The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1883-04-04
Sunday Rest.

There are two solid grounds on which
Sunday laws rest: one, the right of the
prevailing religion of the country (be it
Jewish, Christian, or Pagan to have it's
day of worship free from disturbance !;
and the other, the right of every man to
an equal share in rest-day from toll.
AS regards the first, if this country
were Jewish country the Jewish wor-
ship on Saturday should be peculiarly
protected from molestation. II it were
Mohammedan country, the Friday
should be in like manner protected This
is simple common sense applied to things
as they are, and no action of doctrinaire
theory. Where there is conflict of
sacred days. as among Jew, Christian, and
Mohammedan, all connot be protected,
and hence the majority must determine
the question. This certainly distinguishes
the sacred day, but does no harm to those
who do not count it sacred. 1t only
obliges them to be courteous. The in
equality in the matter is only such as in
some things obtain among the freest
people.
AS regards the second ground: ply
siologists, physicians, satisticians, obser-
vers in general, have agreed that man s
body and mind need complete rest at
an interval Of about seven days. But
man will not take that rest from labor
unless he is obliged by law to do So His
greed for gain will make him ruin health
in his own case, or (worse still) make him
force his employees to ruin theirs by con-
tinuous work. The law, therefore, must
make and enforce a rest-day. But what
day shall it take? Again common sense
says, Take the day which the mass of
the community, from religious reasons,
already regard as a rest-day." So the
civil law, providing for mems physical
well being, appoints and enforces a rest
day from labor, which is the same day on
which the great Christian community
worship, and in which the same law, for
for other reasons, protects them in wor-
ship.
There is the whole of the Sunday
question in nutshell. There is no COM
polling men to be religious, no support
ing State Church, no Puritancial blue
law. The Jew, or Mohammedan, or
Pagan simply must not make a bolster
GUS demonstration, such as a noisy par
ade, on Sunday. Why? Because the
vast majority of the people see fit to wor-
ship on that day. The Jew, or Moham-
medan, or Pagan must not keep open
shop that day. Why2 Because the peo-
pie have decreed rest day from labor
once week to help humanity, and that
is the day.
Our American liberties are largely con-
nected with the weekly day of rest. This
day has given the people time to think,
and read, and enjoy family life, and
without it we should have become an
ignorant, british, machine-people, like
the low peasantry of continental Europe.
Take away this rest-day, and you under
mine our high moral and educational
condition as a people. You turn us into
nation OF mere 6 workies." The cry of
religious oppression as against Sunday
observance is device of the enemy. It
is but the voice of soulless corporations,
and OF the proprietors of Neutrality-suspicious.
and other demoralizing places, who wish
to make their great gains on Sunday, and
care nothing for the welfare and happi-
ness Of the people. They are oppressors,
and the advocates of day of rest are the
staunch supporters of true freedom.
America has three bulwarks of liberty
"a free ballot, free school, and a free
Sunday, and neither domestic treachery
nor foreign impudence should be permit
ted to break them down Topics of the
I1n1ej. the Century for March.