The Leaven Working by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 9, 1882

The Leaven Working.

By Editor

WE are glad to learn that people are beginning to see that there is another side to the Sunday question, than that maintained by those who would enforce its observance. The writer of the following article, which we clip from the Oakland Evening Tribune, shows that he has fully grasped the facts in the case, and we are encouraged to think that many others appreciate the situation as well. The Sunday Law advocates have a hard task set before them,—that of proving to the satisfaction of the people that the Sunday has any foundation in the Bible. Now is an excellent opportunity for them to come to the front and stop all controversy by an overwhelming array of Scripture argument. Silence at this time will tell against their cause. But we apprehend that the time for moral arguments in favor of Sunday is nearly past. If any existed, a civil law would not be so eagerly clamored for. The question will have to be decided before long, and people must be able to decide one way or the other intelligently. They must either do right understandingly, or do wrong willfully. Therefore we are glad to see the question agitated.

"EDITOR TRIBUNE: While looking over your paper of the 21st inst., I read an article headed, 'How Shall We Vote?'—a very important question to all who have the good of society at heart, and one that demands the attention of all good citizens. While agreeing with the writer that all candidates for office should have the proper intellectual and moral qualifications to insure a wise and just enforcement of the laws, and that all their acts should be regulated by the moral law of God, and, furthermore, that the voters are in a great measure responsible for the acts of their rulers; still, I cannot see the propriety of voting for one who has pledged to enforce the Sunday Law, on the ground of its being a divine institution, or a part of the moral law of God.

"If 'Lex' had taken pains to inform himself, he would have ascertained that society is divided upon the question whether Sunday keeping is a part of the moral law of God, or not; and that many intelligent and thinking men are taking the position that the sanctity of the Sabbath of the Lord never was transferred to Sunday, and that the law of God does not require that the first day of the week should be kept holy, and, so far as Bible truth is concerned, they seem to have the best possible grounds for their belief, in the fact that the Sabbath commandment, as it reads, declares that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.

"Now, cannot 'Lex' see that by bringing this question into the election there will be but one effect, and that is to array one class of Christians against another, and when that is done, there will not be wanting those who will promise anything to secure the largest number of votes to promote them to power? Then comes religious intolerance, and we have not far to look back in the history of the world to see what that means. Do we want such a state of things here? It would seem that all right-minded men would do all in their power to avert an issue of this kind. It would seem that the wisest course to pursue is to leave it where it belongs—between men's consciences and their God.

"So far as temperance is concerned, all Christian men and women should unite together to advance the cause, and to prevent the spread of intemperance by all lawful means, but the Sunday Law and the temperance question are not in any way connected—they are entirely separate issues. I fail to see how it is any worse to sell liquor on Sunday than it is on Monday, or any other day of the week. The fact is apparent to all who will take the time and thought to examine the matter that the Sunday Law is a sectarian measure, and that it is separate and distinct from any other question. If any one doubts this statement, he has only to attend the meetings of those who are taking the lead in this matter, and he will be convinced of the truth of the assertion.

"Oakland, February 24. JUSTICE."