# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_M rz 1895_S89
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Kirchlich⸗Zeitgeschichtliches. 89

bition is to be opened or any other great public and general national display
is to be made. The most prominent religious part is very naturally given
to the ranking archbishop. . . . Why sbould not the Proteéstant Episcopal
Church have something e higher than an archbishop, a veritable Primus, who
should have a designation which shall be supreme and superior to any other
in the country? A Legate is only a legate of somebody else, confessedly
subordinate, but a Primus —what is there before The First?“ F. B.
Sonntagsgesetze. Von welchen Principien sich der Staat bei Erlassung und
Durchführung von Sonntagsgesetzen leiten läßt, davon schreibt“The Independent'
also: „Sunday laws areé not enforced by the courts because of the Divine
sanction or because of the religious aspects of the day... . Dr. Spear, in his
Religion and the State, shows that the Christian Sabbath is not an in⸗
stitution of the Federal Government, and is wholly unmentioned in any of
the State Constitutions except that of Vermont; that it is treated in the
lawys as a day of cessation from labor, and not as à religious institution; and
that the State courts have taken an entirely secular view of it. Thus the
Supreme Court of New Vork held that it is a civil and political institution“,
resting on the same foundations as the laws against gambling, lotteries, sell-
ing intoxicants on election days, etc.; that of Pennsylvania that it is only
a Civil regulation'; that of South Carolina that Sunday is a mere day of
rest, with which religion has nothing more to do than with a statute which
should make July 4th or January Sth a rest-day; that of Alabama that Sun-
day legislation is simply an exercise of the police power, and can not be
justified on the ground that such abstinence Ifrom labor] is enjoined by the
Ohristian religion; and that of Ohio that the validity of such legislation
is neither strengthened nor weakened by the fact that the day of rest it
enjoins is the Sabbath Day.“ Other citations are given by Dr. Spear; and
he reaches the conclusion that the whole theory of Sabbath legislation, as
expounded by the courts, is that it rests uot upon Divine sanction or re-
ligious reasons, but the desirability of securing à regular rest-day, and of pro-
tecting those who religiously observe it from annoyance and disturbance.“
II. Ausland.

Dr. Th. Kliefoth, Oberkirchenrathspräsident a. D., ist am 26. Januar nach
eben vollendetem 85. Lebensjahre zu Schwerin gestorben. Er war einer der her⸗
vorragendsten, ja, in früheren Jahren und in gewisser Beziehung der hervor
ragendste unter allen Kirchenmännern Deutschlands. Unvergessen soll es ihm sein,
daß er, nachdem er selbst aus dem Rationalismus, Hegelianismus und Schleier⸗
macherianismus zum christlichen Heilsglauben an Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit sich
hindurch gerungen hatte, als ein wirklich practischer Kirchenmann die mecklenbur⸗
gische Landeskirche ernstlich zu säubern anfing. Mit eisernem Besen fegte er den
Rationalismus aus, indem er, Visitationen anstellend, die alten rationalistischen
Pastoren nöthigte, ihr Amt niederzulegen, gleichzeitig für besseren Nachwuchs sor⸗
gend, wie er solches besonders durch Berufung gläubiger Professoren an die theo⸗
logische Facultät zu Rostock that. Und gerade hier müssen wir nochmals unsers
theuren Philippi gedenken, eines Mannes, wie die sämmtlichen deutschen Universi⸗
täten dieses Jahrhunderts seines Gleichen nicht aufzuweisen haben. Zu den groß⸗
artigsten Leistungen Kliefoths gehört endlich noch, daß er, eine Autorität auf dem
Gebiete der Liturgik, die mecklenburgische Landeskirche mit einer durchaus recht⸗
gläubigen Agende bedachte. Was das zu bedeuten hat, möge man erkennen, wenn