Declaration of Principles.

THE NEW ENGLAND SABBATH PROTECTIVE LEAGUE is formed for the purpose of defending the Sabbath against the persistent encroachments upon its sacredness by business and pleasure.

It assumes that the Sabbath is a divine institution, for rest from toil. This conviction is based upon the references to it in the sacred scriptures of the Jewish and Christian Churches; upon the example of Christ and his apostles; upon the general conduct of the Christian church for eighteen centuries; and upon the acknowledged necessities, physical, mental, and moral, of the nature of man.

This conviction is strengthened by the testimony of history,-that wherever the Sabbath has been most intelligently and generally observed as a divine institution, the condition of the people has been in every way superior to the conditions prevailing elsewhere; there has been a tenderer humanity, a keener intelligence, more respect for law and order, better schools, higher wages among workmen, and generally more advanced social conditions, than in countries where the ordinary labors and amusements of the people have been persisted in.

While we recognize that the highest purpose for which this institution exists can only be promoted by moral suasion, we hold that it is the duty of legislatures, by securing as far as possible to all citizens a seventh day free from labor (except works generally acknowledged to be of "necessity and mercy'), to protect men who would otherwise be oppressed and degraded by continuous and unremitting toil.

Leaving everything which belongs to personal conduct and responsibility, as to this great question, to individuals, we recognize that in its relations to the community generally, and in matters for which the whole citizenship in its corporate capacity is responsible, vigilant guardianship is

necessary.

Therefore this League aims to defend and secure such legislation as will maintain a proper observance of the Lord's day and prevent the strong from oppressing the weak, and the immoral from corrupting the young and inexperienced.

This issue of The Defender will be sent to some fourteen thousand names including the clergymen of New England. It is hoped that it will interest a large majority of those who receive it in the vital work of the League. Will not all friends send us their names, on the blank, page 30, as members and subscribers? We need the help of pastors and churches, and hope you will add the League to your

st of benevolences.

By-Laws.

I. This Association shall be called THE NEW ENGLAND SABBATH PROTECTIVE LEAGUE. All persons subscribing to the by-laws, and paying an annual fee of $1, shall be members; $10, shall constitute one a sustaining member; and $100, a life member.

II. Its object shall be to maintain the observance of the Lord's day as a civil rest day and a day for religious uses.

III. Its officers shall be a president. vice-presidents from each of the New England States, a general secretary, a recording secretary, a treasurer, two auditors and a board of directors of twenty (including the president, first vice-president of Massachusetts, secretaries and treasurer), and also an advisory committee of not less than fifty, all of whom shall be elected at the annual meeting in January, to hold office until their successors are appointed.

IV. The entire control of the affairs of the League shall be vested in the board of directors and this board may fill any vacancies in its own membership or in any other office of the association. It shall meet the fourth Monday of each month, excepting July and August, and five shall be a quorum. Special meetings of the directors may be called by the general secretary at the written request of three directors. The advisory committee is largely honorary. It shall meet at the call of the general secretary, to consider the general interests of the League, and especially form plans to secure funds for the expenses of the League.

V. The Association shall meet annually in January. Special meetings of the League may be called by the directors.

VI. These by-laws may be amended by a two-thirds' vote of those present and voting at any regular meeting, if the amendment had been proposed at a previous meeting; or at any regular meeting, by a unanimous vote, without previous notice.

THE DEFENDER,

PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY.

By the New England Sabbath Protective League, 520-1 Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass.

Orders for subscriptions and advertising should be sent to Rev. M. D. Kneeland, 520-1 Tremont Temple, Boston.

In requests to change address, please send both your old and new address.

Telephone Number, M, 4765-1,Boston.

Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at Boston, Mass.

Price 50 cents a year. Ten cents a copy.

ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING.

The fourteenth annual business meeting of the League was held on January 25, at 1.30, P.M., in Pilgrim Hall, Rev. Arthur Little, D.D., in the chair. Prayer was offered by Rev. John Galbraith, D.D. Reports of Secretary and Treasurer were received and approved, and ordered to be distributed

as usual.

Upon report of Nominating Committee the present officials were re-elected, and new names were added, as follows:

Ex-Gov. D. H. Goodell was elected Vice-president for New Hampshire in place of Ex-Gov. Frank W. Rollins. A resolution was passed expressing the regret of the Annual Meeting, that Gov. Rollins felt obliged to resign his position. The following were added to the Advisory Committee.

Ex-Gov. John B. Smith, Hillsboro Bridge, N. H
Rev. W. S. McIntire, D.D., Rockville, Conn.
Rev. C S. Monroe, D.D., New Haven, Conn.
Rev. C. S. Macfarland, D.D., So. Norwalk, Conn
Rev. George L. Cady, D.D., Dorchester, Mass.
Rev. J. Stanley Durkee, Ph. D., Roxbury, Mass.
Hon. Robert Luce, Somerville, Mass
Sec. George W. Mehaffy, Boston, Mass

Several of our number are now laboring e'sewhere and their names are necessarily removed from our lists, including Rev. John L. Sewall, Field Secretary, who has become Secretary of the Board of Trade, Worcester. Governor F. H. Rollins, Vice-President for New Hampshire, felt obliged to resign, and ex-Governor D. H. Goodell has been elected to the vacancy.

Our Boards are composed of busy men, of high standing in church, state and business life, and their names are a tower of strength to the League.

OF THE

SECRETARY AND DIRECTORS

OF THE

New England Sabbath Protective League,

1908.

The last year of our second septennate has been a year of Divine blessing. We have reason for gratitude that none of our officials have been removed from us by death. The list of the departed, which was reported one year ago, comprised several who had worked with us from the beginning, and their loss is still seriously felt.

work of the General Secretary.

Interstate

While the League emEnlarge- braces the whole of New ment. England in its territory and work, we have felt for some time that the different states should maintain efficient local organizations. The formation of an Auxiliary Committee in Vermont was begun in June and completed in October, 1908. It is made up of prominent men of the different denominations, with President John M. Thomas of Middlebury College, Chairman. It has legislative and finance sub-committees, and a Secretary, Rev. H. E. Merrill, whose work is of great value to Vermont and New Hampshire. President Thomas says of him,

"The Vermont Committee of the League counts itself fortunate in having the devoted services of Mr. Merrill who is ready to go into every village and hamlet of the state to organize public sentiment for more careful attention to the blessings and privileges of a quiet Sunday, sacred to the higher things of life. He is cordially commended as a trustworthy and honorable man, wise in method and discreet in speech. He will labor tactfully and efficiently to bring about an observance of Sunday that will guard boys from temptation and uplift the people as a whole."

An auxiliary organization is already planned for Connecticut, and one will be formed in each of the New England states as soon as circumstances warrant. This will enable interested citizens to meet local and special demands in a prompt and efficient way, while it will concentrate and crystallize public opinion in different sections.

That such an enlargement and massing of plnubic setiment in New

President John M. Thomas, D. D., Chairman Auxiliary Committee. Vermont.

Societies. ment in New England is

only an indication of present

day tendencies as seen in that remarkable representative gathering of thirty-four denominations called the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, convened in Philadelphia in December, 1908, which voted:

I. It is the sense of the Council that a new and stronger emphasis should be given in the pulpit, the Sunday-school, and the home to the Scriptural Observance of the first day of the week as the sacred day, the home day, the rest day for every man, woman and child.

2 That all encroachments upon the

H. H. Spooner, Advisory Committee, Connecticut.

claims and sanctities of the Lord's Day should be stoutly resisted through the press, the Lord's Day Associations and Alliances, and by such legislation as may be secured to protect and preserve this bulwark of our American Christianity.

The same week a Conference was held in Pittsburg to consider the formation of the The Lord's Day Alliance of the United States, which should organize for offensive and defensive purposes all of the states and territories not already organized, and federate as far as possible all state and local Sabbath and rest day organizations. The Conference appointed a committee with power to organize a genuinely national organization along the line of the very successful Canadian Lord's Day Alliance.

in Canada and

The Canadian Alliance is an organization of all the Alliances Provinces under a common head. Rev. T. Albert Europe. Moore, the General Secretary, presented in a clear and helpful way the work of the Canadian Alliance, reporting in proof of its great efficiency that "96 per cent. of violations of the law are settled after a kindly appeal at headquarters without legal proceedings," and that some 80,000 laboring men have been relieved from Sunday toil during the last two years by the wise and judicious enforcement of the Canadian Statutes.

While the forces of law and order and Sabbath observance are coming together in this country and Canada, we are glad to learn that a similar tendency is noted in England, Scotland, Switzerland and other parts of Europe, and a general federation of European Societies is anticipated in the near future, ultimately resulting in a World's Federation.