CHICAGO.—The work is still onward here. In the last three weeks thirteen have been baptized, and three or four others expect baptism next Sabbath. The workers are of good courage, and anxious to increase our membership this coming winter. District meetings have been appointed in many parts of the city. A new mission has been started among the colored people. We are fortunate in having a good man to take charge of it. Each nationality is laying plans for successful work. L. D. SANTEE.
Children's Missionary Exercise
By Estella Houser
For Sabbath, December 29, 1906
Prepared by ESTELLA HOUSER
Suggestive Program
I. OPENING SONG: “Hasten On, Glad Day.” (“Christ in Song,” No. 448.)
II. PRAYER.
III. RESPONSIVE SCRIPTURE READING.
IV. SONG: “A Missionary Hymn.” (Music, “Hymns and Tunes,” No. 866.)
V. RECITATIONS:—
“Go Preach My Gospel, Go.”
“The Heathen Mother and Her Babe.”
“Come Over and Help Us.”
VI. SONG: “Seeking the Lost.” (“Christ in Song,” No. 406.)
VII. AN IMAGINARY TRIP TO INDIA.
VIII. RECITATIONS:—
“Appeal of Africa.”
“Why Didn’t You Tell Us Sooner?”
IX. SONG, by the children: “Little Workers.” (Music, “Hymns and Tunes,” No. 775.)
X. RECITATION:—
“What Missionary Pennies Will Do.”
XI. COLLECTION.
XII. CLOSING SONG: “To the Work.” (“Christ in Song,” No. 449.)
Responsive Scripture Reading
Superintendent.—Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.
School.—Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?
Supt.—But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
School.—Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
Supt.—They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
School.—O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.
Supt.—He will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great. For there is no difference . . . for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
School.—For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Supt.—How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
School.—And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
Supt.—And how shall they hear without a preacher?
School.—And how shall they preach except they be sent?
Supt.—The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.
A Missionary Hymn
(Music, “Hymns and Tunes,” No. 866)
Many the hearts who of error are weary,
Longing for Him who is waiting to save.
Many the lost ones in wilderness dreary,
Many who, Christless, now haste to the grave.
Bear to the lands that in bondage are lying
Tidings of Jesus, the Saviour of all.
Speed with the gospel, on love’s pinions flying;
Haste, O ye reapers, the Master doth call.
Go to all nations: no longer delaying;
Go with his message of love and of light;
Go, for the systems of error, decaying,
Herald the passing of heathendom’s night.
Harvest draws near. Hath the Master not told us?
Haste, O ye reapers! the fields now are white.
Fear not; his love and his power enfold us;
Strong is the Christian in Jesus’ own might.
—Ernest G. Wellesley-Wesley.
Go Preach My Gospel, Go!
THERE is a voice upon the wind,
A voice that comes from far,
A voice from where the distant groves
And perfumed breezes are.
’Tis not the sound of triumph, nor
The scream of heathen rage,
But ’tis a cry for gospel light—
The echo of the age.
The orb of night is going down,
The crescent hastes to set;
For where the Arab prophet ruled,
The men of God have met.
The Persian moolah seeks for light,
The Tartar waits to know
If Christ’s command hath been repealed:
“Go preach my gospel, go!”
Along Sumatra’s tropic shore,
And Java’s upas vale,
The heathen strains his eye to watch
The missionary sail:
The idol gods that long have ruled
Are burned in Borneo,
And there the voice from heaven proclaims,
“Go preach my gospel, go!”
The Karen, from his rocky hills,
And natives of Japan,
Unite their voices with the sound
That comes from Hindustan.
They call on us in words direct,
Or in their rites of woe,
“Obey, ye saints, your Lord’s command:
‘Go preach my gospel, go!’”
The voice of strong entreaty still
The breeze from Burma brings.
The call is echoed from Siam,
And China’s ancient kings.
The region of the simoon blast,
Where Niger’s waters flow,
Repeats to us our Lord’s command:
“Go preach my gospel, go!”
From many a river’s templed bank,
Where pagans bend the knee:
From continental villages,
And islands of the sea,
Each ship that floats upon the wave,
And all the winds that blow,
Ring out to us the Lord’s command:
“Go preach my gospel, go!”
—Selected.
A LITTLE MALAY GIRL
The Heathen Mother and Her Babe
I SEE a heathen mother stand beneath the starry sky;
I seem to see her bosom heave, and hear her bitter sigh.
But as she stands there lone and sad, wrapped in the shades of night,
There steals into her darkened soul a blessed ray of light.
Not long ago she stood beside a river, deep and wide,
Which bore a precious little form upon its rapid tide.
O do not doubt she loved her babe, and found it hard to part,
For in that dark, uncultured breast18there is a mother’s heart;
And often when maternal fears come surging o’er her soul,
She seeks her gods of wood and stone, her burden there to roll.
O poor neglected, thirsty one, I would that thou couldst know
There is a home, a heaven above, where living waters flow;
That thou mightst know His blessed name who died thy soul to save,
And keeps for aye that little life once cast upon the wave.
O where is he with faith and love and consecration meet,
Who time and friends, and health and life, hath laid at Jesus’ feet,
Who’ll brave the dangers of the deep, and face the burning sands,
To tell the blessed gospel news in distant heathen lands?
He surely will come forward now; to him the call is given,
This “secret of the Lord is his,” and his reward is heaven.
O may the inspiration come to many hearts to-day,
Constraining every child of God most fervently to pray
For bands of Christian workers in the vineyard, that will bring
The kingdom and the glory of our blessed Lord and King!
O see that heathen mother stand, her hands stretched toward the sea;
Now who will say, “Lo, here am I; send me, O Lord, send me”?
—Mrs. Martha C. Wiswell.
Come Over and Help Us
(To be spoken by five little girls in costume of country, or with sash over shoulder bearing name of country each represents.)
SPAIN, first
I COME from the land where the light and the darkness,
The good and the evil, are ever at strife;
To plead for the famishing ones ere they perish,
For you have the bread and the water of life.
I fled, O my friends, from the cell of a convent,
A place where the monk and the priest have control,
Where the dark, secret Jesuit holds inquisition
To crush out the light of the Lord from the soul.
O, send to my people the gospel of Jesus,
Let the words of the Master their fetters unbind!
“Come over and help us,” for dark superstition
Debauches the soul and bewilders the mind.
INDIA, second
I come to you here from the land of the Veda,
Where the bars of division are stronger than death,
Where man is feared more than the beasts of the jungle,
Where the ties of affection dissolve at a breath.
O, rich in its gems is the home of my childhood!
Strange flowers spread its landscape, strange stars dot the sky,
Where Nature is crowned as a priestess forever,
In all our green vales, on our mountains so high.
Yet send to our people the gospel of Jesus,
In all our zenanas to teach of his love;
O, tell those who dwell by the glorious Ganges,
Of the river of life and the Eden above!
CHINA, third
I come from the far-away land of the sunrise,
Where Buddha is worshiped, and Christ is unknown,
Where sin hath its root in the heart of the nation,
And poisons all life, from the hut to the throne.
O, dark is the fate of the wife and the mother,
Where the lot of a woman is worse than a slave,
Enshrouded in gloom and encircled in sorrow,
Till love’s dearest gift to a girl is the grave!
O, send to our people the gospel of Jesus,
Let our priests and philosophers bow at his feet,
Let his heralds come to us from over the waters,
And quickly his offer of mercy repeat!
AFRICA, fourth
I come from a land where darkness has thickly
Brooded over our tribes like the night of the grave,
Till the world, in its scorn, has given us only
The brand of the serf and the lash of the slave.
Your traders came to us across the wide waters,
But O! ’twas for greed, ’twas for gold that they came.
They filled all their ships with our sons and our daughters;
Their civilization was only a name.
O, send to our people the gospel of Jesus,
That blesses the nations all over the earth!
O, spread out his banner of mercy above us,
Till the latest-born child of his kingdom has birth!
AMERICA, fifth
Dear sisters, we give you this gospel of Jesus,
Sent down from the Father above.
Our hearts have grown glad in the light of his presence,
While telling his story of love.
O sisters, believe there is rest for the weary,
There is hope for the sin-darkened soul,
There is strength for the weak, there are gifts for the needy
More precious than silver or gold.
He died to redeem us. Now, risen in glory,
He has triumphed o’er death and the grave.
Go home to your people, and tell the glad story
That Jesus is waiting to save.
—Heathen Woman’s Friend.
An Imaginary Visit to India
(Let this exercise be given by a class who are supposed to have recently returned from a trip among our missions in India. Have a map of the world. If none is at hand, make an outline map on a large sheet of paper or cloth. Mark the route of the travelers by a dark-red ribbon or cord.)
TEACHER
To-day India seems much nearer to us than it did fifty years ago. In the early days missionaries consumed months in reaching India, while to-day the journey may be made in less than a month. (Trace journey on map of world, with pointer.) And in India to-day we can travel long distances with much ease and comfort, on railroads. Still, it is often necessary to journey on foot, in bullock carts, or on horseback, in visiting the missions.
FIRST SPEAKER
“Impressions of a Traveler”
India is only one half as large as the United States, but it is the home of three and a half times as many people. Most
of her people are very poor. The country is fertile, but the people are not thrifty. Many of them earn not more than five or six cents a day.
The three largest cities in India are Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. Ninety out of a hundred people live in towns or villages. Only a few men and scarcely any women can read and write. The houses of these middle and lower classes are built of mud, and consist of a room or two, with prison-like windows set high, earthen floors, and no chimneys. A low stool, a poor cot or crude bedstead, and an old rug for visitors to sit upon, furnish such a hut. There are some earthen cooking vessels, water-jars, brass plates, and cups. Dusky children play around without much, if any, clothing on, and men and women wear scanty attire. Cows, calves, buffaloes, bullocks, and fowls make the home their abode, and are always on intimate terms of acquaintance with the family.
The village schoolmaster calls his pupils together under a large tree, or in some shed. A stick serves for a pencil or crayon, and a leaf on the ground for paper or blackboard. Some mischievous boy may be punished by hanging for five minutes with his head down from a tree, or two boys may have their heads knocked together several times.
How many American boys and girls do you think would be willing to exchange the comforts of their homes, and the privileges of church, schools, libraries, and cultured friends, for the opportunities that come to the average boy and girl of India?19
SECOND SPEAKER
“In the Women’s Quarters”
In India many of the homes, but not all, are built with special apartments for the women, very distinct from the part of the house where the men live. Can you imagine one or more rooms built expressly for your mother and sister, where they must always stay, never knowing the freedom of the home such as their husband or father enjoys? These apartments are called zenanas.
The zenanas often have the appearance of a prison, for the windows are very small and high, so that the women are unable to look out, and any one outside can not look in. The rooms are generally bare and unattractive, not unlike other parts of the homes. From the age of eight or nine years, the women of the higher and middle classes are doomed to a life of seclusion and ignorance in these gloomy zenanas.
The condition of women in India wrings sympathy from the heart of every visitor to that land. Listen to the story of Tara, one Hindu widow. Her name means “a star,” but not a single star seems to shed its light in Tara’s life:—
INDIAN SERVANT
THIRD SPEAKER “Tara’s Story”
(dressed in costume of Hindus)
How strange it seems to me to see so many happy little girls and young women everywhere I go in the United States. In India that would be called a strange sight. Over there most of the girls and women are never allowed to go upon the street or have the freedom of the house; but, if you could see them, most of them would look sad, because they have so little to make them happy. The little widows like me are the saddest girls in India. We are cursed and despised by everybody. Our lives are the most unnatural and cruel in the whole wide world.
When I was born, my father felt disgraced, and was angry because I was not a boy. He told his friends that “nothing” had been born. Before I was a year old, my parents had promised a man old enough to be my father that he might have me for his wife. When I was four years old, that man became my husband. How strange it must seem to you to hear a little girl like me say “my husband.” The beautiful clothes, the gold and silver jewelry, set with many brilliant stones; the horses decked in silver and gold tinsel, and the tinkling of little silver bells as the wedding procession moved through the streets, made me very happy. But I was only four years old!
Very soon I went to live with my husband’s family. That day I parted with my home, and became a woman. My husband’s mother said that I was married now, and must stay in the house, and help do the work for the family. It was hard, but nevertheless I had to work. Before I was ten years old, my husband died, and friends of his family said that I must have been very wicked in a former life; that I might have been
a snake, and that my sins probably had killed my husband.
They took away my pretty clothes and jewels. My beautiful dark hair was shaved off close to my head. I was given only a widow’s old, faded dress, like the one I am wearing. I became the drudge of the family. When I am at home, I have only one meal a day, and twice a month I fast. One day I was so hungry that I took a dry crust of bread, and ran away to eat it, but they brought me back, and burned me with a hot iron. They curse and beat me without the least provocation. I toil all day at the household work, bringing all the water, scouring the cooking dishes, cooking the meals, cleaning the floor, and doing the washing. I never go outside the front door, meet strangers, or enjoy the family feasts.
When I go back to India, the people who meet me will not be so kind as you are, but will say to me, “Widow! Curse you, stand aside!” It seems to me that I can’t endure it any longer. My heart and spirit are broken. Can’t you do something to make the lives of the little child-widows as happy and joyous as yours?
TEACHER
Perhaps we can better understand how many child-widows there are in India, when we learn that there are almost as many widows there as there are women in our own country. That means that if there were as many widows in the United States as there are in India, nearly every girl and woman you know would lead a life as full of sorrow as that which little Tara has told us about to-day.
Again, if the widows of India were standing with arms extended and hands clasping, as you see these girls on the platform are doing, the line would be long enough to reach around the world at the equator.
Many of the villages of India have never been visited by a missionary. Is it not plain to-day that we can do a great deal to help transform the lives of these millions of darkened people by giving money, prayers, and missionaries for India?—Arranged.
Appeal of Africa
(By boy showing map of Africa painted black; our own mission stations marked with white stars.)
DARK Africa appeals for aid,
Her millions to reclaim;
Millions yet bound in galling chains
Of ignorance, crime, and shame.
A few tried souls have hastened on,
And reached a hand to save;
Have left their homes and mother land,
Dark perils there to brave;
And some have lost their precious lives,
And gained a martyr’s crown;
Beneath the baobab and palm
They laid their burdens down,
And in the dense, dark forest,
And by the lonely shore—
O, naught of sin or sorrow
Shall pain their spirits more!
Now, who is there will say, “Send me,
I’ll take the empty place;
I’ll give my life, my strength, my all,
To save poor Afric’s race”?
—Selected.
“Why Didn’t You Tell Us Sooner?”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”—
The words come sad and low.
“O ye who know the gospel truths,
Why didn’t you let us know?
The Saviour died for all the world,
He died to save from woe;
But we never heard the story—
Why didn’t you let us know?
Why did you let our fathers die,
And into the silence go
With no thought of Christ to comfort—
Why didn’t you let us know?
“O souls redeemed by Jesus,
To think what your Lord hath done!
He came to earth, and suffered,
And died for every one.
He expected you to tell it,
As on your way you go;
But you kept the message from us—
Why didn’t you let us know?
You may not be able to come yourself,
But some in your stead can go;
Will you not send us teachers—
Will you not let us know?”
—G. P. Turnbull.
Little Workers
(Motion Song by the Children! Music, “Hymns and Tunes,” No. 775.)
WE are workers for the Master;
Willingly to him we bring
Hearts and hands, to do his service,
While our lips his praises sing.
Little workers, happy workers—
Willing workers for our King.
There are lands where heathen darkness
Falls, without one cheering ray,
Where they bow in idol worship
To their gods of wood and clay.
Little workers, happy workers—
Send to them the light of day.
There are sheep that far have wandered
From the pastures green and fair,
Out upon sin’s gloomy desert,
Over rock and mountain bare.
Little workers, happy workers—
Lead them to the Shepherd’s care.
Let us then be up and doing—
Serving Jesus while we may,
Sending light to souls in darkness,
Seeking lost sheep gone astray.
Little workers, happy workers—
Be our motto, “Work and pray.”
—Selected.
What Missionary Pennies Will Do
CHARLEY
My papa gave me a penny
My very own to be.
O Johnny, say, what would you buy
With it, if you were me?
JOHNNY
I’ve got a penny, too, see here!
And though it is quite small,
’Twill buy some candy, I am sure,
Or else a top or ball.20
CHARLEY
O, how I wish I had a pile
Of pennies, up so high!
(measuring with his hand)
What lots of playthings, pretty toys,
And candy I would buy!
JOHNNY
And I would buy a great live horse,
And ride him all the day;
I’m sure I never should be tired,
Nor ever want to play.
CARRIE
Now, boys, if you will listen,
I will tell you something true.
I read about some boys and girls
About as big as you.
They live across the ocean,
Thousands of miles away.
They never read the Bible,
Nor ever learn to pray.
They never go to Sabbath-school,
To hear God’s Holy Word,
But worship idols (made of stone
Or wood), instead of God.
They never heard of Jesus,
So gentle and so mild,
Who blessed the little children,
And loves each little child.
Our people send the Bible
And missionaries there,
But it takes a lot of money
To support them, every year.
CHARLEY
Here, Carrie, take my penny;
I do not want the toys;
I’d rather send the Bible
To the little girls and boys.
JOHNNY
And so would I; take mine along,
And send it, Carrie, too;
If I a pile of pennies had,
I would give them all to you.
ALL TOGETHER
We’re very little children;
’Tis little we can do;
But we will send our pennies,
And the dollars leave for you.
CARRIE
(Turning to the audience)
The heathen are perishing; onward they go,
Fast as the clock ticks, downward to woe.
You who have money, O will you not give,
That the souls of the perishing heathen may live?
The Lord can convert them without you, ’tis true—
Or your perishing wealth—for all things he can do;
But yet, this great honor is part of his plan—
That he will accept the poor service of man.
ALL TOGETHER
Give as you would if an angel
Awaited your gift at the door;
Give as you would if to-morrow
Found you where waiting was o’er;
Give as you would to the Master
If you met his searching look;
Give as you would of your substance
If his hand your offering took.
—Selected and Arranged.
The New York Sabbath Union Convention
By K. C. R.
The New York Branch of the American Sabbath Union held its annual convention at Elmira, N. Y., Oct. 27-31, 1906. The convention was held in the evening, except Sunday and Wednesday, the first and the last days of the session.
The last day was devoted to regular convention work, involving the receiving of reports from a few of those in attendance, and the reading of papers upon different phases of so-called Sabbath (Sunday) reform.
A report was given of the Sunday-law crusade which has been carried on in Elmira during the past summer by the civic committee, composed of the clergymen of Elmira. The chief thing emphasized throughout the report was the fact that the ministerial force in Elmira had succeeded in bringing such an influence to bear upon the city officials that a quiet Sunday was the result.
A spirit of triumph seemed to pervade the assembly because they had been so successful in intimidating the city authorities, and bringing them to time.
A paper was read by one of the Elmira delegates, setting forth in a clear-cut way the moral effects of the Elmira closing crusade. The following are some of the statements made by the speaker:—
“It has revived the meaning of the word ‘sacred.’” “It has emphasized the fact that we believe in the pre-eminence of moral influence.” “It has taught the community that the ministry stands for something.” “It has lifted the ministers out of the position that they formerly held.”
There are two lessons which are plainly taught from these statements concerning the moral phase of Sunday legislation in Elmira: First, that the enforcement of Sunday laws is a panacea for everything evil and immoral; second, that it is not the civil feature of the Sabbath that the American Sabbath Union desires to secure, but rather the moral or religious phase.
Opportunity was given to those present to ask questions bearing upon the work of the association. One question was sent in, as to what authority Sunday observance rested upon. The chairman evidently suspected that the question was asked by some one who was not in sympathy with the work of their union, and in a gruff manner and with an intolerant spirit, he said: “Come over on our side and save trouble.” This statement, although very brief, was very expressive of what they expect the end will be for those who do not accept and coincide with their so-called reform ideas.
Dr. Martin D. Kneeland, of Boston, the secretary of the New England Sabbath Protective League, gave an enthusiastic address, in which he told of the work they were doing in New England, in the interests of Sunday legislation. He said that New England had as strong a Sabbath association as there is in the United States. He told with pride that the late Senator Hoar served as the president of the New England Sabbath Protective League until his decease, and that Honorable John D. Long, LL. D., had succeeded him as president of the association.
It is easy for those who understand the nature and object of this association and other similar ones, to see why they should secure such prominent statesmen as the late Senator Hoar and the Honorable John D. Long as presidents. They well understand that by having such men occupy the office, it secures to their movement great prestige and influence, as it is nothing short of a religious-political organization, and they understand, too, that they will be much more successful in attaining the object for which they are seeking, if they can only secure the mantle of the state over their work, and thus hide its religious character.
Dr. Kneeland stated that he had had interviews with President Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor, John Mitchell, and other prominent labor leaders, concerning the question of securing Sunday, by civil enactment, as a day of rest for the laboring man, and that they all expressed themselves as being very much in favor of the movement.
That the churches of this country should seek the protection and support of the great federated labor organizations is not a surprise to those who have studied this question, for it is of little concern to those who are seeking the power of the state in matters of religion from what source they obtain their support, if they can only get it. It has been long expected that this would be a part of their program.
The New York Independent has outlined what the end of such an alliance would mean: “No one can watch the recent development of trade-unionism, with all its unquestioned value and importance, and not be impressed by the rapidity with which it is tending to become a dogmatic religion, surcharged with bigotry, fanaticism, and superstition. The unions have erected Sunday into a sabbath of the faithful. The trade-unions embrace possibly two and a half million members. If they are all to become dogmatic religionists, the days of persecution ‘for the faithful’ are not over.”
Such a movement certainly must appeal to every thoughtful man and woman as a very significant one, when we consider the tremendous pressure that will be brought to bear on congressmen and State legislators, when Protestant Federated Churches and Associations, the Federated Roman Catholic Societies, and the Federated Labor Organizations all unite together as one.
Perhaps one of the most interesting features to others than the delegates in the convention was the reading of a paper by Ex-Judge Charles R. Pratt, of Elmira, on the judicial phase of Sunday laws.
It was nearing the close of the afternoon session when the judge was called upon to present his paper. In the sessions preceding his address the Sabbath (Sunday) reform idea had been emphasized by all the speakers, and everything seemed to be moving along in a way that was very pleasing and satisfactory21to them; but when the paper was presented by Judge Pratt, it was very evident from the deathlike stillness that pervaded the room during the reading of it, and the absence of any applause (which was painfully conspicuous as he read), that it was not in harmony with the ideas that had been set forth. Much of the paper that he presented was in flagrant contradiction of the ideas of the American Sabbath Union, both as to the authority for Sunday observance and as to the right of the state to legislate upon it, only as a civil matter.
Believing that it will be of interest to the reader, I will herewith quote a few extracts from the paper, containing some thirteen pages of type-written matter. In a statement concerning the absence of any authority for Sunday-keeping, he says:—
“The Christian Sunday, or Lord’s day, is not a substitute for the Jewish Sabbath, but it is an entirely independent but analogous institution. It has no divine sanction. It grew up gradually among the early Christians as an appropriate occasion on which to meet together and celebrate the event which distinguished their cult from others. Hessey, in one of the Bampton lectures, shows that up to the end of the fifth century, and even later, the two days were not considered to have any relation to each other. It was finally worked into the church calendar as the chief of its holy days, and is one of the very many holy days of the original church accepted by the Protestant denominations. . . . There is no claim, I suppose, of any divine installation of the Christian Sunday. Whether a usage or custom growing up among a small and insignificant portion of the world’s population were divinely authorized or inspired to bind all mankind for all time, the average lay citizen is, I think, at liberty to question. . . . Those who are most eager for the enactment of strict Sunday laws and most strenuous and aggressive in their efforts to enforce them are inspired by genuine belief in the sacred character of the day. It is well to bear in mind, therefore, that it is impossible, in the present age, in a cosmopolitan community to secure the general observance of any law or rule of conduct on account of any claimed divine or supernatural sanction.”
The judge, in speaking on the object of civil government, said: “Government exists to protect the person and property of its citizens. It can not as a rule invade the rights of an individual or person except to enforce the rights of another individual or person.”
He further speaks concerning the duty of the state to preserve the rights of others, as follows:—
“Any law which goes beyond that principle, which undertakes to abolish rights, the exercise of which does not involve an infringement of the rights of others, or to limit the exercise of rights beyond what is necessary to provide for the public welfare and the general security, can not be included in the police power of the government. It is a governmental usurpation, and violates the principles of abstract justice, as they have been developed under our republican institutions. . . . Sunday, as a religious institution, can receive no legal recognition. It is manifest that the religious liberty of the Jew or of the infidel would be violated by a compulsory observance of Sunday as a religious institution. Sunday laws, so far as they require a religious observance of the day, are unconstitutional, and can not be enforced. If these laws can be sustained at all, they must be supported by some other unobjectionable reasons.” “You can not enforce puritanical laws except in a puritanical community. You can not compel a man to rest unless he wishes to. You can not make a man virtuous or pious by concurrent resolutions. But you can prevent others from interfering with the rest to which he is entitled, and you can secure to him the uninterrupted observance of any form of religious worship or moral and spiritual refreshment desired, leaving to others to do otherwise, so long as neither interferes with the other.”
The reader can easily imagine the effect that these statements from the paper of the judge would produce upon an assembly gathered for the purpose of advocating principles which were diametrically opposed to both the Bible and the fundamental law of this country.
The New York Conference religious liberty secretary and his wife, Elder and Mrs. J. S. Wightman, were on the ground in Elmira before this convention convened, and made arrangements for several public meetings to be held, where the principles of religious liberty could be discussed in contrast with the principles of the American Sabbath Union, which are designed to invade the rights of conscience, and subvert the principles of religious freedom.
They succeeded in securing a good hall in the center of the city, where two lectures were held, and later the city hall was secured, where another lecture was given, setting forth the principles of religious liberty as enunciated by Christ, and as taught by our forefathers and incorporated into the Constitution of the United States. These addresses were quite fully reported. The papers of the city were exceedingly liberal in the main in publishing the articles bearing upon this question.
The mayor of the city, and other prominent citizens, were very pronounced in their views on the side of the principles believed and advocated by Seventh-day Adventists on the question, and on the total separation between church and state.
It is evident that the principles which were presented on this question, both from the platform and from the press, have stirred the city of Elmira as it never was stirred before on a question of this character; and we hope that it will result in rallying to the standard of religious and civil freedom every loyal citizen of that city, that even those who have been on the wrong side of this question may see their error, and take their stand on the side of right and justice.
K. C. R.
Christian Liberty
By K. C. Russell; W. A. Colcord
Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining
to the Current History of the
Rights of Conscience
