PLEA FOR CLOSING THE FAIR ON SUNDAY.
By Editor
WHEN the Midwinter Fair was first proposed, the ministers of San Francisco and Oakland announced that they would oppose Sunday opening, and various religious societies joined them. A decision was at last reached among the ministers of the various churches, and a statement formulated into a petition, and presented to the directors of the Fair. That petition did not materialize until a few days ago. The committee to present it made an appointment with the director general and the Executive Committee, but for some reason or other he failed to meet them, and on April 4 they presented their petition by messenger, and the next day it was published in the San Francisco Examiner. The ministers say that an examination of this communication from the churches will show that its arguments are not based on ecclesiastical grounds, although in its substantial features we believe it is in accord with the published utterances of both Protestants and Catholics, as expressed in opposition to the opening of the gates of the Columbian Exposition on Sunday. What is meant by ecclesiastical is not easy to see. It would seem that the ministers would desire that the public should understand by that that it is not religious, nor based on church opposition. But it certainly is based on religious grounds, for that they expressly state. They say they "view with alarm whatever threatens the great civil and religious institution so fundamental to the preservation of our national character and proper freedom, the Christian sabbath, commonly called Sunday." And again they speak of the "moral and religious attitude" of our State. One of the first considerations which they present for the closing of the Fair is, "This is a Christian nation, so decided by the Supreme Court of the United States;" and, secondly, "All the great religious denominations of our country that accept the scholarly interpretations of the Bible as the standard of their faith and practice, oppose Sunday opening." Something like six other considerations follow, all having a bearing to a greater or less extent on the religious phase of the subject. And they close by saying that if the gates are kept open, they will "protest against the act as an innovation un-American in its spirit and un-Christian in its tendencies." That is, the church people protest. Their protest is both religious and ecclesiastical. In this carefully worded protest there is an endeavor to sail between Scylla and Charybdis, by saying that, while they oppose the introduction of the so-called continental Sunday, they do not seek to return to the so-called Puritan Sunday, and this is just where Rome stands. But the object which they seek is both un-American and un-Christian, as we have before shown, and, while a closed or open Fair on Sunday does not affect us in any way, we hope that the false claims of its religious and American character will be clearly seen. The "scholarly interpretation" of the Bible may make the seventh day the first day, but it is an interpretation which makes void the word of God. The Lord says, "Now consider what I say," not what scholars may interpret him as saying. The question is not a mere question of days, it is a question of the integrity of God’s word and of faith in that word. We hope that Christians will not be confounded by the false issues which are raised concerning it. Righteousness is right doing, and the rule of right doing is God’s law. "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a shame to any people." But following a false standard of right does not make righteousness. Sunday has no foundation whatever in God’s word. It is not only an extra biblical institution, but it is antibiblical.