Sunday Excursions by J. O. Corliss

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 9, 1875

Sunday Excursions.

By J. O. Corliss

(GRADUALLY the minds of leading men are being aroused to the subject of “wholesome laws,” for preserving inviolate the much-cherished Sunday institution, and much is now being said about violating Sunday by running excursion trains on that day to and from camp-meetings. At the Highland church, Sept. 26, the Rev. A. E. Dunning, in referring to the late excursions to the Twin Mountain House to hear Beecher, said:—

“The godly labors and godly warfare of a hundred years ago will all have been of no avail if the tendency toward an utter neglect of the commands of God in regard to the Sabbath are not checked now and at once. The American nation cannot lose its American Sabbath without the direst consequences, and if we neglect the present opportunity we shall leave to our children a legacy of shame, and one that shall make their life a curse to the world.”

Again we find in the Boston Weekly Globe a request from Gen. Hawley to the Congregationalist, in which he says: “Would you be so kind as to use your influence to stop these Sunday excursions over the Pennsylvania railroad to the Centennial grounds at Philadelphia? New England expects her sons to do their duty.”

Thus the question of a national day of rest is being agitated throughout the land, and its adherents are being daily strengthened by accessions which increase their popularity in proportion as their numbers increase. Many who were once openly opposed to the measure now favor it, and do not fear to advocate their newly imbibed sentiments.

J. O. CORLISS.