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X.
Christian Liberty
Chapter 107
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Sabbath Legislation
1. WHO made the
Sabbath?
"In six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and
rested the seventh day; wherefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."
Ex. 20:11.
2. To whom does the
Sabbath belong?
"The seventh day is the Sabbath of
the Lord thy God." Verse 10.
3. To whom, then,
should its observance be rendered?
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
and to God the things that are God's." Mark
12:17.
NOTE.-When men make Sabbath laws, therefore,
they require Sabbath observance to be
rendered to the government, or,
presumably, by indirection, to God
through the government, which amounts to
the same thing.
4. In religious things,
to whom alone are we accountable?
"So then every one of us shall give
account of himself to God." Rom. 14:12.
NOTE.-But when men make compu1sory Sabbath
laws, they make men accountable to the
government for Sabbath observance.
5. How does God command
us to keep the Sabbath day?
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy." Ex. 20:8.
6. What does He
indicate as one of its purposes?
"Six days shall work be done: but the
seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy
convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it
is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your
dwellings." Lev. 23:3.
7. Seeing, then, that
the Sabbath is holy, is to be kept
holy, and is a day for holy convocations,
what must be its character?
It must be religious.
8. What, then, must be
the nature of all Sabbath legislation?
It is religious legislation.
9. When the state
enacts religious laws, what is effected?
A union of church and state.
10. What has always
been the result of religious legislation, or a
union of church and state?
Religious intolerance and
persecution.
11. What was
Constantine's Sunday law of March 7, 321?
"Let all the judges and town people,
and the occupation
of all trades rest on the venerable day of the
sun; but let those who are situated in the
country, freely and at full liberty, attend to
the business of agriculture; because it often
happens that no other day is so fit for sowing
corn and planting vines; lest the critical
moment being let slip, men should lose the
commodities granted by heaven."-
Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, tit. 12,
3.
12. What further
imperial legislation in behalf of Sunday
observance was issued in 386?
"By a law of the year 386, those
older changes effected by the emperor
Constantine were more rigorously enforced, and,
in general, civil transactions of every kind on
Sunday were strictly forbidden."-
Neander's "Church History," Vol. II, . page
300, edition 1852.
13. At the instance of
church bishops, what still further law was
secured under Theodosius the Younger, in 425?
"In the year 425, the exhibition of
spectacles on Sunday and on the principal
feast-days of the Christians was forbidden, in
order that the devotion of the faithful might be
free from all disturbance."-
Id., pages 300, 301.
14. What does the
historian say of this legislation?
"In this way the church received
help from the state for the furtherance of her
ends. . . . But had it not been for that
confusion of spiritual and secular interests,
had it not been for the vast number of mere
outward conversions thus brought about, she
would have needed no such help."-
Id., page 301.
15. What did
Charlemagne's Sunday law of 800 require?
"We decree. . . that servile works
should not be done on the Lord's day, . . . that
is, that neither should men do field work,
either in cultivating the vineyards or by
plowing in the fields, by cutting or drying hay,
or by placing a fence, or by making clearings in
the woods or felling trees or working on stones
or constructing houses or working in the garden;
neither should they come together to decide
public matters nor be engaged in the hunt. . . .
Women may not do any textile work nor cut out
clothes nor sew nor make garments. . . . But let
them come together from all sides to church to
the solemnities of the mass, and let them praise
God for all things which he does for us on that
day."-
"Historical Chronicles of Germany," Sec. 2,
Vol. I, 22 General admonition, 789,
M. Martio 23, page 61, par. 81.
16. How does the Sunday
law of Charles II, of 1676, read?
"For the better observation and
keeping holy the Lord's day, commonly called
Sunday: be it enacted. . . that all the laws
enacted and in force concerning the observation
of the day, and repairing to the church thereon,
be carefully put in execution; and that all and
every person and persons whatsoever shall on
every Lord's day apply themselves to the
observation of the same, by exercising
themselves thereon in the duties of piety and
true religion, publicly and privately."-
"Revised Statutes of England From 1235-1685
A.D." (London, 1870), pages 779,780; cited in "A
Critical History of Sunday Legislation," by A.
H. Lewis, D. D., pages 108, 109.
17. What did the first
Sunday law enacted in America, that of Virginia,
in 1610, require?
"Every man and woman shall repair
in the morning to the divine service and sermons
preached upon the Sabbath day, and in the
afternoon to divine service, and catechizing,
upon pain for the first fault to lose their
provision and the allowance for the whole week
following; for the second, to lose the
said allowance and also be whipped; and for the
third to suffer death."-
Articles, Laws, and Orders, Divine, Politique,
and Martial, for the Colony in Virginia: first
established by Sir Thomas Gates, Knight,
Lieutenant-General, the 24th of May, 1610.
NOTES.-These are the original Sunday laws,
after which all the Sunday laws of Europe
and America have been modeled. Church
attendance is not generally required by the
Sunday laws of the present day, nor was it
required, in terms, by the earliest Sunday
laws; but that is and ever has, been the
chief object of all Sunday legislation from
Constantine's time on, and it is as much out
of place today as it ever was.
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