meat with publicans and sinner and plucked green corn a Sunday this child of orthodoxy and cruelty swore out a warrant, and had the five arrested for breaking the Sabbath. "The jury was composed of enlightened men, and the accused were acquitted on the plea that they kept one day of the week holy, a Saturday. And such is orthodoxy, that argues by the stake, the fagot, and the torch. This paper is not a sectarian, though it is a Christian, and as an observer of men, things, and events, it is ready to say that as few criminals, male and female, are recruited from the Adventists as from any other sect, numbers computed. "They work Sundays, but they keep Saturdays, and that fulfills the law of God, as it should of man. These folk are earnest, sincere Christian men, women, and children. They may be wrong in faith, desperately wrong. That is a matter of conscience; but their consciences are about as likely to be right as yours or ours. 'Leave thought unfettered every creed to scan,' and take care of your own conscience. That will keep you busy without meddling with the consciences of other people." VIRGINIA. PREJUDICE NULLIFIES AN EXEMPTION CLAUSE not less The Sunday law of Virginia, while imposing a fine of than five dollars" upon any one found laboring at any trade or calling" "on a Sabbath," contains a very plainly worded exemption for observers of the seventh day. Section 3800 of the code provides that "any person who conscientiously believes that the seventh day of the week ought to be observed as a Sabbath, and actually refrains from all secular business and labor on that day," shall not be liable to the penalties prescribed in the preceding section imposing the fine. Such a provision, it would seem, ought to guarantee any conscientious observer of the seventh day against molestation for doing ordinary labor on Sunday, if such guarantee can exist where Sunday laws exist; but that it does not always do so was strikingly illustrated by an incident which occurred at Colonial Beach, in October, 1910. Mr. Eugene Ford, a Christian observer of the seventh day, was requested by his employer, an observer of Sunday, to do a small job of work for him on Sunday, October 10,- repairing some dredging machines which had been left at his shop for that purpose. The owners of the machines called for them on Sunday; but little work was required to complete the repairs, and Mr. Ford was asked to do it, notwithstanding it was Sunday. He did the work, and the machines were taken away. There were involved in the transaction the owners of the machines, the driver of the dray, the employer (Mr. Staples), and Mr. Ford. All were nominal observers of Sunday except the last named, who, having conscientiously observed as Sabbath the previous day, considered himself at liberty to work on Sunday. Character of people accused. A matter of conscience. Sabbatarians exempted. Exemption not a sure guarantee. A case in point. The bigot at work. Only the Sabbatarian arrested. Officer resigns. Reason for resigning. Living in the place, however, was one whose ideas of liberty and justice seemed tinctured with religious prejudice. This man, though a professed observer of Sunday and a teacher in a Methodist Sundayschool, had, during the summer, it was alleged by neighbors, sold and delivered crab meat and gasoline on Sunday. Nevertheless, having learned that Mr. Ford had been working on Sunday, he swore out a warrant for his arrest for violation of the Sunday law. The latter was tried before the mayor of the town, and fined two dollars and costs, the amount prescribed by the law previous to its amendment in 1908. (See page 641.) This Mr. Ford refused to pay, and appealed to the county court. His employer, however, came forward and paid the fine, and the case was dismissed. It should be noted that, although several others were involved in this transaction, no one was arrested save this observer of the seventh day; that the prosecutor himself (a Mr. Ernest Ford, though no relative) had violated the law earlier in the season, and this without any warrant of an exemption to cover his case; that the same law imposing the fine, exempted observers of another day; and lastly, that the prosecutor admitted that he would not cause the arrest of any one for Sunday work except an observer of the seventh day; all of which demonstrates anew the fact that religious liberty cannot be guaranteed in any land where religion or religious observances are made matters of law. All such laws should be repealed. OFFICER RESIGNS RATHER THAN ENFORCE LAW. In June, 1909, Chief Burgess Harvey, of Lansdale, Pa., tendered his resignation to the town council, as chief burgess, rather than enforce the Sunday blue-laws of that State. His letter of resignation, published in the Danville (Va.) "Bee," of June 21, 1909, reads: Gentlemen: I hereby tender my resignation as chief burgess of the borough of Lansdale, the same to take effect upon the appointment of my successor. I take this action only after very careful consideration of a petition placed in my hands, signed by various voters, women, and children, praying me to enforce what is commonly called the blue-laws. "Since issuing a proclamation dated June 16, 1909, calling for a limited enforcement of the law, I have been reliably informed that every ice-cream parlor and soda-water fountain, fruit and candy counter must be closed on the Sabbath if the law is to be consistently administered. That is a task I am unwilling to undertake, and was not contemplated by me when I asked the support of the votes for the office. Hence I step aside very cheerfully, I assure you, to make room for any one who feels equal to the emergency. "While I believe in keeping the Sabbath as a day of worship and rest, I cannot persuade myself that it is a part of my duty as a good citizen to hold an office where I am expected to prosecute citizens who may differ from me in that particular." Why Sunday Laws Are Wanted. Give us good Sunday laws, well enforced by men in local authority, and our churches will be full of worshipers, and our young men and women will be attracted to the divine service. A mighty combination of the churches of the United States could win from Congress, the State Legislatures, and municipal councils, all legislation essential to this splendid result."- Rev. S. V. Leech, D. D., in Homiletic Review for November, 1892. Who Responsible for Them. "During nearly all our American history the churches have influenced the States to make and improve Sabbath laws."- Rev. W. F. Crafts, in "Christian Statesman," July 3, 1890. Religion an Essential. "A weekly day of rest has never been permanently secured in any land except on the basis of religious obligation. Take the religion out and you take the rest out."- Rev. W. F. Crafts, in "Hearing on Sunday Rest Bill," December 13, 1888, page 21. "The experience of centuries shows that you will in vain endeavor to preserve Sunday as a day of rest, unless you preserve it as a day of worship." — Dr. Joseph Cook, in Boston Monday Lectures, in 1887. SUNDAY LAWS BEFORE THE BAR OF REASON. "BACKWARD STATES."1 Attention having been called to the fact that in various States conscientious observers of the seventh day had been persecuted under Sunday laws, Rev. W. F. Crafts, superintendent of the International Reform Bureau, of Washington, D. C., and a noted champion of Sunday legislation, in a communication to the Washington "Post," of April 3, 1905, admitted that the enforcement of these laws had resulted thus in certain States which he called backward States." The logical result of all legislation of a religious character must, in the end, be persecution upon those who refuse to yield to the demands of the law. It is this very kind of legislation that will turn the States "backward" to the days of religious intolerance. James Madison, speaking against an establishment of religion by civil government, clearly stated the danger that lies in the first attempt, however slight. He said: "Distant as it may be in its present form from the Inquisition, it differs from it only in degree. The one is the first step, the other is the last, in the career of intolerance." From these statements it will be seen that any State which attempts to enforce upon its citizens any religious dogma is a "backward State," and that such attempts will, in the end, lead to all the baneful fruits of the Inquisition. The following syllogism will illustrate the logic of this "backward State" argument: Persecut ing, States backward States. Logical results of religious legislation. States having Sun Major premise: States which persecute those who work on Sun- day laws day are "backward States." Minor premise: The States which persecute those who work on Sunday are States that have Sunday laws. Conclusion: Therefore all the States that have Sunday laws are "backward States." Because all the States which have Sunday laws have not oppressed the observers of the seventh day, and so demonstrated themselves to be, in this respect, "backward States," is either because opportunities for doing so have not presented themselves, or because such persons are exempt from the provisions of the laws referred to, or else because the laws have not been enforced, and not because the logic of Sunday legislation does not lead to such results. It is a fact, however, that no less than seventeen out of the fortyeight States in the United States having Sunday laws have actually prosecuted conscientious observers of the seventh day. These States are Alabama, California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, North Caro 1" Religious Liberty Leaflet," No. 12, by K. C. Russell. [733] backward States. Seventeen States have persecuted Sabbata rians. |