THE SUNDAY CLOSING OF THE MIDWINTER FAIR.
THE Midwinter Exposition in San Francisco is an assured fact, at least so far as human calculation goes. It will doubtless be held as contemplated, and will be all that its most earnest advocate could wish in respect to its exhibit of the products of art, science, and nature. The same conflict has already begun in respect to its closing on Sunday that was waged over the World's Fair at Chicago. The Christian Endeavorers of Alameda County set the ball rolling, and the Presbyterian ministers of San Francisco next entered the field. The editorial staff of the Occident, the Presbyterian paper of the coast, is also inclined to claim "first honors." More recently there has been a joint meeting of the ministers of San Francisco, and a committee has been appointed looking to a canvass of the Pacific Coast for petitioners to those having the Fair in charge to close on Sunday. They are determined that the Fair shall close. For instance, the Christian Endeavorers of Alameda County intimate that the opening of the Fair on Sunday will be against "the good name of our State, as well as the moral character of our people," that it "would be a dishonor to God, and a grievous violation of his law," and call on all "law-abiding citizens" to take "no concessions at the Fair and of entering into no contract regarding exhibits or other matters without a clear, irreversible clause securing Sunday closing during the entire time of the Exposition." And in similar language have spoken various clergymen of San Francisco. Let us not be misunderstood in the matter. We are not pleading for an open Fair on Sunday nor for a closed Fair. That is not our business. We do not care whether the Fair is open or not. If it is open, no law, State, Federal, or Divine, will be violated. Let this be clearly understood by all our readers. We repeat it: IF THE MIDWINTER EXPOSITION BE OPENED ON SUNDAY, NO LAW, STATE, FEDERAL, OR DIVINE, WILL BE VIOLATED. CALIFORNIA HAS NO SUNDAY LAW. Sunday is simply a holiday, subject to the same exemptions as other holidays. But the law does not say how that day shall be spent. Certain kinds of business are not legal if done on that day, but the same kinds are not legal if transacted on the Fourth of July, or Admission day. But everyone has the privilege of working or resting, of going to hear a lecture or a sermon, of attending church or theater, of staying at home or going to the fields and parks and groves, of reading the Bible and other religious books, or the newspapers, of doing missionary work and relieving the sick and poor, or attending a baseball game. All save criminals have this privilege, and criminals are as well cared for, and the law-abiding citizen is as well protected, in California as in any other State. But a man is not made a criminal for doing something on Sunday that he can laudably do on other days. And this is just as it should be. We do not mean by this that the influence of church and theater and ball game and picnic and newspapers and Bible are alike good, and that it is a matter of indifference as to which men choose. It makes all the difference in the world as to what influences and occupations men choose. But the privilege of choosing is alike sacred to each and all. It matters not though the baseballer may number one thousand and the churchgoer but one, the baseballer has no right to compel or coerce the church man to attend a baseball game on Sunday, nor so to hedge up his way that it shall, outside of his house, be baseball or nothing. And it is just as true that the churchgoer, though he may number a thousand, has no right to compel or coerce the baseballer or theater goer to attend the church on Sunday, nor so to hedge up his way that it shall, outside of his house, be church or nothing. This privilege of choosing or refusing as to just how the day shall be spent is alike precious to both parties and is equally the right of each. The law of California grants it, and738he who attends the theater is as law abiding as he who attends the church. If the Midwinter Fair be opened, no Federal law will be violated. What powers the Constitution did not grant to the Federal government were reserved to the States and the people; and the Constitution expressly forbids the law-making power of this government to legislate in the religious domain. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," are the words of the Constitution. California is a free and sovereign State. The Federal government has no more jurisdiction in respect to the closing of the Fair on Sunday in San Francisco than it has in respect to the politics of the man the people of this State shall choose as governor. It is not, therefore, a violation of national law if the Exposition be opened Sunday. THE DIVINE LAW OF THE SABBATH.
It is not a violation of divine law if the Exposition be opened Sunday. God has set apart but one day as the Sabbath, and that is the seventh day, the day just before the first day of the week. See Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56; 24:1; Matt. 28:1. The "first day of the week" did not come, according to Mark, till "the Sabbath was past." The next day after the Sabbath was the first day of the week. The commandment for the Sabbath is given in Ex. 20:8-11, and is as follows:— "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." This commandment enjoins the seventh day. The following are recognized principles in the interpretation of law:— In the case of all law, it is the intent of the lawgiver that is to be enforced.
When words are plain in a written law, there is an end to all construction; they must be followed.
When the intent is plain, nothing is left to construction. Certainly, the words of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue are plain. If language means anything, that law means that the intent of the Lawgiver was that the seventh day should be the Sabbath, and this God based on reasons which will apply to no other day. God showed his intent by the threefold weekly miracle of the manna for forty years, thereby precluding any construction of the plain words of the law. Whenever Inspiration refers to any weekly holy day by the term "Sabbath," it is the seventh day that is meant. Every law in God's word, every direction in regard to a weekly Sabbath, pertains to the seventh day and the seventh day alone. Upon that day alone the Creator rested; that day alone he blessed by putting into it his own presence; that day alone he sanctified or set apart for man's good. See Gen. 2:2, 3; Mark 2:27, 28. The only weekly Sabbath or holy day known to the word of God is the seventh-day Sabbath, the memorial of creation, and the sign of sanctification, redemption, or re-creation in Christ Jesus. Eze. 20:20. NO DIVINE LAW FOR SUNDAY.
On the other hand, there is no law in the Scriptures of truth enjoining the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, or to be kept holy unto the Lord. The following are a few of the expressions used by Protestant authorities with reference to this matter. Chambers' Encyclopedia (article "Sabbath") declares:— By none of the fathers before the fourth century is it [the first day of the week] identified with the Sabbath; nor is the duty of observing it grounded by them either on the fourth commandment or on the precept or example of Jesus or his apostles. The Augsburg Confession, drawn up by Melanchthon, states:— The observance of the Lord's day [Sunday] is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the church.—Cox' Sabbath Manual, part 2, sec. 10. Lyman Abbott, editor of the Christian Union (now The Outlook), said in that paper of January 19, 1882:— The current notion that Christ and his apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament. The Christian at Work, of January 8, 1885, declares:— The selection of Sunday, thus changing the particular day designated in the fourth commandment, was brought about by the gradual concurrence of the early Christian church, and on this basis, and none other, does the Christian sabbath, the first day of the week, rightly rest. Rev. Geo. S. Mott, D.D., president of the American Sabbath Union, says, "We admit there is no such [divine] command" for Sunday observance. There will therefore be no crime committed, no infraction of law, State, Federal, or Divine, if the Midwinter Exposition be opened on Sunday. And, according to the law of the State of California, according to the Federal Constitution, according to the inspired word of the living God, no man or woman in California will or would transgress any law, State, Federal, or Divine, by attending the Fair on Sunday. Have we not, therefore, good reason why we, and, in fact, everyone else, should not care if the Fair be opened on Sunday? "But what if the Fair be opened on the seventh-day Sabbath?"—Then it will. In fact, we expect it will. Will we go?—Yes, but not on that day. God gives every true worshiper greater blessings in seeking him, in observing the Sabbath as he has commanded, than earth with all its riches can ever give. But because we observe that day, because we believe all ought to observe it, because God says so in his word, is no reason why we should seek to compel others to observe it, or condemn them if they do not. For, first, man can never compel religious observance, which is a matter of the heart and life; and, secondly, God never has given man that right, no, nor did the Perfect Man have this right when he walked upon the earth. Says Jesus Christ: "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." John 12:47. "As he is so are we in this world." He also said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." No true follower of Christ Jesus can, therefore, seek to compel a Jew, Mohammedan, or even a pagan to do contrary to the convictions of that Jew, Mohammedan, or pagan. He may entreat, he may persuade, but he has no right to compel or coerce. When the Christian seeks this means of propagating the faith, he forsakes Christ and becomes antichrist. Those in charge of the Fair may do as they please; they are accountable to God alone. No religious body, or combination of religious bodies, whether they are right or wrong as regards the true Sabbath, have any right to bring pressure to bear, no right to coerce, or seek to compel the observance of their wishes. None are compelled to go to the Fair on Sunday; let not Sunday keepers compel others to stay at home. But all this Sunday-closing agitation goes farther than the mere opening or closing of the Midwinter Exposition. It has greater ends in view, with still farther reaching results. These we will consider another time.