THE W. C. T. U. AND THE “AMERICAN SABBATH.”
By G. W. Reaser
[The following is the conclusion of a report of the “Summer School of Methods” held at Pacific Grove, Cal., August 1–7. This report had to do with the position of the W. C. T. U. on the questions of Sunday law and Christian Citizenship.—EDITOR.] “The Continued Moral Obligation of the Sabbath.”
The above was the subject of an address by the Rev. M. S. Killough, of which the following is an epitome:— “There are various ideas in regard to the sacredness of the day. Some would do away with Sabbath sacredness on the ground that the idea is Jewish. Some say we are not under the law, but under grace. True, and I thank God for it, but we are still under obligations to observe God’s law, for it has never been abrogated. It was given to Adam in Eden for all the members of the human family. At Sinai God said, ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,’ thereby calling the attention of his people most forcibly to an institution that already existed. The Sabbath institution is of the utmost importance, and no one has license to violate the fourth commandment. It is presumption to hold to nine of the commandments, and ignore the binding claims of the fourth. Either they are all binding, or else none of them are in force. The very nature of the Decalog proves it to be obligatory upon all mankind. That law is perfect, that day is perfect, and is binding on all the members of Adam’s race. Christ observed the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; it is God’s day. Will a man rob God? The Sabbath is one of the greatest blessings of God to man. It can not be Jewish, as it was given to man 2,000 years before the existence of a Jew. Jesus said of his Father’s law, ‘One jot or tittle shall in nowise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.’” “Everything that God made had a purpose. The sabbath was made for man, to lift his mind to God; it is one of God’s means of grace. Do away with its sacredness and you destroy Christianity. May the Lord save us from Sabbath desecration. I appeal to you, as W. C. T. U. workers, don’t leave a stone unturned till you compel the legislature to give us a sabbath law. The day in which our Father delights is turned into a footstool by his creatures.” The Rev. Dr. McCormack followed Mr. Killough, and said:— “I am always ready to say a word for the ‘Christian sabbath,’ which is one of God’s first gifts to man; one of those gifts of Paradise that will never be taken from us to all eternity. It was crystallized in the fourth commandment, and cleared of rubbish and observed by our Saviour. The sabbath brings one of the choicest privileges of all the gifts of Jesus to man, and Christ himself is Lord of the Sabbath. Many Christian ministers make the assertion that it is not binding; but this is not debatable ground; the sabbath must be observed.” “The strikes and labor troubles which so alarm the nations, are caused by sabbath desecration. When men rob God of his day, God gets even with them. Remember that ‘holy’ is the prominent word in the fourth commandment. May God help the W. C. T. U. people to work along the line of better sabbath observance, until we shall secure upon our statute-books a law for the protection of the sabbath.” Let us examine some of the statements of the above-mentioned gentlemen. How could any language be stronger, in regard to the sacredness and binding claims of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment? Yet why bring the fourth commandment to the front to prove the first day of the week, (Sunday) sacred, or as having any claims upon us, except as one of the “six days in which thou shalt labor and do all thy work”? Neither of the speakers advanced the thought that there was any divine authority for the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. How true it is that “holy” is one of the most prominent words in the fourth commandment, but note that it is applied to a particular day; and if applied by us to any other day, its force is lost! Has God ever transferred his blessing to any other day, and thereby made it holy? If so, where is the record? Dear reader, will you and I ever be called to account for not observing a sabbath which has no divine sanction? Again, can human authority make a day holy? The Papacy claims the honor (?) of having changed the Sabbath; but shall we, as Protestants, acknowledge that the papal power has authority to transfer the Lord’s blessing from the seventh to the first day of the9week? If we observe the first day of the week without divine sanction, are we not guilty of obeying man rather than God? Again, observe the statement, “No one has license to violate the fourth commandment;” yet, unless the speaker keeps the seventh day, he violates that sacred command each week of his life. Truly, “it is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law.” “Strikers and Labor Troubles.”
The Rev. Eugenia F. St. John, of Kansas, in speaking of the importance of legal protection for the sabbath (Sunday), said, in brief: “One of the greatest works of the hour is to preserve our blessed ‘American sabbath.’ It is the paramount question before the American people. Laboring men have this question to meet constantly, ‘Will you work on Sunday?’” She then referred to five cases where individuals, putting their trust in our heavenly Father, and taking their stand firmly not to work on the day which they regarded as sacred, were prospered even more than they had ever been before, and closed her remarks with the statement: “We must preserve the ‘American sabbath,’ in order to prevent the strikes and labor riots, by which the peace and security of our country is threatened. Give us back our ‘American sabbath,’ and we will have a more peaceful and prosperous reign.” When we consider the numerous scriptures which speak of the fact “that in the last days perilous times shall come,” “and wicked men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,” can we hope for the establishment, by Sunday legislation, or otherwise, of a more “peaceful and prosperous reign,” until the proclamation shall be made in heaven, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.” But that time of peace will not be until, sad to say, the wicked are “destroyed by the brightness of his coming.” Mrs. E. G. Green was next on the program, with a Bible-reading, entitled, She referred to the sabbath question, in these words, “When Christ is king, the Christian sabbath will be observed from one end of the land to the other.” True, but what day will he and the redeemed hosts thus observe? Will it be the day which he sanctified at creation, and kept faithfully (John 15:10), while here on earth; the day concerning which he declares, “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day”? Or will he cease to keep his Father’s commandments, and adopt the popular “American sabbath”? We were in hearty sympathy with the speaker when she said, “Never before has the world been looking for help as now; from the peasant in his hut, to the king on his throne, all are looking for some great event to transpire. The time is coming when Christ shall be this world’s King, and in the last days of the nineteenth century everything points to his coming.” Rev. Jas. B. Orr, of Park Street Congregational Church, San Francisco, in a lecture on the subject of related his experience, and expressed his “horror” at the sights which greeted his eyes when he arrived in San Francisco from London, England, his former place of residence. He stated that in the latter city the saloons were closed by the arm of the law during the hours of Sunday, but in the former place they were permitted to open their doors and carry on their vile traffic on that day just the same as other days. It seems a little strange to us that those who would throw their influence against the liquor business, and who long for its suppression, do not realize that the same power that can close these soul-and-body destroying dens one day of the week can likewise close them seven days. We have nothing but feelings of kindness toward our W. C. T. U. friends, and give them credit for being honest in their convictions as regards “Christian Citizenship,” but honesty of purpose will not make wrong principles right. Saul was conscientious when he persecuted Christians, for he afterward said of himself: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did.” But he was in the wrong, nevertheless. As workers together with the Master for the uplifting of suffering humanity, we will gladly unite heart and hand with the W. C. T. U. people in every Gospel method of freeing our fair land from the curse of intemperance; and may the Lord add his blessing to, and place the imprint of his approval upon, every effort that is thus made. G. W. REASER.