WE mentioned last week a very significant feature of the work now being done to promote Sunday enforcement in Pennsylvania; namely, that of a body of workers five thousand strong covering the large cities of Pittsburg and Allegheny with reform literature in a single day. This is evidence of the earnestness and resources that accompany this movement; and there were other evidences which could only be appreciated by listening to the speeches and witnessing the spirit which controlled the meeting.
Much was made of the fact by prominent speakers, and not without reason, that on this occasion the church and the workingmen had at last come together. Here, for the first time in the history of the Sunday movement, the long sought alliance of the Sunday and labor-protecting movements became an accomplished fact; and here, also for the first time, an army of workers gave the movement their vigorous support.
This is the beginning of what has been long expected by those who have watched this movement and understood its import,—the beginning of an impetus which is to sweep all before it and accomplish in full the union of religion with the State. It is the beginning of the end.
The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers is one of the strongest labor organizations in [242] the land; and this organization, which is now the ally of the church forces in the cause of Sunday enforcement, has resolved to prosecute every mill and factory operator and railway official who violates the Sunday law of Pennsylvania. This is the first time that a great labor organization has taken up the work of enforcing the Sunday laws.
At the mass meetings held in the Bijou Theater, Pittsburg, one speaker said: “This country is being formed into one vast amalgamated association. Don’t be alarmed, for we are all going to join it, and have one vast confederacy and federation; but woe to him who stands up against it! Woe to him who desecrates the Sabbath [Sunday]!”
Woe to him who stands up against the coming combine of religious and secular forces, armed with the power of legislatures and the courts, to dictate to every person the day which he shall observe as the Sabbath! That is the ultimatum that is coming; and what reply will you, reader, make to it? Are you ready for it, and are your friends and neighbors ready for it? Have you done all that you care to do to enlighten the people upon the principles of truth involved in this coming crisis?