That the principle of the religious observance of one day in seven, embodied in the Fourth Commandment, is of divine obligation.
That, from the time of our Lord's resurrection, the first day of the week was observed by Christians as a day of worship and rest, and, under the name of "the Lord's Day", gradually succeeded, as the great weekly festival of the Christian Church, to the sacred position of the sabbath.
That the observance of the Lord's Day as a day of rest, of worship, and of religious teaching, has been a priceless blessing in all Christian lands in which it has been maintained.
That the growing laxity in its observance threatens a great change in its sacred and beneficient character.
That especially the increasing practice, on the part of some of the wealthy and leisurely classes, of making Sunday a day of secular amusement is most strongly to be deprecated.
That the most careful regard should be had to the danger of any encroachment upon the rest which, on this day, is the right of servants as well as their masters, and of the working classes as well as their employers.
