ON Sunday, May 11, President Cleveland, with two cabinet officers, went fishing near Leesburg, Va. They fished from 7 o’clock in the morning to 6 o’clock in the evening, catching among them seventy trout, of which number twenty-eight were caught by the President.
This completes the ruin of the “American Sabbath” which the Sunday-law crusaders persuaded the national Government to make in 1892.
On Feb. 29, 1892, the United States Supreme Court decided that “this is a Christian nation,” citing Sunday laws as one proof.
On July 19, 1892, the Congress of the United States followed the lead of the Supreme Court and passed a Sunday bill.
On August 5, this bill was signed by President Harrison and became a law. The pen with which it was signed was begged from the President and carefully treasured in the archives of the American Sabbath Union; and we were told in great glee that the sacredness of the “American Sabbath” was permanently assured. But what man can sanctify, he can desecrate, and so—
On March 3, 1895, the same being Sunday, Congress “desecrated,” by spending the day in legislative session, what its predecessors had sanctified.
On April 7, the same being Sunday, the United States Supreme Court “desecrated” the Sunday of this “Christian nation” by sitting in executive session and attending to business ever performed by a Seventh-day Adventist on that day. And finally—
On May 11, the same being Sunday, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, spent the day catching trout, and “desecrated” with his hook what his predecessor had sanctified with his pen; and thus completed the ruin of the Government-made “American Sabbath.”
Against all this the Sunday-law crusaders are entering a vigorous protest, and threaten to “turn the rascals out.” Although the State-sanctified Sabbath is ruined, the “Sabbath of the Lord” still stands. [163]