Page 149

Page 149

149 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Sunday

to frame and adopt a constitution, and these constitutions all recognized liberty of conscience and freedom of worship, and also the God of the Christian, and obligation to him for all benefits. These features have been retained in the subsequent amended constitutions of the original thirteen states as well as in the constitutions of all the states later admitted into the union, until in the constitutions of all but one of the American states God and the true religion are recognized, and in twenty of them his worship is guaranteed, and in not one is any other worship guaranteed. It matters not that the federal constitution forbidding establishment of religion as a legal national institution has not " God " written in it, for that constitution is but an instrument to provide a union of the several states, all but one of which constitutionally recognizes God. And yet Sunday laws have been enacted by congress, which has forbidden the pursuit of 'studies at the military and naval academies on Sunday.

With such origins for the founders, such traditions for its settlers, such laws of the mother country in force in the colonies, and such recognition of the true God in the constitution of the

6. Legisla- states, it would have been strange tion in the indeed if in the legislation of the states Several laws for observance of Sunday had not

States. been enacted. In the several original states, and in the many states admitted from time to time, Sunday laws followed until in all the states of the American Union except one (and that on the western frontier) laws have been enacted for the observance of Sunday, not as a day of wor ship, but as a day of rest and quiet. In New York they appear as early as 1788. They are not uniform in language but agree in substance, forbidding by some formula labor and work and business on that day, except for necessity or charity. Some of them limit prohibition to work, labor, or business for profit or amusement, or to secular work, and in most states make the fulfilling of a contract on Sunday unlawful, and in some the making of a contract; also the serving of legal process, or the holding of courts. In many states all noise and disorderly conduct are prohibited; also sports for purposes of money-making through admission fees. There is often in these statutes such a recognition of others who continually observe another day as holy time, as permits such to pursue their labor or calling, but in such manner as shall not disturb the quiet, re pose, or worship of those who regard Sunday as a holy day. These laws have not always preserved the original language, but have from time to time been amended. Attacks are continually made upon these statutes principally on the ground that they are unconstitutional, but the laws have been uni formly upheld by the courts of the several states and by the supreme court of the United States. These attacks have come almost exclusively from Seventh Day Baptists and Jews, who have never proposed to make any other day a rest day, but have pro posed only to destroy the rest day of Sunday.

But Sunday legislation in modern times has not been confined to Christian England or Christian America. The Code of Justinian remained the law of the territory of the Roman empire until legally

abrogated. Its provisions as to observance of

Sunday may have become obsolete and disregarded,

but the influence of the Church and

7. Condi- the decrees of councils and popes have

tions in kept it in force. It may with the

Europe. political changes and the social changes

of medieval and modern times have

ceased to be observed, but the law remained, en

forced or unenforced. In modern times the Sunday

legislation of the countries of continental Europe

has gone forward. In France such legislation has

had a varying history. In 1793 the convention

abolished the week of seven days, and with it Sun

day, and all other then and now known names for

days, substituting a week of ten days. The seven

day week with its names of days was restored under

Napoleon. Since then, in the history of that peo

ple during the struggles with the Roman Catholic

Church and with rationalism and atheism there have

been attacks upon everything that has religious re

lationship, and hence upon Sunday-keeping. The

excess of this virulence brought all workmen to

demand one rest day in seven, and in 1906 a law

was enacted requiring a rest of one day in seven for

all workmen, preferably on Sunday, but not requir

ing it on that day; in practise, however, Sunday

was the choice. In Belgium, after many years of

discussion and agitation, in 1905 a law was enacted

guaranteeing one day of rest in each week to all

workmen, but it does not require closing of shops.

In Holland since 1815 Sunday rest has been required

by law. The statute is religious in character, and

includes so many exceptions that it does not,

command the loyal obedience of the people. In

Germany the claim is that after the Franco-Prus

sian war the German Emperor William I. was

sympathetic toward Sunday legislation, but that

Bismarck opposed it on the ground that the closing

of factories would increase the consumption of beer

on the idle day, cause deterioration in physique,

and tend to disorder. No progress was made until

in the reign of William II. a great reform was com

menced, and in 1892 laws were enacted for what is

called Sabbath rest in commerce, and Sabbath rest

in industry, reducing hours of work on Sunday to five

hours after 7 A.m. The hours from 9 to 11 A.M., were

earlier protected for public worship. These laws,

however, gave some discretion to municipalities as to

limitations of the hours, and the result has been

a lack of uniformity of application. In Norway

labor in factories, opening of drinking-shops from

6 P.m. of Saturday to 8 A.M. of Monday, and the

printing and publishing of newspapers are unlaw

ful. In Sweden buying and selling are unlawful,

and public places of amusement must be closed on

Sunday. In Russia in 1906 a Sunday law was

enacted restricting labor engaged in industry or

commerce on Sunday and on holidays. The enforce

ment is another question. Greece and Servia are

without Sunday legislation. Rumania enacted a

Sunday law in 1907, which was abrogated the next

year, and now has no Sunday statute. The dual

empire of Austria-Hungary has for twenty-five

years been struggling with the matter of Sunday

legislation, and the latest statute enacted in Aus

tria in 1905 provides for a Sabbath in commerce,