The Washington herald., 1912-02-16

To a hne audience in Flynns Hall,
Eighth and K streets, last night, Mr..
Alonzo T. Jones gave an address on
Sunday legislation and the Fourth
Commandment" Taking as the suggestion
Of his theme Senate Report, No. 80,
Sixty-second Congress, first session, from
the Committee on the District Of Colum-
bia,' in which 1t is tacitly admitted that
Senate bill 81, for the observance Of
Sunday in the District Of Columbia" is
IAN attempt to enact into law the in
junction of the Fourth Commandment" /"
the speaker said:
From his place in the United States
Senate, in the wording Of an official re-
port on the observance of Sunday
May ., 1911, the author of the leading
Sunday bill now before Congress placed
that bill and all Sunday legislation spe-
Cthcally on the basis of the Fourth
Commandment of ian all-wise God and
Loving Father, the author OF that COM
mandment."
In his Hayerford lectures on 'The
United States, a Christian nation" the
late Justice Brewer, of the national
Supreme Court, said that Through a
large majority of the court decisions on
Sunday laws there runs the thought
of its being a religious day, consecrated
by the commandment The sew
enth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy
Cod"
Thus by Congress and courts Sunday
legislation is positively based on the
Fourth Commandment. And thus by
Congress and courts there is definitely
raised and openly forced upon the peo-
p4S Of the United States the religious
issue OF the enforced observance OF the
Fourth Commandment Of an all-wise
God and Loving Father"
This being so. 1t is high time that
every person who has any respect for
tho Fourth Commandment or for ''an
all-wise God and Loving Father, the
author of the commandment" should,
Just as openly and just as distinctly,
meet the issue thus raised and forced
upon US. This 1 now do.
What the Issue Is.
First of all. let there be made per-
fectly clear and plain just what the issue
is not and just what it is:
The issue is not whether or not God
is "an aII-wise and Loving Father" the
issue is only whether God has COM
mitted to the Congress and the courts
of the United States the work of
making His wisdom and love effective
upon all the people by governmental
force.
The issue is not whether or not the
"alI-wise God and Loving Father" Is
''the author of the Fourth Command
ment;" the issue is only whether He has
commissioned the Congress and courts
of the United States to be to the people
of the United States the authoritative
and infalHble interpreters and expositors
of His commandments.
The issue is not whether or not the
people of the United States shall be re-
lgious; the issue is whether We shall be
compelled to be religious, or, at least,
10 act as If We were.
The issue is not whether or not there
shall be religion: the issue is solely
whether there shall be enforced religion.
The issue is not whether or not there
shall be Sabbath observance; the issue
is solely whether there shall be enforced
Sabbath observance.
In meeting the issue thus forced upon
US, of the enforced observance or recog-
milton Of ''the Fourth Commandment
of "an all-wise God" the very first thing
that arrests the attention is, how is It
that in enforcing the Fourth Com
mandment'' Congress and the courts
would enforce the observance OF Sunday
the Sabbath of that commandment? \
The. Fourth Commandment, as the 'tall- 1
wise God and Loving Father spake 1t
and twice wrote it, says the seventh
day is the Sabbath" But Congress and
the courts propose to enforce that COM
mandment by compelling the observance
or recognition OF the first day" This
very Sunday bill that is proposed by its
author as the expression in law Of ''the |
Fourth Commandment" plainly desig-
mates "the first day Of the week, COM
monty called Sunday
How Is it, then, that Congress and the |
courts will secure the observance or
recognition Of the commandment of God
that requires rest on the seventh day |
of the week by compelling the people to
obey law OF men that requires rest on |
the first day Of the week?'
In short, how did Sunday, the first day |
Of the week, become the Sabbath Of the |
Fourth Commandment, which is the |
seventh day OF the week? This is the |
pivot of this whole issue. |
In this speech I propose to answer |
that pivotal question so fully and so |
plainly that there shall be no room for |
any misunderstanding of the question or |
the issue, either by Congress or courts, |
or even by the plain citizen
Strictly, this is a theological question |
and issue, but I shall not treat IL as /
such; 1 shall not enter the field of the |
speculative at all Congress and the !
courts have made this theological ques- |
ton a governmental one, and I shall |
confine myself strictly to the realm Of
evidence and to the field of fact and law. |
Strictly, also, it is a Biblical question |
and issue, but 1 shall not treat 1t as |
such, only observing that from the be-
ginning to the end of the Bible the first 1
day OF the week and the Sabbath day of /
the Fourth Commandment are as dis
tinct as are any other two things, and 1
that "the Lords day" of the Bible is
the Sabbath OF the Fourth Commandment, /
the seventh day of the week, which the 4
''all-wisc Cod specifically calls MY /
holy day I shall exclude myself even 1
from the Bible, and will confine myself /
to the facts and records outside the
Bible.
Sunday a Festival Only.
There were Sunday celebrations, not
Sunday observance, long before there
were Sunday laws. But not in any of
this, nor by anybody, was Sunday con-
sidered as a Sabbath, much less as the
Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment.
In all this time the seventh day was
held as the Sabbath of the command
ment. and Sunday was a day of festivity
in addition. Thus both days were held !
in the church, each upon its own dis
tinct claims, and both days were so held,
in most cases. by the same persons.
This period is covered by what Is
known as the Apostolic Constitutions"
collection representing usages in
the church from the second to the fourth
centuries. In these constitutions
throughout there is plain distinction
made, both as to fact and TO principle, |
between the Sabbath of the Fourth Com
mandment and the first day of the week.
For instance, Keep the Sabbath and L
-he Lords day festival, because the for