KEEP IT BEFORE THE PEOPLE.
By R. F. C.
The various questions respecting Sabbath observance were never before the people as at the present time; and they are destined to be agitated more and more. The question of enforcing Sunday-keeping by law has led to the question whether the obligation for its observance rests upon divine authority, or upon human authority only; and its claims to divine authority not being very satisfactory to the inquiring mind, and the pious not feeling willing to admit the claims of the infidel party, that we have no weekly Sabbath at all, very naturally lead to the inquiry, Which day of the week is the Sabbath enforced by the command of God? The fourth commandment of the decalogue being the only law of the Scriptures for a weekly Sabbath day, it becomes important to know which day of the week is the Sabbath according to the commandment. The following hint upon the subject I clip from the Baltimore Sun of Feb. 1, 1877:— “Had not the electoral bill already passed Congress, advantage might be taken of the annexed suggestion, which appears in the New Orleans Picayune, made from Baltimore in behalf of Louisiana, to settle the presidential problem also. Though the occasion has passed for that, we cannot refrain from giving this piece of home manufacture in justice to its author as one of our citizens:— “‘Mr. Packard is in receipt of a postal card from Baltimore, submitting a proposition for the solution of the Louisiana problem which is at once easy and satisfactory. The writer signs his name with a great deal of ink, as James T. Sazarin, 195 Sharp Street, Baltimore. “‘This party is under the impression that the people here “transgress” too much, and do not “keep the commandments,” proposes that that party which shall be able to prove which day of the week, Saturday or Sunday, is the Sabbath, shall be entitled to the government of this State. The proposition is, on the whole, a fair one; but if it should be left to the respective legislatures to decide, we fear there would be a slight advantage in favor of the Packard side. His legislature is largely made up of preachers, while the other side has none but invited ones.’” NOTE.—We think that the other side would stand a fair chance, as the “invited ones” are full as apt not to get muddled on clear Scripture as the preachers are.