NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
By J. S. Washburn
THE capital city of the United States is unlike any other city in the world. It has not come together, as is the case with nearly every other city in the world, by apparent chance or unfettered national growth, but was laid out after a plan by George Washington and a French engineer. The great Capitol crowns a high hill, and was intended to be the very center of the city. The streets radiate from the Capitol. In the street plan there is wonderful regularity and yet great variety. The streets have been beautifully paved at enormous expense, and fine shade-trees are everywhere. In fact, the trees of Washington constitute, in the summer season, one of its chief beauties, and there are many parks. This feature of Washington is not second even to the splendid public buildings. THE political situation of Washington is unique. No citizen of Washington has a vote. Congress is the only law-making body. A law once passed must be accepted by the citizens of the District without the chance of a vote upon it, for or against. The National Reformers and those who have been for years seeking to secure the passage of a national Sunday law have realized their opportunity. A law once passed here can not be voted down or out by the people; and Sunday-law advocates realize and rejoice in such a situation as favorable to religious legislation—a species of legislation that rejoices in tyranny over the freedom of humanity, the obliteration of the most sacred rights and privileges given by God to the human race. Here the advocates of Sunday legislation have concentrated their forces. Every man who is interested in the freedom of soul, and mind, and body, for which the name America is supposed to stand, should be deeply interested in the work of safeguarding the liberties of the people in the District of Columbia. Sunday legislation once passed here in the District would become a precedent for national legislation of the same character. Hence every reader of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES (which stands for liberty of thought and worship) should consider as a matter of personal concern any attempt to abridge the religious liberties of the people of the District of Columbia. WASHINGTON, unlike London, Berlin, and Paris, is not a large city. London had, at the last census, 6,580,000 people. Washington has a population of nearly 300,000. The government in London and other old-world capitals is overtopped by gigantic manufacturing and commercial interests. Not so with Washington. The city of Washington was made to be the capital, and stands for that one purpose. A larger part of its citizens are connected in some way with the government. A powerful local influence affects, for good or evil, remotely and sometimes directly, the legislation for the whole country. The Catholic Church and other religious bodies realize this; and those who stand for liberty of conscience, and desire to perpetuate the liberties which have made this country world-famous,—the men who stand for the freedom advocated in this paper,—must also realize it, and act accordingly. It is indeed a great providence of God that a strong church, from which the light of the Holy Spirit is shining brilliantly, may reach the men who shape the destiny of the nation. Here the great deciding conflict is to be fought out, and, in great measure, the destiny of the world decided. Can those who hold the last, saving truth for a lost world be clear until they have established that truth here on a firm footing where it may stand to grapple in the last conflict with the enemies of God and of humanity? At the services held in the Memorial Church mentioned in a recent number of the SIGNS—on Sabbath, February 7—the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:— WHEREAS, The Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church in Washington, D. C., has received much help from the friends in the United States, outside the capital city; therefore, RESOLVED, That we express our sincere thanks to God, who has moved upon the hearts of believers in the Third Angel’s Message to establish a memorial of the saving truth for this time in the nation’s capital; and, WHEREAS, It is of the utmost importance that the Memorial Church be absolutely free from all debt; therefore, RESOLVED, That we, as a church, pledge ourselves to do all in our power to clear this church at once from all indebtedness; and while deeply grateful to our brethren, who have enabled us to much more than meet the decisive payment due February 2, we do earnestly request their co-operation in a determined effort to raise immediately the balance still due on this church, and thus establish in the heart of the nation a FREE memorial, rightly representing the everlasting Gospel of the kingdom; that from this church there may be proclaimed to the men of the nation the truth that makes free indeed; and that thus from this city set upon a hill, may be published abroad the coming of Him who brings the eternal, the glorious “liberty of the sons of God.” This Memorial Church has owing upon it now $7,900. Will not every reader of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES contribute something toward the result desired, absolute freedom from all financial obligation? If all would do this, how quickly it would be finished. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES will receive and forward all donations. J. S. WASHBURN.