The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-01
DISCUSSED SUNDAY LAWS
MEETING or THE NEW HAYEN CON-
 GREGATIONAL CLUB.

Remarks by Rev. MT. Hall of New
 Britain, Judge Pickett and John c. North Serious Nature of Non-Observ- ance of the Day-Reform Advocated.
 An extraordinary session of the New Haven Congregational club was held at the United church chapel last evening, at which the question What Rules for Sabbath Observance Ought to he Rec ognized by Our Churches?" was infor- mally discussed The Rev. Russell [. Hall of New Britain, a mcmhsr Of Ike committee on Sunday laws appointed by the general conference of Congrega- tlonal churches of Connecticut, opened the discussion. He said that the com mittee had been successful in securing some Sunday legislation though not so much as they and many others had hoped. Legislation at it's best is but a series of compromises and the commit tee had accomplished what it was able, while it's own ideals were somewhat different from what they had been able to obtain by legislation. Two careful canvasses of the towns of the state made by the committee show that the matter of the non-observance of Sun day is more serious than most people suppose Attendance at church is for the church-goin people, at least to some extent an indication of their val uation of the day for spiritual pur- poses. Within the memory of many there was a time when the attendance at Sunday services was probably twice | as large as the church membership. l To-day it is probably not one-half of the church membership. This decline in church attendance may be due to ' one of three reasons: either general in difference to all matters of religion, apathy toward Sunday observance, or a feeling of hopelessness as to what the < present rapid change in regard to Sun 1 day may ultimately result in doing. Be i the cause what it may the question is l serious one, inasmuch as the aban- doning of Sunday for purposes of spir- i itual development means the doing ! away with means for spiritual de- velopment which it has taken two thou | sand years to perfect, and to replace ! that he believed that the churches of to-day are in need of better defined principles as to the proper use of Sun- day. He believed that misconceptions of the purpose of the day have arisen l largely from considering it a day of rest. The Jewish Sabbath was a day of even more perfect rest than the Sun day of the Puritan fathers and it was against such regard of the day that l Christ directed more of His teaching than against anything else. The | speaker thought the day was intended | for spiritual development and that rest l consisted in change. He thought that l there should be legislation compelling all employers of labor to give their em- poyes at least one-half of Sunday and that there should be restrictive legisla- | tion to prevent the offering of extra in l ducements in the way of amusement s on Sunday by people whose motives are avaricious. This he holds should be done for the protection of the people in order that they might not be dis tracted from seeking their spiritual welfare He also said that he favored striking from the statute books all laws l WultH WSlS HUI SIlOiICO GU icetSl u some extent believing that such laws were worse than useless, inasmuch as they engendered a disregard for all law
 John c. North also spoke briefly on the question. He believed that it has become necessary that trolley cars in such large city as New Haven on Sun day.
 Judge Rufus Pickett said that he con- sidered statute law supplemental only to the great moral code of the Bible Crime very frequently begins with the violation of Sunday. He said he thought Connecticut's code of Sund y laws is almost perfect He thought that restriction of Sunday travel and traffic on the railroads had produced beneti- cent results and believed that Sunday excursions on trolley cars and steam boats are inimical to public peace ard quiet The question of Sunday bicycle riding was a difficult one. The bicycl: has come to stay and riding of wheels on Sunday does not make a noise whict disturbs other people.
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 FINE ENTERTI TNW ENTS.