* * “And truly we see what such a doctrine has profited; for those who adopt it far exceed the Jews in a gross, carnal and superstitious observance of the Sabbath.”—John Calvin. “As regards the Sabbath or Sunday, there is no necessity for keeping it; but if we do it ought not to be on account of Moses’s commandment, but because nature teaches us from time to time to take a day of rest. * * If anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day’s sake, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to do anything that will reprove this encroachment on Christian spirit and liberty.”—Martin Luther. “These things refute those who suppose that the first day of the week (that is, the Lord’s day), was substituted in place of the Sabbath, for no mention is made of such a thing by Christ or his Apostles.”—Grotius. Tyndale the martyr, Erasmus, Paley, McNight and a host of other Christian authorities, were and are of the same opinion regarding Sabbath observance. England and America stand practically alone in retaining so much of the Jewish Sabbath. Here is a letter from Benjamin Franklin to Jared Ingersoll of New Haven, Conn., which bears directly on the subject and may be read with both interest and profit by those who concern themselves in Sunday laws.[22] [22] The original is in the possession of the New Haven Colony Historical Society. [Illustration: WILLIAM PENN, The Quaker Brewer, and Founder of Pennsylvania, 1644-1718. (See page 26.)] PHILADELPHIA, December 11, 1762. “I should be glad to know what it is that distinguishes Connecticut Religion from common Religion:—communicate, if you please, some of these particulars that you think will amuse me as a virtuoso. When I traveled in Flanders I thought of your excessively strict observation of Sunday; and that a man could hardly travel on that day among you upon this lawful occasion, without Hazard of Punishment, while where I was every one traveled, if he pleased, or diverted himself in any other way; and in the afternoon both high and low went to the Play or the Opera, where there was plenty of Singing, Fiddling and Dancing. I looked around for God’s Judgments, but saw no signs of them. The Cities were well built and full of Inhabitants, the Markets filled with Plenty, the People well favored and well clothed; the Fields well tilled; the Cattle fat and strong; the Fences, Houses and Windows all in Repair; and no _Old Tenor_ anywhere in the Country;—which would almost make one suspect that the Deity is not so angry at that offense as a New England Justice.” B. FRANKLIN.