SUNDAY, THE WORLD'S FAIR, AND RESPECT TO GOD.
By Editor
THERE is a strong organization working against Sunday closing of the World's Fair, the Advisory Committee of which embraces the Rev. Robert Collyer, of New York; the Right Rev. Bishop Spalding, of Peoria, Ill.; Samuel Gompers, of New York, president of the American Labor Federation; Frank Hatton, editor of the Washington Post; the Rev. J. Minot Savage, of Boston; the Rev. Dr. Thomas, Colonel James A. Sexton, and Hempstead Washburne. Among its friends are Bishop Potter, of New York, Cardinal Gibbons, T. V. Powderly, Professor Swing, Mrs. John A. Logan, Rev. J. T. Sutherland, etc. It is believed by some that the Fair will be opened. The Chicago Advance (Congregational) of November 3 says, however:— The Fair will not be open on Sundays. The National House of Representatives has said it; the Senate has said it; the President has affirmed it; and now the national commissioners in determining "rules" that shall control the management of the Exposition have expressly declared that the gates shall not be opened Sundays. The Local Directory will have to conform to these rules. This ought to end the disturbing uncertainty. Through the priceless right of petition, the voice of the people has been heard. And the gracious and every way beneficent law of the Creator in ordaining the Sabbath for man has been nationally, officially, and fittingly respected. The Fair will perhaps be closed except to a select few, as the Philadelphia Exposition was. General Hawley and his special friends found admittance on Sunday. But how the "law of the Creator" has been "fittingly respected" by the honor placed upon a day of which that law takes no cognizance, except as a working day, is more than we can understand. God ordained the Sabbath for man, but the Sabbath which God ordained never was, never will be, and never can be Sunday. If respect were really designed by the Sunday-closing act, it could not have been more unfittingly shown. Its appropriateness reminds us of the man who, wishing to please his wife, presented her with a tombstone. But Sunday arguments, Sunday laws, and the whole Sunday movement are filled full of just such incongruities, inconsistencies, and insults to God and common sense. How much do these human ordinances add to God's glory? How much respect do they show him?