A Supreme Court Justice and the Sabbath.
By Editor
Justice Harlan of the United States Supreme Court ought to have spoken on the constitutional side of the Sabbath question at the Presbyterian Alliance banquet in Washington, D. C., March 2, instead of making the remarks he is reported to have made. He said: "Here in Washington you can find a transgression of the sabbath everywhere you look. It is a shame that certain people from New York with big bank rolls should be allowed to come to Washington and give Sunday dinners and supper parties, when that day should be devoted to the work of God. I wish there was some way to stop this unwelcome influx into the capital. It is an outrage that dinner parties are given by these predatory rich persons on Sunday evenings, which should be devoted to other and higher things." Now the divine law of the Sabbath is the fourth commandment of the Decalogue. Ex. 20:8-11. Justice Harlan ought to know that that section of God's constitutional code calls for the observance of the seventh day of the septenary cycle, not the first. This is too plain to admit of construction. And then, too, the learned jurist ought to know that the keeping of the Sabbath is not a matter of civil law or civil-law regulation. It is a matter which lies wholly between the individual soul and its God. If Justice Harlan is pleading for God, he ought to plead for what God's law demands, the seventh day. If he is pleading for his church, he ought to appeal to the conscience. If he is pleading for his country, he ought to keep in mind the fundamental rights of its citizens regarding religious freedom. Every soul, rich or poor, has equal rights with Justice Harlan as to his choice of spending Sunday.