LORD'S DAY, THE (ant(), the first day of the week, on which Christ rose from the dead; synonymous in popular speech with Sunday or Sabbath. This name is generally used in the English and American statutes intended to secure the civil observance of the day. English legislation on this ,subject roay be traced as far back as 1449, but it was not until 1078 that the law was passed Ns-hich may be regarded as the foundation and model of all subsequent enactments of its class in Great Britain and the 'United States. By this law it was enacted " that no tradesman, artificer, workman, laborer, or other person whatsoever, shall do or exercise any worldly ItCor, business, or work of their ordinary callings upon the Lord's day or hny part thereof (works of necessity and charity only excepted);" and " that no person or persons whatsoever shall publicly cry, show forth, or expose to sale, any- wares, merchandise, fruits, herbs, goods, or chattels whatsoever, upon the Lord's day or any part thereof." In the American colonial days the state assumed jurisdiction of religious as well as civil affairs; hence much of the Sunday legislation of that period has either been repealed or become dead from disuse. It is now generally- conceded that with the Lord's day. regarded simply in its religious aspects, the state has no concern. It cannot require a citizen either to attend public worship or to observe any- religious ceremony on that day. But it is held that the day is indispensable, needed by the community, upon purely secular grounds, aud must, therefore, be maintained by government. A day of rest from ordinary labors and cares, recurring not less frequently than once in each week, is held to be requisite to the gen eral welfare of body, mind, and estate; therefore, it is insisted that the government has the right and the duty to designate such a day and to enforce its observance. Moreover,
those who observe the day upon religious grounds, making it a day of public as well as private devotion, are, it is conceded, entitled to protection from the noise and disturb ance which would result from the general pursuit of business on that as on other days of the week. The laws upon this subject in the different states of the union, though resting substantially upon common ground, differ in details, and the decisions of courts upon questions that have arisen under them are in some respects conflicting. The whole subject has been greatly complicated of late years by the introduction into the country of large bodies of immigrants from continental Europe, whose habits in respect of Sun day observance are much less rigid than those of the great body- of our native popula tion. It is probable that, on this account, the laws upon the subject may undergo some further modifications, but there is no reason to fear that the state will cease to maintain the institution of the Lord's day as a day- of rest from business cares, or to protect from disturbance those who hold it sacred on the highest grounds of morality and religion. The manifest tendency to increase greatly the facilities of travel by railroad and steam boat on the Lord's day is causing alarm of late, and awakening earnest protest. It is felt—religion aside—that this country cannot afford, either morally, physiologically, or pecuniarily-, to lose. its one day of peace. Though the protest against the degradation of the day bases itself thus on secular considerations, and finds immense strength in these, it will probably be found that the real force of all successful efforts for the main tenance of the day, on even civil grounds, must spring ultimately from a religious—a distinctively Christian—source.