Notes From the Altoona Lord’s Day Alliance Convention
By S. B. H.
We are indebted to Mr. W. F. Schwartz, of Hollidaysburg, Pa., for the following notes on the Lord’s Day Alliance Convention held in Altoona, November 20, 21:— Dr. Mutchler, secretary of the alliance, at the opening of its ninth annual convention stated, “Wherever the Sunday laws are strict, there is a vastly increased attendance in the churches on the Sabbath.” He said that people are very ready to go to church where the amusements are closed, but that any violation of the day results in a smaller church attendance. Yet we are told that the conservation of religion as such is not the object of Sunday legislation! “Sabbath-breaking is not a crime, but an offense,” said Attorney J. Banks Kurtz, addressing himself to the subject “The Prominence of the Prosecuting Attorney in the Enforcement of the Sabbath Laws.” “The province of the district attorney is not that of a ferret. He has his helpers in the constables and other officers of the law, . . . who are or ought to be the ferrets.” Another speaker instanced some cases of Sunday-law violations, asserting that it is a shame that the “ministerial association, and not the constables, has to do the prosecuting of the violators of the law.” It is to be presumed that many constables see in Sunday work more of an “offense” (against the church) than a crime (against the state). On the subject of the evil effects of Sunday excursions, amusements, games, etc., the Rev. Robert D. Clare said: “The secularization of the Sabbath day by such a large percentage of our population must be regarded as being in a large measure the direct and natural result of our present mode of living. Men and women who for six days in the week are shut up in offices, storerooms, and factories, and who during that time dare think of nothing but business, are most liable to yield to a reactionary spirit on the seventh day, which leads them to21seek the diversions and amusements we have indicated. The plea which they earnestly put forth in justification of their action is that their natures really demand this day for recreation. The plea is a most plausible one, and doubtless would be all-sufficient, if it be proved that by using the day as they do true recreation is obtained. . . . Who would think of seeking rest in a Sunday excursion? or at a Sunday ball game? or even in the theater? The tendency of each one of these amusements is to impose the greatest strain upon the nerves, not only sapping the whole system of its vitality and strength, but also rendering practically impossible all process of repair.” This speaker referred to what some physician stated in regard to the physiological effects of daily labor:— “The daily expenditure of the worker’s strength and energy is not quite equaled by the repair and restoration of the night, so that one is a little weaker every morning, a little weaker every night, as the week’s work goes on. In the case of a certain worker, taken as an illustration, the day’s work overdraws his oxygen one ounce and the night’s rest restores only five sixths of it. Losing one sixth of an ounce each working, or pleasure-seeking day, he is six sixths of an ounce short on the Sabbath morning—a whole ounce short, a whole day behind. He is therefore called to a whole day’s rest to balance his account with nature. If he habitually disobeys this divine law of weekly rest, he ‘runs down,’ he suffers a deterioration of his physical powers.” According to this logic, the ordinary working man or woman should not leave his house on Sunday, even to attend church, for fear that he will not make up the six sixths of his strength. To what extent in specious sophistry will not one be led who favors compulsory Sunday observance? Indicating that the Catholic Church of the country is ready to stand hand in hand with the Protestant church in enforcing the observance of the Sabbath, Archbishop E. F. Prendergast, of Philadelphia, sent a message to the secretary in which he said, among other things:— “Charity forbids us to do anything that would wound the feelings of our neighbors, and obliges us to live in harmony with, and to respect the feelings of, our non-Catholic friends, and our duty as citizens teaches us the obligation of respect and obedience to the law.” The following resolutions were adopted:— “The preserving of the Lord’s day from desecration in Pennsylvania is a matter of so great importance to every citizen of the commonwealth that we congratulate the Lord’s Day Alliance on the success that attended its efforts in defeating all antisabbath bills in the State legislature and that it has materially assisted in preserving the Lord’s day in many parts of the State.” “Resolved, That we, the Lord’s Day Alliance of Pennsylvania, in State convention assembled at Altoona, Pa., earnestly request that a Sabbath committee be appointed in every preachers’ meeting, federation of churches, or other associations within the bounds of the State, and that such committees attend to the work necessary to the better observance of the Lord’s day in their own localities, in which work we will cooperate with them in every possible way. “And we further request that said committees cooperate with the Lord’s Day Alliance, in preparation for the legislative battles, and assist in defeating antisabbath legislation during the next session of the legislature of Pennsylvania.” S. B. H.