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7 
 
 HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL 
 
 REVIEW OF 
 
 THE SUNDAY QUESTION; 
 
 REPLIES TO AN OBJECTOR. 
 
 BY GEORGE W. BROWN, M. D. 
 
 ALL TIME IS TOO SACRED TO DO WRONG, NO .-TIME IS TOO 
 
 SACRED TO DO GtlOD. 
 
 (( NOV 111882, 
 
 X£9Vor.i*AemHG 
 
 ' OF WASHl^ 
 
 ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS: 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 

 COPYRIGHT, BY G. W. BROWN, M. D., 
 
 1882. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 Tffg LllRARY 
 
 ©F CuNnuRsa 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A river is pouring its waters into the great sea. 
 Whether an Amazon, or a Nile, we desire to find 
 its source, and trace its progress until swallowed 
 up in the ocean. So with human legislation. It 
 is not enough to find a law on the statute books; 
 we wish to know from whence it came; the motives 
 of the law-givers in enacting it; whether it has ac- 
 complished its purpose; and learn if the causes 
 still remain for its continuance. 
 
 It matters little to what domain we turn, — 
 whether to the moral, religious or historical, — ' 
 every subject which engages the attention of man 
 must be subjected to the analysis of Reason. He 
 who attempts to teach that Reason is carnal, and is 
 not to be trusted, controverts Infinite Wisdom who 
 gave it to man for his guidance. 
 
 One-seventh of all the days of the year are exclu- 
 ded from labor by legal enactment, and involuntary 
 idleness is forced upon the people. It is claimed 
 that this law has a divine origin, and that human 
 legislation on the subject is in aid of revelation. 
 
 It is our purpose in these pages to inquire into 
 the derivation of the Sabbath; trace its history very 
 hurriedly down to modern times; and view it from 
 an ethical and legal stand-point Will the reader 
 
2 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 divest himself of prejudice, the result of early 
 education, and journey with us to the conclusion? 
 
 It is said, "There are two sides to all ques- 
 tions." Every pulpit throughout the land has been 
 thundering its arguments and logic for centuries in 
 support of a rigid observance of the Sabbath. It 
 has, at the same time, been hurling its anathemas 
 and imprecations against those who controvert 
 its positions. But little has been said in opposition; 
 and yet the teachings of the clergy are by no means 
 generally endorsed. The great mass of the people 
 act as if they thought a portion of the day should 
 be observed for relaxation from secular affairs, 
 for family reunions, and recreations, rather than 
 exclusively for religious devotion. We hope to 
 strengthen them in this direction, in confirmation of 
 'the teachings of Jesus, that "The Sabbath was 
 made for man, not man for the Sabbath." 
 
 ANCIENT TEACHINGS REGARDING THE SABBATH. 
 
 The ancients noted time by lunar months, as did 
 the Indians of America. Those ancients were wor- 
 shipers of the sun and moon. They divided their 
 month of twenty-eight days into quarters, coincid- 
 ing with the changes of the moon, and on the days 
 of these changes their priests, in behalf of the 
 people, made sacrifices. Six days of labor and one 
 of rest was observed throughout Chaldea, Assyria, 
 Phcenecia and Egypt, from the earliest times. 
 
 Abraham, who it is claimed was the father of 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 3 
 
 the Jews, was a Chaldean by birth and education, 
 and in emigrating to the land of Canaan carried with 
 him those institutions and modes of thought, under 
 which he was reared to manhood. Among those 
 institutions was the division of time, which he 
 inherited from his ancestors and transmitted to his 
 successors. 
 
 We afterwards find these clescenclents of Abra- 
 ham slaves in Egypt, for a period of 215 years. 
 There they found a similar division of time and 
 the last day of the week was observed by the 
 inhabitants as one of rest and worship. In going 
 out of Egypt, lately slaves, they carried with them 
 the institutions which they inherited from their 
 ancestor Abraham, and to which they had been 
 accustomed for so many years, and in which 
 their leader, Moses, was specially educated. 
 
 We have been taught that the heavens and earth 
 were created in six days, and that on the seventh 
 the work was ended, and the Creator rested, as if 
 weary from over-toil. At what hour on the seventh 
 day he "ended" his labors we are not advised. 
 Biblical scholars have long since come to the con- 
 clusion that those "days" spoken of were long 
 periods of indefinite duration, each extending from 
 what appears to the contrary through countless 
 millions of years. The seventh day, then, of rest 
 would extend through an equally long period. 
 Hence we can derive nothing in regard to a Sabbath 
 of rest for man from this event. 
 
4 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 Passing from Genesis to Exodus, Chapter 12, 
 and reading it at length, we find the reasons for 
 the observance of the Sabbath by the Jews, because 
 they were emancipated from Egyptian bondage. 
 
 "This month, [lunar month,] shall be unto you 
 the beginning of months; it shall be the first month 
 of the year to you." — Ex. 12: 2. 
 
 A feast was then provided for, and, verse 6th, it 
 was to be "kept until the 14th day," or middle of 
 the lunar month. 
 
 Verse "14. This day shall be unto you for a 
 memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord 
 throughout your generations; and ye shall keep it 
 a feast by an ordinance forever." 
 
 "15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. 
 
 "16. And in the first day there shall be a holy 
 convocation to you; no manner of work shall be 
 done in them, save that which every man must 
 eat; that only may be done of you. 
 
 **17. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened 
 bread; for in this selj same day have I brought 
 your armies out of the land of Egypt, therefore, 
 [that is for this reason] shall ye observe this day 
 in your generations forever. 
 
 "23. And ye shall observe this thing for an 
 ordinance to thee and thy sons forever." 
 
 Chap. 19: 8. "This is done because of that which 
 the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of 
 Egypt," 
 
 Turning to Ex. 20: 8, 9, 10, and 11, we find the 
 ordinance mentioned above: 
 
 "8. Kemember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 
 
 "9. Six days shalt thou labor, etc. 
 
 "10. But the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord, 
 etc. 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 5 
 
 "11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and 
 earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on 
 the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the 
 Sabbath day, and hallowed it." 
 
 The reason here given for the observance of the 
 seventh day is very different from that given for 
 the feast in the 12th chapter. 
 
 The "ordinance," usually called the decalogue, 
 or ten commandments, gives the true reason for 
 which the Jewish Sabbath was instituted. 
 
 Deut. 5:15: "And remember that thou wast a 
 servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord 
 thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty 
 hand, and by a stretched out arm; therefore the 
 Lord commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." 
 
 The word Sabbath, in Hebrew, signifies rest. 
 According to the bible account it was observed as 
 a sort of weekly holiday, as Americans observe the 
 4th of July annually in commemoration of their 
 national independence. It was designed for the 
 Jews and their posterity for all time; but had no 
 force or authority outside of that people. If a 
 command of God, and designed for all people, and 
 all time, then the penalty of "stoning to death," 
 for the infringement of the ordinance should be 
 specially enforced. No one in our age, not even 
 the most fanatical, would favor so severe a penalty, 
 for merely "picking up sticks on the Sabbath." 
 And every other Mosaic law is of equally binding 
 force, even to the eating of pork, circumcision, etc., 
 as is the Sabbath law, and no more. 
 
b THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 But as Christians do not observe the Jewish 
 Sabbath, but have a day of their own, we will 
 inquire into the authority for the observance of 
 that day, and see if it has any recognition from the 
 Master, his disciples or apostles, or their immediate 
 successors. 
 
 TEACHINGS OF JESUS, THE APOSTLES, AND EAKLY 
 CHRISTIANS. 
 
 We seek in vain to find evidence that Jesus paid 
 more respect to the Jewish Sabbath than to any 
 other day of the week. He openly disregarded the 
 strict observance of this day, as practiced by the 
 Jews, and nowhere commanded his followers to 
 regard it as more sacred than other days. When 
 the Pharisees complained that his disciples passed 
 through a cornfield on the Sabbath day, doing that 
 which was unlawful, he defended their conduct, 
 and said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man 
 for the Sabbath." On another occasion, when in- 
 dignantly censured by the ruler of the synagogue, 
 and told: "There are six days in which men ought 
 to work, * * and not on the Sabbath 
 
 day." Jesus called the ruler a "hypocrite" for thus 
 interfering with him in his mission. For command- 
 ing the sick man to "Take up thy bed and walk," 
 on the Sabbath day the Jews sought to kill him, 
 stone him to death, as was the Israelite law for 
 gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, or doing any 
 secular work, (See Numbers 15: 32-36.) But Jesus 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. Y 
 
 replied, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 
 On these occasions, when censured and even threat- 
 ened with death for his disregard of this holy day, 
 on no occasion, in public or private, is it recorded 
 that he commanded, or even requested his followers 
 to keep that day more sacred than the rest. True, 
 he taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and so 
 he taught on the other days, and all days. 
 
 Neither is there any command or custom derived 
 from Jesus, requiring his followers to devote any 
 special day to worship. 
 
 And what is true of Jesus in this regard is true 
 of his immediate followers and apostles. That 
 they voluntarily came together on the first day of 
 the week "to break bread," is true; but no one 
 seems to contemplate that this was obligatory upon 
 him or that it was other than a free act. 
 
 Paul, in his letter to the Romans, 14: 5, settles 
 this matter beyond controversy, by saying: "One 
 man esteemeth one day above another; another man 
 esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully 
 persuaded in his own mind." As to the effect of 
 any of the Jewish ordinances, we read that Christ 
 came, Col. 2: 14-16. "Blotting out the hand- writ- 
 ing of ordinances that was against us, and took it 
 out of the way, nailing it to the cross. * * 
 Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in 
 drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new 
 moon, or of the Sabbath day." 
 
 And to the Galatians, 4: 10-11, Paul wrote: "Ye 
 
8 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 observe days, and months, and times, and years, I 
 am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you 
 labor in vain." 
 
 So good authority as the "Encyclopedia of Eeli- 
 gious knowledge," article Sabbath, says: "There is 
 not on record any divine command issued to the 
 apostles, to change the Sabbath from the day on 
 which it was held by the Jews, to the first day of 
 the week." 
 
 Eusebius, the well-known church historian, in 
 his Ecclesiastical History, tells us of the early 
 Christians: "They did not regard circumcision, nor 
 observe the Sabbath, neither do we; neither do we 
 abstain from certain foods, nor regard other 
 injunctions which Moses subsequently delivered 
 to be observed in types and symbols, because such 
 things as these do not belong to Christians." 
 
 Please remember that Eusebius wrote in the year 
 324, and is the authority for all the subsequent . 
 church histories which have been written of those 
 early times. 
 
 And Neander, the greatest of ecclesiastical histo- 
 rians, tells us: 
 
 "The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, 
 was always only a human ordinance, and it was far 
 from the intention of the apostles to establish a 
 divine command in this respect; far from them 
 and from the early apostolic church, to transfer 
 the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at 
 the end of the second century a false application of 
 this kind had begun to take place, for men appear 
 by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 9 
 
 FIRST LEGAL AUTHORITY FOR SUNDAY. 
 
 When Diocletian abdicated the throne of the 
 Cjesars, A. D. 304, the Eornan power prevailed 
 throughout nearly all Europe, the north of Africa, 
 and western Asia to the Indus. An edict issued by 
 the reigning emperor became a law throughout all 
 this vast empire, embracing the whole civilized 
 globe. A long and bloody internecine war between 
 contending factions followed the abdication, which 
 resulted in the triumph of Constantine, the re-es- 
 tablishment of an almost boundless empire, and the 
 transfer, soon after, of the seat of government, and 
 the imperial throne, from Rome to Constantinople. 
 The result was largely brought about by the Chris- 
 tians, who were scattered all over the empire, unit- 
 ing their fortunes with those of the successful 
 monarch. 
 
 As soon as Constantine was firmly seated on his 
 throne he began to devise measures which would 
 make the followers of Jesus his devoted friends. 
 He claimed to have been converted to his teachings. 
 His biographer set up the claim that the symbol of 
 the cross displayed on his banner was shown him 
 in a dream from which he copied. His great 
 zeal in their behalf attracted the clergy to his 
 standard; and though his hands were crimsoned 
 with the blood of Licinus — his brother-in-law, and 
 co-emperor, — with that of his son Crispus, his 
 nephew Licinus, and his wife Faustus, with many 
 other persons of prominence who seemed in the 
 way of his ambition, yet he evidently aspired to 
 
10 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 become the leader of the church, and, practically 
 became such. Says a learned writer: "The most 
 unfortunate event that ever befell the human race 
 was the adoption of Christianity by this crimson- 
 handed cut-throat in the possession of unlimited 
 power." 
 
 In subsequent years attempts have been made 
 to canonize Constantine for his great services to the 
 church; but the advocaius diaboli has always pre- 
 sented, in too horrible colors, those dark blood- 
 stains which cover his hands, and notwithstand- 
 ing his efforts to make himself the popular leader 
 of the church he is compelled to rest in an unhal- 
 lowed grave minus the title Saint. 
 
 Says a recent biographer of this great bad man, 
 who made Christianity the religion of the State, 
 and which subsequent ages have labored so sedu- 
 lously to over-throw: 
 
 "After having caused seven of his family to be 
 put to death in cold blood, after having steeped his 
 soul in the guilt of every crime, from private assas- 
 sination to wholesale massacre, he called together 
 the Christian world at Nicea; and with the diadem 
 on his brow covered with jewels, seated in a golden 
 chair, the first Christian emperor proceeded to set- 
 tle the Christian creed and determine the will of 
 God for the coming centuries. In answer to his 
 call two thousand fifty-eight bishops, all of different 
 sentiments and opinions, met at Nicea, in Bithynia. 
 The main object of this council was to decide the 
 dispute between Athanasius, deacon of Alexandria, 
 and Arius, an eastern schismatic, to-wit: Y/hether 
 Jesus Christ was God or creature, and to settle the 
 canon of Scripture. This meeting of over two 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 11 
 
 thousand violent and exasperated bishops, each in- 
 tensely interested in having his own peculiar opin- 
 ions prevail, resulted in a general quarrel. To re- 
 store harmony, Constantine, as moderator, expelled 
 seventeen hundred and thirty of the delegates, thus 
 leaving only three hundred and eighteen to settle 
 the vexed question whether God the Son was the 
 same as God the Father, as well as what writings 
 were the word of God." 
 
 The first legal edict of general effect regulating 
 the Sabbath, was promulgated A. D. 321, and may 
 be found in the Code of Justinian, lib. iii, title 12, 
 sees. 2 and 3, in these words : — 
 
 "Let all Judges and people of the town and va- 
 rious trades be suspended on the venerable day of 
 the Sun, [die Solis.~\ Those who live in the country, 
 however, may freely and without fault attend to the 
 cultivation of their fields, since it often happens 
 that no other day may be suitable for sowing grain 
 and planting the vine, lest, with the loss of favorable 
 opportunity, the commodities offered by Divine 
 Providence shall be destroyed." 
 
 This edict became the basis of all subsequent 
 legislation in all Christian countries, ' and is the 
 first authoritative direction to observe the first day 
 of the week for other than secular purposes. 
 
 The Catholic church became established about 
 this time, and her Popes, clothed with temporal 
 power, from century to century made rules more 
 and more stringent for the observance of this day. 
 
 In the year 538 the third Council of Orleans, re- 
 quired that agricultural labor should be suspended 
 on Sunday, to the end "that the people may have 
 more leisure to go to church and say their prayers." 
 
12 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 In the 9th century the emperor Leo repealed the 
 exemption of Constantine, and required the suspen- 
 sion of all labor on Sunday. It was then the clergy 
 set up the 4th commandment as an additional reason 
 why the day should be employed exclusively for 
 religious exercises. 
 
 English legislation on this subject may be traced 
 as far back as 1449; but it was not until 1678 that the 
 law was passed which may be regarded as the foun- 
 dation of all subsequent enactments of its class in 
 Great Britian and the United States. By this law 
 it was enacted "that no tradesman, artificer, work- 
 man, laborer, or other person whatsoever, shall do 
 or exercise any worldly labor, business or work of 
 their ordinary callings upon the Lord's day or part 
 thereof — works of necessity and charity only except- 
 ed;" — and "that no person or persons whatsoever 
 shall publicly cry, show forth, or expose to sale any 
 wares, merchandise, fruits, herbs, goods, or chattels 
 whatsoever, upon the Lord's day or any part 
 thereof." 
 
 THE FATHERS OF PROTESTANTISM ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 From the time regal authority under Constan- 
 tine, began to assume leadership over the church, 
 until the Reformation dawned upon the world, in 
 the beginning of the 16th century, when Luther 
 hurled his powerful invectives against Popery and 
 its encroachments upon the pure teachings of Jesus, 
 we find continued invasions upon those sublime 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 13 
 
 precepts taught by the Master. Pagan worship had 
 been abolished, but many of its obnoxious teach- 
 ings were engrafted upon the simpler Christian 
 system. 
 
 We frankly confess great admiration for that 
 noble genius and bold innovator, Luther, who dis- 
 regarded established customs, burst the fetters 
 of Popery, and laid the immovable foundations of 
 Protestantism, which, subsequently, has opened the 
 way for an honest thought in every land. Aided 
 by the art of printing by which knowledge has 
 been so widely diffused, the mind of man has been 
 disenthralled, and we are living in an age of scien- 
 tific discovery, of enlarged personal and political 
 liberty, and with better conceptions of the destiny 
 of our race than ever before. 
 
 Luther and his associates saw the great injury 
 the cause of Jesus had sustained by innumerable 
 holy days, which the church, under Catholic ad- 
 ministration, had consecrated to some Saint, or set 
 aside for some special observance. He thrust them 
 all aside, and left the people free to pursue their 
 natural duties, deeming all days God's days, and 
 as such should be devoted to His worship. He 
 wrote: — 
 
 "As for the Sabbath, or Sunday, there is no neces- 
 sity for its observance. If anywhere one sets up its 
 observance upon a Jewish foundation, then I do 
 order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, 
 to feast on it; to do any thing that shall remove this 
 encroachment upon the Christian spirit and liberty." 
 
 Even John Calvin, that stern old reformer and 
 
14 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 hater of Popery, in his exposition of the fourth 
 commandment, wrote: — 
 
 "The fathers frequently called it the shadowy 
 commandment, because it contains the external ob- 
 servance of the day which was established with th<* 
 rest of the figures at the advent of Christ." 
 
 And all the so-called reformers, including Melanc- 
 thon, Beza, Bucer, Zuinglius, Cranmer, Milton, and 
 the good John Knox, were of the same opinion, and 
 so expressed themselves. Even Jeremy Taylor put 
 himself on record by writing: — 
 
 "The effect of which consideration is this, that 
 the Lord's day did not succeed in the place of the 
 Sabbath, but the Sabbath was wholly abrogated, 
 and the Lord's day was merely an ecclesiastical 
 day." 
 
 Paley, Arnold of Bugby, as well as Archbishop 
 Whately employ similar language. So worthy 
 and devoted a Christian as William Penn, wrote: 
 
 "To call any day of the week a Christian Sabbath 
 is not Christian but Jewish. Give us one scripture 
 for it, I will give you two against it" 
 
 It is needless to multiply authorities in this 
 direction, though we have a large number of them, 
 sufficient to fill many pages. 
 
 All over the continent of Europe, Sunday, at 
 this time, is treated by Protestants and Catholics 
 alike, as a semi-religious holiday. Beligious ser- 
 vices are usually attended in the morning; after- 
 noon and evening are devoted to rest and recrea- 
 tion. Hence the reason foreigners are so reluctant 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 15 
 
 to fall into the puritanical habits practiced in 
 America. 
 
 At the time of the great Kef ormation in Germany, 
 Switzerland, etc., the English king was engaged in 
 a controversy with the church peculiarly his own. 
 While the power of the Pope was defied, the teach- 
 ings of Catholicism were largely retained, and 
 among these many of her holy days, as well as the 
 observance of her sacred Lord's day. The Puritans 
 in emigrating to America, brought this day with 
 them, and have engrafted it upon us as one of the 
 most sacred institutions of the church. 
 
 Some churchmen are so bigoted they cannot even 
 tolerate a calm discussion of the question, even 
 when they have an opportunity to reply, but seek to 
 silence investigation by quoting a "Thus saith the 
 Lord," thus putting an end to inquiry. But we 
 live in an age of thoughtful research, when all 
 questions, including the religious, must be tested 
 in the grand crucible of Keason; when that which is 
 false must pass away; when that which is true 
 shall only remain. 
 
 A LEGAL DECISION,— GOD WOBKS ON SUNDAY. 
 
 America was peopled from Europe, and the in- 
 stitutions under which the colonists grew to man- 
 hood were brought with them. The most rigid 
 puritanical notions were entertained by the leaders 
 of these emigrating parties. As soon as govern- 
 ments were organized stringent laws were made to 
 
16 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 protect the Sabbath from desecration. In the New 
 England States a man must not journey from home 
 on that day, unless to or from church. Even in the 
 domestic circle the day was one of gloom. The 
 meals were prepared as fully as possible on Satur- 
 day to the end that no unnecessary labor should be 
 done on that day. 
 
 But knowledge has advanced. The people have 
 become educated and liberalized, and each freeman 
 claims the prerogative of thinking for himself. 
 Many antiquated creeds have been revised, many 
 an error has been corrected, many changes have 
 been made in laws and social customs to accomo- 
 date enlarged opinions. If the Sunday laws have not 
 been amended to meet these advanced views their 
 most oppressive features have become obsolete. 
 
 The divine right of kings is now nowhere acknow- 
 ledged, and priests, among reflective men, are no 
 longer looked upon as greatly superior persons in 
 wisdom or morals. 
 
 As commerce has covered the globe with her white 
 wings, so has every form of religious thought been 
 weighed in the scales of common sense, and been 
 amended to accommodate itself to advanced know- 
 ledge. Many teachings, almost universal a hun- 
 dred years ago, will scarcely find an advocate now. 
 Many a heretic of the past, who suffered martydom 
 for not agreeing with the church, would be recog- 
 nized as orthodox to-day. 
 
 The lash of scorpions, and the torturous rack are 
 no longer employed, and the fagot has ceased to 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 17 
 
 burn, to force men into believing a popular theology. 
 Would that falsehood, calumny, and social persecu- 
 tion were also banished from service for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Efforts have been made to extend the principles 
 of the Connecticut Blue Code, as regards Sunday, 
 over the United States.* Within the recollection of 
 the writer Congress was flooded with petitions pray- 
 ing for the suspension of the United States mails 
 on this day. Attempts have been made to keep the 
 postoffice closed. A long and bitter contest has 
 been waged against railway travel. Daily newspa- 
 pers published on the "Lord's day," were wicked 
 things; and street car's were not to be tolerated for 
 a moment. The farmer's crops must be left to 
 spoil in the fields, rather than harness a team to 
 haul them under cover. 
 
 But a change has been gradually effected in 
 public opinion, and the good work still goes on. 
 
 Some fifteen years ago a vigorous attempt was 
 made in Philadelphia to prohibit the Union Passen- 
 ger Kailway Company from running their cars on 
 Sunday. The lower Court granted an injunction 
 prohibiting their use; but the Supreme Court of the 
 State, after a full hearing of all the facts and argu- 
 
 *The Blue Laws of the Dominion of New Haven, so-called because 
 printed on blue paper, contained the following provisions on the Sab- 
 bath, according to Rev. Samuel A. Peters, who had charge of the English 
 churches in Hartford and Hebron, before the American Revolution: — 
 
 "No one shall travel, cook victuals, make bread, sweep houses, cut 
 hair, or shave on the Sabbath day. 
 
 "No one shall cross a river on Sunday but an authorized clergyman. 
 
 "No one shall kiss his wife, her husband, or child on the Sabbath, or 
 on fasting days. 
 
 "The Sabbath day shall commence at sunset on Saturday." 
 
18 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 ments, reversed the decision and dissolved the in- 
 junction. Judge Reed, in giving the opinion of the 
 Court, declared that "Sunday, as a holy day, was un- 
 known to the early Christians, and was merely of ec- 
 clesiastical origin though subsequently sanctioned 
 by law." He quoted largely from the fathers of 
 the church sustaining his positions, and then de- 
 clared "The running of street cars on Sunday is a 
 'work of neccessity and charity,' and, consequently 
 not within the statute." In closing his verdict the 
 Judge said: — 
 
 "I am deeply impressed with the necessity of a 
 proper observance of Sunday, as a day of worship 
 and prayer, and of rest from labor; but living under 
 the new dispensation, and not under the old dispen- 
 sation, I feel no inclination to turn the Lord's day 
 into a Jewish Sabbath." 
 
 This decision was not reached until 1874. Sub- 
 sequent efforts have been made in Pennsylvania 
 and other States to procure special legislation 
 against the running of street cars on Sunday; but 
 this nearly or quite unanimous opinion of the learn- 
 ed Judges of the highest Court of judicature in 
 the Keystone State has probably settled this ques- 
 tion for all time. 
 
 Whenever farmers have been prosecuted for se- 
 curing their harvests against approaching storms 
 similar decisions have been made; and so with 
 many other occupations where labor was necessary. 
 
 The tendency of the Courts, both inferior and 
 superior, of late years, has been to give a strict in- 
 terpretation to these semi-criminal statutes, and to 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 19 
 
 allow the fullest possible liberty to the people 
 compatible with good morals. Any wanton 
 desecration of the day has been justly punished; 
 but many pursuits which do not disturb the pop- 
 ulace, or interfere with the public peace, have not 
 been molested. An occasional prosecution, often 
 for mere spite, has usually brought down the indig- 
 nation of the people on the informer, without en- 
 hancing the popular regard for the law. 
 
 As a day of rest there can be no objection to the 
 Sabbath; on the contrary, used for relaxation from 
 toil and exemption from business cares, it may be 
 very serviceable in our artificial society, ever on 
 the strain; but, as a sacred or holy day, it has no 
 foundation in Nature. If set aside by the Creator 
 for His worship it would have been so well defined 
 that no one could mistake His intent. God works 
 as vigorously on that day as any other day. The 
 sun shines as warmly, the flowers bloom as beauti- 
 fully, the birds sing as joyfully, the lambs gambol 
 as playfully, and all nature is as active on Sunday 
 as Monday. The rivers flow on to the ocean, the 
 winds, and clouds, and waves stay not in their 
 movements; the thunders are quite as loud, the 
 lightnings as forked, the rains as heavy, the 
 cyclones as destructive, and the tides as violent 
 while puny man worships as when he profanes. 
 All vegetation grows as luxuriantly on this man- 
 defined "Lord's day" as on any other day. The 
 machinery of life is no more liable to be checked 
 in any of the animal tribes, or in man himself, be- 
 
20 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 cause of this holy day. The restraints of munici- 
 pal law or social custom, may induce man to be 
 idle on the Sabbath; but Nature makes no special 
 demand in this direction. Though the law may be 
 hoary with age, and devised by men of wisdom, yet 
 it is not inherent in our natures, and its infraction 
 is no more the violation of God's law than it is to 
 laugh on Monday, or weep on Tuesday. 
 
 The reply of Jesus to the Jews, who charged him 
 with breaking the Sabbath, John 5: 17, as rendered 
 in the revised translation: "My Father Worketh 
 even until now, and I Work," is fully corrobora- 
 tive of the teachings of Nature in this regard. 
 
 reply to critics. 
 
 An Inquirer, who has read the foregoing articles, 
 states that the idea is a new one to him, that the 
 Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyptians, etc., divided time 
 into weeks of seven days, and that one of those 
 days was consecrated to the worship of their gods. 
 
 A flood of light has been poured upon the his- 
 tory of those ancient nations during the last few 
 years. We are to-day better acquainted with their 
 history, laws, manners, customs and institutions, — 
 thanks to the researches of oriental scholars, — than 
 at any other period during the preceding two 
 thousand years. 
 
 No careful student of general history who has 
 delved into the early beginnings of our race, will 
 call in question the correctness of our statement- 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 21 
 
 Seven names occur for seven successive days, no 
 more, no less, in all our ancient authors. 
 
 Says the Encyclopedia of Eeligious Knowledge, 
 article Sabbath: "Intimations of this weekly revo- 
 lution of time are to be found in the earliest Greek 
 poets, Hesiod, Homer, Linus, as well as among 
 the natives of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Greeks 
 and Eomans." The writer quotes Gen. 22: 27, as 
 scriptural confirmation that 'weeks' were mentioned 
 as freely before the law was given to Moses as 
 afterwards. 
 
 Dion Cassius, the great Roman historian, who 
 wrote at the close of the 2d century, informs his 
 readers that the Egyptians devoted the last day of 
 the week, Saturday, to the worship of the gods. 
 
 But as space is too limited to follow this subject 
 at length, one quotation shall suffice. The lamented 
 Geo. Smith, late of the Department of Oriental 
 Antiquities in the British Museum, who translated 
 the cuneiform inscriptions on the pantiles, the re- 
 mains of Assurbanipal's Library, found in the ruins 
 of Nineveh, and for more than 3,000 years buried 
 under the sands of the desert, and beyond reach of 
 the destroying hand of man, is the highest authority 
 regarding the early history of these people. Their 
 earthern records were not impaired by the tooth of 
 Time, and they were alike beyond the control of the 
 interpolator. In all that long period, until within 
 less than a score of years, they were not subjected 
 to translation, emendation, or correction, to accom- 
 
22 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 modate any man's caprice, nor adapted to anybody's 
 creed. In Prof. Smith's excellent work entitled 
 "Assyria from the Earliest Times to the Fall of 
 Nineveh," predicated on these records, page 13, he 
 says: — 
 
 "Various feasts were appointed, but the most re- 
 markable were the Sabbaths, which were in use in 
 Assyria as well as among the Jews. The Assyrian 
 months were lunar, and these were divided into four 
 parts, corresponding with the four quarters of the 
 moon, the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first and 
 twenty-eighth days being the Sabbaths. On these 
 Sabbath days extra work and even missions of mercy 
 were forbidden. Certain foods were not to be 
 eaten, and the monarch himself was not to ride in 
 his chariot. The enactments were similar in char- 
 acter to the Jewish Code." 
 
 Any amount of cumulative evidence in the same 
 direction with the above can be furnished, but it is 
 unnecessary. All of the ancient civilizations bor- 
 rowed their divisions of time from older civiliza- 
 tions, among which were lunar months, weeks and 
 Sabbaths. The Jews borrowed their laws in this 
 regard from some of the nations who held them in 
 slavery, and their high priests, who compiled their 
 records, ascribed them to a "Thus saith the Lord." 
 
 Another Reviewer writes: — "A Sabbath of rest is 
 necessary for the full development of our physical 
 powers, and for the preservation of health. The 
 horse and ox live longer and perform greater ser- 
 vice when given one day in seven for rest." 
 
 We appeal to any laboring man who devotes but 
 ten hours a day to reasonable toil, if he does not 
 resume labor with more reluctance on Monday than 
 
THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 23 
 
 on any other day of the week. Keference is not 
 made to those who are overworked; but to the great 
 mass of laboring men, mechanics and others, who 
 use good judgment in their expenditure of muscular 
 energy. They may desire rest for social or literary 
 pleasures, or to look after family or personal affairs, 
 but they are not invigorated by a day's relaxation, 
 neither are they better qualified to endure next 
 week's toil. "Blue Monday" is as well recognized 
 in the school-room as in the work-shop. 
 
 And will not the uniform testimony of man in 
 this direction prove also true of his servants, the 
 lower animals, which he has forced into his service ? 
 
 Morally, the oft-quoted maxim, "An idle brain is 
 the Devil's work-shop," is true of the idler on the 
 Sabbath. The drinking saloons are closed on Sun- 
 day to keep the vicious and dissolute from tippling 
 on that day. Were there no incentives to idleness 
 there would be no greater tendency to drunkenness 
 on Sunday than Monday. Many manufacturers, 
 knowing the temptation to intemperance and de- 
 bauchery which Sunday imposes on its devotees, 
 wisely withhold payment for the week's labor until 
 the following Monday, otherwise some of the work- 
 men, instead of reporting for duty on Monday, 
 would be engaged in a drunken debauch, and per- 
 haps, half the week would be lost before sufficiently 
 sobered to resume labor. 
 
 It may be said, "The place of the laboring man 
 on Sunday is at church." Does not observation 
 teach that very few of them frequent a house of 
 
24 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 worship on Sunday? On the contrary there is no 
 place they hold in such aversion as the close and 
 stifling air, the hard seats, the somber hues, the 
 long solemn faces and starched collars common to 
 the house of God, saying nothing of the teachings 
 from the pulpits, which, in too many cases, were 
 better adapted to their juvenile years than to mature 
 reflecting manhood. 
 
 The Prison Reports, referred to as showing the 
 fate of Sabbath breakers, do indeed tell a terrible 
 tale. Several of them before us as we write, pre- 
 pared by the Chaplains of such prisons, show that 
 95 per cent of the convicts had been attendants 
 upon Sunday schools, and that they drew their first 
 lessons in morals from these nurseries of virtue. 
 
 AN APPEAL TO HISTORY. 
 
 An appeal is made to history to show that "Every 
 nation and community has been prospered while it 
 honored God's Sabbath !" We have been inno- 
 cently taught that the sublime teachings and moral 
 precepts of Jesus made nations and individuals 
 prosperous and happy; not the observance of a day 
 which he did not regard as holy; which his apostles 
 did not specially revere; and which draws all its 
 sacredness from statute law, ecclesiastical require- 
 ment and long custom. 
 
 Let us see how well history sustains our Review- 
 er's proposition: — 
 
 "God's Sabbath," according to popular teaching, 
 
APPEAL TO HISTORY. 25 
 
 was first given to the Jews. For many years there- 
 after they were homeless wanderers in the deserts 
 of Arabia. After they succeeded in slaying the 
 inhabitants of Canaan and became possessed of her 
 cities we find them in almost continual strife with 
 each other, else at war with neighboring nations. 
 During nearly the whole period they figure so con- 
 spicuously in sacred history as "the favored people 
 of God," Palestine was a province paying tribute 
 to some other nation, else they were held as slaves. 
 
 The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, arti- 
 cle Jerusalem, says : — 
 
 "Intestine divisions and foreign wars, wicked and 
 tyrannical princes, and last of all, the crime most 
 offensive to Heaven, and the one least to be expected 
 amongst so favored a people, led to a series of 
 calamities, through the long period of nine hundred 
 years with which no other city or nation can furnish 
 a parallel." 
 
 Judea was sometimes a province of Egypt, then 
 of Babylonia, then of Chaldea, then of Persia, 
 always in distress, hated of all people and claiming 
 to be "The chosen of the Lord." She was for a 
 time a Grecian, then a Roman colony. Her temples 
 were thrown down, the walls of her cities demol- 
 ished, her cultivated fields laid waste, her people 
 scattered and frequently held as slaves. For a long 
 period the under-ground caverns of Jerusalem fur- 
 nished retreats and hiding places for robbers and 
 brigands. The name of her capital was substituted 
 by another, and a statue of Jupiter Olympus was 
 set up in the place of her sacred altars. 
 
26 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 During these long years of wretchedness these 
 people were so regardful of the Sabbath they would 
 not defend themselves against the attacks of a com- 
 mon enemy on that holy day. And this the "pros- 
 perity" of one of the "nations and communities" 
 which received "God's Sabbath." If this is what 
 our Reviewer calls prosperity then we ask for the 
 opposite. 
 
 The Sabbath of Constantine, now designated as 
 the Lord's Day, was instituted, as before shown, in 
 the year 321. Greece was then in her greatest 
 prosperity. The remains of her cities, her temples, 
 her architecture, her sculpture, her literature, all 
 tell of her advancement prior to that event. The 
 most gorgeous structures ever reared by the hand of 
 man were demolished, her altars were broken, her 
 populous cities wasted, and her cultivated people 
 were subordinated to a system of religious tyranny 
 scarcely excelled in any period. These followed 
 closely upon that event, and show the kind of 
 "prosperity to nations" which succeeded the institu- 
 tution of the so-called Christian Sabbath. 
 
 Egypt at that time was covered with populous 
 cities, magnificent temples, and enduring monu- 
 ments, all evidencing her material prosperity. 
 AVhere are the indications of her greatness now? 
 In desolation and ruin ! following closely upon 
 Constantine' s edict establishing his Sabbath wher- 
 ever his power prevailed. 
 
 Rome, the mistress of the world ! The whole of 
 Europe but provinces of her mighty civilization;. 
 
APPEAL TO HISTOEY. 27 
 
 tolerant of all religions; everywhere seeking the 
 highest happiness of all her subjects, each proud to 
 say "I am a Roman citizen !" and yet we date her 
 fall as a nation to the time the Sabbath of Constan- 
 tine was established; for then her liberty, her pros- 
 perity, her greatness, and granduer were gone ! 
 Solitary and alone she sat in her ruins, for fifteen 
 hundred years the center of a vast system of religi- 
 ous tyranny, with her Popes, and Cardinals, and 
 Bishops, and Priests; swaying the destinies of 
 nations by anathemas and bulls; selling indulgences 
 to commit all manner of crimes, to raise funds to 
 build her Vatican and St. Peter; waging wars the 
 most terrific in the name of Christianity; compelling 
 monarchs to walk long distances, bare-headed and 
 bare-footed, and bow submissively before the Pope, 
 to expiate imaginary injuries to the church; estab- 
 lishing her Inquisitions to make her power still 
 more potent; retarding science in its progress and 
 imprisoning its votaries; producing an era of a thou- 
 sand years crimsoned with blood; ignorance, super- 
 stition and priestcraft everywhere in the ascendant; 
 known through all future time as 'The Dark Ages.' 
 It was during this period, when 'religion fenced in 
 all crimes,' that the institution of the Sabbath 
 became a political fixture, which we now inherit, 
 jand which our critic says, "makes nations and 
 communities prosperous and happy." 
 
 When the Spaniards reached America, bearing 
 the cross before them, they found Mexico and Peru 
 far advanced in civilization. These people had a 
 
28 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 written language, and were worshippers of a com- 
 mon Parent, of which the sun was His brightest 
 symbol. The Sabbath of Constantine was estab- 
 lished among them. Their palaces, rivaling those 
 of Egypt in magnificence, were demolished, their 
 histories were burned, as were their rulers, and the 
 masses were massacred or enslaved. Have the 
 Indians of America, whether South or North, cause 
 to rejoice for the introduction of the Sabbath into 
 America? Let the small remnants of her few re- 
 maining tribes, fleeing before the cross, or falling 
 prostrate in their march answer ! 
 
 But we do not care to follow this line of thought. 
 Briefly, the ruin of nations followed in the trail of 
 the Sabbath. Their prosperity again dawned when 
 Luther and his co-reformers taught the people "to 
 work on that day, to ride on it, to dance on it, to 
 feast on it, to do anything that shall remove this 
 encroachment on the Christian spirit and liberty." 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 "France attempted to destroy the Lord's day to 
 introduce Atheism into the nation," so says our 
 clerical reviewer. 
 
 We are apprehensive our friend has read history 
 to little purpose, else he would not make such a 
 wild and blundering statement. France had been 
 tyrannized over for centuries by kings, who ruled by 
 olivine right." These kings had been anointed by 
 the priests, and the two were in a sort of partner-- 
 
THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. 29 
 
 ship to oppress and enslave the people. It was 
 rebellion to kingcraft and priestcraft which aroused 
 the people to action; which demolished the bastile; 
 tried Lonis 16th for his crimes against humanity; 
 executed him; and, unfortunately, placed the bloody 
 Robespierre in power. It was not to introduce 
 Atheism into the nation; nor to destroy the Lord's 
 day; nor to revel in blood; but the rebellion was of 
 a similar character with the revolution in America, 
 which made these States free and independent of 
 kingly rule; which for the first time in centuries 
 enabled men to entertain honest opinions, and ex- 
 press them in opposition to kings, and priests, and 
 those who serve them. 
 
 It was the law of retaliation that crimsoned France 
 with excesses; covered her memory with odium; 
 made her historic page so sanguinary! She hated 
 priests and their teachings, because they always 
 sided with the tyrant. In throwing off their power 
 the people struck at the machinery which had been 
 employed to oppress them.* 
 
 In a second article, published in the Morning 
 flerald, signed, 'A Lover of the Sabbath,' evidently 
 designed as a further covert reply, he says : — 
 
 "The example of the French nation is a fearful 
 illustration of the tendency * * to break 
 
 •No attack was made on religion, nor did it enter one way or other 
 into the conflict as a great element, until the priests, began to declaim 
 from the pulpit against the Assembly, denouncing every act of thc^ 
 reformers as sacrilegious, and exciting tin: people to resistance. The 
 ehurch took sides "•:/// ///< throm and tin- aristocracy, as it had been a 
 partner in their oppressions mid rapacity, and ofcour.se it went down 
 with lYicm.—Htadley's Miscellanies, page 5. 
 
30 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 down all respect for divine or civil authority, and 
 give full scope to crime." 
 
 Does our Reviewer know that prior to the French 
 revolution the clergy and nobility had become so 
 powerful they owned nearly two-thirds of all the 
 real estate in France, and controlled every depart- 
 ment of government? that the wealth of the country 
 was in the church, exempt from taxation, else owned 
 by the aristocracy who were but subservient tools 
 manipulated by priests? that while king, priests, 
 and nobles were rioting in luxury, the laborers 
 were paying the taxes to support government and 
 giving one-tenth of their income to ecclesiastical 
 institutions which were riveting more firmly upon 
 them the barbaric teachings of a barbarous age? 
 that the feudal system, with all its attendant evils, 
 was in full force, including the law of primogeniture, 
 entailed estates and serfdom? that in 1788-89 France 
 was visited by a hail-storm of great severity, which 
 destroyed the growing grain, so that universal suf- 
 fering followed, and famine seemed imminent? that 
 men and women wandered over the country for 
 food, and finally presented themselves before the 
 king praying for relief? 
 
 Such was the condition of France when the revo- 
 lution burst upon the nation. The French people 
 had witnessed the triumph of republicanism in 
 America. Lafayette and his brave companions in 
 arms, had returned and infused the spirit of Liberty 
 through the army and country. The patriot 
 Thomas Paine, "the author-hero of the American * 
 
THE EKENCH EEVOLUTION. 31 
 
 revolution," visited France and aided the cause he 
 so greatly loved. At all times he opposed the -ex- 
 tremes of his party, which took him to prison, and 
 but for an accident would have carried him to the 
 block. Facti6ns ruled the hour, and the best men 
 fell between them. 
 
 The name which comes down to us as the most 
 infamous in this terrible revolution was Kobespierre. 
 He was the head of the celebrated triumvirate, which 
 for the time controlled the destinies of the country. 
 Professing to be a violent republican, he became 
 the leader of the rabble against the king, whom 
 he caused to be beheaded, and inspired the horrible 
 slaughter of the nobility and clergy, and all who 
 opposed his aggrandizement. Like the author of 
 the article under consideration, he was 'A Lover 
 of the Sabbath.' It is a mistake to suppose that 
 the Atheists of France were responsible for the 
 bloody orgies from which our friend and all human- 
 ity recoils.* On the contrary this man was a fiend, 
 par excellence, in human form ; a votary of the pop- 
 ular religion; but opposed to monarchy and the 
 nobility. The Eeign of Terror, during which the 
 best blood of France was sacrificed on the altar 
 of faction,f and near a million of her population 
 was massacred, was terminated by the enemies of 
 
 *< 'loots, an Atheistic leader who was guillotined, said, in. illustration 
 of the views of his faction: — "In my commonwealth there will be few 
 public offices, few taxes, and no executioner."— Thiers French "Revolu- 
 tion^ Vol. 1. //. 867. 
 
 tThe executions were so numerous and frequent under Robespierre's 
 
 dictatorial rriirn the very waters of the Loire became polluted to such 
 an extent their use was forbidden as injurious to health. — See Student's 
 ///story of Franc, page 569. 
 
32 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. ' 
 
 disorder, who had witnessed the bloody scenes 
 through which they had just passed, and who ban- 
 ished by law the Supreme Being, from France, 
 declared Keason the only true object of worship, 
 amended the calendar, and abrogated 'the Sabbath. 
 Blood ceased to flow and order was established under 
 their short reign, to be again broken by that other 
 'lover of the Sabbath,' Napoleon, who restored the 
 Lord's day and popular theology, and re-inaugurated 
 a protracted reign of war and violence. 
 
 Enough! Let it be remembered that the Jubilee 
 of Demons was headed by the bloody Robespierre, 
 and that when in the hight of his power, and the 
 soil of France was saturated with blood, and every 
 home was filled with woe, he decreed a festival to 
 the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, at ivhich he 
 presided in solemn pomp! 
 
 Thiers, in his Introduction to French History, page iii, gives us some 
 faint idea of the condition of France at the commencement of the great 
 struggle. He says:— 
 
 "They [the people,] possessed scarcely a third part of the soil, upon 
 which they were compelled to pay feudal services to their lords, tithes to 
 their priests, and imposts to the king. In compensation for so many 
 sacrifices they enjoyed no rights; had no share in the administration; 
 and were admitted to no public employments. * * Everywhere 
 Corruption stalked with unblushing front. It wore the General's uni- 
 form, — the Judge's robe, — the Bishop's hood. It had the privilege of 
 entre at Court, and sat nest the Monarch at the royal banquet. 11 
 
 Following this state of facts, and prior to the opening of the Reign of 
 Terror, the Legislative Assembly, corrected many of these grievances. 
 In the language of Student's History of France, page 538: — 
 
 "All religious persuasions were made equal before the law: the right 
 of succession by primogeniture was abolished, and parents were com- 
 pelled to make equal division of their property among all their children; 
 the liberty of the press was proclaimed ; hereditary titles of nobility were 
 suppressed, and the aristocracy were reduced to the level of ordinary 
 citizens; all Frenchman, without distinction of class or creed, were 
 declared alike admissible to all civil and military employments: the 
 criminal code was reformed, aud its provisions were mitigated with 
 regard to capital punishment. The electoral franchise was placed, virtu- 
 ally, in the hands of every individual citizen. 11 
 
FREEDOM TO ALL. S3 
 
 FREEDOM TO ALL. 
 
 From the first settlement of America to within a 
 few years, custom, — and law as well, — has com- 
 pelled him who cultivates the soil to fence against 
 his neighbors' animals, else suffer the loss of his 
 entire harvest, with no remedy. It has been re- 
 cently discovered, in some of the States, and it is 
 hoped will soon be in all of them, that it is the 
 fault of him who raises stock from which the injury 
 comes, and that he, the trespasser, should keep his 
 cattle from roaming to the damage of others. 
 
 Since the Creator has made no distinction in days, 
 and many good men are of the opinion that all days 
 are alike, is it not also in harmony with the advance- 
 ment of modern thought, that he who wishes to set 
 aside one day in seven for religious exercises be 
 permitted to do so as freely as he desires, without 
 interruption from his neighbor, provided he does 
 not disturb others in so doing? In short, he shall 
 have the same freedom as the growers of stock, 
 — doing it at his own expense, not to the loss of his 
 non-worshipping neighbor. 
 
 Several prominent religious sects keep the 
 seventh day of the week, instead of the first, and 
 are permitted by law to transact their ordinary 
 duties on the Sabbath. Should not the Mahomet- 
 an, who keeps Friday as a sacred day, be equally 
 free with the Jew, the Dunkard, the Seventh-day 
 Baptist, the Adventist? Should not the scientist, 
 and the man of cultured thought, who s^ees neither 
 reason nor logic for making one day better than 
 
34 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 another, be permitted to exercise his own good 
 judgment as regards the observance of the day? 
 
 Procrustes, the Attican robber, who cut off the 
 legs of those too long and stretched those too short, 
 to fit all to a common bed; the Papists who em- 
 ployed anathemas and inquisitorial tortures to force 
 men to believe alike; our puritanical ancestors who 
 hung Witches, whipped Quakers, and banished 
 Baptists; and our own laws in regard to the Sab- 
 bath, seem to have had a common origin, and that 
 in mere physical force sufficient to compel obe- 
 dience. 
 
 Does any one suppose that Deity requires all the 
 world to be silent and stand still while the few 
 worship? Are devotional exercises of that character 
 that they must be performed on Sunday, before the 
 assembled audience, who listen with uncovered 
 heads? What did Jesus mean when he told his 
 disciples to not be as the hypocrites who pray to be 
 seen of men, but "When thou pray est enter into thy 
 closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to 
 thy Father who is in secret," etc.? Should the 
 Christian public regard the teachings of their ex- 
 emplar in this regard even theit preachers would 
 seek their closets instead of the public rostrum, 
 and would not demand a day to be set apart ex- 
 pressly to gratify this 'hypocritical' practice! 
 
 While the world was sunk in barbarism, and only 
 priests could read and write, the forum was the 
 place from which the lav/ was proclaimed, and the 
 people flocked there weekly to listen to the new 
 
HOPE IN THE COURTS. 35 
 
 edict from the reigning king. They had no other 
 way of learning what was required of them, or to 
 what penalties they were subjected. The heralds 
 bearing these messages were of the priestly order, 
 and claimed to be in the service of the Lord. They 
 required one-tenth of all the products of the fields 
 and folds as compensation for their duties. 
 
 Power once acquired is reluctantly surrendered. 
 A privileged class whether in Pagan, Mahometan, 
 or Christian countries, the clergy labor for pay, are 
 passably good while their salaries are promptly paid, 
 and are ever striving to retain their present author- 
 ity and get as much more as they can; hence their 
 bitter warfare to retain the Sabbath, and prevent 
 its desecration, which, principally, means absence 
 from church, its sacraments, and the withholding 
 of regular contributions in support of the ministry. 
 
 HOPE IN THE COURTS, — REFLECTIONS. 
 
 The constitution of Illinois declares: — "The free 
 exercise of religious profession and worship, with- 
 out discrimination, shall forever be guaranteed; 
 and no person shall be denied any civil or political 
 right, privilege or capacity, on account of his reli- 
 gious opinions." 
 
 It is a 'civil right' to labor, and any statute which 
 wrests one-seventh of the year from its natural use, 
 and appropriates it to religious duties, is in deroga- 
 tion of fundamental laAV. Some day the Supreme 
 Court, with the independence of Lord Mansfield, 
 who decided that slavery in England was in viola- 
 
36 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 tion of magna charta, and effaced it forever, will, by 
 a similar decision, relegate Sunday, and all statutes 
 that favor religions teachings in our public schools 
 to the buried Past, and leave each person free to 
 exercise his own natural promptings to worship 
 God on Sunday, or labor in the field or workshop 
 as duty to himself and family shall require, without 
 being subjected to fine or censure. 
 
 Judge Studley, of Connecticut, has recently made 
 a very important judicial decision, the principles 
 of which are applicable in every State, and which 
 strike at the very vitals of this question. The man- 
 agers of a Sunday excursion party were prosecuted 
 for a violation of the Sunday laws, no doubt expect- 
 ing to bar the people from enjoying a little fresh 
 air and sun shine on this sacred day. Judge S., in 
 giving the ruling of the court, said: — 
 
 "The statutory prohibition does not imply a 
 physical and impossible necessity. Some things 
 may be 'necessary and merciful' in a crowded city 
 which would be neither in a farming district. The 
 excursion from New Haven, in which the defendants 
 participated, was of this character. * * They 
 are discharged." 
 
 And this the verdict of an intelligent Court, in a 
 State where only a little more than a hundred years 
 ago a man was prohibited by law from kissing his 
 wife or child on Sunday ! Shades of the past ! 
 Authors of the Blue Code of Connecticut! — Can you 
 rest, even in your hallowed graves, while your sons 
 render decisions like these? Will you permit rail- 
 way trains to sweep over the State on God's holy 
 
HOPE IN THE COURTS. 37 
 
 day, loaded with thousands of light-hearted, joyous 
 mechanics and their loved ones, making their way 
 to the sea-side, or a deep old forest glen, where they. 
 can enjoy Nature in her boundless munificence, 
 drink from the purling brooklet at their feet, and 
 adore a common Parent whose love is over all? 
 Will you allow these humble worshippers to enjoy 
 themselves in social pleasures, remote from care 
 and the busy world, inhaling the health-giving 
 draughts which has been provided in abundance for 
 all ? Not if you have the power to prevent it, if the 
 laws you enacted are a reflex of your sentiments. 
 
 No wonder the clergy stand aghast, for soon is 
 Othello's occupation gone, if such rulings become 
 common. Long trains of heavily loaded passenger 
 and freight cars sweeping with thunderous jar 
 across the entire continent; street cars constantly 
 moving; excursion trains going to and returning 
 from neighboring towns; steamers plying on rivers, 
 lakes and bays; the United States' mails distributed 
 from fifty thousand post offices;, the gay and bustling 
 world moving forward all day Sunday, and the 
 Judges interpreting the law to give still greater 
 privileges to the . people. We may well inquire, 
 What will the end be? 
 
 The mind is unfettered and men are free to think 
 and express themselves on this question. A pow- 
 erful public opinion is being formed in favor of 
 larger individual, and social freedom. He who 
 stands in the way of the car of Progress must ex- 
 pect to be crushed. 
 
38 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 When all can read and understand quite as well 
 as the preacher, and only the most ignorant believe 
 • him an intermediate person between God and man, 
 — just as likely to err as he, and since the fires 
 of Purgatory are so nearly extinguished, they can no 
 longer be employed to frighten men into the indorse- 
 ment of obnoxious creeds, — the great need of the 
 Sabbath for purposes of religious instruction is not 
 apparent. 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF A BORROWED LAW. 
 
 It is a well recognized legal principle, that when 
 we borrow a statute from another State, the rulings 
 and decisions of the Courts of that country under 
 the law are brought along with it, and may be 
 read to the Court and jury in interpretation of 
 the law. All modern legislation regarding the 
 Sabbath, is but a reflex of the Code of Constantine, 
 before cited. To understand the workings of that 
 law, go with us, reader, into any Catholic country, 
 and see how the day is observed by the parents of 
 the law. Perhaps there is no country where the peo- 
 ple are so completely subject to Catholic teaching 
 as Spain. It is objected that Spain, and the Span- 
 ish colonies in America have gone to extremes in 
 making of Sunday a festal day. Shall we go to 
 Rome itself, where the Pope, the great head of the 
 church, is in spiritual power, and, until lately, had 
 exclusive temporal authority? No, but better still, 
 to Naples, which was visited by a correspondent of 
 
INTERPRETATION OF LAW. 39 
 
 the Bockforcl Register, traveling in Europe, who 
 wrote that paper on the 16th of June, 1882, pub- 
 lished in the Register on the 19th of July following. 
 Describing the people and country, the writer adds: 
 
 "Sunday to them is merely a day to feast or make 
 merrier than usual, or take the whole family to the 
 theater, the circus, or the cafe, to drink wine and 
 play dominoes. They have certainly a vast number 
 of religious holidays, about 365 in the year; but 
 they give these no practical observance as days of 
 worship. On Fridays, and particularly on feast 
 days, the leading theaters are closed, while on Sun- 
 days the fascinating attractions of music, drama, 
 tragedy, horse-racing, gambling, feasting, frivolity 
 and superficial pleasures are all in full blast." 
 
 Follow any traveler through the great Catholic 
 countries, and he will find bull and cock-fighting, 
 card-playing, masquerades, fandangoes and kindred 
 amusements very general customs on the Sabbath, 
 after the morning exercises of high mass. Clergy 
 and communicants are alike attendants upon these 
 olden-time relics of gladiatorial feats. It is the 
 daughter of Catholicism, — the Protestant, — who 
 has varied the original intent of Sunday from a day 
 of festivity and joy to one of devotion and gloom. 
 
 While it would not be desirable to return to the 
 ancient games and customs of Greece and Home, 
 nor copy the demoralizing practices of Spain, and, 
 indeed, of any exclusive Catholic country, nor follow 
 the Puritan fathers in its rigid observance, almost 
 worship, but it could, and in good time will be made 
 the grandest day of all the week for social pleasures 
 and intellectual enjoyments; for deeds of mercy 
 and charity, and for elevating and ennobling hu- 
 manity. 
 
40 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 THE TEACHINGS OF NATURE. 
 
 Nature makes no mistakes in her laws. She 
 always punishes the real offender, and proportions 
 the penalty to the wrong. Vicarious suffering is 
 taught by creeds, not by Infinite Wisdom. Creative 
 Energy needs no assistance from feeble man in the 
 enforcement of His laws. He who thrusts his hand 
 in the fire is burned, and he feels the penalty of 
 violated law; he who falls over a precipice, over- 
 taxes his physical or mental forces, disregards the 
 changes of the seasons, or turns night into day, 
 sooner or later receives the penalty affixed to those 
 offences, and he finds no other person to suffer for 
 him. For the infraction of every natural law we 
 find a fixed and unchangeable penalty. The crimi- 
 nal laws of man, on the contrary, frequently punish 
 for doing those things not wrong of themselves, — 
 such was that ordering the "stoning to death" for 
 disregarding the Sabbath under Mosaic law. Tho' 
 ascribed to God, yet the penalty inflicted for a vio- 
 lation of the law was of that character to demon- 
 strate that it was man-made, cruel in its provisions, 
 and more worthy the head and heart of a Nero, or 
 a Caligula, than of a merciful Parent. And all 
 human legislation in the same direction, — trying 
 to make holy that which is of precisely the same 
 nature as unholy things, — will, with thinking men, 
 prove a failure ; because whether the- penalties are 
 great or small, they are all in derogation of natural 
 rights, and a violation of the basic laws of the State 
 and Nation. 
 
USE OF THE SABBATH. 41 
 
 TRUE USE OF THE SABBATH. 
 
 The day could be well employed in teaching 
 great scientific and moral truths. Our public libra- 
 ries could be thrown open on Sunday, and our young 
 men, with an ambition above the fables of two thou- 
 sand years ago, could obtain truthful ideas how 
 worlds are made and hold their places in the bound- 
 less universe. They could learn how light and heat 
 are diffused; from whence come rains, and snows, 
 and cyclones, the warmth of summer and the cold 
 of winter, and the innumerable operations of natural 
 law, without being taught that all these are special 
 dispensations of Providence as rewards for good 
 deeds or punishments for bad ones. One day in 
 seven given to reading, instead of idleness, would 
 materially advance knowledge. Lyceums could be 
 opened with profit to thousands of laborers, who 
 have no other time for mental culture. Even the 
 theater, with its powerful influence, could be made 
 an auxiliary of virtue, and would be infinitely supe- 
 rior to lounging in fashionable resorts, or loafing 
 on street corners. Picnics and family re-unions 
 would keep alive the social circle, and extend and 
 brighten the chain of friendship, which should 
 unite all in a common bond. 
 
 Instead of closing drinking saloons, — the great 
 nurseries of crime, — on Sunday, close them on 
 Monday, and all days, and banish the still-worm 
 and its destructive product from the world, not by 
 local legislation, engendering personal and neigh- 
 borhood feuds, but by general law, national in its 
 
42 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 character, which will be as effective in Maine as 
 in Texas, in the great cities as in the forest or plain. 
 If trnly taught that "He serves God best, who 
 serves man most," inspiring all to emnlate each other 
 in noble deeds, and worthy lives, wonld it not be 
 preferable to encouraging adoration for a day, — a 
 mere revolution of time, — which comes and goes 
 as do the seasons? 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Having learned to despise the professional poli- 
 tician, who has no principle to guide him, whose 
 only ambition is to serve his country for the reward 
 it brings, and the stealings to which he gains access; 
 so we have expressed in these pages an honest ab- 
 horrence of those who exhibit such special love for 
 Sunday, and employ it solely in propagating creeds 
 and dogmas which dishonor our common Parent, 
 whose love is as fathomless as eternity. Such 
 men employ an active imagination, lessons drawn 
 from all the material forces of nature, including the 
 the lurid myths of the past, founded in ignorance 
 and cruelty, to describe the condition of those in 
 another life, over whom their influence is powerless 
 in this. 
 
 But no one holds in higher esteem than the 
 author, the true educator, who disregards the nar- 
 row inculcations of the church, and, rising above the 
 fallacies of wasted centuries, teaches the Father- 
 hood of God and the Brotherhood of Man, and who 
 labors to elevate all to a higher plain, and a truer 
 conception of life, its duties and destinies. 
 
CONCLUSION. 43 
 
 Such teachers there are and have been, and it 
 little matters to what church they belong. They 
 are better than their creeds, and their moral exam- 
 ple and teaching have a powerful influence on the 
 race. 
 
 And it is certainly cause for universal congratu- 
 lation that the pulpit generally, has forsaken the 
 use of anathemas and the defence of fables to en- 
 gage in teaching natural truths, to a larger extent 
 than ever before. Faith has done its work. It is 
 being rapidly succeeded by facts, adapted to a real- 
 istic age. 
 
 We hail with joy every advance made in the 
 church, or by private individuals, which has a ten- 
 dency to hasten that "good time coining," foretold 
 by sages, and hoped for by the genuinely good 
 everywhere. 
 
 In writing our views of the Sabbath, it has not 
 been our intention to break down a single barrier 
 to virtue, or to the practicing of a good life; on the 
 contrary it is our firm conviction if less regard was 
 paid to the observance of holy days, and holidays 
 as well, the morals of community and the hope of 
 the rising] generation would be improved. Even 
 our national anniversary, sacred to patriotism, has 
 been diverted from its original purpose, and it is 
 quite questionable with many good men, if it is not 
 prejudicial to the object for which it was designed. 
 Instead of increasing the number of those days it 
 would be well to diminish them. 
 
44 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 If our views do not con form to those of the 
 reader he will remember that very appropriate 
 remark of Jefferson, in his first inaugural, "Error 
 of opinion may be tolerated where Reason is left 
 free to combat it." 
 
HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL 
 
 REVIEW OF 
 
 THE SUNDAY QUESTION; 
 
 REPLIES TO AN OBJECTOR. 
 
 BY GEOEGE W. BROWN, M. D. 
 
 ALL TIME IS TOO SACRED TO DO WRONG, NO TIME IS TOO 
 SACRED TO DO GOOD. 
 
 ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS: 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED UV THE AUTHOR. 
 
 M d 
 
 Price 1 5 Cents. 
 
JJ ^ 
 
 TO TMK READER, 
 
 The author of the preceding pages hopes to fol- 
 low them in due time, with a series of semi-scien- 
 tific papers entitled 
 
 A General Deluge; 
 
 Christmas, Its Origin; 
 
 Time is Limitless; 
 
 The Divisions of Time; 
 
 Dawn and Tendency of Civilization; 
 
 The Truth will Survive, the False Perish; 
 
 Literary Vandalism ; 
 
 Creation and Fall of Man; 
 
 A Future Life: 
 
 The Immaculate Conception; 
 
 Churches Older than Jesus: 
 
 Vicarious Sacrifice: 
 And a large number of others which have been 
 written at intervals of leisure, educational in their 
 character, which it is believed will be highly in- 
 structive to those in pursuit of Truth. Persons 
 into whose hands these pages, the first in the series, 
 shall fall, desiring them as they shall appear, at 
 moderate cost, can address the author by postal 
 card or otherwise. The whole when published 
 will make a volume of from 400 to 500 pages, and 
 will furnish a mass of information which cannot 
 be obtained elsewhere in so limited space. 
 ^N Mockford, Illinois, Dec. 1, 1882. /p 
 
 H 132 82 
 

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