CERTAINLY “the State recognizes the right of man to a Sabbath, or a day of rest;” and it also recognizes the right of man to a great many other things which it does not undertake to guarantee to him, and, above all, which it does not undertake to force upon him. The State recognizes the right of man to sleep, but it does not for that reason provide that all men shall sleep at the same time. It simply provides that the right of man to sleep, but it does not for that reason provide that all men shall sleep at the same time. It simply provides that any man who wantonly and maliciously disturbs another at any time may be punished for breach of the peace, or for noisy and boisterous conduct. If some men choose to work at night and sleep in the day time, as thousands do, there is no law to prevent them from so doing. Why is not the same freedom of choice permitted in the matter of Sunday rest?
THE oft-repeated claim reiterated by the Examiner, that a regular seventh day of rest is essential to the physical well-being of man, is by no means well-established. Peoples, who, like the Chinese and Japanese, have no regular, weekly rest day, enjoy, other things being equal, quite as good health and live quite as long as do people in the United States and England. “The Sabbath was made for man;” but inasmuch as it was made and given to him before the fall, before the sentence: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” it is evident that its primary purpose was not physical rest but spiritual felicity. That this is so is evident also from the fact that in the redeemed state, the new earth, spoken of in 2 Peter 3:13, the Sabbath is still to be observed as a day of joy and worship: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:22, 23. The Sabbath is God’s memorial, made for man, not that he might rest from physical toil, but that by its constant recurrence the creature might the better keep in mind the Creator. Sunday does not, however, serve this purpose, hence the necessity of finding some other reason for its observance.