The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-05-21

In respect of sports and labor alike 1t
may be urged that there are some men
who would better work on Sunday than
spend the day as they do, and there are
groups Of men and Of boys who would
better play than spend the day in the
ways which they choose when play is
prohibited. Undoubtedly this claim is
true. But the state cannot undertake
to legislate for classes. Legislation
must be general. If some men should
be allowed to work because otherwise
they spend the day in ways injurious
to themselves, there would soon be men
compelled to work to whom the loss of
the day of rest would be a wrong and
an injury. In respect of licensing sports
even a game of ball, which in itself is
as innocent a play as anything, tends
to gather a crowd and, where permit
ted, if we may judge from past and
present customs, gives the front place
to professional games with all the evils
Iconnected Herewith. Legislation can
not well discriminate, and where public
games are permitted the ambition of
professional men, the opportunity
which Sunday affords to gather an un-
usual crowd, the greed of managers for
financial gain and the eagerness of the
public to be entertained, all tend to
break down the order of the day and
to impose labor upon growing number
of people. The advocates of entertain
ments on Sunday seem to overlook the
| fact that what entertains some is labor
| for others. The increasing laxity is en-
| forcement of law in the past few years
has led yearly to an increasing number
of railroad employees, clerks, janitors,
caretakers, athletes, actors and musi-
clans who are deprived of their day of
rest Most of these people are in the
employ Of individuals or companies
whose purpose is to make money, and
the entertainment which they furnish
| is in violation Of the spirit of that gra-
! cious law which would give the man
servant and the maid-servant rest. EX-
perience certainly justifies my conten-
ton that, while certain individuals
would better work or play than spend
Sunday as they do, yet the good of the
entire number of citizens makes it diff
ficult or impossible for the state to leg
islate for these exceptional persons. On
the whole, labor and public sports have
wisely been prohibited, and, with the
experience of their permission in some
quarters, and with our present light, we
could hardly favor the removal of this
prohibition.
With these prohibitions however, the
requirements Of the state cease. The
individual is left to his own freedom in
determining how he shall spend the day
What the individual may ro-provided
it does not attract unusual attention
or assemble a crowd, or occasion labor
to others, or disturb the quiet and or
der of the days left to the individual
conscience and the quite efficient con-
troll Of public opinion. Such, as l UNI
derstand it, is our civil Sunday secured
to us by law.
The Christian Sunday, however, must
not be regarded as coincident with the
civil Sunday in it's origin, authority and
claims upon men. The day is of divine
origin and of divine authority resting
upon mans relation to- God. The Chris
tan observance of Sunday transcends
the requirements of the civil law. a
mans obligations do not end with his
obedience to the state. And mans
obligations are not determined by his
own choices, but by the conditions I'M
der which he lives. A mans obliga-
lions to his parents, to the state and tC
God are not determined by his owr
choice, but by the fact that he is born
into relations to his parents, to the
state and to God Neither a mans
parents nor the state nor God asks
whether he gives his consent to theh
authority. He is under obligation tc
fulfil his relations or to suffer the con.
sequences of non-fulfillment The diff
ference between non-Christian and 9
Christian man living in the same coun.
try and having equal light is that the
former does not acknowledge ais obi.
cation and the latter confesses it; but
the same law-even If 1t be a law Of
grace-binds them both. This fact ap'
plies to Sunday observance. Sunday /!
Gods gift to men. It is gift of mer'
cy that men may rest. 1t is a gift Of
grace that men may remember God ant
grow better. Here, as elsewhere, the
man who refuses to accept the gift, Oh
who, accepting, misuses it, loses the re-
ward. The man who accepts the gift
and uses it, gains the profit. Jesus, II
His teaching, calls attention to the fac
that, under the divine government, mer
gain what they seek, and time anc
again He adds, verify, say unto yot
they have their reward The mar
who sows wild oats cannot reap wheat
The student who spends his time IL
play and who sows to sport cannot real
scholarship. The workman who sow
to appetite and squanders his wages il
sensual qualification cannot reap CAPT
tai and harvest wealth. This is divin,
law running through mans entire life
"Be not deceived: God is not Knocked
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall
he also reap. For he that soWeth unit
his own flesh shall Of the flesh real
corruption; but he that soweth unto TIL
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eterna
life"
This is the divine law Of Sunday
which, like all Gods laws, works will
the steadiness and with the certaint.
of gravitation, and no man can evad
it's authority or escape its results. Coz
gives the day The man who wilfull.
refuses to take it, and who works
wears out. The man who accepts 1t