The record-union., 1893-02-08

| tnusr tnlS neaulng the RECORD-UNION Will
puplsh snort letters from correspondents on
/ topics OF interest TO the general public The
matter In these communications will be un-
uerstood TO represent only the views of the
WRITER'S All communications must be ac-
companied by the name OF the writer, not for
! publication unless so desired, but as a guaran-
tee OF good faith.-EDs.
Why California Should Have a Sunday
Law.
EDS. RECoRD-UNIoN Since writing
the article on "Riligous Liberty'' that
appeared in your issue of January 2Sth,
1t has been my privilege to listen to dis
course that was delivered yesterday
morning at one of the churches in your
city. 1t has caused me to pause and re-
meet upon my past ignorance with aston
lshmenU, not unmingled with shame, and
desire to seek more wisdom in the
| future. When / was persuaded to go and
listen to the discourse L could hardly have
been made to believe that your city had a
speaker who could present the opposite
side in much stronger light than that
which had believed to be solid truth
| went to the church, feeling that 1 had
been sincere in what had written, and
| my confidence that l had been on the
SIDE OF right was not shaken till the voice
OF the speaker fell on my ear. 1t would
be IN vain for me to attempt to describe
the effect of that voice, or the avalanche of
reasoning by which the congregation, in
Guiding the writer, seemed to be swept
| down the mountainsides of self-confi-
dence into the deep valley of humility
Had your readers all been with us, and
been as suddenly buried out of sight of
all our former reasonings and conclu-
| slons, many of them might have been as
much astonished as was at the final con-
clusion of the speaker that California
ought no longer to suffer the disgrace of
| being (Jhe only State in the Union) with
out Sunday law" And had you been
present you would have been no less
overwhelmed with surprise at the sub
lime process of reasoning by which the
conclusion was reached. do not know
| as yourreporter was present to preserve,
verbatim, the riches of that discourse for
the benefit of your fellow-c citizens and the
world. Therefore, beg room in your
paper for his premises and conclusion as
L understood them, and in such language
| as l may be able to express them.
First premise-The speaker proceeded to
present the thought that the nature of the
! machinery that man has invented is such
| that it will wear out and break down un-
less it has regular period of rest every
seventh day. (But of course said period
of rest must come on the first day of the
week, instead of the seventh, or the
machinery would be ruined). He must
have forgotten to tell US what velocity of
the machinery, and how many hours per
day would be legal, and secure its saliva
| ton. To this he added the thought that
mans very nature requires and demands
a regular period of rest every seventh
day. (But in order to meet this demand,
| of course said rest must come on the first
day of the week..
Second premise = The speaker next
presented the claim that no Sabbath was
I I.lrrr e. A.
| OF Israel went up out of Egypt, thus
assuming that the Author of the Sabbath
had to study the running of machinery,
and the nature of man for twenty-five
hundred years; and just then discovered
that one little nation on the earth pos
sessed this peculiar nature, that they
needed to rest every seventh day. OF
course the Jews are very peculiar peo-
pie, and so different from other nations
that the first day of the week would not
| do for them, and so He commanded them
to rest on the seventh day. But after ex-
perimenting with that nation for about
| fifteen hundred years, He found that the
Sabbath He had made for them, and had
so exactly suited to their necessities, did
not fit their case at all; but, having dis
covered by that time, that all the rest of
the world need and demand in their
very nature, seventh-day rest on the
first day of the week, then He, or,
although He did not say anything about
it, the preachers, and other smart men, -
who have written on the subject, having
made the farther discovery that the work.
ing men do not know enough to rest
when they get tired. and that the only
day in the week that will answer the
purpose is the first day, and for other
reasons known to the preachers and
other ''smart men," they have deter
mined that it is of supreme importance to
/ ba Of q
at least of human opinion, to make law
compelling all men especially laboring
mem, to rest on that particular day of the
week which the preachers and other
''smart men" have decided that their
nature requires. And how evident the
Conclusion-That therefore California
should have Sunday law" Perhaps the
real dynamite of this argument will ap-
pear to the best advantage by condensing
it into regular sillogism, as follows:
First premise-AIl things need a
period of rest every seventh day.
Second premise-After experimenting
for twenty-five hundred years this
principle was discovered to be true of the
Jews, and after experimenting for fifteen
hundred years longer the same principle
was discovered to be true of the rest OF
the world, but would no longer apply on
the seventh day, but would work well on
| the first day.
| CONCLUSION - therefore, California
should have a Sunday law"
But the speaker gave us ''line upon line
and precept upon precept, here little
and there a little" Taking US down the
mountain side on his smooth sledge-run-
ners, declaring that the Sabbath was
never given as memorial OF creation, he
| glided smoothly around the great monu-
ment standing in Eden, still bearing in
| plain characters the recorded reason OF
the blessing and sanctiiying of that great
memorial of creations birthday (Gen. ii.
2, -; also, gliding as swiftly and silently
| around the monument erected on Mount
Sinai, where the same record is again en-
craven (EX. Xxx, III. he finally ran square
against the same in Ex. XXI, II. but
stopped reading in the middle of the
verse, as that record again confronted
him, back slid, slid around again, passing
| Leviticus and Numbers very swiftly
down to Deuteronomy ", where Moses,
in rehearsing the dealing of God with His
people, mentions their deliverance from
| bondage as one reason why they should
show their love to Him by obedience;
and from this statement of Moses our
speaker claims that the Sabbath was
! given as memorial of their deliverance
from Egyptian bondage, and not a me-
mortal of creation. And what would be
a more inevitable conclusion from this
argument than that California should
have Sunday law''?
Another line that the speaker drew for
us was that the keeping of the first day OF
the week has no connection whatever
with the law of Ten Commandments:
and as old things are passed away we
have nothing to do with that law. AL
| though had been before convinced that
Sunday keeping had no foundation in the
moral law and no connection with il, vet
/ had not before learned it to be fact that
the Ten Commandments were abolished.
But if this is so, why not have Sunday
law in California? Why not honor the
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