CALIFORNIA has no “Sunday law,” and therein is, we believe, singular amongst the States.
Of course, by “Sunday law” is meant prescription by the State, that leads toward a particular observance of the day, and inflicts penalties for its violation. There are Sundays and Sabbaths, and people of equal sincerity and religious sensibilities differ upon the question of which day shall be kept to fulfill the commandment, “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.” Perhaps, derived from the intense theocratic tendencies of our Puritan ancestors, we have been rather prone to give a “Thus saith the Lord” tone to our legislation upon the Sunday question. But powerful Christian bodies have risen in the country, which dispute the authority of the first day of the week and plant their faith in the seventh day, which they keep holy; and on the first day they resume their ordinary occupations.
A Sunday law which inflicts penalties for plowing or planting, reaping or sowing, or ripping and sewing, on the first day, compels one set of Christians to smite another set, while both are sincere in their belief, of good report in their conduct, and equally serviceable to the State as good citizens.
California did not hesitate when the issue was made. She abandoned that sort of Sunday laws, and now every man does as he pleases, and being left to himself, with his moral sense as a guide, we are happy to say that nearly every man chooses to do well on Sunday and on the Sabbath. No man is in danger of arrest because, having kept his own Sabbath, he does not also keep another man’s Sunday. The Israelites are freed from a sort of legal bondage, and California is peculiarly a land of religious liberty and toleration.
A great many good people were appalled when the Sunday law was repealed in 1883. They277predicted all sorts of dire results that have not followed.
We find in one of the religious newspapers of the State that a comprehensive inquiry has been made in nearly all the civilized countries of the world, to get a view of the condition of Sabbath observance that shall include them all. The question addressed in each case by the reverend gentleman who prosecuted the inquiry was: “Where have you seen the best Sabbath observance?” A San Francisco pastor answered: “Amongst the Christian people of California.” The inquiries and answers were wrought into a book published in 1885, in which the investigator records this conclusion: “Both laymen and ministers say that even in California the Sabbath is better observed and Christian services are better attended than five years ago.” And this was after two years’ experience of no Sunday law!
The appearance of the word “even” in the verdict is slightly offensive.
“Even in California,” as if from such sons of Belial but little is to be expected.
California is the only State in the Union where the law and the gospel are independent of each other, and where the day of rest and the day to be kept holy needs no law to enforce its observance. Instead of being a sign of retrogression and impiety, it is a sign of progress up to that pitch of respect for the day and toleration of the convictions of those who lay by the garments of worldliness on different days, that need no spur of the law, no detective espionage, no judge nor jail to vitalize them. Instead of being the odium of the State it is its special glory and greatest credit.
There is no room for compulsion in matters of religion. The Mohammedans believe in it. When they conquered Persia and converted it by force to the doctrines of the prophet, they made merry at seeing the Parsees, whom they had circumcised by force, continue their prayers to the sun. It seemed a great joke to them that the fire-worshipers should not know that he had changed his supernatural allegiance and was wasting his time asking protection of a power from which he had been surgically alienated. Really, Sunday laws have no higher origin than had this Mohammedan idea of conversion by duress. California has shown that such laws are unnecessary to the observance of one day of the week as a season of testimony to faith in things unseen. More faithful testify now than before. The State no longer beats the bush for the Church, but the Church gets more game than ever.
We commend these facts and this example to the other States, hoping that their people will become as we are, devout and devotional, without being driven by the club of the law.—Daily Alta California, August 4, 1889.
Mr. Crafts in Riverside, Cal.
FROM the Phoenix, of August 31, we clip the following report:—
Last Monday evening, Mr. Crafts, of New York, lectured in the Congregational Church on behalf of the American Sabbath Union, or what he calls the “American Sabbath.” The working classes were especially invited to come out, but they were conspicuous for their absence. The church was about two-thirds filled, mainly by church people and advocates of a State and National Sunday law. Considering the fame of the speaker, such a turnout does not argue much in favor of a Sunday law in Riverside.
Mr. Crafts is field secretary of the American Sabbath Union, and is a good specimen of what might be termed muscular Christianity. He is a fluent, forcible, and pleasant speaker. Phrenologically speaking, no one would take him for a logical speaker or an intellectual giant, nevertheless he would be inclined to carry conviction to a certain class of minds. We doubt, however, whether he made a single convert to his views; indeed, there were few at the meeting who would be inclined to dissent from any views expressed by him. What Mr. Crafts lacks in logic is made up in force, and what is wanting in argument is made up in assertion.
The workingman has nothing to gain from the American Sabbath Union which proposes to give him a rest on Sunday. We have never heard that the workingman complained of overwork, but rather of lack of work, and so when the workingman asks for work, and wants to be relieved of the incubus of Chinese labor, the American Sabbath Union tells him, We want to give you a rest on Sunday.
Mr. Crafts claims that the American Sabbath Union is indorsed by the Knights of Labor. This we deny. There are estimated to be 1,000,000 idle workers in the United States, and the American Sabbath Union proposes to help them by giving them a holy day on Sunday, so devoid of anything in the shape of rational amusement that they will be forced to go to church in sheer desperation.
Compare the stone, which the church proposes to give the workingman with what he himself is asking for.
In the International Workers’ Congress, held in Paris a few days ago, the workers agreed on “Eight hours as a maximum day’s work to be fixed by international law.”
“At least one day’s holiday to be given each week.”
“Abolition of night work as far as practicable for men and entirely for women and children.”
“The total suppression of labor by children under fourteen and protection of children up to eighteen.”
“Prison and workhouse labor to be conducted under the same conditions as free labor, and to be employed as far as possible on great public works.”
Mr. Crafts’ arguments were a tissue of sophistries. He claims that eighty per cent. of the people of the United States are Protestants, ten per cent. Catholics, and the remaining ten per cent. is made up from all classes.
From what he says, one-half million of foreigners, “unwashed refugees, professors of liberty,” are the sole cause of Sabbath-breaking, while the AMERICAN SENTINEL counteracts all the influence of the American Sabbath Union. It would be hard to say just what Mr. Crafts wants.
Jesuitism is by no means confined to the Roman Catholic Church, and there are many in Protestant garb who think the “end justifies the means.” The subversion of our civil and religious liberties will be the result if the American Sabbath Union can have its own way.
This country is great and prosperous because it is free politically and religiously, and wherever the civil power is controlled the most by the religious power, there is the least freedom. Not by accident, but by design, is the absence of any religious test in our State and National Constitutions, and long may it continue to be. The battle of civil freedom has been fought on this continent for the whole civilized world, and as appearances go, the final battle of religious freedom will also have to be fought on our soil. When the day comes that the religious arm controls the civil arm, there will be an end of our greatness.
Danger Ahead!
By Editor
THERE are always two sides to every question, yet “the other side” of many of the most important questions usually has but few champions in press, pulpit, or public, because although possessing even more intrinsic merit than the opposite side, it is unpopular, or perhaps, more properly speaking, unfashionable with “sawsiety.” Such is the case with a number of questions which have been submitted to the consideration of the Constitutional Convention at Olympia, most prominent of which are: God in the Constitution, “Sunday rest,” and exemption of church property from taxation. Unfortunately there seem to be few of the members, who have given “the other” side any study and who understand the true intent of the measures.
. . . . .
WHILE an apparently harmless sentiment in itself, the recognition of that force which rules the universe—possesses deeper meaning in the preamble than many people imagine. What is the true meaning? Circumstances indicate this to be the entering wedge, the preliminary step, towards the union of Church and State, and the restriction and eventual suppression of religious liberty. The future is best judged by the past and present; the true meaning of this union is written in blood upon the pages of history.
THAT some kinds of laws seem to be necessary to preserve order and protect society there can be no doubt; but no special Sunday laws are required, because that day is no better than any other day; what is proper to be done on any day is proper to be done on Sunday, and what should not be done on a week day should not be done at all. The advocates of this measure, however, seek to establish a false standard of right and wrong,—that an act done on Sunday is wrong, while the same act performed on any other day would be meritorious. It is not the day when an act is done that makes it either right or wrong, but it is the intrinsic features of that act. Can you truthfully deny this, my Christian friend?
WHILE one class of Christians recognize Sunday as a day of worship and rest, there are others who devote Saturday to the same purpose; the Mohammedan recognizes Friday as his Sabbath; while other classes recognize all days as alike holy. Those who keep Sunday and want legislation for that day ask that other people shall be forbidden to pursue their usual avocations on that day, because it disturbs their rest and worship, and they claim their rights are not properly protected; yet they seem to ignore this principle by refusing to abstain from work on Saturday, when they may possibly disturb the Sabbath rest and worship of the Jew and Adventist.
ARE not the rights of the Jew and Adventist (who with the Liberal, Spiritualist and Agnostic oppose Sunday legislation) entitled to as much respect and protection as those of the Methodist or Presbyterian? The liberty of the latter class to worship who, when, where, and in what manner they please is not denied, and present laws afford ample protection from disturbance. We contend that if we wish to make our “day of rest” a holiday, to engage in such recreations and278amusements as shall be consistent with the rights of others, or if we wish to pursue our regular business we have that right and should be protected in it. Sunday is an excellent social arrangement, provided it is not managed entirely by priests, preachers, and church members; in that case it is a mere adjunct to superstition and bigotry.
THE agitators for Sunday laws seem to lose sight of the fact that minorities have rights as well as majorities, and that there is no safety in society at any time or place, under any system of religious or civil law, when the rights of each individual, no matter how humble nor how much he may dissent from the common public opinion, shall be held less sacred than the rights of the majority. The question of religious belief and observance is a question between a man’s own conscience and his God, if he has any; and it is a matter the State has no right to interfere with, directly or indirectly.
THIS measure of the Sabbath Union, like its progenitor the Blair bill, is a blow at the liberty and rights guaranteed every citizen of this free republic; it is a public acknowledgement that their religious system is a failure and cannot keep up with the procession in the march of progress which has marked the latter part of the enlightened nineteenth century; that it cannot stand upon its own merits, but seeks the State’s aid to save its cherished myths, superstitions and errors, from decay; it shows the spirit of intolerance and bigotry that for centuries has animated and still animates the church. The world has had enough of religious persecution and intolerance. An inquisition such as the leaders of these measures contemplate would be no less arbitrary and ferocious through Protestants than were the leaders of the Romish Inquisition; the system is the same. In the fourth century the same movement of designing priests and politicians to unite Church and State by Sunday and similar laws, developed a theocracy, a religious despotism which left a trail of blood down through the Dark Ages. That the church of to-day can no more safely be trusted with political power than it could in the fourth century is best illustrated by recent utterances of some of its leading representatives in this Sunday-law movement.
IT is understood that this question of enforcing an observance of the sectarian Sabbath will be submitted for the people’s adoption or rejection as a separate article of the Constitution. Thus far the press has been eloquently silent in discussing the merits or demerits of this measure, probably for fear of offending the “very elect.” The Eye, however, believes in a free and fair discussion. Under its present management its columns have been and will continue to be open to those who may hold different opinions from its editor. “Hear all sides; hold fast to that which is good. The truth will make you free.”—The Eye, Snohomish, Washington.
No Sunday Law Needed for Protection.
By A. DELOS WESTCOTT.
THEUnion Signal says: “A W. C. T. U. tent-meeting at South Omaha, Neb., conducted by C. J. Holt, was assailed by a shower of stale eggs, which fell without discrimination upon the just and the unjust, including the ladies. Judgment was visited upon the marauders to the extent of a fine of fifty dollars.” Certainly these persons deserved punishment for their incivility, that is, for trespassing upon the rights of others. And the fact that they were punished as “marauders” and not as Sabbath-breakers, shows that no Sunday laws are needed to protect people in their right to worship. But we suppose they will keep right on asking for Sunday laws to protect public assemblies just the same. Suppose the above assault to have occurred on Wednesday, and that the only way to bring the “marauders” to justice was by the enforcement of a Sunday law. As every one knows, a Sunday law could not be enforced on Wednesday or any other day but Sunday. A Sunday law is for Sunday and no other day. Hence, if they had to depend on Sunday laws for protection, they might be rotten-egged on every day but Sunday with perfect impunity. We are stupid enough to think that after they had tried a Sunday law for a month or two to keep off the eggs, they would make up their minds that one every-day law for eggs was worth more than all the Sunday laws in existence. A Sunday law, prohibiting the running of a saloon or the throwing of “stale eggs” only one day in the week, would be a disgrace to any government. Such a law would make crime to consist in the time, instead of in the character, of an act. We believe in every-day laws for crime, and we will never consent to any law that exempts criminals from punishment six days in the week.
A. DELOS WESTCOTT.
Sabbath Rest Belongs to God
It is not enough to say that “the requirement of one day of rest in seven is based on the necessities of human nature.” Upon which of these necessities is it based? Is it based upon those necessities of human nature with which the State can have to do? The requirement of the seventh day’s rest is based, not upon the physical, but upon the spiritual necessities of human nature. And with the spiritual part of man, civil government can never of right have anything to do. That pertains solely to God. The Sabbath rest therefore belongs to God. And Christ commands to render to God, not to civil government, that which is God’s.
A Sumptuary Measure.
By S. H. Willey
THE disposition on the part of many people to favor the objects of the National Reform Association and the passage of the National Sunday-Rest bill can be attributed largely to ignorance of interests involved; but with many others the spirit of selfishness and persecution is very apparent. Inconsistencies will crop out. The following conversation will illustrate one prominent characteristic of these agitators:—
A—Will you vote the prohibition ticket this fall?
B—Most emphatically, No!
A—Don't you believe in the prohibition principle?
B—No, sir; it is a sumptuary measure; it interferes with the personal rights and liberties of men, and I will heartily oppose all such measures. Besides, this question is purely a moral one, and should never be interfered with by legislation.
In a short time the topic of conversation was changed, and the Sunday-law question came up, as follows:—
A—What do you think of the proposed Sunday law?
B—It is the very thing we need. It is high time something emphatic were done to enforce Sabbath observance.
A—Would you vote for such a law?
B—I would support a measure that would sink every steamer, and burn every railroad train that moved on Sunday, and confiscate the property and imprison every man who worked on the Sabbath.
The above conversation really took place between the writer and a prominent member of a Protestant church in Easton, Maryland. And with such a spirit they propose to put God in the Constitution and evangelize the United States.
S. H. WILLEY.
The Sunday Movement in London.
An energetic attempt is to be made at the half-yearly meeting of the Shareholders of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway to put a stop to the system of cheap Sunday excursion trains. This renewed attack upon the workingman's holiday has been carefully organized, and a circular letter has been issued, under the auspices of the Lord's Day Observance Society, calling on all zealous Sabbatarians to unite heart and hand in depriving the workingmen of London of their weekly breath of fresh air. At present they can go to Brighton and back for a very small sum, and none, perhaps, but those who are in some sense workingmen themselves can appreciate the physical benefit which they derive from the excursion. Those who contend that all Sunday traveling which has for its object only health and recreation is Sabbath-breaking, if they are allowed their own way, would condemn thousands of laboring men to pass their entire lives, without a break, in the narrow, crowded streets or festering alleys of our great city. It is needless to say that this is only the spirit of intolerance which forbids the opening of museums and picture galleries on Sunday, breaking out in a fresh place, and throwing one more difficulty in the way of those social reformers who wish to see Sunday a day of rest from labor, without being converted into an excuse for intemperance. It does not matter whether public houses are closed or not. Unless the people are provided with other ways of spending their leisure, the old tradition will prevail, and drink will be obtained by some means. It is not found that Sunday closing does really diminish intemperance. But excursion trains unquestionably have that effect; and those who desire to abolish them can only consist of that class of reasoners who prefer the means to the end; and think that so long as a man sits still all day on Sunday, does no work, goes to no place of amusement, does nothing either to cultivate his taste or benefit his health, he is in the right road, though he drinks gin from morning till night, and keeps the Sabbath holy by degrading himself below the brutes. We have no desire to see the English Sunday reformed on the Continental model. We are not advocating any system which converts Sunday exclusively into a day of pleasure. We are arguing on sanitary grounds; and our contention is that it is quite as meritorious an action to bring a man away from the slums of London on a Sunday as it is to pull an ox out of the pit. The abuse of any principle does not necessarily condemn the use. Cheap Sunday trains have their drawbacks, no doubt. They are sometimes attended by a certain amount of riot, revelry, and intoxication, which is not appropriate to the day. But the question is whether all these evils would not be multiplied twenty-fold if the people who share in them stayed at home, or spent their money in the public house.—London Standard.
Religious Duties Require Religious Methods
LET religious institutions be sustained by religious means. Let Christian duties be maintained by Christian methods. If this be done the State need not be called on to legislate for such ends, or interfere in any way.—Western American.
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THE National Sunday Law
Argument by Alonzo T. Jones, in behalf of the rights of American citizens, and in opposition to the Blair Sunday-Rest Bill, which Mr. Jones presented before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, December 13, 1888. Mr. Crafts has pronounced the report as published.
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