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    October 28, 1897

    “Editorial” American Sentinel 12, 42, p. 657.

    ATJ

    “JUDGE nothing before the time.”AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.1

    CIVIL government was never designed to be a rival to the gospel in saving men from immorality.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.2

    THE one necessary qualification for admission to the society for discovering what is proper for other people, is to have a good-sized beam in your eye.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.3

    RELIGIOUS intolerance is only one form of selfishness. “For the glory of God” is a phrase which very often, properly translated, would mean “for the gratification of self.”AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.4

    THE Almighty has undertaken to provide a country in which there shall be a righteous citizenship; and his plan alone, of all those that are being tried, will prove successful.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.5

    IT is just as possible to realize national prosperity independently of individual prosperity, as to secure national righteousness independently of individual righteousness.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.6

    THE God of heaven and earth put the stamp of his own image upon man at his creation, and yet this has not saved man in many instances from sinking to the moral level of the brute. What salvation then can be expected for the nation from merely inserting the name of God in the Constitution.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.7

    ONE thing that is very much neglected in the attempted solution of the “labor problem,” is the divine call and invitation, “Go, work to-day in my vineyard.” Here is work for all who want work, and an Employer who is invariably kind and just to his help.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.8

    A BAD principle or a bad religion—as, for example, the papal religion—is as much the foe of the one who has espoused it, as of the one who opposes it. Bad principles underlie all bad religion; and in opposing them the SENTINEL is not opposing any man, but is seeking rather to rescue men from their most dangerous foes. What it says in the advocacy of its principles, it says in behalf of all men, regardless of their race or belief.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.9

    “The Cross and the Flag” American Sentinel 12, 42, pp. 657, 658.

    ATJ

    THE symbol of the new crusade which calls itself “Christian citizenship,” is a cross, twined about by the flag of the United States.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.1

    We do not question the fitness of this symbol to represent that proposed union of religion with the state for which “Christian citizenship” stands. It is very suggestive on this point. But considering the cross as the symbol of Christianity, the emblem becomes altogether incongruous.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.2

    The American flag stands for the nation, as distinct from all other nations; for the interests of the United States, as distinct from those of all other countries on the earth. It has no meaning or significance which is not distinctly sectional.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.3

    Christianity, on the other hand, is distinctly non-sectional. It is for all classes and races of people alike. There is an American flag, but there is no American Christianity; there is an English flag, but there is no English Christianity. Nor is there French Christianity, nor Scandinavian Christianity, nor any other national Christianity. There is Christianity,—simply that, and nothing more.AMS October 28, 1897, page 657.4

    Christianity is not susceptible of subdivisions into species and varieties. It is one and the same thing for all individuals on the earth.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.1

    And this is why there can be no such thing as national Christianity. Such a thing would partake of the distinctive qualities of the nation to which it pertained; otherwise there would be no force in calling it national. So we would have as many different kinds of Christianity as there might be nations who should choose to join themselves with it.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.2

    Christianity says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It sees not the cross and the flag, but the cross only.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.3

    The American flag, or any other national flag, stands for war as much as it does for peace. It is borne at the head of the armies and navies of the nations in deadly combat with each other. Nor does it change one iota on such an occasion from that which it is when wrapped about the cross to form the symbol of “Christian citizenship.” But Christianity stands for peace, and that always. Christianity is love, and not variance and bitterness.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.4

    The cross stands infinitely above the flag. The flag is of the earth: the cross is not of earth. No added meaning need or can be given, by anything on earth, to its wondrous significance as the token of salvation for a lost and dying race. Nor can the cross impart any significance to the flag. Taken together, the two can symbolize only something incongruous, unchristian, and un-American.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.5

    “The ‘Question Before the House’” American Sentinel 12, 42, p. 658.

    ATJ

    AN individual may be pardoned for not keeping track of all that is going on in the world in this “fast” age, but there is a dangerous negligence in this particular revealed in the language of an esteemed correspondent who writes us that he does not see what use there is for the SENTINEL at the present time. “It seems to me,” he says, “that there is no question before the house, and that the SENTINEL is firing at dead issues.”AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.1

    We had supposed everybody who read the SENTINEL was aware of the movement that has now for some years been on foot in the churches of this country to “enthrone Christ” in the politics of this nation. That movement was never so formidable as it is to-day. It is represented by the “Christian Citizenship,” “Christian Endeavor,” and other organizations of a religious nature, numbering millions of young, active, and zealous adherents. And these millions of young people are only the latest recruits to the army which is working to secure this “national reform.”AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.2

    Shall Christ be “enthroned” in our politics? is the question before the house. Or in other words, Shall the religious movement succeed which, its adherents claim, will “enthrone Christ on Capitol Hill,” but which in reality will unite church and state? A very live issue is this, and one which concerns the welfare of every individual in the country. And—we repeat—this movement was never so formidable as it is to-day.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.3

    IF to observe a weekly day of rest is a matter of personal right, it should be recognized as the privilege of the individual to so rest if he chooses to do so. But the Sunday law denies that any person shall exercise their own choice in the matter, and thereby denies that a weekly rest is a matter of individual right. Professing to uphold the right, it in reality denies it altogether.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.4

    “A Threatened Union of Church and State” American Sentinel 12, 42, pp. 658, 659.

    ATJ

    TO the Mormons in Utah President Woodruff of their hierarchy has proclaimed: “Unite in your temple work and unite in your politics.” And the newspapers are calling this a “threatened union of church and state in Utah.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.1

    Yes, that is what it is. But that is nothing new, nor is it peculiar to Utah. For years the same thing has been threatened, and in the same way, by the professed Protestant churches of the whole country, and with respect to the politics of the nation.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.2

    In 1893 these churches throughout the whole country united in their politics and showered Congress with their united pledge “never to vote for, nor support in any way, for any office or position of trust,” any member of Congress who refused to vote at that particular time as they dictated.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.3

    We said all the time that this work of these churches threatened a union of church and state. This was so plain that all could see it; yet the press generally, for some reason, would not denounce it as such. But as soon as the Mormons propose the same thing, only in the little State of Utah, it is heralded over the country as a threatened union of church and state. This is right: but why be so partial? It is no worse in the Mormon Church than it is in the professed Protestant churches of the whole country.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.4

    The Christian Endeavorers, the Christian Citizenship Leagues, the Law and Order Leagues, and a number of other organizations, have for some time been making prominent this very matter of uniting in their politics. Why is not this noted as a threatened union of church and state? For that is exactly what it is.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.5

    The Mormon Church proposes to unite in their politics, in order that they can have the will of their church combination respected and carried into effect by the State of Utah. All these other church combinations did the same thing in 1892 and 1893, and they are doing it yet, in order to have the will of their church combination carried into effect by the national government.AMS October 28, 1897, page 658.6

    The Mormon proposition is to make in Utah a State religion: the proposition of these other church combinations is to make a national religion. They are alike in principle, but the latter is as much worse in practice as the nation is greater than the State of Utah.AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.1

    Yes, that Mormon proposition does threaten a union of church and state, and as such it should be opposed. By the propositions of these professed Protestant churches and other religious combinations threaten precisely the same thing. Let this be opposed also. And let this be watched the more closely and opposed the more strongly, as it means mischief on a larger scale than the other. Let there be no respect of persons nor churches in any “threatened union of church and state.”AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.2

    “The Workingman’s Palladium” American Sentinel 12, 42, p. 659.

    ATJ

    THE Independent (N. Y.), of October 14, makes this very truthful statement: “The fourth commandment is the workingman’s palladium, his best defense against oppression, and was so intended from the first.”AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.1

    The fourth commandment was designed by keep men in constant touch with the Author of liberty. Whoever shall keep the fourth commandment will know freedom in its highest sense.AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.2

    The fourth commandment is not only a command to every individual to rest on the Sabbath day, but it is the guaranty of the highest power in the universe that every person shall enjoy the privilege who will take it. For does the God of heaven command any person to do that which he is not fully able to do?AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.3

    All that is necessary is for the workingman to have confidence in God. God offers to all men absolute freedom and independence; in other words, a noble, upright manhood, which never need bow its head in servility and cringing fear. “God made man upright,” is the declaration of the Scriptures of truth. God made man to be upright, and not the less so in this age of the world than in any other. All the bossism and the servility which characterize the relations of man to his fellow man in this day, are not of God’s ordering, but are directly contrary to it.AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.4

    God has not made the privilege of Sabbath rest contingent, for a single one of his creatures, upon the lofty condescension of some other man in giving him permission to enjoy that rest; or upon the happen-so of some other man’s choosing to keep the Sabbath himself. It is the duty of employers to keep the Sabbath himself. It is the duty of employers to throw no obstacle in the way of their employés as regards the keeping of the Sabbath, as is said in Deuteronomy, “That thy man servant and thy maid servant may rest as well as thou.” But this statement is not a declaration that men servants and maid servants cannot have a Sabbath rest if their employers do not see fit to rest themselves or to grant them the permission.AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.5

    In Christ, there is no distinction of master and servant, but all are free and on a perfect equality; and the duty and privilege of one, in respect to Sabbath observance, do not vary one whit from those of another.AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.6

    Let the workingman, and every other man who has them not, accept the freedom and manhood that are in Christ. They are worth more to him than anything else.AMS October 28, 1897, page 659.7

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