The Coming Fight by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 23, 1882

The Coming Fight.

By Editor

THE following article, headed as above, is an editorial in the Oakland Evening Tribune. It is an excellent presentation of the case. A correspondent of that paper goes into statistics to show that the denomination regarding the seventh day as the Sabbath is not large compared with the membership of the other churches.

In this he is excelled by a writer in another paper who shows that those who regard the Sunday as the Christian Sabbath are but a small number compared with those who have no regard for it in that light. But ours is a religious interest, and may not be regulated by counting majorities, seeing that, on religious matters, majorities are always wrong. But see Eccl. 4:1:—

FROM present appearances the election of members of the next legislature will turn principally upon the question of repeal of the Sunday Law. This will bring into the fight on the one side all the believers in the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath to sustain the present law and prevent its repeal; while on the other hand there will be marshalled, first, the League of Freedom, composed of men who do not observe any day as sacred, and secondly, all those who keep the seventh day as Sabbath. While it is admitted by all reasonable, thinking men that the law of nature demands that one day in seven should be set apart as a day of rest, a large portion of the people of this State hold that there is nothing in the first day of the week of a more sacred nature than that which pertains to any other day of the week. While the majority of the Christian churches have adopted the first day of the week as a Sabbath of rest, it was held by others that this does not give the day a sacredness over any other day of the week; while a large sect of Christian believers hold that the first day of the week is not the Sabbath, but that the seventh day is, and, therefore, they keep the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, according to the decalogue, and on that day do no manner of work; but the first day of the week, Sunday, they follow their usual avocations in life. With this class of Christians may be added the orthodox Jews, who keep the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, and, as the Sabbath of their fathers, and follow their usual avocations upon Sunday. Now, the question arises, is it right that one class of citizens should, by statute law, control the religious principles of another class of citizens? Shall the State Legislature prescribe how Sunday shall be observed by the people? If so, is it not so far legislating upon conscience and religious belief? These are questions which will enter into the next contest for members of the Legislature of this State, and aspirants for legislative position may as well prepare themselves for the discussion which is sure to come. There ought to be some uniform day upon which there should be a cessation of business. But if a man religiously believes that the seventh day is the Sabbath, holy unto the Lord, on which day it would be a violation of the commandment to do any work, can the State, by penal laws, force him to observe the first day of the week as the Sabbath, without violating his religious freedom? On the other hand, should not the Christian churches, who believe in the first day of the week, have some protection against disturbance of their worship on what is termed the Christian Sabbath? And if they are entitled to such protection, are not those who worship on the seventh day entitled to the same protection? We see at once the complications which will arise in the discussion of this question, and it will be a smart politician who can sail between this Charybdis on the one hand and Scylla on the other, without foundering upon the rocks or being engulfed in the whirlpool.