The Sabbath and Sunday Legislation
By B. F. Kneeland
Which Day Is the Sabbath? Is It a Matter for Legislation? READ a few statements from eminent theologians: "The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh is absolutely without authority in the New Testament."—The Rev. Lyman Abbott, in "Christian Union," Jan. 19, 1882. "It is true there is no positive command for infant baptism. . . . Nor is there any for keeping the first day of the week."—"Methodist Theological Compendium," page 103. "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day; but that Sabbath was not Sunday. It will, however, be said with some show of triumph that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges, and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, I have studied for many years. I ask, Where can the record of such a transaction be found?—Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week."—The Rev. E. T. Hiscox, D.D., in the "Examiner," Nov. 16, 1893. "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify."—Cardinal Gibbons, "Faith of Our Fathers," page 111. Many similar statements from other eminent authorities might be given. But the Sabbath is a question of religion and not of politics, and the dragging of it into the political arena is un-American and against the best interests of Christianity. Read the following from Dr. Adam Clarke: "No other kind of constraint [than the prayers, entreaties, etc.] is ever recommended in the Gospel of Christ. Any other kind of compulsion is anti-Christian, can only be submitted to by cowards and knaves, and can produce only hypocrites."—Notes on Luke 14: 23. "To compel men destitute of faith to observe any Christian institution such as the Lord's day, is commanding duty to be performed without faith in God. Therefore to command unbelievers, or natural men, to observe in any sense the Lord's day is anti-evangelical or contrary to the Gospel."—"Memoirs," vol. 1, page 528. Would to God that the words of that grand evangelist, Charles H. Spurgeon, might ring again from our pulpits: "I am ashamed of some Christians because they have so much dependence on Parliament and the law of the land. Much good may Parliament ever do religion except by mistake! As to getting the law of the land to touch our religion, we earnestly cry 'Hands off! Leave us alone.' Your Sunday bills and other forms of act-of-Parliament religion seem to me to be all wrong. Christ wants no help from Cæsar. I should be afraid to borrow help from government; it would look to me as if I rested on an arm of flesh, instead of depending on the living God." The demon of drink is just as diabolical on one day as another. Would you send a man to the electric chair for murder committed on Sunday, and release him if it was done on Monday? If liquor-selling is wrong, and I believe it is, it is just as wrong on Tuesday or Saturday as it is on Sunday, and should be stopped on all days. But the call for Sunday laws is because of the religious character of the day. The appeal for legal support of this religious institution reminds one of the words of Benjamin Franklin: "When religion is good, it will take care of itself; when it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one." Civil laws enforcing a false Sabbath will never change God's law nor abrogate its claims upon every human being. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." B. F. KNEELAND.
Trenton, N. J.