The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-06-04
SUNDAY!
Observance.

/ hO"h al ~ uisOubSlOu VI Nv puudhJ
problem, THE TRIBUNE today presents a
compendium Of opinions some Of which
have been sent to 1t in the form of letters
for publ cation. and others being excerpts
from exchanges. This journal assumes no
responsibility for these opinions, but gives
them solely as q matter OF news. The
first letter is Rev. John Davy's reply to
the letter recently addressed to him by Mr..
Van Benthuysen Of this city. 1t is as fol-
lows:
Editor Of THE TRIBUNE:
Dear Sir: In Junlus' letters against the
abuses of certain members Of the British
parliament we have o beautiful specimen
of tho style and manner in which discus
sions of any great and important ques-
lions should be carried on in the pulpit, In
the forum or by the press, and we do not
think there are any W questions before
the American public today Of more i'm
portance than the liquor traffic and the
American Sabbath. The tariff question
which has taken the American senate so
many weeks to discuss and settle-and it
is not settled yet-is a mere bugaboo COM
pared with obeying Gods commands. The
ono is u question OF dollars and cents, the
other OF mans immortal destiny. In dis
cussing a question Of such vast Importance
to the welfare Of a great nation like ours,
We must have some starting point,
som standard Of what is right
and what is wrong. If it is left to
the mere caprice of mems opinions
we may talk or write until doomsday and
be none the wiser for the discussion. We
take the Bible as our standard Of morals,
n book that like the Hebrew children or
the bush that Moses saw has passed
through fire aud smoke, but has come out
Of the struggle without the smell OF fire on
ita cnNvava nufcila pF chic tha nnipiOn NJ
James IL worth about as much as that Of
John. In the possession of our judges and
lawyers there are books we call statutes,
and those statutes contain laws that must
be Obeyed for the good Of society no mat
ter whether it Is stealing sheep or keeping
the Sabbath day holy. Our laws are based
upon the teachings of Christianity. We
therefore regard this as a Christian ma
ton. 1t was founded upon that theory by
the pilgrims, and if it is not why do w
commit the folly Of dating all our
documents in the transfer Of renl es-
tate, etc, from the birth Of the man of
Nazareth? this question being settled by
the testimony Of the pilgrim fathers, who
founded the nation, by the almost uni
verSal consent of our people, and by the
churches and steeples, inttmaries, hospi-
ials and homes for the friendless from
Maine to New Orleans.
k~K
With this long exordium we are pre-
pared to have a friendly talk with Mr..
Van Benthuysen upon this momentous
question to the citizens OF the United
States. We would not like to take per-
sOnal liberty In its broadcast sense as our
guiding star. 1t was tried once in France
and in less than ten years three millions
Of human beings were butchered through
the influence of a people who despised the
Christian Sabbath, turned the churches
into theatres, and n proclamation was is.
sued by the government that the immOr-
tality OF the soul and the resurrection oil
the body were only preached by fanatics
for the torment Of the living. Perhaps
the personal liberty men OF scranton think
that their brethren who are fighting with
tongue and pen, and yet good naturally,
for the s~anctity Of the Sabbath are fana.
tics. So let it be. Our friend Van B
kindly says that If the teachers Of Chris
tianity would follow more in the footsteps
Of their Master they would probably have
more followers. | believe 1t. But l sup.
pose His countrymen called Him q religi.
Gus fanatic, and the wise men OF Greece
called the great Apostle Paul who was
head and shoulders above any or all Of
them q "babbler," Act xvii IS, and friend
V. has the impudence to call j. ID. Il
religious zealot. We thank him for the
o%pprobrium and would to God there were
millions more not such as | am, but such
as the Master and his early followers were.
We may lave different ways of thinking
on religious subjects; still. we are brothers,
for we have one common Father who
makes HIS sun to shine upon the evil and
upon the good; but / am sorry that Mr.. v.
had not studied Webster and the New
| frnstoNnapt a 1iEr1a mona hafnrn h., r,,,l,ol
into print.
He has misquoted Webster by stating
within quotation marks that Webster's
definition OF religious liberty is the priv
ilege Of worshipping the Supreme Being
according to conscience. Conscience is u
poor guide for Paul said he had lived in all
good conscience and yet he was a murderer.
The poor blind heathens are worshiping
dumb idols today according TO conscience
gods OF their own making. There is no
such definition In Webster. We have his
unabridged and have looked it over care
fully. Then again he quotes Webster as
defining civil liberty-''A restraint Of ma
tural liberty, liberty not necessary or ex-
pedient for the public good is tyranny or
oppression" Webster does not use such
naughty words, Then again, his memory
was at fault when he referred to Christ
as teaching that oil days were alike &C.
cordlnB to mems notions, whether they
would keep them sacred, or not. The quota
tion is from Rom xiv-5, and was uttered by
Paul, but has no reference whatever to
the Christian Sabbath. The Jews
regarded their festival an3 fast days as
sacred rs their Sabbath, and imposed this
duty of keeping those days holy upon the
Gentiles after they were converted to
Christianity, but the Gentiles did not
think it necessary to keep holy the Jewish
festival and fast days. and hence the ar
gument Of the apostles. We make these
criticisms to show the weakness or the
fallacy Of the arguments produced in favor
of violating the Sabbath by buying or SELL
ing, or doing ordinary work thereon. And
yet, oh, what a blunder to quote John
Davy AS being in favor of lynch law be-
cause he quoted a passage from Numbers
XIV, 1886. q law enacted by the God of
Abraham, Of Isaac ana of Jacob, and reads
ms follows: "And while the children Of
Israel were in the wilderness they found u
man that had gathered sticks on the SAB
bath day, and they that found him thus
presumptously trampling the laws Of the
Almighty under his feet brought him t.
Moses and Aaron and unto all the congre-
cation, and the Lord said unto Moses:
THE man shall surely be put to
death: all the congregation shat
S tone him with stones without the camp,
and he died as the Lord commanded
Moses" The Jewish law had already
made the proclamation of the Sabbath q
capital crime, as in Ez, xxx-14-l5; 'ie
shall keep my Sabbath, for 1t liz holy.
Every one that deileth it shall surely be
put to death, for whatsoever doeth any
work thereon shall be cut off from among
his people. Six days may work be done,
but on the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, !
holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any
work on the Sabbath day shall surely be
put to DEATH" And in Nehemiah K 81: IF
the people Of Canaan bought any kind of
goods or victuals to sell to the Jews they
would not buy it of them on the Sabbath
day" Our friend, Van Benthuysen, had
better appeal to the higher court and get
these laws repealed. He says the Sabbath
law Of 1894 is superaunuated. II it is it is
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