THE EFFORT FOR SUNDAY CLOSING.
By Editor
LAST week we showed as far as a negative position can be shown that no law, State, Federal, or Divine, would be violated by the opening on Sunday of the Midwinter Exposition to be held in San Francisco; and that any man or woman in California would violate no law, State, Federal, or Divine, by attending the Exposition Sunday any more than they would by attending it on Monday, all other things being equal. In other words, it is just as legitimate to pursue happiness in proper ways on Sunday as it is on Monday. It is neither a crime nor sin to labor at legitimate and common labor on Monday or Tuesday. No more is it a crime or sin in California to do such labor on Sunday. It is not a sin to do such labor on Sunday anywhere on the earth. Some governments make it a crime, but all crime is not sin; and when governments make that a crime which God does not make sin, they are legislating outside of their legitimate domain. The reason for this will be apparent to all on a moment's consideration. Sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4; Rom. 7:7); and God's "law is spiritual" (Rom. 7:14). Its domain is spiritual. It pertains not to overt acts alone, but to secret motives, to conscience, to the mainsprings of action and character which are hidden from all human tribunals. These motives only God can see, read, and understand, and he alone therefore is capable of judging. Civil government has no right to enter the domain of conscience, to define sin, or to punish sin. Every attempt to do this has always resulted disastrously to the government which has attempted it, and in the persecution of its most conscientious and devoted citizens. This is what Rome tried to do during the twelve hundred years of her triumph, and it resulted in the death of fifty millions of the saints of God. This is what the Jews attempted to do, to define sin, and they condemned the Lord's Christ, and by threats compelled the Roman governor to execute him. In thus doing civil governments usurp the place of God and become rebels to his authority. California is yet free from this curse. She has wisely left the matters of religion to the individual and dealt only with those things which pertain to civil power. Let it rest there. But the whole object of this agitation concerning the closing of the Midwinter Fair is to obtain a California Sunday law. The closing of the Fair is but a mighty lever to that end. The professed ministers of Christ and religious organizations by antichristian methods (ignorantly no doubt) are endeavoring to force the directors of the Fair to close on Sunday. If these directors so decide of their own free will, this is their privilege; but if they be compelled to do it by the law of the State, the law is wrong, because the closing of the Fair for religious reasons pertains to that with which the State has nothing to do. If it be compelled by "Christians," these Christians are using antichristian methods. The language of the gospel is "persuade," "beseech," "entreat," "come." It recognizes man's free will. Jesus came not to condemn, to judge, to coerce, but "to save," "to minister." See John 12:47; Matt. 20:28; Luke 9:51-56. But efforts are now being made to coerce the conductors of the Fair into the closing of it. The initial step toward this was taken by the Christian Endeavor Societies of Alameda County, July 17, in the following resolutions:— WHEREAS, Sunday opening of the Columbian Exposition has proved to be so objectionable to the larger part of the intelligent citizens of these United States, as seen by the strong protests against it, and the multitudes who on that account have refrained from attending said Fair; and, WHEREAS, The Christian Endeavorers of California hold in high regard the good name of our State, as well as the moral character of our people, which will be greatly affected by the manner of conducting the proposed Midwinter Fair; and, WHEREAS, We firmly believe that Sunday opening on that occasion would be a dishonor to God, and a grievous violation of his law, therefore be it Resolved, That we, the Christian Endeavorers of the Alameda County Christian Endeavor Union, welcome the coming of this Fair, and we do most earnestly petition that the Lord's day be respected by closing the gates on that day; and we suggest to all Christians and law-abiding citizens of the Pacific Coast the eminent propriety of taking no concessions at the Fair and of entering into no contracts regarding exhibits or other matters without a clear, irreversible clause securing Sunday closing during the entire time of the Exposition; and be it Resolved, That we recommend to the president of every Christian Endeavor Society in this county to prepare at once and present to every adult member of their society, church, and congregation, a petition setting forth these facts, and be it further Resolved, That our corresponding secretary be instructed to send a copy of these resolutions to the corresponding secretaries of every union in the State, and ask them to pass similar resolutions and circulate such petitions to their societies. Note that the whole matter is based on the Sunday closing of the World's Fair, an object specifically "religious," and as such so demanded. "The larger part of the intelligent citizens of these United States" refer to the protests of the church people against the opening of the Fair. It is safe to say that not more than two-thirds of the Protestant members ever personally protested against it, while many in the Episcopal Church, and the greater part of the Roman Catholic Church, and millions belonging to no church whatever, were positively for Sunday opening. Surely it cannot be said that the small minority which protested and boycotted and anathematized and threatened are the larger part of the intelligent people of this county. It is true that many stayed away because they did not want to pay a full price for a half show. This is what the "Christian" boycott accomplished, by the gospel of force and coercion, but not by Christian means. The second reason given by the Endeavorers why the Fair should be closed is to save "the good name of the State as well as the moral character of our people." We have before shown that no law, State or Divine, will be violated by opening the Fair on Sunday, and the "good name" of the State is not so much to be sought as its right action, and no power in this world can "affect" "the moral character of the people" without the consent of the people as individuals. With their choice, not their compulsion, rests their morality. In this the Endeavorers arrogate to themselves the authority to say what is moral for the people of California, and to take such steps as they think will prevent immorality. The church has no business to make or dictate laws for the State. It is a position which Christ himself would not assume (John 18:36; Luke 12:14), and he expressly forbade his church exercising such prerogative (Matt. 20:25-28; 1 Cor. 4:5). The next step of the Endeavorers is to declare their conviction that to open the Fair Sunday is "a dishonor to God, and a grievous violation of his law." And they want the directors of the Fair to close for that reason; and more than this (for the object is a State Sunday law), they want the people of this State to say that the opening of the Fair Sunday, an act which would be perfectly legitimate on other days, is "a dishonor to God and a grievous violation of his law." If they could compel the closing of the Fair, then the prestige of this step would be used on the Legislature; and when the Legislature yielded and passed a Sunday law for the same reason (and a religious reason is the only reason why a Sunday law is desired), the State would stand as the sponsor of religious faith, the authoritative interpreter of divine law. It would come between the soul and Christ. The conscientious who were equally good citizens, but who interpreted the Bible differently, would be forced to suffer. Then would be true what the United States Senate declared in 1829:— Among all the religious persecutions with which almost every page of modern history is stained, no victim ever suffered but for violation of what government denominated the law of God. Then comes the resolution to petition "that the Lord's day be respected, by closing the gates on that day;" and then they "suggest" (a mild term for advising a boycott) "to all Christians and law-abiding citizens of the Pacific Coast the eminent propriety of taking no concessions," etc., or, in other words, not to patronize the Fair unless their demands be complied with. We say again that every man in California who treats his fellow-men civilly, though he labor every Sunday, is as law-abiding a citizen as the most earnest Endeavorer in the State. The words are an insult to the State and its people, though it is evidently not so designed. The spirit underlying all Sunday laws is responsible for the insult.771 There is more in the resolutions, which we have not space to consider. These resolutions are scattered throughout the State, and we understand have been cordially indorsed generally by the Endeavor Unions. The Christian Endeavor Society stands at the very head in its influence at the present time in religious circles. And right in the initial stage of the Fair, when its promoters are struggling for funds to insure its success, these religious societies of the State take this advantage to compel the recognition of a religious institution. Compelling it here, compelling it in municipalities, the next step will be to compel it in the State. But the Endeavorers are not alone. The preachers of San Francisco and Oakland met in San Francisco September 14, and asked the directors of the Exposition "at the earliest possible moment to declare that the gates of the Midwinter Fair shall be closed on Sundays," and in order that this may be done, they unite in asking for a Saturday half holiday. One of the reasons which they give for the closing of the Fair is that the accomplishment of this patriotic object will barely depend upon the due observance of the weekly rest day, that most beneficent institution which has become incorporated in our national civilization, which commands the respect, not only of the churches, but of the best thinking classes outside of the churches.
We do not know what is meant by the first two lines of the above quotation unless it is that, unless the Sunday is respected by the Fair, its accomplishment will be made a very difficult matter by the religious classes. These ministers were from the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, and Christian Churches. With all of these is the religious press, and behind it all is the American Sabbath Union. Dr. Edward Thomson, the active agent of the Union in California, boasts that the Union now has twenty-nine denominations in its organization; that by its efforts "twelve counties in California have passed some kind of a Sunday-closing ordinance." Read the report of his speech in the San Jose Daily Mercury of September 11. In that he plainly declares that it is for a State Sunday law that he is working; that "this is a Christian nation;" that "Congress has established religion;" and that the Sabbath "cherished by our fathers and mothers," "this sacred day," must be handed "down to the generations to come." These, and many more utterances which we have not space to give, clearly show just what the churches (with few honorable exceptions) are working for in California. It is by every plea which can be made save that of liberty, by every subterfuge and sophistry unworthy of equality, patriotism, and Christianity, that these people seek to turn backward to the Dark Ages our now free State. It is to degrade into the dust of tyranny, by religious bigotry and arrogance, the only State of any great influence which is not cursed by religious laws to-day. And the churches which are behind this movement, it matters not how honest their intention, are forsaking Christ and his power and laying hold of earthly power; in other words, the professed spouses of Christ are desiring to commit fornication with the government of California, with the powers of earth. Will all who are in the folds of these churches thus forsake Christ? Will the State yield to her threats and seductions and thus invite political ruin? Would it be different if what were demanded was a law for the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath?—No, a thousand times no. The bride of Christ has no right to seek alliance with the world. And, further, those who know God's Sabbath and what it means will never ask for human laws to sustain it; they know that all power in heaven and earth is behind it. Reader, Christian brother or sister, whether Baptist, Methodist, or whatever you are, will you thus ignore the Golden Rule? Will you thus make the State your head instead of Christ? Will you so treat Christ? Lover of civil liberty, what will you do?