WE are told by Sunday-law advocates that God’s words, “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work,” mean that no work is to be done on the first day of the week, or that one day out of seven is to be observed as a day of rest; but the same persons will not allow any such liberty of interpretation with respect to their man-made sabbath “law.” That means a definite, particular day of the week every time. Thus they honor the statute of man above the law of God.
A GREAT many people justify Sunday laws upon the ground of physical necessity. Such legislation is said to be a proper exercise of the police power of the State for the preservation of health, etc. The fragile texture of this claim becomes apparent when we consider what class of men are calling for such laws. Are they the doctors, the scientists, the boards of public health, the man most familiar with the facts of physical science and mans’ physical needs? No; they are the preachers. Were the clergymen to withdraw from the ranks of the Sunday-law agitators, there would be scarce a corporal’s guard left. Yet we are asked to believe that Sunday legislation is not sought for religious reasons, but simply to meet a pressing exigency created by man’s physical needs, which they have discovered, and which the physicians, scientists, and statesmen have somehow overlooked.
IT is well to bear in mind that the only true liberty which anybody can possibly have is liberty in Christ. “He that committeth sin is the servant of sin;” and it is only because of the indifference of the Spirit of Christ in the world that men recognize one another’s rights even to the extent that they do, so that even those who do not realize it are indebted to Christ for the physical liberty they enjoy.