FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN SABBATH UNION.
By C. P. Bollman
THE fifth anniversary of the so-called American Sabbath Union was held in the city of New York, December 10-12. The anniversary sermon was delivered Sunday morning by Rev. D. J. Burrell, in the Marble Collegiate Church, of which he is pastor. "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." The whole sermon was a begging of the question so far as the claims of Sunday were concerned; that Sunday is the sabbath was assumed throughout, and the fourth commandment and Isa. 58: 13, 14 were applied to the first day of the week without a blush. The speaker even went so far as to say that the "Lord told the children of Israel to gather the manna on Saturday and not to gather it on Sunday; if they gathered it on Sunday, it bred worms and stank"! That intelligent men can make such statements even thoughtlessly, in view of all that has been said on the Sabbath question, seems impossible. Painful as is the thought, the conclusion is unavoidable that such statements are made with the deliberate purpose of misleading the people in the interests of a false sabbath. Not being able to show from the Scriptures that the Sabbath has been changed by divine authority, they would have people forget or ignore the fact that it has been changed at all. Monday afternoon there was a meeting for the appointment of committees and the transaction of routine business. The public was not invited. A second public meeting was held Monday evening, at which addresses were delivered by Rev. T. S. Fernley, D.D., of Philadelphia, Rev. T. L. Cuyler, D.D., of Brooklyn, Rev. C. H. Payne, D. D., secretary of the Board of Education of the M. E. Church, and Rev. W. W. Atterbury, D.D., secretary of the New York "Sabbath" Committee. Tuesday two public meetings were held, with an attendance of about forty in the forenoon and not quite twice as many in the afternoon. The main features of the morning meeting were a report from the general secretary and a discussion of the Sunday press. The secretary's report showed that the society had been closely affiliated in its work with Sunday leagues and committees in every State and Territory in the United States, and that a very large quantity of literature had been circulated through its instrumentality. "Its work," says Secretary Knowles, "has received the hearty indorsement of statesmen, civilians, and wage earners in every part of the land, and of fourteen religious denominations." The discussion of the "Sunday secular press" was opened by Rev. Dr. A. H. Plumb, of Boston. His main argument against Sunday papers was that their influence is "to weaken the foundation of all religious institutions." The meaning of this remark might be somewhat problematic had the doctor not explained it himself. He said:— "Admitting that the Sunday secular press can be made a great educational force, it still has a tendency to weaken the influence of the church by secularizing the sabbath. The church and religious organization are the foundation upon which all moral reform rests. We cannot get enough people interested in these institutions to-day to maintain the high standard of morality we should. This is very largely owing to the influence of these Sunday publications, which secularize public thought on the sabbath, thereby exerting a powerful tendency toward breaking down the religious influence and restraint which is absolutely necessary for the preservation of our religious institutions." Thus the doctor admits that which is very generally denied by the advocates of Sunday legislation, namely, that it is primarily in the interests of the churches, and is therefore religious legislation. The principal feature of the afternoon meeting was to have been an address by Rev. Dr. MacArthur (Baptist) on the "American Sunday and Religious Liberty," but the doctor was not present. It was announced that he was unavoidably absent. Possibly he discerned the difficulty of reconciling Sunday enforcement with that perfect freedom in religious things so staunchly defended by Baptists a century ago, but to which so many of that communion have now proved recreant. At all events the doctor was not present, and, in lieu of his address, Dr. Burrell made an impromptu speech, in which he grew very enthusiastic in thanking God for the glorious victory achieved in the matter of the Sunday closing of the World's Fair. He asserted, as did also several other speakers both before and after him, that no attempt would ever again be made in this country to keep such an exposition open on Sunday. The fact that the California Midwinter Exposition is to be open on Sunday was for some reason ignored entirely, as were very many other facts not in line with their theories. All the meetings were small, but the strength of the American "Sabbath" Union lies not in numbers, but in organization, in influential names, and in the circulation of literature. It is still true, as it was in the days of Job, that "great men are not always wise;" but it is also true, as it was in the days of Christ's earthly ministry, that the opinions and example of the great ones of earth have an immense influence. The question in one form or another is asked by thousands everywhere, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" Too often the4masses judge of any question not so much by the merits of the arguments on the respective sides as by the opinions of those whom they esteem as wise men. The full force of the influence of names and of the dependence of the Sunday cause on them, was admitted by doubling the number of vice presidents, for the sake of the added influence of their names. Hereafter there will be two vice presidents for each State and Territory. The keynote of the New York meeting was organization and coöperation. It was the boast of more than one speaker that even the Catholics were in harmony with the efforts put forth in behalf of the "American sabbath." This was emphasized especially by Dr. Payne, who said that with three million voters in the church and four million adherents influenced by the church, making seven millions out of the eleven millions of voters, the united churches could have anything they ask. What they will ask was foreshadowed by Dr. James M. King, who said that the perpetuity of the republic rests on three pillars, "God's word, his Son, and the Lord's day." It follows that these things must be equally subjects of legislation. It is evident that nothing short of complete governmental recognition of what they regard as the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, will satisfy such men. One of the most interesting as well as one of the most significant addresses was by Dr. Atterbury, secretary of the so-called New York Sabbath Committee, on "Sunday Rest Congresses." He gave a very interesting history of the several Sunday congresses held in Europe, and dwelt at some length and with much satisfaction on the names of the great men who had given their influence to make them successful. But his description of the one held at Chicago was particularly graphic, especially when telling the part that Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland took in the congress, the former sending a paper which was read, and the latter closing with "a beautiful prayer, which might have been offered by any Christian minister." The spirit of toadying to Papists for the sake of securing their influence in compelling by civil law the recognition of the papal Sunday, the badge of papal authority, was a marked feature of this address, as, indeed, it was of the whole meeting. New York, December 13, 1893.