Religious Liberty by Rev. H. D. Clarke

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · May 27, 1886

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 20

Religious Liberty.

By Rev. H. D. Clarke

The present agitation of the above subject all centers about the Sabbath question. That most if not all religions will be tolerated in this country is quite certain, but religious liberty and religious toleration are two distinct things. Our opponents are willing, they say, that we should observe the seventh day, but to do secular work on Sunday is quite another concession. “The wheels of trade and labor on Sunday must be stopped.” To make any exceptions in favor of seventh-day observers would open the flood-gates of Sunday desecration, say our religious-amendment friends, hence “for the sake of the people, physically, intellectually, and morally, the wheels of business must pause” on one day in seven. Notice the present argument. Sunday legislation, they say, is not in the direct interest of the religious world, that is, it is not to favor any religious sects; it is not with the intention of making Sunday the Sabbath; but it is for the physical benefit of an overworked people who are growing prematurely old. Says an advocate of Sunday legislation: “In France there is little rest. The wheels of trade never cease. Sunday evenings the theaters are crowded. The result is there are few old men.” To give long life and health to the people, he thinks the State must give us a “civil rest day.” O, how fallen is the Sunday! “Civil rest day!” We hear little now about the divinely appointed Sunday, the Lord’s day. Men have become enlightened, and it will not do to urge legislation in behalf of a holy day, but a “civil rest day;” that is charming. It will deceive the people (especially the Seventh-day Baptists) and secure the desired object. Strip this subject of its religious garb, array it in the “habiliments of mere policy and temporal considerations,” and the work will be easily done.

This is a time when, to secure popular favor, position, and power, you must profess great sympathy with the working men. Profound interest in their social status will secure their votes. That they need our true sympathy we do not dispute, and that they have rights capitalists should respect is true, and vice versa. But the hypocrisy of this professed zeal in behalf of working men is too apparent. Will it satisfy the religious-amendment party to coerce men to rest? Will it give them great pleasure to see the people lazily lounging about on Sunday, smoking, or reading novels? Will this pay them for their great labor in securing Sunday legislation? Nay, verily. This plea for a “civil rest day for the people” is a humbug, and to urge it is to falsify the facts. Behind all this is the religious movement, the propping up of the decaying Sunday Sabbath by legislation. The idea of Christian worship on the first day of the week is primary. To secure it the present deceptive plan is being carried out.—Rev. H. D. Clarke, in Sabbath Recorder.