Year: 1866

From the New York Journal of Commerce.


To defend the Sabbath is noble work,
worthy any mans pride, but Philadelphia
newspaper boasts that it has succeeded in
reducing respect for that day. The enter
prise is found to pay. The same newspaper
proprietor manifests desire to advance
further in the same direction by advocating
the repeal of laws and ordinances which sup
port the sanctity of Sunday. The spirit ex-
cited by these innovations, among the better
class of citizens, cannot be doubted. The
disposition with which this warfare against
Christian usages and good morals is carried
on can be judged of by the following extract: I:


THE People VS.. THE PRosCBIPTIvE AND
INToLERANT CLERGY.--Our table is cover
cred with letters and communications from
citizens, far and near, representing trades
and professions of all kinds, applauding the
course Of the press against the unproyoked
prescription and unchristian intolerance of
some of tie clergymen in this city. We
learn that petition has already been started,
and is being signed by thousands, addressed
to our public authorities, asking such legis-
lation as VIII authorize the use of the city
passenger cars on the first day of the week,
and also that steps are being taken prepara-
tory to public meetings in support of this
important measure. Never have the boasted
conservators of public order and the osten-
tatious exemplars ofpublic morals lscommitted
so profound a blunder as when they sup
posed that they would be supported in at
tempting to conduct a causeless crusade
against an independent journal, and to
check and choke down a manly effort to give
the toiling masses the same facilities for en-
ioying day of rest that are freely afforded
to the people elsewhere. We predict that
the press will be sustained, and that the in
novation will be so wholesome and unex-
ceptionable as to convince all men by its re-
suits Of the utter uncharitableness of the
present pharisaical antagonism.


That must be an mdurated conscience that
can rest when prosecuting such an unholy
work, joining hands with the enemies of
Christianity in undermining those institu-
tons which have blessed the world for ages,
and have made America illustrious, stoutly
defying the so-called "intolerant clergy"
and the circumstances Of a people justly SEN
sitive TO an invasion ofprinciples held sacred
from the days of our forefathers.


We believe that the Sabbath day is one of
the great muniments of our national charac-
ter; that its observance is Of the highest
importance to the preservation of free insti-
tutions and the education of men fit for self
government. 1t is a melancholy fact that
during the war a growing neglect Of the day
has been visible throughout the country, and
most melancholy that this neglect has been
largely caused by the course of some of the
churches. The house Of worship has been in
many cases transformed into town hall for
political meetings, and the clergyman has
desecrated the pulpit to the purposes of hu-
man contests But the time of reflection and
repentance has come, and we nov hope TO
see the old respect for the day again revived
among the churches, and the repose for
which the time was ordained again estab-
hshed as its characteristic feature. But for
the present We are content to rest the argu-
Inent against the Philadelphia paper on
other grounds than the ordinance of God. IL
any man chooses to deny the binding author
ity Of the fourth commandment, then let
him respect the lessons of history and the
manifest teachings of experience.


The editor Of the Press should be ashamed
of the argument on which they rest their
case, that they win be sustained" Docbt-
less they viii make money by theircourse. So
may man who chooses deliberately
course Of fraud in business. So do the rob