r best to prevent all recreation on the Sabbath. They
would like to stop all the boats on the Hudson, and on the sea--
stop all the excursion trains. They would like to compel every
human being that lives in the city of New York to remain within
its limits twenty-four hours every Sunday. They hate the parks;
they hate music; they hate anything that keeps a man away from
church. Most of the churches are empty during the summer, and now
most of the ministers leave themselves, and give over the entire
city to the Devil and his emissaries. And yet if the ministers had
their way, there would be no form of human enjoyment except prayer,
signing subscription papers, putting money in contribution boxes,
listening to sermons, reading the cheerful histories of the Old
Testament, imagining the joys of heaven and the torments of hell.
The church is opposed to the theatre, is the enemy of the opera,
looks upon dancing as a crime, hates billiards, despises cards,
opposes roller-skating, and even entertains a certain kind of
prejudice against croquet.

_Question_. Do you think that the orthodox church gets its ideas
of the Sabbath from the teachings of Christ?

_Answer_. I do not hold Christ responsible for these idiotic ideas
concerning the Sabbath. He regarded the Sabbath as something made
for man--which was a very sensible view. The holiest day is the
happiest day. The most sacred day is the one in which have been
done the most good deeds. There are two reasons given in the Bible
for keeping the Sabbath. One is that God made the world in six
days, and rested on the seventh. Now that all the ministers admit
that he did not make the world in six days, but that he made it in
six "periods," this reason is no longer applicable. The other
reason is that he brought the Jews out of Egypt with a "mighty
hand." This may be a very good reason still for the observance of
the Sabbath by the Jews, but the real Sabbath, that is to say, the
day to be commemorated, is our Saturday, and why should we commemorate
the wrong day? That disposes of the second reason.

Nothing can be more inconsistent than the theories and practice of
the churches about the Sabbath. The cars run Sundays, and out of
the profits hundreds of ministers are supported. The great iron
and steel works fill with smoke and fire the Sabbath air, and the
proprietors divide the profits with the churches. The printers of
the city are busy Sunday afternoons and ev