New York, 1895
It happens now and then that presumptuous people have to he punished for the benefit of mankind. The Rev. Mr. Wightman, a Baptist preacher at Oyster Bay, is an instance. He was last week fined $50 for a violation of the health laws of the town, and it is a good sign that the town officers had the moral courage to inflict the penalty. So many people stand in awe of a clergyman that they of the cloth are wont to presume upon this diffidence and go a length that is unreasonable. When a clergyman does wrong he merits just the treatment that would be measured out to a layman in the same circumstances. The glossing over and condoning of clerical misdeeds has worked great injury to the church and always will.
The Rev. Mr. Wightman deliberately defied the lawful authorities of his town, and broke the law with premeditation. That took him out of the ranks of holy minded, peace loving ministers, and set him down in the byway with transgressors. A man cannot be a pious clergyman and a bad citizen at the same time. There was an epidemic of scarlet fever in the town, and to confine it and save life, the health board, by legal right, ordered the schools closed, and forbade the opening of the Sunday schools and churches, and the clergymen of every denomination complied with the order except Mr. Wightman, who held both a prayer meeting and Sunday services. His great offense was in doing this after he had been twice cautioned not to do it by an officer of the law. He argues in justification of his defiance of the law of the state of New York, that the constitution of the United States guarantees him the right of freedom of worship. So it does, but always subject to reasonable restrictions which the law of the state may impose, and the health board was acting entirely with the scope of the constitution.
Mr. Wightman is incapable of interpreting the meaning of the term "freedom of worship." His only right is to worship God as his conscience may direct. That right was not interfered with in the least. He has no right to so worship as to spread contagion and imperil life. The four walls of a church are not inseparable from worship. All church goers are not given to worship. A prayer from the heart would avail as much on a mountain top as within the walls of a sanctuary. It is not the man who prays, but the man who prays right, that is cherished of God. Human laws are made for the well being of the people, and in the main they are founded on divine tradition. Closing a church to preserve life and health is as essentially Christian as legal, and we do not believe that the prayers of the Rev. Mr. Wightman, with the malice of defiance in his heart, were acceptable to his Master on this particular Sunday. We are taught that God is a just God, and therefore an unjust servant cannot be his delight. Mr. Wightman merited his punishment.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 4.
Showing posts with label laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laws. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Right to Restrict Alcohol Traffic
1900
The Interior says: "If a man say he has a right, in the exercise of his personal liberty, to get drunk, and the dealer to sell to him if he wishes to buy — very well, so he has — but the community has violable interests in the transaction, and has a perfect right to protect them. The rapid increase of the traffic makes it certain that drastic, repressive measures are necessary to the protection of the most valuable civil interests of the people."
—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 21.
The Interior says: "If a man say he has a right, in the exercise of his personal liberty, to get drunk, and the dealer to sell to him if he wishes to buy — very well, so he has — but the community has violable interests in the transaction, and has a perfect right to protect them. The rapid increase of the traffic makes it certain that drastic, repressive measures are necessary to the protection of the most valuable civil interests of the people."
—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 21.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Combined Efforts on National Tuberculosis Sunday
1910
Opportunity To Do Good
New York City had more arrests for violation of the anti-spitting ordinance in 1909 than any other city in the United States, having had 2,513, with 2,099 convictions, and $1,936.80 collected in fines. Baltimore comes next with 214 arrests and an equal number of convictions. Pittsburgh is third in rank, with St. Louis in fourth place.
St. Louis, however, would have been in second place, if the sanitary police who enforce the law in that city had been at work in 1909. In 52 cities out of 80 the law was either not enforced at all or very poorly enforced. Of the remaining 28 cities, less than one-half of them contributed more than three-fourths of the arrests for spitting and of the fines collected.
On account of the fact that National Tuberculosis Sunday will be observed on April 24, the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis is calling the attention of clergymen in all parts of the country to the advisability of bringing before their congregations the necessity for better enforcement of the anti-spitting laws.
Friends
It is a good thing to have good friends, but not to be dominated too much or too long by their example. — Rev. William Dickie.
Opportunity To Do Good
New York City had more arrests for violation of the anti-spitting ordinance in 1909 than any other city in the United States, having had 2,513, with 2,099 convictions, and $1,936.80 collected in fines. Baltimore comes next with 214 arrests and an equal number of convictions. Pittsburgh is third in rank, with St. Louis in fourth place.
St. Louis, however, would have been in second place, if the sanitary police who enforce the law in that city had been at work in 1909. In 52 cities out of 80 the law was either not enforced at all or very poorly enforced. Of the remaining 28 cities, less than one-half of them contributed more than three-fourths of the arrests for spitting and of the fines collected.
On account of the fact that National Tuberculosis Sunday will be observed on April 24, the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis is calling the attention of clergymen in all parts of the country to the advisability of bringing before their congregations the necessity for better enforcement of the anti-spitting laws.
Friends
It is a good thing to have good friends, but not to be dominated too much or too long by their example. — Rev. William Dickie.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Influenced By His Mother
1915
John Bright's Explanation of His Supreme Mastery of the Art of Public Speaking
The famous English orator, John Bright, was asked how he came to be such a master of the art of public speaking. He answered that the only help he ever had in that direction he got by listening to his mother read the Bible.
She was accustomed to read the Bible aloud to the children, and he was so fascinated, he said, by her way of reading that he had tried ever since to imitate it.
John Bright became a great statesman, who carried out the teachings of the Bible in a noble and helpful life. Such was the power of his eloquence that he brought about great and beneficial changes in the laws of England.
His mother's Bible reading during the years of his impressible childhood influenced his whole life; the careful, unhurried, reverent and expressive way in which she read was the chief influence in producing one of England's greatest and noblest orators.
There are many ways in which a mother may influence legislation, even in communities where she may not yet cast a vote. — Youth's Companion.
John Bright's Explanation of His Supreme Mastery of the Art of Public Speaking
The famous English orator, John Bright, was asked how he came to be such a master of the art of public speaking. He answered that the only help he ever had in that direction he got by listening to his mother read the Bible.
She was accustomed to read the Bible aloud to the children, and he was so fascinated, he said, by her way of reading that he had tried ever since to imitate it.
John Bright became a great statesman, who carried out the teachings of the Bible in a noble and helpful life. Such was the power of his eloquence that he brought about great and beneficial changes in the laws of England.
His mother's Bible reading during the years of his impressible childhood influenced his whole life; the careful, unhurried, reverent and expressive way in which she read was the chief influence in producing one of England's greatest and noblest orators.
There are many ways in which a mother may influence legislation, even in communities where she may not yet cast a vote. — Youth's Companion.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Evangelist Martin on "The Three Social Evils"
California, 1921
"If laws were passed in the state of California making it unlawful for men to dance with women other than their own wives, and allowing single men to dance with each other, and not with single women, the dance craze would soon be abated," declared Evangelist T. T. Martin, addressing a union meeting in the Twenty-third Avenue Baptist church yesterday afternoon on "The Three Social Evils — Dancing, Card Playing and Moving Pictures."
"In San Francisco," he continued, "statistics show that 75 percent of fallen women come from dance halls.
"The harm of the dance comes in the contact of the sexes and should be abolished for that reason. Although the dance ruins many women, the great sufferers are of the sterner sex. Where the dance ruins one woman it harms a dozen men."
Card playing and moving pictures were both condemned by the evangelist. "If card playing, one of the great social evils, is to be abolished, the women must cease gathering around their bridge tables. Were that the case, the men would not gather at their poker tables."
—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, March 7, 1921, p. 8.
"If laws were passed in the state of California making it unlawful for men to dance with women other than their own wives, and allowing single men to dance with each other, and not with single women, the dance craze would soon be abated," declared Evangelist T. T. Martin, addressing a union meeting in the Twenty-third Avenue Baptist church yesterday afternoon on "The Three Social Evils — Dancing, Card Playing and Moving Pictures."
"In San Francisco," he continued, "statistics show that 75 percent of fallen women come from dance halls.
"The harm of the dance comes in the contact of the sexes and should be abolished for that reason. Although the dance ruins many women, the great sufferers are of the sterner sex. Where the dance ruins one woman it harms a dozen men."
Card playing and moving pictures were both condemned by the evangelist. "If card playing, one of the great social evils, is to be abolished, the women must cease gathering around their bridge tables. Were that the case, the men would not gather at their poker tables."
—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, March 7, 1921, p. 8.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Sunday Laws Unjust
Alaska, 1914
Enforcement of the Sunday closing law is not being taken amiably by the people of Nome, according to the newspapers published there. Of course, the law is being obeyed, but its enforcement has occasioned much resentment on the part of the people, who have been making numerous protests, and plans even have been made for securing the removal of the officials who were responsible for the enforcement of the law.
It has often been asserted that the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it, but here in Alaska where people have little power in the making of their laws, this rule will not hold good.
It would seem that the matter of closing stores and saloons on Sunday should be determined by the people of each community and there is a serious question if any such law, except where morals are involved, would be declared constitutional.
If a thing is immoral and wrong on a Sunday it would seem to be so on every other day of the week, and it does not seem that there is much justice in a law that interferes with a person's religious observance, at least the Constitution of the United States so asserts.
If any man's business or work interferes with another's religious observances, it can be seen wherein a law might be made to prevent it, but the mere closing of stores and preventing men from working on Sundays is interfering with individual freedom unnecessarily.
Taking it strictly from a religious view, Sunday closing is class legislation, for there are many classes of good people who do not observe Sunday as a day of rest, unless forced by law to do so. Among these are the Jews, the Seventh Day Adventists, the agnostics and people of many religious faiths other than that of Christianity.
The injustice of laws like the Sunday closing law, from a religious view, would be forced upon people if, for instance, the Christians should be forced to observe the Jewish sabbath. We cannot truthfully say that we are in a country of full religious liberty as long as people's liberties on Sunday are interfered with.
—The Alaska Citizen, Fairbanks, March 30, 1914.
Enforcement of the Sunday closing law is not being taken amiably by the people of Nome, according to the newspapers published there. Of course, the law is being obeyed, but its enforcement has occasioned much resentment on the part of the people, who have been making numerous protests, and plans even have been made for securing the removal of the officials who were responsible for the enforcement of the law.
It has often been asserted that the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it, but here in Alaska where people have little power in the making of their laws, this rule will not hold good.
It would seem that the matter of closing stores and saloons on Sunday should be determined by the people of each community and there is a serious question if any such law, except where morals are involved, would be declared constitutional.
If a thing is immoral and wrong on a Sunday it would seem to be so on every other day of the week, and it does not seem that there is much justice in a law that interferes with a person's religious observance, at least the Constitution of the United States so asserts.
If any man's business or work interferes with another's religious observances, it can be seen wherein a law might be made to prevent it, but the mere closing of stores and preventing men from working on Sundays is interfering with individual freedom unnecessarily.
Taking it strictly from a religious view, Sunday closing is class legislation, for there are many classes of good people who do not observe Sunday as a day of rest, unless forced by law to do so. Among these are the Jews, the Seventh Day Adventists, the agnostics and people of many religious faiths other than that of Christianity.
The injustice of laws like the Sunday closing law, from a religious view, would be forced upon people if, for instance, the Christians should be forced to observe the Jewish sabbath. We cannot truthfully say that we are in a country of full religious liberty as long as people's liberties on Sunday are interfered with.
—The Alaska Citizen, Fairbanks, March 30, 1914.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
How Sunday Was Observed in Merry Olde England
1903
OLD ENGLISH SUNDAY
How the Day Was Observed Prior to the English Revolution.
For a considerable period prior to the English revolution Sunday was a day of great festivity and high revelry in the old country. Incredible though it may appear, its observance was governed and ordered by a paradoxical royal declaration, issued by King James I. This document is generally known as "The Book of Sports." In its preamble it recites a royal rebuke, administered to "some Puritans and precise people" for "prohibiting o' unlawful punishing of Our good people for using their lawful Recreations and honest exercises upon Sundayes and other holy days, after the afternoone sermon or service," and then it refers to "the general complaint of our people that they were barred from all lawful Recreation and exercise upon the Sundayes afternoone, which cannot but produce two evils; the one the hindering of the conversion of many, whom their priests will take occasion hereby to vexe, persuading them that no honest mirth or recreation is lawfully or tollerable in our Religion which cannot but breed a great discontentment in our people's hearts; the other inconvenience is that this prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of people from using such exercises as may make their bodies more able for Warre, when we or our successors shall have occasion to use them."
Then follows the royal mandate "that no lawful Recreation shall be barred to our good People," and "The Bishop and all other inferior Churchmen and Churchwardens" are enjoined to "bee careful and diligent both to instruct the ignorant and convince and reforme them that are misled in religion." "Our pleasure likewise is That the Bishop of the Diocese take the like straight order with all the Puritans and Precisians within the same, either constraining them to conforme themselves, or to leave the country according to the Lawes of Our Kingdome and Canons of our Church." The declaration proceeds to define "lawful Recreation" as "Dancing, either men or women. Archerie for men, leaping, vaulting or any other such harmlesse Recreation, including May games, Witsun-Ales and Morris-dances and the setting up of May poles and other sports therewith used. But withal wee doe here accompt still as prohibited all unlawful games to be used upon Sundays onely, as Beare and Bull baitings, Interludes, and at all times in the feaner sort of People by Law prohibited, Bowling." A penalty was inflicted upon those who did not join in the Sunday sports, and no one could take part in them without first having attended divine service in the parish church, which was also enforced under pain of penalty.
In those days the clergymen would, in obedience to the royal decree, publicly recite the "Book of Sports" from the pulpit; after divine service he, with his church wardens, would proceed with the congregation onto the village green, there to indulge in all kinds of "lawful Recreation." While the sports were going on it was the custom for the parson and his church wardens to retire to the adjoining room.—New York Evening Post.
—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 4, 1903, page 3.
OLD ENGLISH SUNDAY
How the Day Was Observed Prior to the English Revolution.
For a considerable period prior to the English revolution Sunday was a day of great festivity and high revelry in the old country. Incredible though it may appear, its observance was governed and ordered by a paradoxical royal declaration, issued by King James I. This document is generally known as "The Book of Sports." In its preamble it recites a royal rebuke, administered to "some Puritans and precise people" for "prohibiting o' unlawful punishing of Our good people for using their lawful Recreations and honest exercises upon Sundayes and other holy days, after the afternoone sermon or service," and then it refers to "the general complaint of our people that they were barred from all lawful Recreation and exercise upon the Sundayes afternoone, which cannot but produce two evils; the one the hindering of the conversion of many, whom their priests will take occasion hereby to vexe, persuading them that no honest mirth or recreation is lawfully or tollerable in our Religion which cannot but breed a great discontentment in our people's hearts; the other inconvenience is that this prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of people from using such exercises as may make their bodies more able for Warre, when we or our successors shall have occasion to use them."
Then follows the royal mandate "that no lawful Recreation shall be barred to our good People," and "The Bishop and all other inferior Churchmen and Churchwardens" are enjoined to "bee careful and diligent both to instruct the ignorant and convince and reforme them that are misled in religion." "Our pleasure likewise is That the Bishop of the Diocese take the like straight order with all the Puritans and Precisians within the same, either constraining them to conforme themselves, or to leave the country according to the Lawes of Our Kingdome and Canons of our Church." The declaration proceeds to define "lawful Recreation" as "Dancing, either men or women. Archerie for men, leaping, vaulting or any other such harmlesse Recreation, including May games, Witsun-Ales and Morris-dances and the setting up of May poles and other sports therewith used. But withal wee doe here accompt still as prohibited all unlawful games to be used upon Sundays onely, as Beare and Bull baitings, Interludes, and at all times in the feaner sort of People by Law prohibited, Bowling." A penalty was inflicted upon those who did not join in the Sunday sports, and no one could take part in them without first having attended divine service in the parish church, which was also enforced under pain of penalty.
In those days the clergymen would, in obedience to the royal decree, publicly recite the "Book of Sports" from the pulpit; after divine service he, with his church wardens, would proceed with the congregation onto the village green, there to indulge in all kinds of "lawful Recreation." While the sports were going on it was the custom for the parson and his church wardens to retire to the adjoining room.—New York Evening Post.
—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 4, 1903, page 3.
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