RELIGION implies a creed, a code, and a cult. There can be no religion that does not involve some belief,—some philosophy, however crude; some theology, however false; some theory of the universe, however naive. He that comes to God must believe that he is. But belief alone does not involve religion. It does not follow, because a man believes in God, that he worships him, or governs his life by God's law. Religion means conduct. It prescribes conduct, gives motives to conduct, and invests conduct with grave sanctions. It is more than morality,—more even than morality touched with emotion; but it is morality. An irreligious morality or an immoral religion is conceivable; but the religion and the morality would be false and defective that could be characterized in this way. There is, however, another element in religion: religion means worship, and worship must take on some form of outward manifestation. Hence every religion has a cult.
These three elements of religion, which are so easily separated in thought, are not so easily separated in experience. They do not lie side by side in actual life like three strands of a rope. It would be very hard for any man to subject his religious experience to an analysis that would exhibit belief, morals, and worship as separate quantities; though we know that these elements enter into all religious experience, and, moreover, that they are present in different proportions in different subjects,—some emphasizing faith, others practice, and still others a devotional frame of mind.—Francis L. Patton, D. D.
LIVING CLOSE TO GOD.
By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler
CONVERSION is a twofold process; God seeks the sinner, and then, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the sinner seeks God. The Shepherd finds the wanderer, and the wanderer finds Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. Though once afar off, he is made nigh by the blood of Christ. As conversion is the return of the penitent soul to God, the joy, the sweetness, and the vigor of the Christian life depend upon keeping close to God. "Draw nigh unto me, and I will draw nigh unto you."
If you ask what we gain by living close to God, I would answer, that we gain fresh supplies of strength. The strength of yesterday will not suffice for to-day, any more than yesterday's food will sustain me if I neglect to eat my breakfast this morning. God means that we shall be kept in constant dependence; therefore he metes out strength equal to the day. The manna must fall fresh every morning. Lord, give us day by day our daily bread. No Christian can live on an old experience, or an old promise made to God in years gone by, or on the divine help that was furnished to him in a past emergency. A new conflict requires a new and immediate interposition of the divine aid.
Security depends upon living close to Jesus. The soldier who keeps the ranks on the march, and behind the ramparts during the assault, is commonly safe; the stragglers are apt to be picked up by the enemy. To this latter class in our churches belong the casualties and the disgraceful desertions which so often shock and shame us. Among this class of back-sliders are the ready victims of the tempter—the men who betray pecuniary trusts, and the weak-kneed time-servers who succumb in times of hard pressure, and the deserters who slip away from God's worship through broken Sabbaths, and all the votaries of self-indulgence who keep their names on church rolls and yet are mostly found in the haunts of "Vanity Fair." Drifting away from God, they fall into the hands of the adversary. Need a Christian ever slip or stumble? Need he ever walk in the dark, or lose the roll of his assurance? No; not if he lives close to Christ, so close that the Shepherd's eye is ever on him, and the light of Christ's countenance illumines his path, and the Almighty arm is ever within reach.—T. L. Cuyler, D. D., in the Evangelist.
TIMES OF WORSHIP.
By S. S. Times
THE nature of worship settles some questions regarding times of worship. The devotional habit should characterize the Christian. This does not mean that he should always be engaged in devotional exercises, or that the devotional state is wanting when it is not finding actual manifestation. Maternal love is our type of unsleeping, tireless, unwavering affection; but even it is not always a matter of conscious thought or of outward expression. It is so in religion. We should pray without ceasing; but this does not mean that we should be always on our knees, or that devotion should destroy our power of work.
The devotional habit, however, does not make seasons of devotion unnecessary. It is a great mistake for men to say, "Treat every day like the Sabbath, and then we need no Sabbath." They forget that periodicity is a large element in the formation of habits, and particularly of the devotional habit. The man who has special seasons for his devotions is the man who is most likely to be habitually devout. There are, of course, no special reasons beyond those that the beginning and close of each day suggest why morning and evening should be so generally considered as proper seasons for devotion. But these reasons are sufficient; and we simply neglect one of the best means of promoting our religious life if we do not make a great deal of the idea of periodicity in religion.—S. S. Times.
PRACTICAL RELIGION.
GIVING up sinful practices or pleasures—or even questionable ones—is not enough. Such negative religion will not last long, or avail much. Genuine piety is a positive thing; it is doing right, it is keeping Christ's commandments. Pulling up weeds does not make a garden in the bright May days. Mellowing the earth, and dropping the seeds, and setting out the young plants, is the only substantial way to do it. When the soil is busy growing vegetables and flowers, there is little space left for weeds. Less than half your religion depends on the "thou shalt not's." Christ did not say to Matthew, "Thou shalt stay here at the toll-booth, and try to keep out of cheating and other evil practices of the publicans." He said, "Follow me," and then Matthew goes at once into a new line of conduct, and a new life.
Begin at once to do whatever your Master commands. Begin to practice religion. A child never would learn to walk by a hundred talks about the law of gravitation; it must use its own feet, even at the risk of many a tumble. Wait not for more feeling, or more pungent convictions, or for anything that you read of in other people's experiences. These are all snares and hindrances, if they keep you from doing at once the very first act that will please Christ. Have you never opened your lips to an unconverted friend, either to avow your own feelings or to do that friend some good? Then try it; you will strengthen yourself, and may bring an unexpected blessing to him or her. In short, you must begin to obey a new Master; to serve a new Saviour; to strike out a new line of living, and rely on God's almighty help to do it. When you give yourself to Christ in this whole-hearted and practical fashion, he will give you a thousandfold richer gifts in return. Yes, he will give you himself!—Selected.
The Influence of One Sinner
"One sinner destroyeth much good;" but "they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever."
GOD'S ESTIMATE OF SABBATH-BREAKING.
By Robert Hare
THE psalmist seems never to have tired of setting forth the exalted position of those who make Jehovah their refuge, while he pictured in awful colors the doom of all unrepentant transgressors. Some of his loftiest flights of eloquence are descriptive of God's wonderful works, which he declares were made "to be remembered." Ps. 111:4. This being true, God must have ordained some memorial whereby his wonderful works would be kept in mind. And he has given such a memorial to the generations of men; one that at once points out the only and true God, and also the origin of our universe.
This great register mark, whereby Deity stamps the universe as his own, is found in the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. As it comes around in the weekly cycle it points back with unerring accuracy to the time when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy over the birth of a world, as it came forth clad in the verdure of a fadeless spring-time.
We are not left to conjecture on the important question as to why the Sabbath was given. Jehovah has made a direct statement on this point that admits of no controversy. "Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." We find, that in many instances when God wishes to present himself as pre-eminently superior to all other gods, he does so by alluding to the fact that he is creator. "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" Isa. 40:28. Then it is reasonable to suppose that whatever brings the facts of creation most prominently before our minds, must unquestionably tend to determine the true God, and the character of that honor due to his name.
We cannot conceive of there being a more appropriate or lasting memorial of God's great work than the Sabbath which he has ordained for that purpose. Monuments of stone would long ago have crumbled to dust; marble slab and granite pier would have perished before the surging tempests of six thousand years; but week after week the Sabbath comes from the far-away chambers of the east, gilding the hill-tops and chasing the shadows, fresh as when it first dawned on the world to tell the great story of creation. Week after week it comes to confute atheistic theorists, and to disprove the great fallacy of first-day observance. Dare we disregard its claims, or with unhallowed fingers try to disarrange the Creator's plan? Had men always recognized the Sabbath, it would be impossible that atheism could exist. True, the many of our day despise its obligations and scoff at the memories it would recall; but the great truth that God's wonderful works were made to be remembered, stands immutable. The Sabbath is the sign whereby God would have us recognize him in creation, and when men disregard this, they also disregard the awful warning of inspiration, "because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them." Ps. 28:5.
If we wish to stand outside the gates of Zion when the angelic choirs take up the coronation anthem, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; . . . and the King of glory shall come in," it will not be necessary for us to commit some outbreaking crime; to disregard the works of Jehovah, by neglecting his Sabbath, will be sufficient to register our doom on the records of eternity. ROBERT HARE.
Well Doing Is Better Than Well Said
By Poor Richard
DEFER not well doing; well done is better than well said.—"Poor Richard."
CHURCHLY INIQUITY.
"AND because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matt. 24:12. These words were spoken by our Lord concerning a time just before, and reaching to, his second coming. It should serve as a complete refutation of the idea that the world will be converted, and that there will be a millennium of Christian joy and peace before the coming of the Lord. This verse not only teaches that iniquity will abound, but, with the next verse, shows that the iniquity will continue even until the end. "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Whoever is saved when the end comes, will have "endured" something; his path will not have been one of ease, but he will have "come out of great tribulation."
The same thing is taught by the apostle in 2 Tim. 3:1-5: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof."
This shows that the reason why those who shall be saved when the Lord comes, will have been called upon to "endure," is because they will have passed through perilous times; and the reason why the times will be "perilous," is "because iniquity shall abound." It also shows that this abounding iniquity will be in the professed church, for it is committed by those who have "a form of godliness."
Now, if we read carefully Matt. 24:12, we shall see that the iniquity there referred to is iniquity practiced under the garb of religion. "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." The iniquity is committed by those who have love, and causes that love to decline. Surely, then, we shall have just the opposite of Christian joy and love in the world before the Lord comes; for not only is iniquity to abound, and perilous times to exist as a consequence, but this state of things is to be right in the church.
But how can it be that such crimes as those mentioned in 2 Tim. 3:1-5 can exist in the church, when39they are the very ones that now characterize men of the world? Easily enough, for the church and the world will be one. All the world will belong to the church. This will not be brought about in the good old way known to Paul and Luther and the Wesleys, namely, by conversion, but by Constitutional Amendment, a plan very similar to that adopted by Constantine and Charlemagne, who brought people into "the church" by thousands. Citizenship and church membership will be one and the same thing; and this will result in bringing into "the church" all the political hacks, ward politicians, "boodle ringers," and whoever has an itching palm for Government coin and influence, and his name is legion. The "love of many" will necessarily "wax cold" before they can lower the standard sufficiently to receive such ones into church fellowship; and contact with the same class will by no means tend to restore that which they have lost.
But before this state of things can be fully brought about, men must reject the truth of God, especially that which relates to the Sabbath. And because of their rejection of the truth, strong delusion will be sent upon them that they should believe a lie. 2 Thess. 2:10-12. This blindness will cause them to call evil good and darkness light, so that although iniquity will be abounding, they will say that all is well, the world is converted, and the temporal millennium has come. Then, as prophesied by Isaiah, they will say, "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." And then, "when they shall say, Peace and safety," then sudden destruction shall come upon them, "and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. 5:3. Then the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth, and those who have exalted themselves shall be humbled, "and they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty." May the Lord grant us grace to humble ourselves now, that in that day we may be exalted to a place at his right hand. W.
SAFETY IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE.
By Editor
SOME time ago, in an article on the punishment of the wicked, we quoted Isa. 33:14 as a text which is to some a stumbling-block in the way of their believing that the wicked are to be eternally destroyed. The text reads thus: "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" The difficulty arises from the supposition that the prophet means, Who of us shall suffer from the devouring fire, or in other words, Who of us shall in the last day be found sinners? But that is not the idea of the text. The true meaning is found when we read the answer to these questions, which is found in verse 15: "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." From this we learn that the prophet does not mean to ask who among us shall be sinners; but who among us shall be righteous. And, therefore, when he says, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" he does not mean to ask who shall be punished with this fire, but who shall escape it. Thus the text has no reference whatever to eternal torment.
But the question will be asked, How can it be said that the righteous shall dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings? This will be understood after we have quoted a few texts. The psalmist, speaking of the coming of the Lord, says: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him." Ps. 50:3. And again: "A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about." Ps. 97:3. In Hab. 3:3-6, we find the following: "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting." From the sixteenth verse of this chapter we learn that this is the description of the time of trouble that shall just precede the coming of the Lord. It is the same that is referred to in the ninety-first psalm, where we read of the "terror by night," the "pestilence that walketh in darkness," the "destruction that wasteth at noonday," and the plagues which the wicked shall suffer, and which the righteous will see although they shall be unharmed by them.
Now if with these texts we read Joel 1:15-20, which also describes the time of trouble, we shall understand about the devouring fire and the everlasting burnings. That text reads thus:—
"Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Lord, to thee will I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee; for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." Read also Joel 2:1-3.
We find from this text that just before the coming of the Lord, there is a time of trouble for the wicked, in which there is pestilence, and plagues, and devouring fire; and that the righteous witness these plagues that are poured out upon the wicked, but are protected. The enemies of the Lord will be consumed by the devouring fire, but those who are described in Isa. 33:15, will be able to dwell with everlasting burnings. Of such a one Isaiah says: "He shall dwell on high;" David says, "He shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." While the meat is cut off because the corn is withered, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, "Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure." And while the wicked behold only a desolate wilderness he "shall behold the land that is very far off." This last reference also shows that the time of the everlasting burnings is before the coming of the Lord.
The thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah gives the result of this time of trouble. There it is said of the earth that "the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch" (verse 9); and to show that it is the same everlasting burnings that accomplishes this, verse ten says: "It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever." Now, to show that even this is limited in duration, and that the fire ceases to burn when that upon which it feeds is consumed, read the next chapter, especially the first two verses: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God."
Happy indeed will be the lot of the man who in that awful time of trouble can say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in him will I trust." They who in this day of salvation wash their robes of character, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, can say in that day when God stands and measures the earth, scattering the everlasting hills, and causing the perpetual hills to bow: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Ps. 46:1-3. Who would not wish for such confidence in a time when fearfulness surprises the hypocrites? W.
SUNDAY THE FIRST DAY.
By Editor
A NEW subscriber asks how we know that Sunday is the first day of the week. We would reply that we know it in just the same way that we know that the day called Saturday is the seventh day of the week. It should be remembered that the names of the days of the week are of comparatively modern origin. Anciently the days were known only by their numbers, First, Second, etc., and this numbering is still adhered to and is universally understood, although it is more common now to speak of the days by the names that have been given to them, instead of by the numbers. The Sabbath is that which marks the week. God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh, and he commanded man to rest on every succeeding seventh day, giving him permission to work the six intervening days. Those periods of seven days are called weeks.
Ever since the creation, there have been some who have kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, but for our purpose it is not necessary to go back further than the time of Christ. Christ and those who followed him kept the Sabbath according to the commandment. See Luke 4:16; 23:56. This was of course the seventh day. It was the same day which the Jews kept. The Jews have kept the same day from that time to this. We find them in all parts of the world, yet they are all agreed as to the observance of the Sabbath. This shows that the day which is now called Saturday is the true seventh day, the day which was observed by Christ and which is enjoined in the fourth commandment. The day which follows the seventh day is now called Sunday. Now if we turn to Matt. 28:1, we shall find that the day which immediately follows the seventh day Sabbath, is the first day of the week.
As further proof that there has been no change in the reckoning of the days of the week, we have the fact that Jesus rose on the first day of the week, and that, from within two or three centuries after his resurrection up to the present time, the day of Christ's resurrection has been quite generally observed in the Christian church. If you ask people why they keep Sunday, they will always tell you it is in honor of Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week. And thus the keeping of Sunday is in itself evidence that those who observe Saturday are observing the true seventh day, and are therefore obeying the commandment of the Lord.
INFIDELITY IN HIGH PLACES.
By Editor
In answer to a question as to whether men can be saved except through faith in Christ, the Christian Union of December 16, 1886, page 26, says:—
“According to the Westminster Assembly's Catechism a knowledge of Christ is necessary to salvation, and those who have never possessed that knowledge are certainly lost. But this opinion is now entertained by very few divines.”
So then it is “the Westminster Assembly's Catechism” is it, that declares that “a knowledge of Christ is necessary to salvation”? We thought we had read in the Bible, of Christ, these words: “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. We thought that we had read in the Bible, that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” and that God hath set forth Christ “to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” We thought that we had read in the word of God, that it is the righteousness of Christ alone that avails for the sinner, and that this righteousness is received by faith “even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.” “To declare, I say, at this time His [Christ's] righteousness; that he [God] might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Rom. 3:19-26. We have thought all these years that faith in Christ was necessary to salvation, and that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” And now the Christian Union informs us that it is the “Westminster Assembly's Catechism” that says so. However, whether it be the Bible or the catechism that says it, or whether both say it, the Union says that “this opinion is now entertained by very few divines.” Again says the Union:—
“Some hold that an opportunity will be given for such knowledge in another life; others hold that no such knowledge is necessary, and instance the case of Cornelius (Acts 10), the Judgment as described in Matt. 25, and such promises as Isa. 55:7, and Rom. 3:7-10.”
The case of Cornelius is not well taken in this connection, for to him such knowledge was most certainly necessary. So very necessary, indeed, that an angel was sent from Heaven on purpose to tell him how he could obtain the knowledge. The angel told him to send for Peter, and “he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.” He sent for him. Peter came, and Cornelius said, “Now therefore are we all here present before God.” Peter there preached to him and them “peace by Jesus Christ,” and “the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.” And then they were baptized. Acts 10:6, 33, 36, 43, 44, 48. The other passages referred to are turned just as much awry as this. Rom. 3:7-10 reads: “For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just. What then? are we better than they? No, in nowise; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” It seems that this is rather cold comfort to give to satisfy men40that a knowledge of Christ is not necessary to salvation.
But more yet, the Union says:—
“There seems to us abundant scriptural authority for the latter opinion [that a knowledge of Christ is not necessary to salvation], and none for the doctrine that a knowledge of Christ is essential to salvation.”
No scriptural authority for the doctrine that a knowledge of Christ is essential to salvation! Then what in the world was ever the Scriptures given for? Why was the gospel ever preached to men? If this be so, then why did Christ die at all?
And the opinion that such knowledge is necessary, “is now entertained by very few divines.” How much further can infidelity go, and still wear the name “Christian,” and its advocates be called “divines”? “When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?” J.
THAT SUNDAY-LAW PETITION.
At the Sunday-law Convention held in San Francisco November 29, 1886, reported in the Signs of December 9, the Executive Committee that was elected, was directed "to prepare petitions as soon as possible and send throughout the State for signatures." Petitions have been prepared accordingly, and are being circulated. It seems that the work has been going on for some time, but so slyly that not many outside of the churches concerned had any knowledge of it until a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle called on the Executive Committee and made inquiries and then published his report. The Executive Committee seems to be working strictly in harmony with the spirit of the convention by which it was appointed. There appears the same double dealing, the same effort to keep the Legislature and the public misinformed as to the real object of the movement.
The following is a copy of the petition, 2,500 of which have been sent out to the "pastors of the churches and others known to be interested:—"
"To the Legislature of the State of California: We, the undersigned legal voters of the State of California, believing that the best interests of the State, material and moral, will be promoted by a suspension of business and a rest from labor on one day in seven, would respectfully petition your honorable body to enact such law or laws as may be necessary to secure to the people of the State this important object."
It seems by the petition, that all they want is for the Legislature to secure to the people the privilege of suspending business and of resting on "one day in seven." But suppose the Legislature should pass a law by which it should be declared in solemn enactment, in the very words of this petition, that from and after the approval of this Act by the governor, there shall be throughout the State of California, "a suspension of business and a rest from labor on one day in seven;" would that satisfy this Executive Committee, and the ministers and people who are circulating the petition? Not by a long way. Suppose the Legislature should by law declare that on and after a certain date it shall be unlawful in this State to conduct any manner of business, or to do any manner of work, except works of necessity and mercy, "on one day in seven;" would that satisfy the Executive Committee and its workers? Not by any manner of means.
This Executive Committee knows, and all its workers know, and everybody else knows that no such law as that is wanted. If the Legislature of California should enact a law in which were embodied the very words of this petition, everybody knows that this Executive Committee and its workers would be the ones who would more decidedly object to it than would anybody else in the State. If a law embodying the very words of their petition, is not what they want, and would not suit them, then why do they not petition for what they do want, and for what would suit them? Oh, that would never do, because, as stated in the convention, if they should ask the Legislature for what they really want they would get nothing at all. Besides this, if they should circulate a petition for what they really want, they might not get so many signatures, and worse than all, it might alarm the enemy and provoke opposition and counter-petitions. As stated to the Chronicle reporter, in their own words, what they want is this:—
"The ministers see the importance of a law to protect the sabbath, which is their harvest-day for souls."
So then it is not a law that will cause a suspension of business, and a rest simply "on one day in seven," that is wanted. It is a law that will protect the ministers' "harvest-day for souls." Would it not be a good thing for this Executive Committee to petition the Legislature to pay the ministers for harvesting the souls? If not why not? If it be the duty of the State to furnish and protect a day for the harvesting of souls, why is it not equally the duty of the State to pay those who do the harvesting? And so, to get the Legislature to pass a law in the interest of the ministers, by protecting the sabbath because it is their harvest-day for souls, they circulate for signatures a petition asking the Legislature to pass a law or laws which shall "secure to the people of the State the important object of a suspension of business and a rest on one day in seven." And this they do "to avoid alarming the enemy and provoking opposition and counter-petitions." We do not wonder that they dread opposition when their real purpose is seen.
As they stated it to the reporter it was thus:—
"They [the ministers] are stirring up the churches and congregations to make a strong fight in its defense. But they wish to avoid alarming the enemy and provoking opposition and counter-petitions."
Oh, yes; the ministers of California can make a strong fight in defense—when they are not attacked. They are valiant leaders—if they can only "avoid alarming the enemy." They, and in fact the ministers generally throughout the country, are vigorous advocates for Sunday—if they can avoid opposition. They are all strong petitioners for laws to protect the ministers' harvest-day for souls—if they can only frame the petition so as to avoid all danger of alarming the enemy, or provoking opposition, that might culminate in a counter-petition.
There is nothing the Sunday cause and its advocates dread so much as opposition. They dare not go before the people of California with a frank, fair, open avowal of the cause in behalf of which they demand that the Legislature shall act. They dare not go to the Legislature itself with a fair statement of what they want; they said so in their convention. Any cause that cannot bear the light of day, and the test of open, full, and free examination and discussion is unworthy the attention of thinking men. And legislation in behalf of any such cause is unworthy of a free people. But such is the Sunday cause and legislation in behalf of it.
If those ministers should obtain the law which they demand, a law that would secure the "suspension of business and a rest on one day in seven," that is, on Sunday; and if men in this State should suspend all business and should rest on one day in seven, other than Sunday, thus doing all that the petition asks for, then there is not one of those ministers who would not by the law compel these men to rest and suspend business on Sunday also, and would thus demand rest and the suspension of business on two days in seven, which is just twice as much as the petition asks for. But that is no difference to them; a Sunday law is what they want, a law to protect the ministers' harvest-day for souls; and if they can obtain it by petitioning the Legislature to pass a law securing rest and suspension of business "on one day in seven," or a "civil" Sunday law, it is all right. If they can get the thing they want, by asking for another and totally different thing, it is all the same to them, and so much the better if by this means they can "avoid alarming the enemy and provoking opposition." And so, having valiantly fought, and right valiantly won, the battle in which there is no opposition, 'twill be "a famous victory." J.