Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-11-04
RESORTS TO HISTORY
IN SUNDAY LAW
ARGUMENT
WRITER SAYS THE LAW
Is RELIC OF BARBARISM
Goes Back to the Days of Con-
%Stantine When State Helped
Church Encourage Religion.

During the past week the Morning
Journal has been flooded with letters
concerning the New Mexico Sunday
law and its enforcement Many of
these letters have been unsigned and
could therefore not be published.
They have been about equaily~dividcd
between argument in favor of the en-
forcement of the law and argument
favOring its repeal at the nrst oppor-
tunity. One Of the most interesting Of
these letters, while arguing against
the law, Is found in the following:
Editor Morning journal.
The first Sunday law on record IL
the ohe given by Emperor Consttn-
tine. March 18th, 32I a. D.. A transla-
ton of the law is as follows:
ION the venerable day of the sun
let the magistrates and people living
in towns rest, and let all workshops bf
closed. Nevertheless. in the country,
those engaged in the cultivation OF
land may freely and lawfully work.
because 1t often happens hat another
day is nOt so well fitted for sowing
grain and planting vines; lest By neg
lect of the best time the bounty pro-
Vided by heaven be lost"
This law. as will be seen. was very
liberal in its terms, applied only to IA
class Of people that would suffer the
least inconvenience under It's opera
tion. The vast majority of the people
were entirely exempt from il.
The immediate causes which led 70
its PRONUNCIATION were complaints
from The preachers. Says Neander:
lowing to the prevailing passion at
that time. especially in the large cit
iesF to run after the various public
SHOVE. IL so happened that when these
spectacles fell on the same days which
had been consecrated by the church to
some religious festival. they proved
a great hindrance to the devotion OF
Christians, though chiefly. 1t must be
allowed, to those whose Christianity
was the least an affair Of the life and
OF the heart"
II the church and the circus were
both open at the same time, the Chris
as well as others. not being able
TO go to both places at once. would
go TO the circus or thcater instead Of
ihe church. An open theater or circus
viii always prove a great hindrance
20 the devotion Of those Christians
whose Christianity g. at least an affair
of the life and Of thc heart, and who
only want t. use the profession of re-
ligiOn to maintain their popularity IND
10 promote their selfish interests.
Neandcr says again;
Church teachers were in truth
forced to complain that in such
competitions the theater was vastly
more frequenked than the church"
The church wanted y monopoly, as
she could not stand competition. II
appears that the church Of today il
going the same road and asking for
Il monopoly. As long as men could
something by working On sun
day they would work, So a law was
reoNed by which civil trahsactians
Of every kind on Sunday were strictly
forbidden
But wien they could not work on
Sunday thcy would crowd the circus
and thaater instead hof going 10
church. This was not what the
preachers wanted. II is not what they
want now. So they prayed the em-
peror to have the public shows trans
ferred to some other days of the week.
in order, as Neandcr says, that b
derOtion of the faithful might be free
from all h~indrance." But This was not
enough to cause men 20 go TO church;
another step must be taken. 50 TINS
sanity theory was invented:
1T Is indeed better that men should
be brought to serve God by instruc-
than by fear Of punishment. or
NV main. But because the former
means are better. the latter must not,
therefore, ba neglected. Many must
b. brought back TO their Lord,
like wicked servants, byN the rod 81
empora suffering, before they attain
TO the highest grade OF religious de-
velopment."
Neander speaks thus Of this theory;
ut was By Augustine, then, that q
theory was proposed and founded
contained the germ of the
system OF spiritual despotism'
uf Intolerance and persecution. whlch
ended in the tribunals Of the lnquisi-
The history of the Inquisition is
the history Of the carrying out
~ this Infamous theory Of Augustine's.
But This theory is only the logical Sc
Of the theory upon which the
series of sunday laws was
founded
In a Sunday-law mass meeting held
wears since "a certain REV.
"Ybu relegatc moral instruction
90 the church. and then let. all go az
they please on sunday and We cannot
get at them.
The state must corral all the peo-
nle on sunday so the preachers can
~ them. That was what they
wanted in the fourth century; the In
was the logical sequence.
That IS what they want now shall
The Inqnisition be- again the logical Sc
uuence SUNDAY laws have always
been the entering wedge for persecu-
lion. II cannot be otherwise. We
should hesitate to enter "a path which
for ages has been strewn with the
chastity tokens Of Intolerance and big
otry. A READER.
Albuoueraue. \. NJ. November 3.
a