Untitled article by J. L. Cupit

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · September 15, 1892

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 7, No. 36

Sunday Funerals.

By J. L. Cupit

ONE would not naturally suppose that Sunday-law enthusiasts would carry their claims of Sunday sacredness so far as to seriously deny the right of a man to die on a day which would necessitate holding the funeral on Sunday; but such would seem to be the case, from the following clipping from the Uxbridge (Canada) Journal, under date of June 9, 1892:—

At a meeting of the Ministerial Association of Stouffville, the following resolution was unanimously carried:—

WHEREAS, There is a tendency to select the Sabbath day for funerals, and we believe such funerals to be detrimental to the proper observance of the Sabbath, and the spiritual interests of our congregations, therefore be it Resolved, That we, the Ministerial Association of Stouffville, agree not to attend or conduct funerals on the Sabbath, unless absolutely necessary on sanitary grounds; and that we request that funeral sermons be not preached on the day of interment, but at the regular service on the following Sabbath; and further request that the ministers be consulted before final arrangements are made.

From the foregoing it would appear that it is a sin to attend funerals on Sunday, notwithstanding men die, and the natural order of events points to Sunday as the day of interment.

Would it be less fallacious to request that men postpone their death till some other day, when the “Ministerial Association of Stouffville” could attend the funeral without remorse of conscience?

It is not because it is so much of a sin to attend Sunday funerals, but to bring Sunday to the front as the “American Sabbath” that these enthusiasts are working.

What is wanted is to set up the “golden image” on the “plains of Dura,” and to compel all classes to “fall down and worship” it.

J. L. CUPIT.

Grand Ledge, Mich.