JOTTINGS FROM EUROPE by H. P. Holser

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 2, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 22.

JOTTINGS FROM EUROPE.

By H. P. Holser

[From our own correspondent.]

SUNDAY laws "will not down" in Europe. Efforts are constantly being made to fill up all the little breaches in the Sunday-law hedge. This question has again occupied the attention of the German Reichstag, and is receiving local attention in Switzerland. The Basel committee of the international organization to secure better observance of Sunday is ever active. On New Year's day they placed a circular in every house, not so much to wish the people a Happy New Year as blessed Sundays in the whole year; then the circular went on to show that the character of the year depended on the character of Sunday, or manner in which this day was observed. The sentiment that all stands or falls with Sunday is being worked up quite extensively.

At present quite a lively discussion is going on in the canton of Zürich, over the change in the Sunday law regulating work in factories. A national law forbidding work in factories on Sundays gives the cantons the right to forbid work on other holidays, to eight per year in number. The proposed law in Zürich is to make Christmas, New Year's day, Good Friday, Ascension day, etc., to the number of seven public holidays, on which no work will be allowed.

While the discussion is on, the friends of true religious liberty endeavor to show the true meaning of such laws by journal notices and tracts. Soon it will be submitted to the people, whose vote accepts or rejects the measure.

Among the leading telegrams of the day are notices of the discussion by the Austrian law-making assembly of a bill to introduce civil marriage. As generally known, there is little religious liberty in Austria, Rome having full sway. In Hungary effort has been made to introduce civil marriage, and it meets, as might be expected, lively opposition. It will probably succeed, and a similar law will soon follow in Austria. It is a question of vital importance to Rome, for the control of marriages placed great power in the hands of the priests, a power which they will not yield without a desperate struggle; and should it be wrested from them, they will not yield, but continue to cry out against it as an unwarranted encroachment into the sacred domain of the church.

The discussion is being carried on in the Assembly at Buda-Pesth; it was continued all last week, some forty-six members taking part. Some of the speeches were brilliant, one of them being considered a masterpiece. The discussion continues this week, and doubtless the question will have been decided before this reaches its readers. The question naturally opens up the whole question of the relation between Church and State, and of religious liberty; hence it is a broad theme, and will call out the best efforts of all parties. Some urge that liberals of every shade and color should unite on this matter, to settle with emphasis this question of relation between Church and State.

It is cheering to every lover of liberty to see such questions discussed in one of the strongest Catholic countries. Whether religious liberty will ever be granted by "the powers that be" in Austria, or not, is a question, and a very doubtful one, for, according to prophecy, we know that in the last days intolerance will increase. But it matters very little, so long as the King of kings grants full liberty to all. In reality, there is no religious liberty aside from the liberty he grants; and if he makes us free, we are "free indeed," though living under the worst intolerance that the powers of darkness can invent. And such religious liberty may be enjoyed in Austria, and we trust will be enjoyed by many under the sound of the Third Angel's Message.

To-day my route lay through the Tyrolese Alps, far famed for their beauty. While speaking with a fellow passenger about the religion of the country, I took occasion to inquire if there were any Protestants in her vicinity. On learning that there were, I asked to what class they belonged, Lutherans or some other. She did not seem to know that there were different classes, and the only description she could give of them was that, while they believed in their God, they did not believe in their woman (meaning the Virgin Mary).

In this vicinity Sunday laws are not called for. The matter rests undisputedly in the hands of the priests, and that is all they ask for. If people go to hear mass, that seems to settle all else; they can do as they please the remainder of the day. In a press of work all that is necessary is to ask the priest, and he gives them permission to work. This reveals much of the character of the Papacy. Should the people work without asking the permission of the priest, it would be wrong; with his permission it is right. Thus the wrong does not consist in the action itself, but in not submitting to the priest. And this exaltation of man is precisely what the Bible charges against the Papacy,—it is the working out of the mystery of iniquity. We rejoice to know that the time is near when this whole system of deception and iniquity will come to an end forever, for "then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." But before that day comes, may many of these souls in papal darkness find the glorious light and liberty of the gospel.

H. P. HOLSER.

Salzburg, Austria, February 27.