Motive for Sabbath Observance by C. E. H.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 26, 1910

Motive for Sabbath Observance

By C. E. H.

The Washington Herald of May 9 reports an agreement among eleven firms, comprising the Wholesale Fish Commission of Washington, in which “they pledge themselves not to receive consignments or sell fish on Sunday.”

When men of their own free will decide to refrain from conducting business on a certain day of the week, surely no one can have cause to question their right to do so. Such a move is in harmony with both their civil and religious rights. But when men unite to force their views regarding a day of rest upon all others, irrespective of belief, then men may legitimately protest.

For seventeen years efforts had been put forth by certain ministers and merchants to secure the suspension of fish selling on Sunday. Until the present time, however, this effort has been a failure, because “if all the firms did not agree to close on Sunday, no one or no groups of firms could close, as those firms which remained open would eventually obtain all the wholesale commission traffic of the city.”

It was not, then, because of a true desire on the part of the merchants to observe a religious rest day that caused them to enter the combine. When men are convinced of the binding obligation of any divine requirement and intend to obey it, they will do so even at the expense of a loss of worldly prosperity. This is the true motive for Sabbath observance. C. E. H.