THE modest demand of the National Reformers is that the people will please allow them to be conscience for the government.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.4

IF people did not choose to be so independent of God, they would not be so miserably dependent upon their fellow mortals.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.5

IF the Constitution is a godless document because it does not contain the name of God, is the Book of Esther a godless book?AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.6

DOES the “civil Sunday” prove the theory of evolution? No one can question that it evolved from something purely religious.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.7

THERE is no danger that the world will ever cease to be religious, for it is human nature to be religious. But when people lost Christianity, their religion naturally allies itself with worldly power and fights its battles with carnal weapons. Worldly religion is worse than none at all.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.8

THE purpose of legislation is not to grant rights, but to preserve them. The assume the authority to grant rights is to deny that rights inhere in the individual.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.9

CAN anyone tell why it is that the ministers and religious societies can see better than any other classes of the people the necessity for a purely “civil” Sunday?AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.10

IF it were not for the love of money, a great many people would close their shops on Sunday who are now “forced” to keep them open, notwithstanding they feel very bad about doing business on that day.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.11

“Christians Speak for All Men” American Sentinel 13, 6, pp. 81, 82.

ATJ

JESUS CHRIST came into this world, as he said to Pilate, to “bear witness unto the truth.”AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.1

The purpose which brought him here is the same which brings every individual into the world who is “born again.” Christians, like their Master, are here to bear witness unto the truth.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.2

It is because of this, which condemns the world, that the world has hated them and persecuted them.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.3

Christians are not in this world to ask favors for themselves of the world. If the world leaves them free to enjoy the exercise of their rights, well and good. But in any case their enunciation of the doctrine of individual rights, as with any other Christian doctrine, is for the purpose of bearing witness to the truth, which concerns all man alike.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.4

Before the bar of truth all men stand; by it all must be judged. Whether the Christian be in the private assembly, or before the legislature, or in court to answer for obedience to the dictates of his conscience, these conditions remain unchanged. The real bar is the bar of truth. Christians are the witnesses; and by their testimony those who hear it are to know whether they themselves stand justified or condemned.AMS February 10, 1898, page 81.5

This was forcibly illustration in the experience of the apostle Paul. Brought before Felix in bonds, to answer for the crime with which he has charged by the Jews, Paul bore witness unto the truth, which, while vindicating him against the Jews, was of such magnitude and universal application that Paul the prisoner was lost to view before the overwhelming significance of the eternal principles of right conduct. The record is that ‘as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, God thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” Acts 24:25.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.1

In bearing witness unto the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ, self is lost to view, and in its place all mankind appear as heirs of the inalienable rights which God has given them—rights by the exercise of which they are to determine their eternal destiny for weal or woe.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.2

It is thus that Christians stand before the legislatures of the land, asking that no laws be enacted which will interfere with the individual prerogative of rendering to Cesar the things that are Cesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.3

“Another Scripture Study for the ‘Christian Citizen’” American Sentinel 13, 6, p. 82.

ATJ

OF his disciples, Jesus says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” “Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.1

The state is altogether of this world. No state will ever see any other world than this.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.2

Yet Christ says that Christians are not of this world; nor of the things that are in the world.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.3

Now the problem is, How can a man be not of this world; and yet be a part of that which is altogether of this world? How can he be not of, and love not, the things that are in the world, and yet be a material, an active part of a thing that is solely of this world and can never possibly be of any other? The only fair, logical, or reasonable answer to these questions settles the question of the relationship of Christians to the states and governments of this world.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.4

So completely is the state of a thing of this world that when a man is born, he is born into the world and into the state at the same time. So long as he remains a part of the world, he is a part of the state. And so long as he remains a part of the state he remains a part of the world. And all this by the very fact of his having been born at all.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.5

But Christianity calls men to “be born again:” to be “born from above:” to be born of the Spirit. And when this is done he is born into another kingdom, into another government, into another world. And it is just as true that when a man is born again, he is born into another kingdom at the same time, as it is that when he is born the first time, he is born into the state at the same time.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.6

When a man is born again, that birth is just as real as was the first one. When he is born again, that birth is as distinct from the first one as day is from night. And the realm, the government, the world, into which he is born when he is born again, is just as distinct from the realm, the government, and the world into which he was first born, as the new birth is distinct from the first birth. The two things are so essentially different in all their characteristics that they cannot possibly be blended.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.7

The state is of nature wholly: Christianity is of grace wholly. The state is altogether natural: Christianity is altogether spiritual. The state is of the earth: Christianity is of heaven. Thus in nature and characteristics the two things are absolutely separate and distinct. They cannot be united nor blended in the same person, nor in the same things. No: “they are not of the world.” “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is emnity [sic.] with God? Whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God.”AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.8

But the Lord has given us an unmistakable standard of comparison: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” What was the attitude of Christ toward the states and the kingdoms of this world? It was one of total separation from all of them in every way. And this is not simply that he did not have any thing to do with them, but that he would not have it. It is not that he passively ignored it, but that he actually refused to have anything to do with the state. He was offered the kingdom of Judea, and he refused it. He was offered all the kingdoms of the world, but he refused them all. His kingdom was not, and is not, of this world.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.9

And he is the standard of all Christianity. He is the sole example of all Christians. And they are not of the world, even as he is not of the world. They are not of the things that are in the world, even as he is not of the things that are in the world.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.10

A. T. J.

“‘Christian Politics’” American Sentinel 13, 6, pp. 82, 83.

ATJ

CHRISTIANITY is not of this world.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.1

To his followers Jesus Christ said (and still says): “Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world;” and in his memorable prayer (John 17) he said of them, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Vs. 14, 16.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.2

That which is of the world, the world loves, and that which the world engages in with all ardor may safely be set down as being congenial to worldly taste.AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.3

And in what does all the world engage more zealously than in politics?AMS February 10, 1898, page 82.4

The very acme of worldliness is represented in political organizations and methods.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.1

The ballot is an instrument of worldly power. The agent of evil makes use of it as gladly and as freely as does anyone. Not so of the instruments of righteousness,—the weapons which are not carnal.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.2

In the very nature of things, therefore, there can be no such thing as Christian politics.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.3

“Christian politics”—that which we see developing in this country by that name—is politics in its worst and most dangerous form.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.4

“Note” American Sentinel 13, 6, p. 83.

ATJ

THE Supreme Court of Kansas has legally recognized and sustained the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. A will by which money was left for the purpose of paying for masses for the dead was contested.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.1

The will was sustained. There can be no fair objection to this in itself. For surely people have the right to do with their own money any harmless thing that they may choose. And if money was willed to pay some one for whistling a certain number of times over the grave of the one making the will, the will should be sustained. So with money willed to pay for saying masses. One is as harmless as the other.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.2

But the court did not stop here. Indeed it did not begin here. It began with the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, as quoted form a Catholic book of doctrine and from the Catholic Bible. And it sustained the will first of all because of the “wholesomeness” of this doctrine: and secondly because the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of Kansas “interferes with no mere religious practices except such as tend to subvert the foundation of public morals and order.”AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.3

How courts do love to wander off into the realms of religion, and then sustain their action in so doing by quoting the clauses of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution which forbid their doing so! A. T. J.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.4

“Proof That This Is a Christian Nation” American Sentinel 13, 6, p. 83.

ATJ

“IT is sometimes flippantly asserted that ‘This is not a Christian nation;’ you have no right to a Christian Sabbath protected by law, for the Constitution of the United States prohibits the establishment of religion.” Thus begins an argument to prove that this is a Christian nation, which appears in Vol. 5, No. 1 of “Sunday Reform Leaflets,” issued by the Sunday League of America, with headquarters at Columbus, Ohio.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.1

The assumption that this is a Christian nation is the basis for many appeals for legislation, state and national, to enforce the observance of Sunday.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.2

There are many facts which bear upon this question, and they are not so far beneath the surface of things that they cannot be readily pointed out for consideration. Let us examine a few of them for the evidence which they furnish upon this point.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.3

Is this a Christian nation because the people spend some hundreds of millions of dollars every year for whiskey and similar liquors, and about five millions to carry the gospel to the heathen?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.4

Are we a Christian nation because we prefer to give ten times as much for tobacco to smoke and chew as we are willing to give for foreign missions?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.5

Is this a Christian nation because it maintains a great and growing navy for the purpose of inflicting death and destruction upon its enemies?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.6

Is this a Christian nation because it always demands satisfaction for any real or fancied insult to its dignity?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.7

Is this a Christian nation because it shuts up the transgressor in prison, instead of forgiving him the offense?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.8

Are we a Christian nation because we are ruthlessly exterminating the beautiful birds—taking from them the life the Creator gave them—in order that our ladies may have feather-trimmed bonnets to wear to church?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.9

Are we a Christian nation because our church-going people split up into a hundred irreconcilable divisions and sects?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.10

Are we a Christian nation because nine-tenths of the people are twice as eagerly engaged in the pursuit of money and pleasure as in the pursuit of piety?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.11

Which one of these perfectly evident facts demonstrates that we are a Christian nation? Or do they all unite to prove the point?AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.12

Will the Sunday League of America—or anyone for that matter—please inform us how this is.AMS February 10, 1898, page 83.13

“Notes” American Sentinel 13, 6, p. 91.

ATJ

THE New York Independent, of January 27, voices our sentiments in the following:—AMS February 10, 1898, page 91.1

“We sympathize with the converted Jew who has been told that he must eat pork as a testimony that he is a real Christian, and who publishes his protest in the leading poem of a Jewish Christian magazine. It beings:AMS February 10, 1898, page 91.2

‘Oh, canst we eat the flesh of swine,
Because, Lord Jesus, we are thine?’
It is not at all necessary.”AMS February 10, 1898, page 91.3

There would be a good many more Jews converted to Christianity if they were not given to understand they must as Christians do some things that Christ not only never commanded, but that are positively against his precepts.AMS February 10, 1898, page 91.4

February 3, 1898

February 17, 1898