The Washington herald., 1921-05-10
OPPOSE .BLUE LAWS
To the Editor. The Washington Herald

To the Editor, The Washington Herald;
note in the open Court col
umn of your valuable paper that l
am called to task for some state
ments I recently made in these COL
umns and accused OF biblical mis-
Interpretation" l am glad TO see
that the gentlemen agrees with me
that the government has not the
right TO declare by law any day a
holy day. OF course. then. Blue
Laws" making il crime to read
Sunday newspapers, ride in my au-
tomobile. play golf. basketball, etc.
would be unconstitutional because
the very minute the governne I
took that position, ii could do so
only for religious reasons. The
writer. who. infer is a Sunday
keeper. contends that the govern
ment has AN unQuestionable right
to set aside particular day,
whether that day be Saturday, Sun
day. or Monday. as a uniform rest
day
Let such law be passed compell-
ing him to keep Saturday or Mon
day as day OF physical rest, while
his conscience says he must OBJ
serve Sunday. with the likelihood
that his job would be jeopardized
thereby. and ! am satisfied he woulu
change his tune A rest day law Is
fair only provided it does not spec
ify the particular day and leaves
each one free to choose his own day
in harmony with his religious be-
lief. To quote Judge Cooley. an
eminent authority: "A man who Is
forced to respect another day OF
the week when his conscience re-
quires him the observance Of the
seventh also. may plausibly urge
that the law discriminates against
his religion. and by forcing him to
keep a second sabbath each week
unjustly. though by indirection
punishes him for his belief"
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma
has just recently handed down a
decision. written by Justice Brett
and concurred in by Chief Justice
Doyle and Justice Armstrong TO the
effect that. IF mans conscience
compels him to rest on one day ard
the law forces him to rest on arcth-
er. that man will thus be forced TO
violate the first provision Of the
commandment he is conscientiously ly
reason is unfair"
The writer of the communication
asks for proof that the seventh
day Of the week is the Sabbath" OF
the Fourth Commandment. Bible
students everywhere are agreed on
that point but he says his Bible
doesn't have that in it. The Ency-
clopedia Britannica says: The week
Is period of seven days; those who
reject the Mosaic recital will be at
a loss to assign to it an origin, etc"
Let him turn to the first and second
chapters of Genesis and he will find
there a record of the first week OF
time-Creation week. The first six
days Of that week were Gods work
ing days: the seventh day was Gods
Sabbath or rest" day. Then IL he
will go into any church. upon whose
walls hang the Ten Command
ments, he will discover that he is
commanded. for that very reason. to
keep holy the day that Jehovs
made holy-the seventh day of the
week.
II Is possible to desecrate only
the day that God made sacred. That
day was the last day of the week
The Scriptures also enphatically
state that what God blessed is
blessed forever" Again, by re-
ferring to Luke 1856 and 24:1, nc
person can fail to see that the. first
day of the week came Immediately
after the Sabbath" according to
the Commandment" and. therefore
the Sabbath day OF the Fourth Com
mandment must of necessity have
been the seventh day of the week
"at that period of Jewish history
blind man can see that there's
no getting around II. Since astron-
c-v. history and religion identify
the week then and now as the same
that day is Saturday. Luke calls
u. seventh day of the week the
Sabbath thirty-five years alter. the
resurrection. At the time OF
Christ's crucifxion the Sabbath "ac-
"a ,apdlnei-'" was
obsy.A Ell by tho Jews while the