The Sabbath and the State
By C. P. Whitford
A MUCH agitated subject in religious, political, judicial, and legislative circles to-day is that of the Sabbath question. A large number of well-meaning Christian people sincerely believe that Sabbath legislation is necessary to protect and advance the cause of Christ. Within the past few years eight prominent organizations in this country have committed themselves to the principle that God's will ought to be promoted by civil enactments. For more than a century all classes have felt secure in the enjoyment of religious freedom,—a heritage from our fathers, firmly grounded, as we supposed, in the Magna Charta of these United States. But what is seen at the present time?—A number of large and influential organizations clamoring loudly at our legislative halls for laws for the enforcement of religious institutions, and especially a day of rest. The principles wisely framed in the interests of civil and religious liberty, and embodied in our national constitution, are now so lightly regarded that persecution for conscience’ sake is already manifesting itself in some parts of our country. Shall the principles of religious liberty on which our government is founded be overthrown? Is the Sabbath purely a Biblical institution? If so, then apart from the Word of God could there be a Sabbath? Has God committed authority to the state to enact laws compelling people to do religiously that in which they have no faith? Has Congress the right to invade the freedom of religious worship by assuming control of the right of conscience, thereby requiring all to worship according to the dictates of the state? This movement is no new departure. It is the same old spirit of persecution which deluged the olden countries with blood in the effort to make the civil subservient to the ecclesiastical power. It is a spirit which every true lover of civil and religious liberty should uncompromisingly oppose. It seems marvelously strange that with the facts of history before the world concerning the evils of religious legislation, any man, much less a body of Christians, should so far depart from the principles enunciated by Christ in Matt. 7:12—“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them”—as to compel others to do that religiously in which they have no faith, and which they have an inalienable right not to do if they choose. By so doing, professed Christians assume control of the rights of conscience, and thenceforth all are required to worship according to the dictates of the state. It is the divine and the human right, the moral and the civil right, of every person to “worship God according to the dictates of his conscience.” All that pertains to the worship of God must be rendered according to the dictates of conscience. Conscience itself is of God, and relates solely to God. Sabbath observance is due only to God; because the Sabbath is the Lord’s—it is the Lord’s day. It must be rendered according to the dictates of one’s own conscience: indeed, only thus can it be truly rendered at all. But when there is civil law on this subject, Sabbath observance must then be rendered according to the dictates of the state, and not according to the dictates of conscience. For the state, then, to enact a law respecting the Sabbath observance is to destroy the inalienable right of worship according to the dictates of conscience. Sabbath means “rest.” The Sabbath is the Lord’s. It is the Lord’s rest. Sabbath observance is “rest” observance, it is the observance of the Lord’s rest. “God is a spirit,” therefore his rest is only spiritual. Sabbath observance is, therefore, altogether spiritual. But the state is not spiritual; therefore, it can not possibly have to do with spiritual things. The church of Christ is spiritual. It is the church, then, and not the state, to which is committed the conservation of spiritual things in the world. To the church, therefore, and to the church alone, is committed and belongs the promotion and preservation of Sabbath observance. And clearly, therefore, to invite or even admit the state into the realms of Sabbath observance is to invite or admit a union of church and state.