“PUNISHED FOR SABBATH-BREAKING.”
We take the following from the Literary Digest of August 6:— “The fact that Admiral Cervera deliberately selected the hour when the crews of the American ships were at religious service for his dash out of Santiago harbor on that now historic sabbath morning, may in the providence of God have had more to do with his overthrow than most people have yet imagined. The morning was calm and peaceful, bringing its tender reminiscent reflections to hundreds of worshipful American hearts on the fleet at anchor off shore, when suddenly, as tho to disturb the Almighty at His own devotions, the impious Spaniards, fired while also fuddled with wine, rushed forth, as it proved, horribly to die or finally to be captured. What a way to spend Sunday! And when the sun set that sabbath, its last reproachful beams slanted across the smoking hulks of the fleet of the proud Spaniard who deliberately broke up religious meetings in the hope of gaining a strategic success. But the stars in the courses fought against Cervera. God is not mocked, nor can His commandments and sacred sanctions ever be impugned with safety.” Let the reader note the following simple facts: (1) Sunday is not the Sabbath, by any divine authority, as any number of learned divines will admit, or as any one may know by reading the Bible. (2) It is not a “commandment” of God to remember Sunday to keep it holy. By both precept and example God has told us to work on the first day. There is a command, however, “Thou shalt not kill.” (4) It was on a quiet Sunday morning that a certain squadron sailed into a peaceable oriental bay for the sole purpose of finding and capturing or destroying the enemy’s fleet. It took the enemy by surprise, and destroyed his fleet, and killed hundreds of men, winning “a glorious victory.” Who was the aggressor on that Sunday morning of May 1 in Manila Bay? And in the light of Christianity is it more wicked and God-dishonoring to run away to save life, even tho done on Sunday, than it is to watch to destroy it? These are questions worthy of consideration.