St. Paul daily globe., 1889-04-30
The Last of the Series of Sec
ular Lectures by A. T.
Jones.
The Civil Sabbath a MiSnomer
for the Religious Sab
bath.
To Enforce Its Observance
Is to Enforce Idle
ness.
Sunday Laws Are Not Con-
dueive to Good Public
Morals.

Elder A. L. Jones was greeted with
another full house last night at Plum
mer Post hall to hear his last lecture in
Minneapolis, for the present, OH The
Evils of Religious Legislation" The
speaker, in opening, referred to the ex-
animation of the question the previous
evening from legal standpoint, and
the resulting evil; and tonight he said
he would look into what is termed
the "Civil Sabbath" which is a mis-
homer, as it cannot be anything
but religious. Further, Sunday is not
an institution of Gods but of the
church. and any legislation in reference
to it is church legislation, and can re-
suit only in evil. To legislate, how
ever, from either standpoint is ''un-
CIVIL" being religious legislation, with
which a civil government has nothing
to do. No government composed of
the people, has any right to punish
offenses against God, and it is
just there that those who pro-
fess Christianity make a mistake.
Heathen found it necessary to enforce
the observance of their religion, but
God is able to take care of all OffenSeS
against His law. .and needs no help from
man; hence, governments, when they
interfere, relegate back to heathendom;
yet the instances are very few in which
the states have not statutes Furnishing
Offenses against God, and these stat
utes are upheld by arguments that
are nothing but pagan, and punished
by pagan punishments. For instance, the
cto t,,tnS of ncx,tyr Hnnu tha
right of man to speak in denial of the
popular religion. Now this right is in
herent in all men. Paul and all the
apostles, ref0rmers and every Christian
since the time of Christ have made an
open and explicit denial of the popular
religion of their time.
THEN IS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ONLY
IN this right when it is allowed to all
against any OF all religions. if it is
thought one or all to be wrong. The
speaker then quoted from Chancellor
Kent and others to show that blasphemy
was denial of the popular religion, and
that was what every missionary had to
do in going into a foreign country to
preach Christianity, and that, there
fore, if the laws of New York, Penn
Sylvania, ETC., were enforced it
would have shut out Chris
tianity at once. The trouble is
these authorities instead of going to the
Bible to ascertain how to decide, have
accepted heather methods and decisions
as guides and authorities. A religion,
the speaker said. that can't bear inveSti-
CATION or he spoken against, is inimical
to the prosperity of any country. The
states obtained this form of legislation
from the colonies, which imported it
from the old country, and back of
this is Blackstone. the authority, whose
decision that the blasphemer should not
be qualified to hold office, Or applying a
religious test as a qualification for
office, and it was this that our forefath-
ers struck in making the constitution,
yet to-day parties are trying to expunge
the clause that gives us religious free
dom and make the Sunday.a test for all
preferment. But in reference to
the civil side of this question
the speaker read from a pamphlet
of DR.. Herrick Johnson, declaring the
Sabbath Sunday to be civil inStitu-
rion, Notwithstanding the admission is
made that the authority is based upon
the fourth commandment, which says,
remember to keep it holy. not civilly.
He then read the fourth commandment
so as to substitute the ''American'' Sab
bath and civilly instead of holy" and
the American people, as the crea-
the substition being attempted.
Yet. says he, the Sabbath is
Ged's, not mans, and when Caesar
| government demands our observance
to day they call the Lords day''
they rob God of what belongs to Him,
and not to man. Render unto Caesar
what belongs to Caesar, and unto God
what belongs to God. Show me the
Sabbath! Whose image and super
scription does it bear? The Lords.
What has Caesar to do with it, then?
Nothing. He then read again from DR..
Johnson, who claims the American
Sabbath observance is
A CoNSERVATOR OF PUBLIC MORALS.
''Is this so? No; to enforce its observ-
ance is to enforce idleness, which is
ruinous." The speaker then went on
to show the result of enforced idleness.
as has been already reported in pre-
vious lectures by the GLOBE, and stated
that in enforcing idleneSS they are
opening up the way for untold evil.
He then went to show that the increase
of crime was not because the saloons
were open, as they were SO Oh
all days, but because there were more
persons idle than at any other time,
and liable to temptation, and gave state
mentS in reference to Minneapolis and
other cities. 1t is admitted by DIR.
Crafts and others that crime increases
Sundays, and this proves that Sunday
laws are not conversive to public NOR
ais. Is it not better to allow men to fol-
low their honest occupations than to be
submitted to increase of temptation?
Further, to enforce. idleness is to pay
a premium upon idleness and reck-
lesSness, and no government can safely
do this. These men admit that Sunday
is the worst day in the week, and then,
20 remedy it, enforce more idlenesS.
Now, the idea of Sunday law is to stop
work, what is the next step? To stop
idleness. How? By compelling men
to attend church. Logic will prove this
to be the natural conclusion. The
speaker then showed that his argument
did not reflect upon God for appointing
Sabbath because the sanction he put
upon it forever prevented it from
becoming day of idienesS and wicked
ness. A state cannot supply this sane
ton, but DR.. Crafts and the others eX-
pect to obtain the religious sanction |
from the churches and then enforce it |
upon the people, i'll other words, eStab- |
lislr a papacy. Joseph Cook and others
admit that it all will be in vain if the |
religion and worship is taken away |
from it, and therefore to enforce an OBJ
servance of the day from religious |
standpoint is to face
AN OUTWARD HYPOTHETICAL OBSERV-
o. ANCE
of the day and rear up anation of hypo-
critics. In reference to mans physical |
needs, the speaker argued they were
not considered in the fourth command
ment, only mans spiritual nature being
considered. Man is to rest because God |
rested, and to keep it holy because God
made it so, all referring to God and
mans relation to God. As to mans phys