The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-08-10
SUNDAY LAWS.

SUNDAY LAWS.
Sunday laws have been upheld by
courts because they were sanitary
measures, as it is necessary for the
well-being OF the people that one
seventh part of the time should be de-
voted to rest and recuperation. But
such decision would apply with equal
force il the observance of Saturday
were made obligatory as it does now
regarding Sunday. If the validity of
the law, or its constitutionality, rest
on this sanitary feature any seventh
day will answer the purpose. There
may be some argument in making the
rest day as nearly universal as possible;
but in forbidding all secular work law
makers should be careful that they do
not trample on the conscientious
scruples Of any religious denomination
that consider another the holy day
taught in the Bible. Those who have
no veneration for religion should be
made to have that respect for the feel
ings of their neighbors that any
disturbance of the approved methods
of worship would be punished as
misdemeanor. This may furnish a
reason for the statute in many states
forbidding anyone following his voca-
tion on Sunday; but the constitutional
privilege of Jews and Seven-Day Ad-
ventists of worshiping God according
to their own conscience would ap-
parently mark exceptions to the strict
enforcement of the law. This is not
the fact, and today in Tennessee there
are nine honest Americans citizens
suffering imprisonment because they
had been found guilty of working on
Sunday, although they strictly OBJ
served the seventh day.
There are decisions in some of our
highest courts that Christianity is q
part of the common law of the land;
but this must be relegated to the fc-
tions of Jurisprudence, for the consti-
tuition not only does not inculcate any
religious dogmas, but is silent even on
the existence of God or of a supreme
being. That grand instrument was
drafted by some of the brightest
statesmen Of the eighteenth century,
and they were very careful that church
and state should be completely sepa-
rated in the republic. This is the
supreme law of the land, and it is very
doubtful if the statute in Tennessee or
any other state would be upheld in
the supreme court against Jews or
other Sabbatarians.
Aside from our written laws, which
grant the greatest freedom to the citi-
zen, there has been injected into the
rulings of our courts and social customs
many ideas of English Puritanism.
which were extant in New and Old
England in the last century. Some of
them have been expunged from what
is termed the common law of the land
by enlightened judges, and others yet
remain which will in time share the |
same fate. Puritanism was plant of |
stalwart growth during the political
and religious prosecutions of the last
century, and it took deep root in our
own soil. Perhaps its strong elements
OF character were necessary When he |
who valued his liberty waged con-
stant warfare against the encroach-
ments of kings and priests, and it may
be that we owe the strength and sta
bility of our institutions to the un-
wavering and unconquerable spirit of |
the old Puritans who settled in Massa-
chusetts. A new era has dawned, and |
the same exigencies do not have to be
combatted. The blue laws of Connec-
ticut may have served their purposes,
and suited society in the last century;
but it would be considered relic of
barbarism to enforce them now. A
strict enforcement of Sunday laws
must be placed in the same category
Ind be considered one of the obsolete
customs OF a past age, and are unqpes-
'ionably an offshoot of Puritanism.
With Sabbatarians they SAVIOR of per-
'ecution of the most fragrant kind, and
ihese men should have equal liberty
With observers of Sunday. Public
sentiment is becoming aroused in this
natter, and it will not be long before
he Imprisonment of the Adventists
n Tennessee will be classed as actu-
tied by the same spirit that hanged
witches in Salem, drove Roger Will
Jams into exile and banished Quakers
rom Massachusetts,.