American Sentinel. Ican People
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- IF ANY MAN HEAR MY WORDS, AND BELIEVE NOT, I JUDGE HIM NOT: FOR I CAME NOT TO JUDGE THE WORLD, BUT TO SAYE THE WORLD." Vol. 10. No. 47. NEW 'YORK, NOVEMBER 28, 1895. Price, 3 cents. hearty approval from the great majority of the Amer- has long been urged by jurists and scientists American Sentinel. ican people. in justification of so-called sabbath legislation. PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE Then follows his declaration that he could But notwithstanding the array of authorities PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY, not " consent to a law which would single out quoted in its support it is not sustained by No. 43 BOND STREET, NEW YORK. one class of citizens and visit them with pen- facts. A regular weekly rest has been the Entered at the New York Post-Office. alties and punishment " " from which all exception and not the rule among the nations other classes are exempted." He then con- of earth. And so far as physical strength ALONZO T. JONES, tinues, " Nor should I willingly assent to leg- and length of days are concerned, sabbath- EDITORS. CALVIN P. BOLLMAN, islation which would place the ban of out- keeping peoples have no advantage over those LEON A. SMITH, - ASSISTANT EDITOR. lawry upon persons who believe in innocent who know no weekly rest-day. and lawful recreation combined with rest on This custom has prevailed only among Jews NOT A VICTORY FOR LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. the sabbath day, which shall deprive persons and Christians. Even at the present time but pursuing a particular profession or vocation little more than one-third of the inhabitants LAST week we published on our last page a of their property, unless there was something of the world have a stated weekly rest. Not- special dispatch from Chicago, announcing in the nature of the property aimed at or in withstanding the fact that those having a the decision of Judge Gibbons of the Criminal the vocation pursued hurtful to society." set day of rest are more advanced in civil- Court of Cook County, declaring unconstitu- It is difficult to understand what kind of a ization and in sanitary science than are those tional the special act passed by the Illinois Sunday " law" Judge Gibbons would sanc- not having such rest, it does not appear that Legislature in 1895, prohibiting barbering on tion. He declares that neither under the con- the average of life is longer with them than Sunday. stitution of Illinois nor of the United States with those who have no weekly rest day. We have since received the full text of the could an act be maintained requiring the ob- At a meeting held in Association Hall, this decision which is deserving of more than pass- servance of Sunday on religious grounds. He city, March 11, 1890, the writer heard Bishop ing notice, because it has been hailed in some says: " The courts cannot take cognizance of Andrews, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, quarters as a victory for religious liberty. the moral aspect of the case, even though a make the statement that " in China [from Judge Gibbons held the act to be void, be- seventh day of rest seems to be established by which he had but recently returned] they have cause it was class legislation; and the funda- divine decree." And again, his honor re- no septennial division of time; no weekly mental law of the State of Illinois provides marks:— rest-day, merely annual festivals. They work that " the General Assembly shall not pass It must be apparent to every one that if the law right along all the time with no day of rest local or special laws" in any of a long list of under consideration is to be upheld, the action of the as such; yet they live to a very advanced age. enumerated cases; and special legislation is court can be justified upon no other theory than that This fact has led one of the most careful likewise prohibited " in all other cases, where the law promotes Sunday observance. Based upon such a theory, it finds no warrant in the Constitution, State thinkers who has ever been sent as missionary general law can be made applicable."' or Federal. It is not within the province of the legis- to China, to raise a serious question, whether Judge Gibbons very properly held that the lature to enforce an observance of religious duty on the great purpose of the Sabbath is not for act in question was in flagrant violation of the sabbath. worship and communion with the other the section alluded to. He said:— Yet, he declares himself in favor of " im- world." I could never willingly consent to a law which partial legislation ordaining one day of rest in This fact, stated by Bishop Andrews, com- would single out one class of citizens and visit them every seven," and says, " If that day of rest pletely refutes the physical-necessity argument with penalties and punishment for actions which are should fall on Sunday, it would meet with the so often made in justification of Sunday leg- innocent in themselves, from which all other classes hearty approval of the great majority of the are exempted. islation. The truth is that a large element American people." of the people demand Sunday laws. But the This is good law and good sense, but we are This proposition the judge attempts to jus- logic of our free institutions and of our written sorry to say that the judge is not consistent tify by quoting approvingly the statement constitutions forbids such legislation; and it throughout. Why should there be any "law" from the opinion or the Supreme Court of must be maintained, if maintained at all, visiting anybody " with penalties and pun- Virginia that " in all countries and ages upon other than the real grounds. Sunday ishment for actions which are innocent in among civilized peoples, governments have set " laws " are demanded only because of the themselves " ? apart days of rest recurring at short periods. religious regard in which Sunday is held by a The judge seemed to fear that he would be This has been, and still is, regarded as neces- large number of the people. The physical- understood as being opposed to Sunday legis- sary for the temporal welfare of the people as necessity plea has been sought out in justifi- lation in lobo, and apparently to guard against a certain amount of rest is regarded as abso- cation of that which is unjustifiable upon such an impression, he said:— lutely necessary to men and animals subject to its own merits. So true is this, that the I should gladly uphold impartial legislation ordain- labor." ' courts of a large number of States have ig- ing one day of rest in every seven; and if that day It is not strange that Judge Gibbons adopts of rest should fall on Sunday, it would meet with nored the constitutional prohibitions which this view, since it is very common indeed, and Judge Gibbons theoretically recognizes, and 1 Art. 4, Sec. 22, Constitution of Illinois. In Richmond vs. Moore, Supra. have upheld Sunday legislation upon moral 370 SJETVICIENITiLd. Vol.. 10, No. 47. grounds; the very grounds upon which Judge pay to the church; and to raise your voice says, " The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Gibbons declares that " it finds no warrant in against these decrees was certain death; and Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any the Constitution, State or Federal." this statute on our books is a relic of that work,"—which points out the true God, the The fact is, that we find nowhere else in past; it is a part of that barbarism—it is a creator of the heavens and the earth,—has our statute books any legislation similar to the part of the Dark Ages. Why, the idea of been set aside and a rival day exalted in its Sunday statutes of the several States. The such a law in a free country like this, where a place. The first day of the week is sought to prohibition of Sunday labor is openly declared man believes he is serving God by keeping be forced upon people as the weekly rest-day in some States to rest upon moral and reli- Saturday, and he is doing his duty to both by the law of the land. gious grounds. This is notably true in Ten- God and man to rest on the seventh day. It Is it allegiance to law to side with this dar- nessee, Maryland, Georgia, and New York. is a violation of personal liberty to punish ing attempt to set aside the law of the High- Sunday work is ,likewise prohibited in other him." est? Are the well-being of society and the States, but in most of them professedly on so- Continuing, Mr. Snodgrass argued that the interests of good government to be promoted called civil grounds, as a " police regulation," law was a violation of the bill of rights, and in that way? or a kind of " sanitary measure," because concluded by telling the jury that regardless The SENTINEL says, No; and therefore it " man's physical necessities demand stated of this question they should acquit the de- is constrained to lift its voice of warning periods of rest," etc. But no corresponding fendant, as the one act proven was not suffi- against the Sunday-exalting statutes, which attempt has ever been made to provide for the cient to constitute the offense charged in the are based, one and all, upon the assumption physical necessities of the people in the mat- indictment.