unto them
selves. I must say, in this connec-
ton, I mean this was the decision
OF the ruling majority. I do not
| mean to say there were not many
| French men and women who were
| first-class ladies and gentlemen,
| it wholesome to flee the country,
| until France could reach a better
| day of strong reaction, against the
| rum-mad Jacobeans, who regarded
neither God nor man in their vio-
| lent tyranny.
service every day Of the week. HUI
| man blood in France was only less
| common than sleeps blood in the
shambles of the butchers. Human
| life was the cheapest thing in that
famous country, They spared Meth
less in their pursuit of helpless
women of high caste, of pious mo-
| tives and refined in culture.
That orgy of mob violence still
stands out as without parallel in
| the story of the worlds civilization.
thing in sight as reverence for the
aged, the good or the innocent. There
was no seventh day of rest from
| labor-the violent men of that period
were boastful of their privileges and
opportunities-as 1 have said before
and repeat it again, they became a
| law unto themselves" We all know
| what happened! In destroying the
| barriers and the limitations. set and
authorized by God, for the peace and
progress of the human family, the
| fundamentals of sane and sensible
civic government, France went to
ruin and degeneracy. Any other gov
ernment-and especially all govern
| ments which forget the commands of
Almighty God, are bound to race
| themselves to defeat.
In a republic where the people are
supposed to rule, the sheet-anchor of
| the ship of state must be: Equal
ity, justice and moderation, and
proper reverence for an Almighty
| Ruler, who. has given the necessary
There are no Blue Laws" as the
bishop has well explained in his ad-
mirable declaration on this subject
! There must be good laws, or there
will be no real government; and these
laws must be restrictive, in many
| In this American republic, we find
1t to be, very largely, very great
| aggregation of families. The entire
| United States are thus composed,
and every household must have rules
and neutrality-suspicious. discipline
lawful heads of each family-or
there will be nothing doing-to hold
such a family to worthy lives and
progressive prosperity, Just so with
each state which becomes a worthy
member of the federal union.
| We have day of rest-the sew
enth day-the recognized Sabbath of
Almighty God. We are also agreed
as a nation that it is our best rule
for life and conduct thus to rest
from business cares, and we would
call any man to order who ploWed
his fields or worked his city gar
den on the Sabbath day, while his
neighbors were on their way to
church., or using the day for proper
rest and peace of mind.
To open theaters-to exploit film
pictures. to pursue weekly diver
sions on the Sabbath dag is en-
phatically worse than to pillow the
farm land or cultivate the city gar
den. In the latter case it is, per-
haps, only an individual sufferer.
In the great general laXity which
would ensue when theaters, movies
and other eXcitements, where money
is made, by interested people, we
j