p. 9 | Sunday and the State by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 33.

Sunday and the State.

By Editor

THE following article we find in the Catholic Mirror of July 24, reprinted from the St. Louis Sunday Republican of a late date. We commend it to the consideration of Protestants in general, and to the National Reform party in particular, and to all who favor Sunday laws. The argument is sound throughout, and plainly sets forth the fact that all laws for the observance of Sunday are legislation entirely on matters religious, and are of the nature of Church and State. The article was written by a Catholic priest, Rev. M. M. Harts, S. J., St. Louis; but we should like exceedingly to see any Protestant who observes Sunday, or demands Sunday laws, attempt a refutation of his argument.

"In regard to the question of Sabbath observance, I shall give you not my opinion, which would be worthless, but the law of the Catholic Church, which has a binding force on all Christians. Nothing seems to me more unreasonable than the controversies which break out now and then about Sunday observance, Sabbath-breaking, etc., and the appeal to the legislature and the executive for the enacting and enforcing of Sunday laws.

"When men speak about making laws for the observance of Sunday, they speak about making laws in matters religious, for Sunday is a day set apart for the practice of religion. Now, who has the power to legislate in religious matters? Where there exists a State church, where there is a close union between Church and State, the State may enforce the observance of the Church's laws; but in a country where there is separation between Church and State, where the State professes no particular form of Christianity, where every religious denomination has equal rights, and none enjoys privileges, it is, in my opinion, absurd to expect of that State the enactment or the enforcement of laws favoring any particular form of Christian worship. That State, of course, should make laws which protect every citizen in his rights; and as every citizen has a right to worship God in the way he pleases, provided that way is not opposed to natural law or order, the State should protect him in the practice of his religion. But it would be simply absurd and tyrannical to force me, or anybody else, to observe a law which some think necessary for the salvation of their souls, but which I think useless and foolish.

"The State which professes no particular form of Christian religion has no right to exact from any of its citizens the observance of laws which are purely religious. It can, and it should, protect every citizen in the practice of his religion, but it cannot force any religious observance on any one. Who, then, is our guide with regard to Sunday observance? Who can legislate in this matter? To answer this question, we should first find out who instituted the Sunday as a religious day.

"We know that in the old law God himself had commanded the sanctification of the seventh day, or of the Saturday. . . . We celebrate Sunday, not Saturday, as a religious day. Who replaced the Saturday of the Jews by the Sunday of the Christians? We know from tradition that the church did so in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, and of the descent of the Holy Ghost, which events took place on Sunday, and also to distinguish the Christians from the Jews.

"Now, as the church, and the church alone, to whom Christ had given the power to make laws, could transfer the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday; she also, and she alone, can lay down laws for the observance of the Sunday. If, therefore, I desire to know how the Sunday is to be observed, I must consult the church; she alone can legislate in this matter; her laws alone are binding, because she alone has received power from Christ to make regulations and laws relating to religion. 'Whatsoever you shall have bound on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall have loosed upon earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven.'

"Now every one can easily find out what regulation the Catholic Church has made with regard to Sunday observance. She requires all the faithful who have reached the age of seven, and who are otherwise able to do so, to be present at the Sacrifice of the Mass; and to abstain, except in case of necessity, from all servile—that is, hard, manual—labor. She advises the faithful to be present also at a sermon or instruction, and to spend some time in prayer or good reading.

"The church does not forbid—and she alone has the power to forbid—innocent amusements, of whatsoever description they may be. The church has set apart the Sunday, both as a day of special divine worship, and as a day of rest and relaxation; and when a man has fulfilled the first part, when he has been at Mass and spent a part of the day in religious exercises, the church gives him full liberty to spend the remainder of the Sunday in innocent amusements. I know that amusements may be abused, and that they may become occasions of sin; but then it is not the amusement, but its abuse, that should be condemned; or, if the abuse cannot be separated from the amusement, then the amusement is no longer innocent, and it is forbidden on week days as well as on Sundays."