AN INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY CONGRESS by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CAL., KANSAS CITY, NEW YORK · Nov 28, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 48.

AN INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY CONGRESS

By Editor

SINCE the article on page 13 was written, an International Sunday Rest Congress has been held under the auspices of the French Government, in connection with the Paris Exposition. Other congresses of this kind have been held before, but no congress of this kind has received the official recognition of great governments as has this present one. It was held under the direct auspices of the French Government, the great republic of Europe, the motto of which is "Liberty, equality, and fraternity." But a Sunday-rest law is against all of these. Another chief actor in this drama is the great republic of the West, America, the Constitution of which, and her early traditions, are against any act of this kind, and any principle involved in such legislation as Sunday rest by law.

Yet the United States Government, through its representative, Commissioner-General Peck, appoints Rev. W. W. Attebury, D.D., and Rev. E. G. Thurber, D.D., as delegates to this congress. We believe there is also a third minister-delegate.

It may be said that this is not in the interests of religion, but in the interests of labor. But Sunday is a religious institution, and it is only because of this that the question is agitated. Dr. Attebury is himself the secretary of the "New York Sabbath Committee," the oldest institution in this country we believe working for Sunday laws; and both of these United States delegates to the International Rest Congress are also authorized to act for the New York Sabbath Committee. So says the Baptist Examiner, without a word of protest, which only shows how far along we are on the road to the union of Church and State. Study the question.