The sun., 1895-02-10

The Woman's Sabbath Alliance held a
meeting in the Fifth avenue on Thursday,
and adopted a pledge to be signed by those
joining the society. This pledge binds the
members as follows:
ITO resist by preceps and example whatever tends
to undermine the Sabbath q day OF rest and wor-
ship. such the Sunday secular newspaper, social
Sunday entertainments, and Sunday driving and
travelling for personal convenience gain pleasure;
and we further pledge ourselves to exert infiu.
ence to create right sentiment all OF tho
Sunday question, especially in reference to trac Of
every kind on that day."
No fault whatever can be found with that
pledge, on the ground that it proposes any
invasion Of personal liberty or any interfer-
ence with the rights of anybody. Only the
good women who believe in the observance
of Sunday as the Sabbath will sign it; and
they intend to exert only moral influence for
the conversion of other people to their views
of religious obligation. They simply bind
themselves together to create a right
sentiment on all aspects of the Sun
day question as it seems to their
own consciences, and to resist by their
personal example and by their precept the
present tendency Ito undermine the Sab
bath" They pledge themselves not to read
Sunday newspaper nor to attend social
Sunday entertainments and not to drive
and travel on that day for convenience or
pleasure; but they do not assume to deny
those privileges to anybody else. They will
only try to induce other people to refrain
from them, in obedience to their under
standing of the Mosaic commandment.
Nobody can justly find fault with them
for doing this, but everybody must rather
honor them for their devotion to duty as it
appears to their consciences. 1t is hard
pledge, and they cannot live up to it in con-
sistent practice without great self-denial. If
they fulfil its requirements in the letter and
the spirit, they will make themselves singu-
lar among Christians, both men and women.
The circulation of newspapers is so much
greater on Sunday than on other days that it
is evident that practically everybody who can
read reads them on the day Of rest, including
priests, ministers, and laymen of every
church and denomination. The SUN of Sun
day is also an extraordinarily interesting and
peculiarly profitable publication, so that the
severest and most ascetic selfdenial is re-
quired to resist the temptation to read 1t. We
are not surprised, therefore, that one of the
ladies at the Fifth avenue meeting refused
to sign the pledge for fear that she might
break 1t, though she was in favor of the gem
eral Sunday movement; and we question
whether some of her associates who were
not so cautious, may not find the temptation
irresistible in some unguarded moment.
Moreover, the pledge requires all those
who sign it to walk to church to-day, unless
incapacitated for the exertion.
They must not drive. nor take the street
cars, nor go by ferryboat. 1t may be that
they desire to hear some popular preacher
whose church is so far away from their homes
that they cannot stand the strain of walk
ing to it, more especially in this clustering
weather; but the qualification of desire is not
a work OF necessity. They can find churches
at which to discharge the duty of worship
within walking distance, though their
pulpit eloquence may not be SO attractive.
They cannot drive in their own carriages
without violating the commandment by |
forcing their servants and their beasts To |
work. If they go in public conveyances they !
justify Sunday" travelling for personal con-
venience" in their own practice
To obey the commandment with the strict |
ness required by their pledge and by re-
y, |
they must also stop all work in |
their households which is not absolutely |
necessary, as the orthodox Jews do. |
In New England, where such obedience
was actually enforced rs an imperative
religious obligation, plous families did no
cooking whatever on Sunday, having pre-
pared the food In advance. Neither in the
house nor the stable was any except abso-
utely necessary work allowed, and the con-
Versation and the reading were wholly ON re-
igious subjects. 1t is possible and it is requi-
site Tor the women signing this pledge TO
follow that example.
Actually, however, nobody now keeps
Sunday in that way. The strictest OF the
Iews observe Saturday as such Sabbath
Dut the Christian Sunday is made no diiler-
,nt from other days Of the week except