Why Sunday Laws Are Wanted. Give us good Sunday laws, well enforced by men in local authority, and our churches will be full of worshipers, and our young men and women will be attracted to the divine service. A mighty combination of the churches of the United States could win from Congress, the State Legislatures, and municipal councils, all legislation essential to this splendid result."- Rev. S. V. Leech, D. D., in Homiletic Review for November, 1892. Who Responsible for Them. 'During nearly all our American history the churches have influenced the States to make and improve Sabbath laws.”— Rev. W. F. Crafts, in "Christian Statesman," July 3, 1890. Religion an Essential. 'A weekly day of rest has never been permanently secured in any land except on the basis of religious obligation. Take the religion out and you take the rest out."- Rev. W. F. Crafts, in "Hearing on Sunday Rest Bill," December 13, 1888, page 21. "The experience of centuries shows that you will in vain endeavor to preserve Sunday as a day of rest, unless you preserve it as a day of worship." - Dr. Joseph Cook, in Boston Monday Lectures, in 1887. Attention having been called to the fact that in various States conscientious observers of the seventh day had been persecuted under Sunday laws, Rev. W. F. Crafts, superintendent of the International Reform Bureau, of Washington, D. C., and a noted champion of Sunday legislation, in a communication to the Washington Post," of April 3, 1905, admitted that the enforcement of these laws had resulted thus in certain States which he called "backward States." The logical result of all legislation of a religious character must, in the end, be persecution upon those who refuse to yield to the demands of the law. It is this very kind of legislation that will turn the States "backward" to the days of religious intolerance. James Madison, speaking against an establishment of religion by civil government, clearly stated the danger that lies in the first attempt, however slight. He said: "Distant as it may be in its present form from the Inquisition, it differs from it only in degree. The one is the first step, the other is the last, in the career of intolerance." From these statements it will be seen that any State which attempts to enforce upon its citizens any religious dogma is a "backward State," and that such attempts will, in the end, lead to all the baneful fruits of the Inquisition. The following syllogism will illustrate the logic of this "backward State" argument: · Major premise: States which persecute those who work on Sunday are backward States." Minor premise: The States which persecute those who work on Sunday are States that have Sunday laws. Conclusion: Therefore all the States that have Sunday laws are backward States." Because all the States which have Sunday laws have not oppressed the observers of the seventh day, and so demonstrated themselves to be, in this respect, "backward States," is either because opportunities for doing so have not presented themselves, or because such persons are exempt from the provisions of the laws referred to, or else because the laws have not been enforced, and not because the logic of Sunday legislation does not lead to such results. Persecut ing States backward States. Logical results of religious legislation. States having Sunday laws backward States. These States Seventeen States have persecuted Sabbata. rians, It is a fact, however, that no less than seventeen out of the fortyeight States in the United States having Sunday laws have actually prosecuted conscientious observers of the seventh day. are Alabama, California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, North Caro 1" Religious Liberty Leaflet," No. 12, by K. C. Russell. [733] A prolific source of persecution. How far back? lina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas. Sunday laws are a prolific source of religious persecution, as is evidenced by the fact that from 1885 to 1896, as the result of their enforcement, over one hundred Seventh-day Adventists in the United States, and about thirty in foreign countries, were prosecuted for quiet work performed on the first day of the week, resulting in fines and costs amounting to $2,269.69, and imprisonments totaling 1,438 days, and 455 days served in chain-gangs. But the question naturally arises, How far back will Sunday legislation lead a State? To what lengths will the logic of such legislation carry civil government? When a State starts on this road, where will it end? It would be absurd, indeed, to imagine a State having The increment of penalties. SUNDAY LAWS AS REPRESENTED BY NATIONAL REFORMERS. In a work recently published by the National Reform Association, the States having rigid Sunday laws are represented in white; those having less stringent laws, in shading; and the one State and one Territory having no Sunday law, in black, as above. it a law without a penalty. Such a thing would be a misnomer. Senator Blair once said, A law without a penalty is only an opinion." The penalty for the first offense in the violation of any law might be a light one; but should there be a continued disregard of the law, would ultimately become necessary, in preserving the dignity of the State, to increase the penalty until the law becomes effective in compelling obedience. This is a recognized principle in all law and jurisprudence. It can readily be seen that if the offending person continues to violate the law, the severity of the penalty must increase, until the only remedy for a determined and willful disregard of the State would logically be the death penalty. Speaking on this point, Gibbon, the historian, says: "It is incumbent on the authors of persecution previously to reflect whether they are determined to support it in the last extreme. They excite the flame which they strive to extinguish; and it soon becomes necessary to chastise the contumacy, as well as the crime of the offender. The fine which he is unable or unwilling to discharge, exposes his person to the severities of the law; and his contempt of lighter penalties suggests the use and propriety of capital punishment." "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chapter 37, paragraph 23. It was Sunday legislation which plunged Europe into the dark ages and the Inquisition. And this is where it will lead the world again to-day if it starts once more on this "backward" road. Logic of taking first step. This map represents in white the one State and one Territory having no Sunday law; in shading, those which have mild Sunday laws; and in black, those which have more stringent Sunday laws. It will be noticed that the map is nearly all black or shaded. Fortyseven States have Sun Already forty-seven of the forty-eight States in the Union have Sunday laws, and are, therefore, "backward States; " and strenuous attempts are being made to swing the one remaining State not having day laws. a Sunday law into line. The one great object of the National Reform Association, the International Reform Bureau, the American Sabbath Union, the Church Federation, and all other like organizations, is to secure religious legislation, not only in the States, but in the national government as well. Their work does not stop with an attempt to swing all the States "backward," but they are also seeking to turn this nation Church and state organiza tions. |