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Sunday Laws in Vermont

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 16, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 37.

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Sunday Laws in Vermont

THE press of the State is busy just now discussing the Sunday law and what amusements or work are proper for Sunday. The first trace of a Sunday law in all the history of the world, Scriptural or secular, is one made by the pagan emperor, Constantine, March 7, A. D. 321. Constantine was one of the most bloody and depraved men who ever occupied the imperial Roman throne, and was a sun-worshiper. Consequently his famous law speaks of the day as the “venerable day of the sun.” It was a rather loose affair, and permitted almost any kind of work and amusement, so long as one complied with the ceremonies prescribed by the church trust which he was then organizing. This law was copied into English law from the Romans, was brought to America by the colonists, and is the original of all modern Sunday laws. A study of this father of our present law would be edifying to modern reformers.—Green Mountain Press, Burlington, Vt., Aug. 24, 1909.