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A “Lord’s Day Act” for Bermuda

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 25, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 47.

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A “Lord’s Day Act” for Bermuda

By W. A. C.

WRITING from Bermuda under date of October 4, Brother M. Enoch says: “On Monday, September 20, a Sunday ‘Lord’s Day Act’ was brought before our legislature by the Moral Reformers, who are mainly made up of Methodists and Presbyterians. The act was then read for the first time, and was to beread a second time the following Friday.” The proposed act is similar to the one recently passed in Canada.
On Friday, September 24, the measure was called up, and an attempt made to rush it through. Of the thirty-six members composing the house, only seventeen were present, including the speaker. A motion was made that the act “be read the second time this day six months,” which meant to kill it. On this there was a tie vote, eight voting for and eight against it. The speaker casting his vote in the negative, the motion was lost. Brother Enoch says, “I am informed that had there been a full house, the act would have met its death then.”
Those who spoke in favor of the measure made it plain that it was religious, and was desired to check the growing “desecration of the sabbath.” One member, Mr. Dill, said, “There are at the present time in this colony numbers of Christians who do not believe in keeping Sunday as the Sabbath.” Replying to this, Mr. Outerbridge, the member who had the measure in charge, said, “We may or we may not be better off without that element in the community; but if that element is not satisfied to accept what we consider are the wishes of the majority, let that element seek some other field where they can enjoy their rights and privileges.” In this was manifested the intolerance couched in the movement for this legislation.
Action on the measure was deferred in order to “give the house further time to consider the matter.” Brother Enoch has gotten out a leaflet to meet the issue, and has also written some for the public press, exposing the real character and object of the proposed legislation. Judging from the public feeling in regard to the matter, he thinks the measure will not be brought up again. W. A. C.