A BAPTIST DOCTOR ON SUNDAY LAWS.
[The following report was written for another paper four years ago, and has never appeared in the SIGNS. How Dr. Reed now stands we do not know; we hope the same; but the truth he then uttered is always timely, and we commend it once more to our Baptist brethren, wishing that we could give in cold type the power which accompanied what the speaker said.] A BAPTIST Bible Conference was held in the First Baptist Church, Oakland, April 2, 3, and 4. Several subjects were considered, among them being the "Lord's Day," Rev. Daniel Read, D.D., instructor. This gentleman is a thorough scholar, having been president of an Illinois college for some years, and withal a strict observer of Sunday, so much so that when he came to California he paid one hundred dollars extra for his conscience, so that he and his family could stop over on Sunday instead of traveling on that day. His subject in the regular program of the conference dealt only with the religious phase of the question, he of course holding that Sunday was of divine authority. At the close of the lesson the question was asked, "Doctor, do you believe in a Sunday law?" The reply came at once, "No, sir." "But do you not believe in a Sunday law for the protection of workingmen?" The reply was that working men are already protected. "But," it was argued, "here is a railway which runs on Sunday and employs on that day one hundred men; ought not those men to be protected?" The doctor's reply was: "They are protected. No one compels them to work. You have no right to say the railroad may not run on that day, or that people shall not go to picnics on that day, or work on that day. It is a sin for men to break the sabbath, but that matter we have nothing to do with. They have a right to employ men on the sabbath, if men wish to work." The doctor said that his brethren seemed to have wrong ideas about protection. Men are now protected against working on Sunday. The railroad could not compel a man to work if the man did not wish to work. No man could be compelled to sin. The railroad authorities simply gave men their choice—work or quit. They could quit and seek work elsewhere. "But," the question was further urged, "supposing it was work or starve?" "Then," said the doctor, "Let them starve. Men have endured greater things than that for conscience' sake. You would not have Christians a lot of children, would you?" The doctor went on to show that a Sunday law would make men worse, for if they desired now to cease labor in order to worship God on Sunday, they could do so; and if they did not wish to spend the time in that way, all that a law would result in would be compulsory idleness; and Satan always finds something for the idle to do. And then when would we stop this legislation? We do not believe that the laboring man would get any good at the Roman Catholic Church. The Unitarian Church dishonors Christ. Men had better be at work. To be logical, we would not only have to compel people to attend church, but would have to compel them to attend the Baptist Church. He said it would be better for the drunkard if he worked all the time. It was said, "Suppose that a German band should stop before a church door on Sunday during service, and there play and sing; what would you do?" "Arrest them for a nuisance," was the reply. "They have no right to disturb a religious meeting at any time." Then a lady made a pathetic appeal for the boys against the Sunday saloons, which seduced and led away the guileless youth. What would the doctor do with these wolves which were devouring the lambs? He replied that he would go much farther than the sister; he believed in the absolute prohibition of the liquor traffic for all the time; and as regards the wolves, did not Christ say to his disciples, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves"? We are not to escape the temptations of this life. While we should not be of the world, yet are we in the world. But in whatever path we go, we may know that the great Shepherd is near. Sheep have little power to defend, but the Shepherd, who is ever watching, will care for the sheep. But the question between classes was not yet over. One member asked, "Supposing that our Adventist friends were worshiping down here in their church on Twelfth Street, and the next door to them were a number of carpenters at work on a building; ought the carpenters to stop?" "They ought," replied the doctor. "The Adventists have vested rights, and they have a right to worship, and ought to be protected." This, however, did not satisfy. Another asked, "What if the carpenters outnumbered the Adventists; what then? Ought they to stop?" "Brethren," said the doctor, and the venerable man grew eloquent, "this is not a question of numbers, but of RIGHT. If there is but one man and the millions of this country are against him, he has his rights equal to theirs; no matter whether he is an Adventist, a Jew, or a miserable Chinaman, whom everybody thinks he has the privilege of kicking, who desires to worship Joss in a Joss house, no one has a right to interfere with him." "When," the doctor asked, "did the church of God gain the greatest victories? Was it when all the pomp and power of the world were given her? Or was it otherwise? She gained her greatest victories when all the world was against her, and when her children laid down their lives for the word of God. Sunday laws were contrary to all Baptist tradition, and, what is more, they were contrary to the teachings of Christ." This is but a mild abstract of the doctor's reasons and answers so admirably and forcibly put. May Baptists and Christians everywhere read and ponder.