"The committee on the Sabbath Observance," in making its report to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Chicago on May 23, recommends "that the General Assembly reiterates its strong and emphatic disapproval of all secular uses of the sabbath day, all games and sports in civic life; also in the army and navy; all unnecessary traveling, and all excursions."
Public officials are requested to exercise "the potent influence of their positions" for a better observance of Sunday.
Families are urged not to buy anything "on the sabbath," and also to plan "for their servants on the sabbath so that they may fulfil their religious duties."
It is also urged that laborers "be paid on Saturday afternoon," so that they may make provisions for the observance of Sunday.
The Sunday newspaper was condemned, and the members of the church were urged not to subscribe for it, read it, or take it.
It was recommended that colleges omit recitations on Monday morning, "so as to leave the sabbath free from the necessity of some students' preparing their lessons on that day."
Sunday baseball also was condemned.
It is the privilege of individuals to observe Sunday if they so choose, but they have no authority for calling it the sabbath day. The Bible nowhere calls it the Sabbath. The only Sabbath the Bible recognizes is the seventh day of the week, which is commonly called Saturday.
While it is the religious right of any person to observe Sunday, or any other day of the week, for that matter, and also to seek to persuade men to accept and practise his views, his rights end there. There is no reason why he should endeavor to secure Sunday laws that will compel other people to observe the day, regardless of their desires in this matter.
And it would be just as wrong to have a law to require the observance of the day for which there is Bible authority as it is to require the observance of Sunday, for which there is absolutely no authority in the sacred Word.
The American people have been educated to believe in religious freedom. But there is a class of men who are working almost night and day to lead us into the belief that the enforcement of the observance of Sunday is not religious legislation. Many laboring men believe that this enforced observance of Sunday would give them a holiday, so that they might go to church on that day if they saw fit, or they might spend the day with their families in the country or anywhere they might choose. But when religious legislation gets under way, there is no determining the bounds that it will reach347under the guidance of religious despotism.
But beyond and above all this, the issue needs to be clearly defined.
God, in His word, definitely says that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath. In that same Word, He specifically states that a power would "arise that would think to change the times and the laws." See Dan. 7:25.
The thirteenth and the fourteenth chapter of Revelation tell us also of a decisive controversy that will be waged between the powers of apostasy, that will seek to enforce the mark of the beast, his worship, and his image, on the one hand; while on the other, a strong and solemn warning is given to those who will fall under the snare of such apostate worship.
In view of the distinct warnings that the Book of God gives, and in view of the many prophetic declarations concerning the apostasies that will exist at the close of time, men need to be careful how they enter the realm of enforcing religious dogmas, through civil law, upon their fellow men.
For half a century, we have been calling the attention of the world to the fact that the prophecies of God's word show that a religious despotism will be the great climax in this world's history, and that the enforcement of the observance of Sunday will be the central point in this ecclesiastical intolerance.
Men have laughed at us, and then gone right on fulfilling the predictions while still sneering and ridiculing. One of the most peculiar things about humanity is that so many men and women will fulfil the prophecies of God's word, while at the same time making all manner of sport of that which warns against such a course.
If we give careful attention to these matters, God's Spirit, through the unerring guidance of His word, will show us where the light is shining. And certainly there should be no difficulty in this matter of Sabbath observance, as there is not a single ray of light anywhere to show that Sunday is a sacred day, while the Word, from beginning to end, declares that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
No matter what other questions we may make mistakes upon, there is no necessity of making a mistake here.