THE AMERICAN SUNDAY by H. A. St. John

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 29, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 51.

THE AMERICAN SUNDAY.

By H. A. St. John

BY ELDER H. A. ST. JOHN.

[Thoughts suggested on hearing the celebrated evangelist S. M. Martin on the above theme, in San Francisco, Cal., Sunday, Sept. 23, 1884.]

TEXT: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2: 27.

Mr. Martin—This was the old Sabbath. Even that was made for man's good—intended for a blessing—adapted to his temporal and spiritual well being. But the bigoted Jews in Christ's day had perverted its purpose—just as mankind are wont to do with all of God's institutions and ordinances. The Jews virtually said the Sabbath was made first, and man was made to fit it, thus making it a tyrannical master. It is the old story of the iron bedstead. If the man is too short, stretch him; if too long, cut him off. I am not in favor of religious Sunday laws, but I do favor civil or secular Sunday laws.

Thoughts—True, it was the old Sabbath, and the only weekly Sabbath of divine appointment, that Jesus meant. It is also true that it was made for man's highest good, and still is, when not perverted. True, that the Jews had perverted it by loading it with rigorous exactions, and then trying to make themselves and others conform to it, after the iron bedstead idea. But it is also true that the Lord's Sabbath has been grievously perverted both as to the day of its occurrence and the spirit of its observance, and that, too, by those who are great sticklers for a religious day. And now they cry out for an iron bedstead in the shape of a universal Sunday law. And when they get this, whether it be called civil Sunday, secular Sunday, religious Sunday, or Lord's day, it will not matter much as to the name, so it is set up and operated by the government. It will be the same iron bedstead; and when they get it, if they find a man too short (one who keeps the Sabbath just the day before), then they will stretch him with fines, chain gangs, imprisonment, and the like, so as to stretch him over the Sunday rest. If a man is too long—does not regard any day—then he must be cut off to fit, even though it result in being cut off from society or the earth. All must be made to fit the iron bedstead, invented and patented by Rome, and set up by human governments. Wherein do such people differ from the old bigoted Pharisees, who put Jesus to death because they could not make him fit their iron bedstead?

Mr. M.—Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, and the Holy Ghost was poured out on the day of Pentecost, which was Sunday, and the church was then and there established.

Thoughts—It is true that Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday; but it is also true that he died for a world of sinners on Friday, and that he ascended to heaven to plead for a world of sinners on Thursday. Now, why not have a Thursday law, and a Friday law, as well as a Sunday law? Is there not just as much Bible authority for all as for either? If one is to be made into an iron bedstead, why not the others also? Perhaps Pentecost was Sunday, but learned men differ. Why not also guess at the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, and keep that day also? Church established on the day of Pentecost! Where is the proof? Jesus said, "Tell it unto the church" (Matt. 18: 17), and yet we are told that the church was not established at that time. Jesus gave himself for the church (Eph. 5: 25), and yet there was no church. Moses was in the church in the wilderness. Acts 7: 38. How could this be so long before the church was established? A slender foundation truly for Sunday observance and for Sunday-law iron bedsteads!

Mr. M.—We need Sunday laws, that we may have a day to impart religious instruction to the unconverted. They need the instruction. They do not want it, nor desire it, but they need it. The bad boy needs a flogging. He does not want it, or desire it, nevertheless, when he needs it, it should be administered. The sick child needs medicine. It does not want it, or desire it, but may fight it; nevertheless, the medicine must be taken, if we have to hold its nose.

Thoughts—This is the papal method of propagation, dealing, and discipline, pure and simple. And what wonder is it that papal methods, papal ideas, and the papal spirit should accompany a papal institution?

It was Saint Augustine that said: "It is indeed better that men should be brought to serve God by instruction than by fear of punishment or by pain. But because the former means are better, the latter must not, therefore, be neglected. Many must often be brought back to their Lord, like wicked servants, by the rod of temporal suffering, before they attain to the highest grade of religious development." —Schaff's Church History, vol. 2, sec. 27. Of this sentiment says Neander: "It was by Augustine, then, that a theory was proposed and founded which . . . contained the germ of that whole system of spiritual despotism of intolerance and persecution, which ended in the tribunal of the Inquisition."—Neander's Church History, p. 217. More of the iron bedstead, you see. Religion and religious institutions of human origin, called secular or civil, and enforced by a so-called Protestant government,—truly a veritable image of the Papacy!