The Sabbath and the Centennial.
By M. B. Miller
THAT which attracts the attention of a nation is often instrumental in drawing out national sentiment. Thus, the coming Centennial Exhibition is effectual in awakening public feelings and interests on the “American Sabbath,” as the following extract, which we clip from the Independent Republican of Dec. 6, 1875, will show. Shall we not take advantage of this arousing on the Sabbath question by calling the attention of our fellow-men to the only true Sabbath, that of the fourth commandment? Parkville, Dec. 13, 1875. An effort is being made to induce the Directors of the Centennial Board to reconsider their determination to close the Centennial Exhibition on Sunday. Several religious organizations have protested against the proposed desecration of the Sabbath, and we notice that the American Bible Society will decline to occupy the apartment assigned them for the display of their books, if the exhibition is to be kept open on Sunday. The Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, in an article against closing the doors on Sunday, says:— “The Sunday revenue may be as much as half of the whole receipts, and from a money view alone it is worth while to inquire whether this return is not of more consequence than that which is likely to accrue from assurances to a restricted class of people that Sunday is to be kept ‘sacred.’ But, in fact, it will be impossible to close the Exhibition; the managers know it as well or better than any body, and the talk on the question is deceitful and misleading. If the claims of working people, and the immense accession of revenue could be disregarded, we should not find it possible to resist the pressure of the foreign element, which would view such a course of action in the light of a personal indignity. We are not to invite the world here, and then bind it to a line of action of which it has no conception.” There is a great principle involved in this question, which should not lightly be set aside on any plea of mere expediency. If this were a heathen country, ignorant of Christianity and ignoring it entirely, there would be some force in the argument of the Telegraph. But Christianity and the Christian Sabbath are recognized in the common statute law of the State in which the Exhibition is to be held, and ours is regarded as peculiarly that country whose God is the Lord. It was his gracious favor which guided us through the perils of our war of Independence, the inauguration of which we are about to celebrate, and our gratitude will be irreverently manifested by conducting the Exhibition in a way which will ignore his Sabbath, and turn it into a day of amusement, drunkenness, and crime, defying the laws of God and man. The Exhibition will remain open six months, day and night, so that none will be deprived of the opportunity of visiting it as often as they may desire. Foreigners, it is true, have been invited to participate in the celebration; but we want to show them the beauty of our free institutions, and the quiet of the American Sabbath, as compared with the noise and gaiety of the European Sabbath. They should not expect us to conform to their way of spending the Sabbath, but, as our guests, we have a right to expect them to conform to ours. This is a serious question, and we trust the Board of Directors will firmly resist all attempts to turn the Exhibition into a scene of Sabbath desecration, where, on every Lord’s day, the baser portion of the population would hold a carnival of drunkenness and debauchery. The Christian population would consider themselves outraged by such a course, and would be compelled to withdraw their sympathy from the enterprise. The Exhibition will be regarded as reflecting our national character, and it would be better that it should not be held at all than to result in giving us the reputation of a nation of Sabbath-breakers. If the prosperity which has marked our career through the past century is to be continued, it must be through the continued smiles and gracious favor of the God of the Sabbath.—Franklin Repository.