The Sabbath appears to be regarded by almost every one as a holiday,
and its return is as much desired for a day of pleasure, as if no other
day was appropriate for such purposes. Military Parades are never on
any other day but the Sabbath. Horse racing, when a large purse is
at stake on the most famous races, are on the Sabbath. Theatres and
circuses have the most attractive bills and greatest display on Sabbath
evening. Bull fights also are never on any other day, and in fact,
exhibitions of every kind are usually on the Sabbath. And yet, in this
enlightened age and against the good sense and judgment of every other
section of this country, and in full view of the evils that flow from
these examples, the authorities grant permits and licenses for these
things, and men in the highest official stations in the State and city
favor them by their presence on the Sabbath. And also, against these
outrages and other evils that are begotten by them, the pulpit is as
silent as if they were in accordance with the rituals of the church.
And more than this, will you be astonished to see, not only _good
men_, but _professing christians_, mingling in the crowded throng
that keep up these rounds of moral pollution and dissipation. But in
all these evils the authorities are chargeable with more censure than
all others, for they have the power to prevent and suppress entirely
these blighting curses that pervade this city. But compared with other
causes that seek no hiding place, amidst the whirlwind and rage of
human passion that lays desolate every refined and noble impulse of the
human heart, the desecration of the Sabbath is but as the breath of the
summer breeze, compared to the tornado’s blast.