Sunday-Closing Crusade in the District of Columbia by J. N. Quinn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 31, 1911

Sunday-Closing Crusade in the District of Columbia

By J. N. Quinn

The church people of Anacostia, D. C., are conducting a somewhat spirited campaign, having as its ultimate the closing of all places of business on Sunday. A rather mild protest was entered by some pharmacists of the place, and hoping to strengthen the opposition, and at the same time educate the people, a few of the Review and Herald employees spent a portion of two days in that suburb of Washington, distributing copies of the magazine Liberty and also the tract “Why Sunday Laws Are Wrong.” Our experiences were varied, and it brought to us keen delight that we could be used of God to put the people in touch with the best literature issued in the world at the present time.

The most interesting experience came to us when we visited the minister of the church which is taking the lead in the agitation for Sunday closing. He received two of our company very cordially, his greeting being, “If you have any religion, sit down; I enjoy talking to men who are religious.” “If the abiding of Christ in the life makes one religious, then we can shake hands with you,” was the response. He placed three rockers on the porch, and began to inquire about our work. Each question was frankly answered, and when it was mentioned that the publishers of Liberty also issued a magazine called the Protestant, he became interested, and without any solicitation on our part gave his subscription for one year.

He told us of instances in which he and Cardinal Gibbons were to speak from the same platform to laboring men, and said that he invariably notified the cardinal that he was a “militant Protestant.” He inquired wherein we differ from him in our teaching, and on being told, we were not a little surprised to learn that he is a firm believer in conditional immortality. We placed the tracts “Why I Am Not a Roman Catholic” and “The Lord Our Righteousness” in his hand, which he assured us he would read, and also whatever we might choose to send him. In parting, he shook hands with us in a cordial way, and we assured him that truth is the all-important thing. May God guide him into the fulness of the truth.

In Glen Echo, another suburb, the Sunday question has suddenly sprung into prominence, the mayor insisting on strict Sunday observance, the councilmen threatening to take every legal step to remove the mayor from office if he persists in his determination to enforce Sunday observance. We have placed religious liberty literature in the home of every resident of the latter place. It seems good to hear of the agitation; better agitation than stagnation.

J. N. QUINN.