Every other subject, all discussion of other points, is subordinate to the one great subject of separation of religion and the State. And the one great reason for this, the sole basis of it, is that the AMERICAN SENTINEL is Christian.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.2

It is solely because that the separation of religion and the State is Christian that we advocate it. Nor is this a mere sentiment or side issue of Christianity. It is one of the fundamental principles, one of the chief characteristics of Christianity.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.3

The Bible, not merely the New Testament, but the whole book, is the book of Christianity. The New Testament is not a revelation new and distinct from the old: it is the culmination of the revelation begun in the Old Testament.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.4

The Old Testament and the New are one book, one consistent, harmonious revelation of God through Jesus Christ; because Jesus Christ is the revelation of God before the world was made, when the world was made, and through all the history of the world from beginning to end.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.5

The first chapter of Genesis is Christian as certainly as is the first chapter of John. The Book of Genesis is Christian as certainly as is the first chapter of John. The Book of Genesis is Christian as really as is the Book of Revelation or any other book in the Bible. We repeat therefore that the whole Bible is the book of Christianity, the book of the Christian religion, the revelation of God through Jesus Christ.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.6

And the separation of religion and the State is one of the great thoughts of this great book. It is one of the leading principles of that book which for man is the source of all sound principle.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.7

Many people think that the two or three expressions of Christ as recorded in the New Testament are all that the Bible contains on the subject of the separation of Church and State; and many others are disposed even to argue against these passages and to modify them by other passages from the Old Testament. But separation of religion and the State is one of the original thoughts of the Bible, and reaches from the beginning to the end of the Book; and neither the book nor this subject can be fairly understood in reference to this matter till this is clearly defined in the mind. Therefore that the SENTINEL may be true to its mission and serve in the best way the great object of its existence, we purpose to give to our readers a series of studies of the Bible on this subject from beginning to end.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.8

Being one of the great thoughts of the Bible, one of the great thoughts of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, this subject is of vital importance to men everywhere in their relations to God, and not merely in their relations to the State. It is a principle that is involved in the daily experience of the Christian, in his relation to God, and not merely an abstract question that man can stand as it were apart and view simply as a speculative question of the relations between religion and the State.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.9

The ways of God are right. His word is the only certain light, the only sure truth. The principles which he has announced are the only safe principles for the guidance of men. We hope, and shall seriously endeavor, to make each study so plain that every reader can easily see and readily grasp the truth of it.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.10

The first of these studies we shall present now and shall begin at the beginning.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.11

“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment.AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.12

“And the second is like, namely this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; there is none other commandment greater than these.”AMS May 13, 1897, page 289.13

“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.1

These two commandments exist in the very nature and circumstances of existence of any two intelligent creatures in the Universe. They existed thus in the existence of the first two intelligent creatures that ever had a place in the Universe.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.2

When the first intelligence was created and there was no creature but himself, as he owed to his Creator his existence, as he owed to God all that he was or could be, heart, soul, might, mind and strength: it devolved upon him to render to God the tribute of all this and to love God with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his mind, and all his strength. And this is the first of all the commandments. It is first in the very nature and existence of the first, and of every other intelligent creature.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.3

But the second of these would have no place if there were but one intelligent creature in the universe: for then he would have no neighbor. When the second one was created, the first of all the commandments was first with him equally with the other one: and now the second great commandment exists in the very nature and existence of these two intelligent creatures, as certainly as the first great commandment exists in the nature and existence of the first one.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.4

Each of the two owes to the Lord all that he is or has, and all that he could ever rightly have. Neither of them has anything that is self-derived. Each owes all to God. There is between them no ground of preference. And this because of the honor each owes to God: because to each, God is all in all. Therefore the second great commandment exists as certainly as the first; and it exists in the nature and circumstance of the very existence of intelligent creatures. Consequently, “There is none other commandment greater than these.”AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.5

These two commandments then, exist in the nature of cherubim, seraphim, angels and men. As soon as the man was created, the first of all the commandments was there even though there, had been no other creature in the Universe. And as soon as the woman was created, these two great commandments were there. And there was none other commandment greater than these.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.6

Now, if these two great commandments had been observed by man on the earth, that is, had man never sinned, there always would have been perfect and supreme religion: and there never could have been a State.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.7

Therefore it is certain that the observance of these two first of all the commandments, means the absolute separation of religion and the State. And thus the principle of separation of religion and the State inheres in the very existence of intelligent creatures.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.8

But man did sin. Mankind did not love God with all the heart nor their neighbors as themselves. Christianity was introduced to bring man back to the position, and the original relations, which he lost. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.9

It being then the one great purpose of Christianity to restore man to his original condition and relation to God, its purpose is to restore him to the condition in which he can love God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, and with all the strength, and can love his neighbor as himself. It is to restore him to obedience to these two first of all the commandments. It is to restore him to perfect and supreme religion.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.10

We have seen that such a condition maintained from the beginning would have been the absolute separation of religion and State, because then, there never could have been any State. And now as the one great purpose of Christianity is to restore man completely to that condition, it follows with perfect conclusiveness that Christianity in its very essence, from the beginning to the end and everywhere, means the absolute separation of religion and the State.AMS May 13, 1897, page 290.11

“The Trouble and the Remedy” American Sentinel 12, 19, p. 292.

ATJ

THE Rev. Chas. L. Bovard, a Methodist minister of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a contribution to the N. Y. Christian Advocate, of April 22, on the subject of “Some Alarming Tendencies,” says:—AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.1

“Ponder this. It is estimated that in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand people flocked to Denver and Albuquerque to see the pseudo Messiah—Schlatter! There is no need of comment upon the intellectual, social, and religious character of so credulous a populace. They are prepared for the wildest vagaries. Can it be that we are two centuries from Salem witchcraft? Nor was the Schlatter following chiefly confined to the ignorant Mexican population, but the cultured yet godless leaders of society were his stoutest defenders. It sometimes seems as though a ‘perverse spirit’ had been poured out upon the people of this nation, furiously driving them to cut loose from their every conservative mooring.”AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.2

What is the trouble? We are living in “the blazing light of the nineteenth century”; yet it may be doubted whether credulity and superstition were ever more prevalent than they are to-day. And not the ignorant alone, but “the cultured yet godless leaders of society,” constitute the ready victims of their power.AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.3

What is the trouble? Do we want more science, more public schools and colleges, more newspapers, more civilization? There was never so much of all this as there is at present. Yet it is nothing short of the truth that “it sometimes seems as though a ‘perverse spirit’ had been poured out upon the people of this nation, furiously driving them to cut loose from their every conservative mooring.”AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.4

Ah, there is a “perverse spirit” which works independently of all restraints of science and civilization, a spirit which runs riots in “the blazing light of the nineteenth century” as freely as it did in the ages before it. And that “perverse spirit” is the spirit of opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the spirit of selfishness and of the prince of evil, which sets at nought [sic.] the counsel of the Most High. This is an age of Bibles, yet the Word of God is not in the hearts of the people. The power and wisdom of God find no place for operation in their lives.AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.5

There is but one antidote and preventive of this perverse spirit which drives the people to such displays of credulity and superstition; and that is, truth; and not “truth” merely, but “the truth as it [sic.] in Jesus.” Ah, this is the education for the need of which the world is dying,—the knowledge of “the truth as it is in Jesus.” There can be no true education without the knowledge of Christ.AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.6

When the people know the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” they will have no desire to follow after other manifestations of power claiming to be divine. When they know the voice of the “Good Shepherd,” they will not be ready to heed the voice of a stranger.AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.7

No one, however capable or qualified by nature and education, need expect to escape the “perverse spirit” of this age and the delusions to which it leads, unless his education shall include an acquaintance with Him who is the Author and embodiment of truth. And that acquaintance can be secured by any and every person by receiving His word into the heart by faith.AMS May 13, 1897, page 292.8

May 6, 1897

May 20, 1897