THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: OR, THE SUNDAY, THE SABBATH, THE CHANGE, AND RESTITUTION.
iiEntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by the
S. D. A. P. ASSOCIATION,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PREFACE.
As it has been thought best that the following articles,which, with the exception of the Replies and Rejoinders,have already been published in the Christian Statesman, theSabbath Recorder, and the Advent Review, should have a stillwider circulation, it has been at last decided to present themto the public in the form of the present volume.
The occasion of their first appearance was as follows:Within the last few years, a party has been organized inthis country, whose especial aims are the amendment of theConstitution, so that the names of God and Christ may appearin it; the recognition in the same instrument of theBible as the fountain of national law; the securing of thereading of the Bible in the common schools; and the enforcementby law of the observance of Sunday, as the ChristianSabbath. Slowly, but steadily, the friends of this movementare bringing it to the public notice and enlarging thecircle of its active supporters. A single glance at the existingstate of affairs reveals the fact that, at no distant date,the issues which these men are making up will be the onesover which contending parties will wage fierce contest. Alreadythe press of the country, by the drift of events whichthey find themselves incapable of controlling, are compelled,almost daily, to record transactions which are not only callingthe attention of the people to a conflict which is bothimminent and irrepressible, but which are also continuallyadding fuel to a flame which even now burns with a fiercenessand volume indicative of its future scope and power.
In view of these facts, the writer of the subjoined articles,while taking no particular interest in party politics, merelyas such, nevertheless felt a profound conviction that thetime had come, in the providence of God, when Christianivmen should offer a solemn protest against a state of affairswhich, while ostensibly inaugurated in the interest of thekingdom of Christ, will ultimately prove most destructive ofreligious liberty. This, he therefore attempted to do,purely from the stand-point of the Bible. Through thecourtesy of the editor of the Christian Statesman, which paperis the organ of the amen