Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-08-12
THE CRUSADE OF THE AMERICAN SAB
BATH UNION THEREFOR.
Argument in support of the Demand
California Denounced for Her
Alleged wickedness.

nave Inc several state Legislatures pass
laws enforcing general observance o.
Sunday las day of rest.n Mr.. Crafts ex
planned: 1.-THE American Sabbath Union
is union of true Americans of all section.
| to preserve the Sabbath as day of rest and
worship. The right arm of cur Unions
work is to promote the religious Sabbath
the left arm is to preserve the civil Sabbath
These two things, the Christian Sabbath on
the one hand, the American Sabbath on
the other, are as distinct as my two arms
that resemble and cooperate, and yet are
by no means the same.
Such a distinction is itself the best
answer to most of the difficulties that good
men find in Sunday laws. The religious
Sabbath treats Sunday work and dissipa-
ton as sins against God; the civil Sabbath
considers them only as crimes against man.
OF the Ten Commandments, there are sew
eral which forbid the same things as are
forbidden in the laws of our land-murder.
theft, adultery, false witness. Sunday work
but, while religion forbids these things
as sins against God, the State forbids
them only as crimes against man. In other
countries where church and State are
mixed and in our own country in other
days the ground of Sunday laws was not
always perceived; but in recent years legis.
lation on this subject has been based not
on Gods will, but on the general welfare
A homeiJ illustration or two will make
this point clear, A shrewd Iowa farmer
put up in his melon patch this sign !:
Boys, do not touch these melons, for they
are green, ard God sees you The church
forbids Sunday work and dissipation be-
cause God sees and will punish but the
State forbids them only because they are
unhealthy to the body polite as well as to
the individual, physically and morally.
p" We are pushing, continued the speaker,
this petition against Sunday mails, against
Sunday work in the military service of the
Government, in interstate commerce, and
in the District of Columbia and the Terri
torles-ln short, petition which asks Con-
gress to supplement the laws OF the States
in this matter by giving Sunday rest to all
who are under the jurisdiction of the Cen
eral Government. This petition is the
largest ever presented to any Government,
representing an army of ten millions of pc
ttloners, besides the Cardinal OF the Cath
Ole Church, whose name weighs much in
legislative halls, whatever it counts. La
Dor organizations with a total mem bership
of half million, have taken distinct action
indorsing the petition. The petition is,
therefore, not only the largest ever gath
cred, but unique also in being the only one
in which labor organizations and churches
OF all creeds have generally united. / hold
IN my hand saw which / brought from
Nazareth, with other tools, such as Christ
used when he there toiled as working
man at his trade. In presenting this peti.
ton to the knights of Labor | held up this
saw as an ancient badge of knighthood in
labor, reminding them that no one who ap-
preciated the story of Christ could despise
honest toll in himself or any other man
And say to you what did not say to them.
that the church that was founded by car
penter ought never TO be out of sympathy
with the true interests of workingmen.
AS to the Sunday mails, Toronto and
London are the two witnesses that swiftly
answers all the objections. In both of these
cities those who handle the wealth of the
community in the mails have long been
given their Sunday rest with no embar-
rassment, either in cases of sickness or in
emergencies OF business-the Saturday and
Monday kilograms taking the place of Sun
day mail.
THE second objection, that the proposed
Sunday law is unconstitutional, an obiec-
ton made equally against State Sunday
laws, is quickly answered by stating the
fact that the Supreme Courts of all the
States in which the matter has been tested
have declared Sunday laws constitutional.
But as the objection is raised anew, it is
well to recall the grounds upon which these
decisions have been based. The directors
always quote the article of the Constitution
that prohibits Congress to make a law re-
garding an establishment of religion The
word establishment is historic word of
no doubtful Interpretation. When it was
written Intn the Cnnofitntinra
Europe, as there is to-day, the custom of
selecting single sect and supporting it by
the State, which also appointed its officers.
"a Sunday law, in order to come under
this prohibition, would need to require the
support of ministers of religion and their
political appointment, which no advocate
of Sunday legislation proposes or desires.
But the latter part of this provision, which
requires that Congress shall make no laws
interfering with the free exercise of re-
ligion does have a bearing upon Sunday
laws. When Congress ordered SUNDAY
work in the mail service, Congress itself
broke this constitutional provision, for il
made 1t forever after impossible, by this
irreligious test, for men devoted to the
church and unwilling to give up its sery-
ices. and conscientious about doing Sunday
work, to hold position in this largest de-
partment of the public service.
" Y ct more fundamental is the objection
that this Sunday law is inconsistent with
liberty. When Cambyses invaded Egypt,
knowing that they worshiped cats, he had
each soldier in the front rank of his army
take in his left hand, in the place of a
shield, a sacred cat. The Egyptians dared
not strike lest they should XIII god, and
SO the invaders conquered them without a
blow. we are being invaded by an army
OF Continentals who desire TO break down
our institutions in the interests of their
own lusts, and who march in upon us with
our sacred word, Liberty as their shield.
They offer themselves as teachers of liberty
to Americans. As usual in such cases we
ask these professors of liberty, Where did
you graduate? Who was YOUR teacher .
hey answer, Bismarck Now we under
stand what they mean by personal liberty,
the liberty OF Bismarck, tie liberty of one
person to do what he likes regardless of the
rights of all below him. The reversed
'Bismarcks' who come TO this country be-
ileve In personal liberty, that is, liberty of
one person to do what he likes regardless
OF the rights of all above him. We believe
in popular liberty, the liberty of the whole
people, and the liberty of each person only
so far as it is consistent with the liberties
of Others. The circle is a symbol not OF
eternity only, but also of liberty. Personal
! liberty is the space within circle bounded
on all sides smoothly by the rights OF
Others"
The speaker said that New Orleans had
tried the Seventh Day Adventist plan of the
lawiess Sunday and tired of il three years
ago. He went on to demonstrate how the
Seventh Day Adventists could be brought
into harmony with other denominations
on The Sunday question, and suggested
that they be taken on excursions by ocean
until they crossed the Sunday line (the
lsoth degree, and when brought back
again they would be observing the Chris.
tan Sunday, instead of Saturday, and il
would be all the same to them. The pro.
posed national Sunday rest law, at the
utmost, would not affect more than one
thousand OF these Seventh Day people, as
they cannot be in the mail and military
| service and interstate commerce. and vel
keep Saturday, and the further jurisdiction
OF the law is only in the District of Col.