What Sunday Laws Involve.
By A. Delos Westcott
It seems hardly possible that those who are asking the government to assume jurisdiction over the subject of religion by the enactment of Sunday laws can understand what is really involved in their course of action. The logic of it, as demonstrated by all the past, if put into words and addressed to the Creator, would read something like this: "O Lord, our Creator, we have lost confidence in Thy government; we can not trust Thee any longer. Thou hast not punished the wicked as we think they ought to be punished. Thou hast been especially lax on this Sunday question. Thou hast permitted the base-ball and the foot-ball teams to run full blast every Sunday. Even the church-members employ the day very largely in picnicing, visiting, and merry-making. It was in Thy power to destroy or frighten them with lightning, tornado, earthquake, or pestilence, but Thou hast allowed them to go on undisturbed. When we scold them, they simply mock us, and we feel very much disturbed by their irreligious practises. We have seen for sometime that something would have to be done. After due deliberation, we have decided to transfer our allegiance in moral and religious affairs from Thee to the civil government. We believe we shall get better results. Several Congressmen have agreed to help us, and we hope to frighten the others into submission. The President has promised to do all he can to stop Sunday labor. Hereafter we shall get our religion from the civil government. We shall not need to read the Bible, or pray (except occasionally as a matter of form), for Congress and the courts will tell us what to believe and what to do. We intend, however, to keep our names on the church record, and continue to make a profession, because it looks better. We shall offer Thee a great many empty compliments, and continue to hold oyster suppers, bean socials, and fairs in Thy honor and in Thy house. We are going to restore the motto 'In God We Trust,' but we shall depend for practical assistance upon the army and navy. All Thou wilt need to do in the future is to govern the other worlds and get the mansions in heaven ready to receive us in case we should ever desire to change our residence. But probably Congress or the President will make arrangements for that. We would like to have Thee hold in check the earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and other terrible disasters unless they are sent to punish Sunday-breakers. Hoping Thou wilt see the reasonableness of our decision, we bid Thee adieu, and join in a lusty chorus of 'Hurrah for Uncle Sam.'" For a person to ask the civil government to assume jurisdiction over his own soul is high treason against the government of God. That is certainly bad enough. But what shall we say when a person shows a determination not only to deliver his own soul into bondage, but also the souls of all other people? That is exactly what any law on the subject of religion is designed to do. Any person who obeys the civil power in a religious matter, thereby transfers his allegiance from God to the civil power in that particular matter; and to admit the principle that the civil power may govern in one religious matter is to admit that it may rightfully govern in all religious matters. Hence to ask for a Sunday law or a Sabbath law is to declare that we divorce ourselves from God and render to the civil power that which belongs to God; and not only that, but we will try to force all others to do the same. Thus it is plain that when a man asks for a Sunday law, whether he knows it or not, he is asking for a law to divorce other people from God, and to force them against their wills to transfer their allegiance in religious matters to the state. And the only alternative to this sacrilegious proceeding is religious persecution. Christ said that "no man can serve two masters." It is therefore certain that no man can serve God and also serve the state at the same time and in regard to the same matter. And to choose to serve the state instead of to serve God is to set the state above God, and to disobey that command which says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." A person who will assume such a responsibility, who will turn his back upon God and renounce his hope of eternal life by such a step, is a thousand times more to be pitied than any victim of religious persecution. A few quotations of Scripture directed especially against this wicked proceeding will suffice to show its character: "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." See Jer. 17: 5-8. "Wo to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of Me; and that cover with a covering but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion." See Isa. 30: 1-3; 31: 1. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." See Ps. 146: 3-5.