ftsligimts ItMlijptt.
PRESBTTERIAN.
Revivals. —An extraordinary and profound
revival of religion is in progress among the
students at Princeton , and has resulted already
in the conversion of number of young men,
several of whom have been considered the
most reckless in the college. The prayer
meetings, two or three of which are held
daily, are attended by hundreds of students,
and are marked with the utmost solemnity.
The United Presbyterian Church in Buena
Vista,,' near Pittsburgh, has recently had an
accession of 76 on profession. The United Pres
byterian says:—“ This revival was not got up
in any way. It was altogether unexpected.
There had been no special interest manifested
—indeed there seemed to be coldness. They
began the services in faith, the means used
were prayer, and the Word of God, from the
pulpit, in the Conference, and by the mem
bers seeking out the careless and speaking to
them of the Saviour.”
The Presbyterian says of. the two Philadel
phia suburban churches ot its connection: —
“ Twenty- two persons were added to the Co
hodcsink Presbyterian Church, on last Sab
bath. This, with sixty- six added a few weeks
ago, makes eighty-eight who have united
with that Church on profession since the be
ginning of this year. And we are glad to
say that there ate still some in the large con
gregation who are earnestly seeking the sal
vation of their souls. We understand that
the Presbyterian Church at Fiankford , (the
Rev. Mr. Murphy’s,), received forty persons
into its communion, thirty five on profession
of faith in Christ. These are part of the
fruits of a quiet, gentle work of grace, which
has been going on for some time in this
church, and from which others, it is hoped,
may yet be gathered in.”
The Western Presbyterian has an account
of revivals in some churches in eastern Ken
tucky. Three or four ministerial brethren
associated themselves together, and held four
days meetings in each other’s congregations,
and in vacant churches. The old members
have been greatly revived and the cause
strengthened. Ninety-seven persons have
been added to the various churches. The
additions to the churches embraced persons
of all ages, from eleven to sixty-five—of every
character, from the notoriously profligate to
the man of unexceptionable morality.
Seventeen persons have recently been
added on profession to the Presbyterian
Church in Upper Tuscarora, Pa.; nine to
the Downingtown, Pa. church; twenty-two!
to that in Millstone, N. J., and about twenty
in St. Clairsville, Pa.
A series of meetings has been held in the
United Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, of
which the Rev. Samuel Jamieson is pastor,
. and seventy-five persons have United with
the church on profession of faith. Fourteen
of these were baptized. This seems to have
been a most genuine revival.
Dedication and Installation. Three
years ago a Presbyterian church of 23 mem
bers was organized at Oxford Furnace, N. J.
It has since grown up to the number of about
one hundred, and has erected a fine church
edifice. The latter was dedicated with the
usual services, on the 31st of January, Rev.
Mr. Kirk, of Belvidere, preaching the sermon.
On the same day Rev. B. Clark Cline, late
chaplain of the U. S. Volunteers, was install
ed over the church. The instajlation services
were performed by Messrs. Knighton, Bryan,
Bush, and Kirk.
A Presbytery in Brazil— The Rome and
Foreign Record, the organ ot the Old School
Board, says.—“We have_ received very
pleasing news from our missionary friends in
Brazil. Under the rule of the General As
sembly for such cases, they organized a Pres
qytery on the 16th of December last, called
the Presbytery of Rio de Janeiro. On the
next day the Presbytery ordained to the full
Work of the ministry Sr. Conceicao, the ex
priest who has been associated with the mis
sionaries for some time, and_ for whom they
have been led to form a high opinion and
esteem. Be is regarded as a most valuable
laborer in the missionary work."
Convention at St. Louis. —The names of
about thirty ministers and twenty-two ruling
elders, all, Western men, are pubjished, as
heartily concurring in Dr. Breckenridge’s call
for a Convention at St. Louis in anticipation
of the meeting of the Old School Assembly.
The list is highly respectable in character: in
numbers also if it is spontaneous, and not the
result of an effort.
The Presbyterian Standards in Chinese.
—Rev. Dr. Happer, a missionary of the O.S.
Board, has translated the Confession of Faith
into the Chinese language. It is now in the
course of publication.
Great Britain. —It is unfortunate for the
cause of Presbyterian Church extension
in England, which of late is assuming con
siderable activity, that some friction attends
the co-occupation of the field by two distinct
bodies, the United and the English Presby
terian Church. We published, some months
since, an example occurring in the town of
Leeds. Last month the attention of the
London Presbytery (Eng. Prs.) was occupied
with a case ot alleged interference with the
field ot Dr. Roberts at St. John’s Wood, by
Mr. Sandie, who had commenced a United
Presbyterian enterprise there. Happily tfie
debate was much softened by a conciliatory
message from the other Presbytery, and the
kind spirit of Dr. Roberts himself, and it ter
minated in a resolution acknowledging the
cortrtesy of the United Prestery, and express
ing regret that any collision should arise from
the planting of new charges in the vicinity of
old ones, and affirming that had always been
the aim of the London Presbytery of the
English Presbyterian Church to avoid such
collisions.
At the same meeting, Dr. Stewart, of Dub
liri, stated that he had spent six Sabbaths m
Guernsey, preaching to a congregation in a
declension and discouragement, and had left
them sohiewhat revived, and confident that
if a faithful and affectionate minister could be
procured for them, they could soon have a
self-sustaining congregation on the island.
The Presby t ery engaged Dr. S. for that service
and proceedea to induct him into the charge.
Rev. Matheson, in behalf of the Church
Extension Committee, reported an improved
arrangement for the Church at Devizes.
There'had been great need of a laborer to
work there throughout the week, as well as
on the Sabbath, and the Committee had se
cured the regular labors of Rev. John Pirie,
of the Cowgate Territorial Church, Edinburg,
' who in the last named field, had shown emi
nent fitness for the station.
The memorial (corner) stone of a new Pres
byterian Church edifice in W indsor-place,
Cardiff, was laid with more than usually in
teresting services, on the 15th ult. The
building is estimated to seat 700 persons. It
is nearly circular in form, and will have a
commodious session room. The cost will be
about £3600.
At a meeting of the Presbytery ot Glasgow,
on the 7th ult., the application of Dr. Bu
chanan. of the Free College Church, for a col
league pastor and successor, originally ad
dressed to the official board of the Church, I
was presented, and the application was sus
tained. Dr. Buchanan states that he is in
the fortieth year of his ministry, spent mostly
amid the exciting and exhausting labors ot a
great city, and his strength was becoming ex
hansted. Principal Fairbairn, in support ox
the application, stated that it Was only eight
years since the congregation was formed by
Dr. Buchanan, and formed by him at an ad
vanced period of life. Of course, that was
always a difficult matter; and yet in the short
time that had elapsed, the congregation had
paid off the debt on a church which cost, he
believed, fully £lO,OOO. They had maintain
ed the ordinances of religion ameng them at
a cost altogether of £5OOO, or £6ooo—taking
into account the missionary agency carried on;
and they had contributed to the funds of the
Church 'somewhere about £lO,OOO. He
thought that a minister and congregation who,
on the whole, had done so well in this time
were entitled to the sympathy of the Presby
tery.
At the same meeting, initiatory steps were
taken for the erection of anew Free Church in
the neighborhood of the Infirmary Square,
Townhead. Thecostofthesite, (£3,000) has
been entirely assumed by one gentleman and
his son.
Rev. |Dr. Buchanan, submitted a repart
from the Corftmittee on the Manse. Fund,
which set forth that the Committee, in con
sideration that the sum subscribed now
amounted to £5OOO (the total sum required
being £15,000) , had resolved that steps should
be taken for calling in the first instalment.
The report was approved of.
Rev. Dr. Horatius Bonar, of Kelso, has
been called to the new Free Church at the
Grange, Edinburg. The Presbytery from
which lie is called, has postponed action in
the matter.
The Established Church Presbytery of
Paisely, on the 7th inst., agreed to give their
sanction to the disjunction of the Severn
Church from the Abbey parish, and to ils
erection into a separate and independent
parish.
THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH.
[Extract from the address of the Committee of
the Philadelphia Sabbath Union.]
(5.) These customs have been so well set
tled in the community, that it has come to be
understood by a large portion of the citizens,
and particularly by the laboring classes, that
they have a right to this day as a day of rest;
and this right is regarded as among the most
valuable which they enjoy. Contracts for
labor are made with this understanding, and
so well is this understood that it is not ne-
cessary that this should be specified in the
agreement to a contract to work by the day,
the month, or the year; it is not necessary
to specify that this shall not include. the
Sabbath, and it would be regarded as a viola
tion of the contract if it should be insisted
on. The same is true in indenting appren-
tices, and in binding out orphans. By the
very nature of such indentures, as understood
in the Commonwealth, the Sabbath is to be
to them a day of rest from toil. No one
could enforce a claim to the labor of an ap-
prentice on the Sabbath. by the law; no one
could advance such a claim without violating
a well-understood right. The same is true
in relation to officers and clerks in banks ; to
judges in the courts; to salesmen in stores;
to printing offices; to. masons, carpenters,
painters; to operators in cotton and woolen
factories, and to laborers in machine shops.
By common consent; by universal custom;
by the laws themselves; for these, and for all
classes of laborers, unless there is a special
contract to the contrary, the Sabbath is to be
a day of rest. This right is to them invalua
ble. It is among the most needed, and the
most precious, which laboring men can
enjoy. Nothing could be more unjust than
to attempt to deprive them of this right, or
so to modify the laws, or to change the cus
toms.of the community, as to compel them
to labor “ every day in the week” —“every
day in the year.” Moreover, to take advan
tage of their necessities, in connection with
any particular calling —as of labor in a print
ing-office, or in the distribution of newspa
pers, or in conducting cars, and to make it
necessary for them either to labor on the
Sabbath or to he dismissed from the employ
ment, would be to discriminate between them
and other laborers; would be unequal in its
operation, and unjust to themselves and to
their families. A strenuous effort is now
made in this State, and in other States of the
Union, to reduce the number of hours re
quired of laborers from ten to eight—an effort
which is entirely in the direction of humanity
and kindness toward those whose lives are
spent in toil. At the same time, however,
while this effort is made, so much desired.by
laborers, an effort of a directly opposite kind,
is made by those who are seeking to abolish
the Sabbath, and to compel those who labor
to toil every day of the week —taking away
an entire day of rest.. Toward this large class
of citizens —comprising, in fact, the great
body of the community—nothing could be
more unjust than laying this additional bur
den upon them, depriving them of their
sacred right—the right to a day of rest a.
right which they have enjoyed from their
earliest years; a right guaranteed to them by
the Constitution and the laws; a right re
garded as sacred in the customs of the com
munity ; a right to the enjoyment of which
they look forward in all their future lives:
their very birthright, and among the most
precious of their birthrights in a land of
liberty. Life to the masses; life to those
doomed to hard toil; life to the professional
man; life to the. salesman, the teller in a
bank, the clerk in a custom-house; life to
the farmer, the teacher, the mechanic; nay,
life to the convict in his cell, would be a
different thing—a gloomy thing—if in his
daily engagements man might not loot for
ward to a day of repose; if in its hardest toils
he could not anticipate that there would be
intervals, often occurring, when he might
suspend his labor altogether, and have, at
least, one day when he would not be crushed
with toil, and burdened with care. No one
can estimate the real value of such a day to
the laboring man, or the benevolence of those
arrangements in our laws and customs which
have made this a right to those .who toil. No
change of customs; no legislative act, eould
be more oppressive on the great masses of
men tiffin that which would take away this
right. As bearing hard on the laboring
classes, a change in the “hour” system from
ten hours a day to twelve would not. be equal
at all to such a change as would obliterate the
Sabbath as a day of rest, and make it neces
sary for men to toil without interval, every
day in the week, and every day in the year.
Such are the well-settled laws and customs
of the State of Pennsylvania, and such the
declared sentiments of the people of the
Commonwealth. (
(6.) It is, in our view, also, a very impor
tant point in considering whether these laws
shall be abrogated or changed, that the man
ner in which the Sabbath has been observed
in our country, and the views which have
prevailed here on the subject, have con
tributed very much to make us what we are
as a nation, in morality ; in intelligence; 'in
industry; in order; in the observance of
law; and in general prosperity. He who
would account for the origin of our civil
institutions; he who would explain the vol
untary subjection to law in our land; he who
would give a proper view of the sources of
out domestic peace and domestic virtues; he
who would suggest the causes why pauperism
and crime have had so much less prevalence
in our land than in the Old World, would
seek i# vain for an explanation without
taking into the account our prevailing views
and habits in regard to the Sabbath No
thing, perhapß, so arrests the attention ? f
those who visit ns from the Old World ln
regard to our country, ascontrasted with their
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1866.
own, as the manner in which the Sabbath is
observed, and the respect which is shown to
the sacredness of the day. Our national
prosperity has been closely connected, indeed,
with our views of education, and with the
diffusion of general intelligence in the land;
but it is morally certain that that generall
intelligence would not have existed if it haaj
not been for our views of the Sabbath; and it
would be difficult for a foreigner, or for an
American statesman, to designate any thing
that has decidedly contributed to make us
what we are, ana to distinguish us from
other nations, than the prevailing views in
this country in regard to the Sabbath. The
Sabbath has, to an extent which nonnan can
estimate, made us as a people what we are.
These laws and customs it is proposed now
to change, and a very important question has
been brought before the community : whether
they shall be thus changed. The question
whether the Sabbath is of value, the citizens
of this Commonwealth are again called upon
to consider; to examine anew the views
which led the framers of the Constitution and
of the laws to the present enactments, and
the views which have contributed to establish
the habits and customs now prevailing, and
which have so long prevailed in the Com
monwealth. It is not, indeed, proposed at
once to abrogate the general laws on the
subject, or to interfere with the conscientious
preferences of those who may choose to ob
serve the Sabbath as holy time. It is not
proposed to. change the laws in regard to
apprentices, and to the understood nature of
contracts, or to open the courts, the markets,
the stores, the banks, the insurance offices,
the schools and colleges, the machine shops,
or the theatres and the opera houses on the
Sabbath. Whatever may be the ultimate
bearing of the measures proposed, no man
would venture to go before the legislature or
the people of this State to propose an entire
repeal of the laws of the Sabbath.
The subjects on which it is proposed that
there shall either be a change of existing
laws in the Commonwealth, or that the com
munity shall tolerate and sustain those who
are conducting business in violation of the
existing, laws, are the following: (1) The
publication of newspapers on “all the days
of the week” and “of the year;” (2) the
running of city cars on the Sabbath ; (3) and
the keeping open the places where intoxicat
ing drinks may be obtained —the ordinary
drinking-places—on the Sabbath. Ultimately,
however-, the principles involved in these
cases would lead to an entire change respect
ing the Sabbath; a change which would
render any worldly pursuit lawful, and which
would assimilate the Sabbath in our country
to that which prevails extensively in the Old
World: for the principle involved would au
thorize travel and employment in any other
form ; would make it lawful and proper that
stores, offices, shops, and theatres should be
open; would greatly affect the peace and
good order of the community, and lead to a
great increase of crime; would interfere with
the rest and quiet necessary for the due ob
servance of the worship of God; and would
be, in the estimation of a very large portion
of the community, a public disregard of the
law of God. In fact, the stores, offices, and
the theatres would not long be closed if these
principles should prevail; and it is for the
people and the legislature to determine
whether changes shall be made, and principles
shall be established, from which these conse
quences would legitimately follow, and which
would, in their adoption, be so great an out
rage on the consciences of a large portion of
the people of the Commonwealth. ,
In reierence to these points there are pro
perly two questions. '.One is, whether those
who are engaged in forms of business contrary
to the existing laws of the Sabbath should
be sustained by the community; the other is,
whether the circumstances of the community
have so far changed as to make a repeal or
modification of thelawslongin existence desir
able.
PROPOSED CHANGES.
SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS.
(1.) The first point relates to the publica
tion of newspapers on the Sabbath.
On this we remark.
(a) That the publication of a newspaper is
a violation of the laws in respect to the Sab
bath. We speak not now of the work done
in the printing office; the editing of the pa
per, the setting of the types, or the printing
of the paper. We do not advert to the ques
tion whether the types are set, and the prints
ing done on Saturday, or whether it be done
on the “day commonly called Sunday.”
Whatever the law may contemplate in regard
to that, it is a quiet matter. It is not done
in public. It does not disturb the community.
There are many things that pertain to a man’s
own conscience, which the law does not claim
to interfere with. What a man shall do in
his own house, provided he does not disturb
the public peace; whether he shall read the
Bible or a newspaper; whether he shall pe
ruse a volume of sermons, or the works of
Thomas Paine, or Renan's Life of Jesus;
whether the merchant shall go to his count
ing-room and write letters of business there;
whether the lawyer shall make out his brief
in his office, or the editor of a paper prepare
his articles, all these are matters not now
under consideration, and none of these things
affect the matter ot public business on the
Sabbath. But the publication , the issuing,
the the crying of a newspaper, is a
matter that the law does take cognizance of,
as much as the sale of dry goods or hardware
in a store, or as the sales in an auction-room.
To say that the work of preparing, the paper,
the editing, the type-setting, the printing is
done on Saturday, does not affect the ques
tion whether the publication occurs on the
Sabbath; nor, considered as an offence
against the law, does such a plea any more
affect the question than the plea of an auc
tioneer that he arra aged his goods, and made
all preparations for the sale on Saturday,
could affect the question whether it is in con
formity with the law that he should, by pub
lic outcry, sell them on the Sabbath.
No one can doubt that the law is as appli
cable to the publication of a newspaper on
the Sabbath as to any other kind of busi
ness, whether it be to ploughing, to sowing,
to marketing, to the sale of hardware, dry
goods, or groceries. “If any person shall do
or perform any worldly employment or busi
ness whatsoever on the Lord’s day, commonly
called Sunday, works of necessity and charity
only excepted, every such person so offending
shall for every such offence forfeit and pay
the sum of four dollars,” etc. The publish
ing of a newspaper on the Lord’s day is as
really “ worldly employment” or “business,”
as it would be on any other day of the week,
and is the “ business” or employment pur
sued on the other days of the week, and is as
really ‘ 1 worldly employment, ’ ’ or “ business,
as any other in which men engage. No man
engaged in publishing a newspaper would
take the position that it comes under the ex
ception in the law in regard to “works of
necessity and mercy. ”
(b) 'lt is a depriving of a portion ot the
laboring classes oi the community ot what
the law contemplates, and ot what they are
accustomed to regard as. their right, a day ot
rest. If a newspaper is published seven
days in a week,” or “ every day m the year,
the effect must be to deprive thosewhoare
regularly engaged in the work ot the weekly
day of rest; that is, in regard to some per
sons whose services are lndispen e
work nreventine their enjoyment or such a
day o’S S S does not effect thrcqtajtam
if “ substitutes” are employed, the opera,
tion is somehow to add the ,
or the fifty-two days in the year, to the labor
done during the week or the year. It should
be added, also, that this bears on those who
have no other employment, and is taking an
advantage of their necessity id compelling
them thus to labor, or abandoning their busi
ness altogether.
(c) The publication of a newspaper on the
Sabbath is a special offence against a com
munity, because it is an abuse of power, and
the perversion of influence which ought to be
exerted in favor of law. The newspaper is,
or ought to be, one of the most important
educators of the public mind in regard to the
value of law, and the observance of law. The
good order of the community depends on the
proper observance 6f the laws. But in no
thing, perhaps, is there so much power in
reaching men to disregard the laws, as in the
publication of a paper “every day in the
week. The influence of a farmer in Lan
caster County, or in Potter County, who
ploughs his field on the Sabbath is very
limited. A few of his neighbors may be
affected by the example, but the effect of the
example does not go beyond the neighborhood.
The influence of a carpenter or a blacksmith
who prosecutes his business on the Sabbath
is also very limited. But not so with a news
paper. It is designed to have a wide circu
lation. It goes afar. It preaches the doc
trine on that day to as many auditors as it
can secure in its immediate, neighborhood,
and far and near thoughout. the land, that
the Sabbath is not to be observed according
to the laws. Wherever it goes, it impliedly
proclaims the doctrine that the law is to be
disregarded-in all cases where the interests of
men may seem to require it, and that any
business on the Sabbath, if it be pofitable, is
proper; for if a newspaper may be published
on this principle, why may not any kind of
business be pursued? Besides this, the pub
lisher of a newspaper labors to induce. as
many persons as possible to disregard the
Sabbath as a religious day, and to change it to
secular purposes. The design of publishing
a newspaper is that it may be read; and all
classes .who can be induced to read a secular
paper qn the. Sabbath, are led by it to disre
gard the obligations of the day as a day de
voted to the purpose of religion.
( d) The publication of a newspaper on the
Sabbath is an offence not only against the
law, but against the moral and religious sense
of the community. A large and respectable
portion of thig community regard the. Sab
bath as sacred time, to be devoted to religious
duties; as indispensable to the promotion of
good morals and order; as closely connected
with the domestic virtues, and with refine
ment of manners; and as vital to the best
interests of man in a fallen state. In nothing
else has the sentiment of the community
be’en expressed in more decisive and unam
biguous language, in the framing of the law,
and the customs and habits of the people,
than on these points; in respect to nothing
else could a man offer a more direct affront as
a citizen, than in disregarding these well
understood convictions of his fellow men.
SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
(2.) The second subject to which the public
attention is now directed, & the keeping open
on the Sabbath of the places where intoxi
cating drinks are sold; and the remarks now
made with reference to the publication of
newspapers, apply, in the main, with equal
pertinency to this practice, for the one is just
as much as the other, and no more, a viola
tion of the law. On this subject the law is
as explicit as laws can be made. _ The penal
ties are fixed and clear. The intention of
the law cannot be mistaken, for the law is
HQtonly against drinking or. tippling in such
houses (Act of 1705, 5), but expressly against
the sale of spirituous or malt liquors, wine or
cider, on the Sabbath. “It shad, not be law
ful for any person or persons to sell, trade, or
barter in any spirituous or malt liquors, wine
or cider, on the first day of the week, commonly
called Sunday, or for the keeper or keepers
of any hotel, inn, tavern, ale-house, beer
house, or public house or place, knowingly
to allow or permit any spirituous •or malt
liquors, wine or cider, to be drunk on or
within the premises or house occupied or
kept by such keeper or keepers, his, her, or
their ageiits, or servants, on the said first day
of the week” (Act of 26th of February, 1855,
1). Such is the law, enacted as solemnly as
any other law of the Commonwealth; sub
jecting the offender, on its violation, to a
double penalty ; first, to a fine of fifty dollars
as a civil offence, and secondly, regarded as
a “ misdemeanor,”* to be punished by a fine,
of “-not less than ten nor more than one hun
dred dollars, and imprisonment in the county
I jail for a period not less than ten nor more
than fifty days, at the discretion of the
Court.”
The sale of intoxicating and malt liquors
on the day “commonly called Sunday,” is
an open, a flagrant, a palpable violation of
the law. It is regarded Dy the law as an
offence deserving not merely a fine, but im
prisonment —a disgraceful offence in the eye
of the law. It places the roan who is engaged
in it on a level with other violators of the
law. It declares that he may be taken away
from his business and family, and made the
companion of felons.
And yet, under this law, and with the full
knowledge of its provisions, very many drain
shops and taverns in this city are open on the
Sabbath; liquors of every kind are as freely
sold on that day, as on any other day of the
week, or as any article of hardware or dry
goods is on any day of the week. While
places of ordinary business are almost entirely
closed on the Sabbath, these places are open
without disguise or restraint; and, beyond
all question, more liquor is sold on that day
than on any other day of the week. If there is
an advantage in the prosecution of worldly
pursuits by keeping places of business open
on all the days of the week, than he whose
business leads only to drunkenness, to crime,
to pauperism, to beggary, to wretchedness —
whose business goes to furnish three-fourths
of the criminals arraigned before the courts,
and consigned to the penitentiary or the gal
lows, and more than three-fourths of the in
mates of the almshouse —enjoys a preference
above other men. Other places are closed, to
the loss of a seventh part of their business; his
is open, with all the advantage of the cessa
tion from labor in his favor in the other occu
pations of the community; on a day when,
released from toil in their regular employ
ment, the masses of those who are most likely
to patronize him are at leisure, and will be
under stronger temptations than on other days
to encourage him. If the Legislature had
passed a law granting this as a privilege con
ferred on him, and withheld from the keeper
of a.dry goods store or a hardware store, no
language of denunciation would be too strong
in characterizing itas a disgraceful monopoly;
as an invasion of the equal 'righte of men.
As it is, the community—our Christian com
munity —presents this anomalous and singular
spectacle on every Sabbath. _ Our stores,
banks, insurance offices, factories, foundries,
carpenter s-hops, blacksmith shops, schools,
colleges, are closed. Our streets are free from
carts, drays, wagons, and barrows; the sound
of a hammer is not heard; the courts stand
adjourned; the markets are vacant. But the
places where men are made drunkards, crimi
nals and paupers; where families are made
wretched and are impoverished ; where can
didates for the almshouse and the penitenti
ary are multiplied; where the hearts of
mothers, and sisters, and wives, and children,
an “ offence of a less atrooionsnatnrethan
* TD&*’, »* Qrimea and misdemeanors,” says Black
acrußC; mere synonymous terms; but in common
stone. . ar :L or( j crime is made to denote offence of a
usage, toe w ore atroo i oxlfl dye,”
deeper *» u
are crusted with unutterable woes, are open.
And at the same time it is asserted, that
although this is a palpable violation of the
law, there is no power in the chief magistrate
of this city, or in his police, to close these
fountains of woe, and to abate the evil.
SUNDAY PASSENGER CARS.
(3.) The third point affecting the Sabbath,
relates to the question whether the laws shall
be so modified as to allow the running of the
city cars on that day. This would involve a
change of the laws, and make necessaty di
rect legislation on the subject, affecting a
vital principle in regard to 'the whole law of
the Sabbath.
It is mainly now with reference to this
question, that this community and the Legis
lature are asked to deliberate and act.
In reference to this we remark, in general,
(a) That the running of cars on the Sabbath
is not demanded or asked for by the public.
There has been no such expression of public
sentiment in its favor as should be made in
order to justify a legislative body in a mate
rial change of the laws. Such a change, if
made, should be for the public good, and only
when it is ascertained, or may be presumed,
that the public demand the change, (b) It
is not required by any public necessity. All
the necessities of business, so far as the run
ning of these cars is concerned, are, and must
he, fully accomplished by the present arrange
ment, unless it is contemplatedito abolish the
Sabbath altogether, and intended that busi
ness shall be pursued, and the places of
amusement ODened, on that day as on other
days of the week. For business purposes;
for ordinary worldly transactions; and for
the prosperity of cities and large towns, these
cars are of inestimable value, and could not
now be dispensed with ; and if business is to
be prosecuted, and the places of amusement
opened on that day as well as on other days,
then the running of these cars on that day
would’ be indispensable. But, on business
grounds, on no other supposition, (c) It is
not necessary in order to accommodate those
who attend on public worship. No material
inconvenience has been experienced hy the
present arrangement for many years, and the
religious community has not asked that the
law should be changed, and, as far as our in
formation goes, would be, with almost entire
unanimity, opposed to a change in the law.
(d) It would be a very material disturbance,
not only to the public peace and quiet of that
day, but to the religious services of the day.
In this city many of the churches are situat
ed on the lines of the city railways; and in
those churches, situated, as they are, near
the street, it may be doubted whether the
ordinary services of public worship could be
kept up to edification or profit, if cars were
to pass along in the brief intervals of three
or four minutes, (e) It would be an unjust
measure toward a large class of persons now
engaged in running the cars. We have en
deavored to show that it has come to be re
garded as a right in reference to the laboring
classes that they should have this as a day of
rest, and that contracts are made with this
understanding. It is plain that there should
be no legislation that would discriminate in
the matter, by compelling one class to labor
while other classes enjoy a day of rest; or
that should make it necessary that any class
of persons, engaged in honorable employ
ments, should labor on that day or be thrown
out of employment. Yet this must be the
operation of such a law in relation to a large
number of men employed as drivers, conduc
tors, and agents on the city cars. In reference to
that entire class, there could be no more unjust
legislation than to compel them to pursue on
that day the ordinary toils of the week.-’on
penalty of losing their places. It would be
no more unjust in principle to pass an act
compelling the owners of blacksmith shops,
and the keepers of dry goods stores and gro
ceries, to open their places of business on
every day of the week. (/) Such a law
would disturb altogether the habitual, the
proverbial quiet of the Sabbath in the city of
Philadelphia. It is among the things for
which the citizens of Philadelphia in general
may congratulate themselves, and for which
the religious portion has especial occasion for
thankfulness, that this city is, and has been,
the most quiet and orderly city on the Sabbath
in the world. In our own country no other
city or large town is to be compared with it.
We need not say, that there is no city on the
continent of Europe that bears any resem
blance to it* in its habitual peace and order
bn that day. Assuredly, the communky and
the Legislature should pause before a law
is passed that would effectually take away
this just 1 occasion for congratulation, pride,
and thankfulness, (g) The passage of such
a law would change the whole order of things
in the city. If cars may run, why may not
carts, and wagons, and barrows, and drays?
If this form of business may be prosecuted,
why may not any other? It the operatives
op the cars are to be, by law, deprived of the
right to a day of rest, why may not the ope
ratives on the t wharves, and in the machine
shops, and in the banks? We deprecate,
therefore, any such change. We protest
against such an innovation on the established
order of the city, and such unjust legislation
in reference to any class of citizens. We
protest against any such change in the laws
as would make the Sabbath a day of business
or amusement; as would invite the commu
nity to desecrate the day; as would be a
public proclamation that the wholesome laws
which have so long preserved peace and order
in our city are to be no longer in force. And,
(h) once more, the running of these cars on
the Sabbath would multiply disorders, and
offences against the laws. _ The effect, beyond
all question would be to induce many to re
sort to gardens and saloons for drinking, in
the suburbs of the city; to gather them to
gether under circumstances tending to pro
mote disorder and vice; to increase the
habits of drinking, under whose evils the city
is suffering so much already; and to increase
in all assemblages the. temptations to crime
and riot. By the existing laws, almost the
entire population is released from the neces
sity of labor on that day, and nothing could
be more perilous for a great city than to
furnish additional facilities and temptations
for bringing multitudes together, where a
leading or main purpose would be indulgence
in intoxicating drinks.
LEGISLATION SHOULD NOT BE RETROGB.ES-
We do not deny that lavs may he changed.
The Legislature has power to do this within
the limits of the Constitution; and the people
have the power to change the Constitution
itself. But there are limitations in this sub
ject; bounds beyond which such changes
should not proceed. If the laws in existence
are founded on the law of God, there can be
no power to abolish that law; if they are
founded on principles of our nature, and are
connected with the good of society, then they
are changed only at the peril of the com
munity. If they have worked well so long
as to give them a fair trial; if they are unjust
to no one, and if they wrong no one; if they
bear equally on all classes of citizens, and are
oppressive to none; if they promote order,
peace, industry, domestic tranquillity, and
prosperity; and if they secure impartial
justice to all, they should not be changed.
No legislative body could have a right to
legalize murder, in palpable violation of the
law of God; we believe it to be equally clear
that no legislative body has a right to abro
gate the law of the Sabbath. In no case has
a legislature a right to pass laws that would
be unjust to any class of citizens; that would
be partial in their operation; that would
be oppressive to any; that would tend to
promote disorder, idleness, domestic broils;
or that would manifestly interfere wit h the
public prosperity. In legislation, moreover,
it is a great principle that a community should
not retrograde ; that where a just and
equal law exists it should not be changed for
a worse, but that the results of past experi
ence should be allowed to operate in retaining
laws that are good, and in securing such pro
gress in the same direction as 'hrs.ll be the
proper result of the accumulated wisdom and
experience of the pn-t. The law of the Sab
bath has wrufeH . ; ij in our oH Common
wealth thus tin-: i-i abolish it would be a
retrograde step that would peri! the best in
terests of the community.
The South Carolina Episcopal
Convention has resolved to join the
Northern branch of the Chun-n.
fpmal ffoticfs.
The Presbytery of lowa City will
meet at Atalissa on the 3d Thursday of April, 1 see. at
7A o’clock P. M. GEO. D. A. HEBAR D,
lowa City, March l n . IS6G. Stated Clerk:
WPresbytcr.v of ttie District of Colnm
bia.—The Presbytery w the District of Columbia
will meet in the Assembly's Church, Washington, D.
C., the Ist of April next, at VA o’clock, P. M.
m „ IV. McLArN. Stated Clerk.
Washington, D. D„ March 3,1865.
IS-Presbytery of Union will meet in
New Providence Church at Maryville. Tenn.. April
20th, 1866,11 o’clock A. M.
W. H. LYLE, Stated Clerk,
American Seamen’s Friend So
ciety.
Tbe American Seamen’s Friend Society provides
for the spiritual and temporal wants of seamen at
home and abroad through Chaplains, Missionaries.
Sailor’s Homes, and Sea Libraries. Shipwrecked
sailors are fed and clothed. Funds aregreatly needed.
Donations may b« sen' to
L. B. lIUBBARD, Financial Agent,
SO Wall St., New York.
Rev. HARMON LOOMIS, \
Rev. S.H. HALL, D.L., j Cor. Secs.
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