Christian Citizenship and Sunday Observance
"Oakland has a large flagpole, and we are glad to see it. All citizens should honor their flag; but that this pole should have been raised and painted on Sunday is a crime against Christian citizenship that we can not overlook. Our laws are so lax here, and rules of society so easily overrun, that we get in the habit of seeing the Lord's day broken by bicycle races, Sunday picnic[s, etc., and consequently they do not arouse our feelings as they should. Our consciences get seared on this subject. . . . Not against any individual do we speak these words, because this is not a personal affair; but we speak against the practise of not observing the Lord's day as it should be observed, and we believe if the Endeavorers use their influence toward a better keeping of the Sabbath, men in positions of responsibility, as these men were, would not dare to trample under foot the custom and rule that has, more than any other one thing, made our country what it is to-day. Just now "Christian citizenship" is greatly jubilant over the victories of Manila and Santiago, of Dewey and Schley and Sampson; but these were won on Sunday. If Sunday is a good day for war, why isn't it a good day to prepare to celebrate the results of war? There are other points in Mr. Lyon's protest which it may be well to refer to, as they express a very common sentiment among Endeavorers. Crime is transgression of civil law; but what civil law of California is transgressed in doing legitimate labor on Sunday? What authority has "Christian citizenship" in this matter above citizenship which may not call itself "Christian," but which may be as truly so? Why should a "Christian" conscience become seared by surrounding evil? Christ lived in an evil age uncontaminated. So did Enoch and Noah, Joseph and Moses and Elijah, and many others of the