ONE of the assumptions upon which Sunday laws are sought to be upheld, is that Sunday as a rest day is an “American institution.” It seems incredible that an intelligent person could regard this plea as anything more than an assumption, and an exceedingly poor one at that. An American institution is something the origin of which can be traced back to some event or series of events in the history of the American nation. But every person knows, the Sunday rest can be traced to, [139] or ages before the American nation came into being, and if it were, as claimed, an American institution, that fact would entirely destroy its claim to rest upon an authority higher than that of man. But in the matter of commanding and enforcing religious observances, man has no authority whatever.
By way of making this claim more plausible, however, it is asserted that the Sabbath is “an American institution on the civil side of it.” This was said by a prominent speaker at the recent Sabbath Observance convention at Pittsburg, Pa. But was the Sabbath instituted by the Creator with one side of it lacking, which it was to be left for man to supply? Was not the Sabbath a perfect institution when it came from the hand of the Creator? Did the Creator ever make anything that was imperfect?
These question answer themselves, and entirely sweep away the idea of a “civil side” to the Sabbath. The Sabbath came to man in Eden, before there was any civil government on earth; it was a complete institution then, and it was the same then that it is to-day.