Year: 1877

our duty as public journalists, to lay before
our readers such facts and suggestions on the
subject, as seem to us pertinent and called for.
In the first place we will remark that the
! general tone of the discussion, if such 1t can
| be called, which one meets with in public
/ places, on the streets, and among chance
| gatherings of people, is by no means credit
able to either the intelligence or the candor of
the parties indulging therein. Most of this
talk-it can hardly be called anything more
than that-seems to proceed from those who
not only opposed to the present Sunday
law, but, Judging from their remarks, to any
/ Sunday law whatever, and it is characterized
! in majority of instances by an absence of
! argument, contempt for facts and a general
tone of bitterness toward those who differ
I from them, which shows very conclusively
I that bigotry, narrow-m -mindedness, and lack of
charity are by no means peculiar to Sabba-
tarians Even admitting that the present law
is imperfect and in need of amendment, the
cause of public morals and sound legislation
is not to be promoted by general abuse rf
/ churches and those who attend them, or by
! ignoring the fact that other countries which
are not and never have been under the control
/ of Missionaries have laws on the same
subject quite as strict, if not stricter, than
our own. Nor viii the opponents of Sunday
Legislation gain any advantage for their cause
/ or at all commend il TO the favor of fair mind
4 ed people, by pretending to quote from the
s n,
had any existence, and then charging that
! these preposterous and purely imaginary laws
fairly represent the spirit and purposes of the
religious portion of our own community. 1t
/ is true that the proper mode of observing and
keeping the first day of the week, commonly
called Sunday, is a matter concerning which
not only many honest and well-meaning, but
even some decidedly religious persons do
/ honestly differ. The strictest views are un-
doubtedly those held by the leading denomi
| nations of Protestanis in Great Britain and
| the United States. The German Lutheran,
though he may be orthodox in theology and
upright and regular in life, sees no particular
harm IN devoting portion OF his Sunday TO
amnsements and recreations which the Scotch
4 Presbyterian, for instance, would consider
highly improper and out of place: while in
| Spain, Italy, and other countries where the
! Church of Rome holds sway, the religious
ideas and feelings of the people find expression
in the keeping of feasts, fasts and saints days,
in lenten observances and the abstaining from
meat on Fridays, rather than in any especially
strict keeping of Sunday. Yet all these peo-
| pie consider themselves good Christians, and
SO long as their general spirit and conduct is
not Incompatible with that profession, We
have no right to deny their claim to be so
considered. 1t should be understood and re-
cognized that no mans right to be regarded
as either good citizen or consistent Christ
| ian, is 10 be either admitted or denied. merely
because of his holding opinions little more
or less strict as to what is allowable and pro-
per on the first day Of the week.


1t is nevertheless true that all these various
/ denominations of Christians, however they
may differ in matters of detail on this subject,
are fully agreed that the Christian Sabbath is
an institution of Divine origin, that it is to be
regarded primarily and essentially as a re-
/ ligious festival, and furthermore that il is
within The legitimate province of the civil
law. to recognize the day and provide for its
! due and orderly observance. Personally, we
incline rather to the stricter ideas and opinions
of the American and English Protestants, and
are very firm in our own conviction that both
religion and morals find their best growth and
development in those countries where such
ideas are generally accepted and acted upon.
But We have no desire to force our ideas on
others or to make our individual opinions q
rule for other peoples conduct.


In such matters let each one be fully per-
suaded in his own mind, and let him hold his
opinions with conscience toward God and
charity toward his fellow men 1t should be
remembered, that in order to arrive at salts
factory settlement of any public question, it
is absolutely necessary that honest differences
of opinion should be recognized and respected,
but this, we are sorry to say, is just what
most opponents of Sunday legislation seem
quite incapable of doing Honest difference
of opinion aud desire to arrive at the truth
are certainly not evinced by people who in
dulge in ill-natured sneers at those who differ
with them, and who habitually denounce as
either bigots or hypocrites, all who happen to
hold or profess stricter ideas and opinions
than their own.


But the phase of the Sunday question which


is exciting the most interest among us at the


present time, has reference not so much tc


theoretical ideas concerning the mode of OBJ


serving the day, but rather to the proper re.


lations thereto of the civil law


Our views on this much vexed question may


be formulated as follows:


Flst-It is not within the power of human


law, except indirectly and to a very limited


extent, to make mel either moral or religious
and it is outside of the legitimate province G


law to undertake, directly, anything of tn,
kind


Seoond.-It is within the power of law, Il
J make men, TO considerable extent at least
orderly, peaeeable and decent, and to compe
: them TO respect not only the persons and pro