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A Sumptuary Measure

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 25, 1889

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 4, No. 35.

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A Sumptuary Measure.

By S. H. Willey

THE disposition on the part of many people to favor the objects of the National Reform Association and the passage of the National Sunday-Rest bill can be attributed largely to ignorance of interests involved; but with many others the spirit of selfishness and persecution is very apparent. Inconsistencies will crop out. The following conversation will illustrate one prominent characteristic of these agitators:—
A—Will you vote the prohibition ticket this fall?
B—Most emphatically, No!
A—Don't you believe in the prohibition principle?
B—No, sir; it is a sumptuary measure; it interferes with the personal rights and liberties of men, and I will heartily oppose all such measures. Besides, this question is purely a moral one, and should never be interfered with by legislation.
In a short time the topic of conversation was changed, and the Sunday-law question came up, as follows:—
A—What do you think of the proposed Sunday law?
B—It is the very thing we need. It is high time something emphatic were done to enforce Sabbath observance.
A—Would you vote for such a law?
B—I would support a measure that would sink every steamer, and burn every railroad train that moved on Sunday, and confiscate the property and imprison every man who worked on the Sabbath.
The above conversation really took place between the writer and a prominent member of a Protestant church in Easton, Maryland. And with such a spirit they propose to put God in the Constitution and evangelize the United States.
S. H. WILLEY.