November 4, 1897

“Editorial” American Sentinel 12, 43, p. 673.

ATJ

THE principles of right government are based upon unselfishness.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.1

THE goodness of God cannot be framed in a creed or a law of man.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.2

NOT all is the gold of true principle that manifests itself in “glittering generalities.”AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.3

HE only is not an anarchist who is loyal to the eternal law which governs the universe.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.4

IT is a mistake to think that a man has to go into politics in order to serve the state.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.5

THERE is nothing that human nature blossoms out into more readily than Phariseeism.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.6

SHOW me a man who is trying to force other people to keep the Sabbath, and I will show you a man who can’t keep the Sabbath himself.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.7

THE man who wants to force people to do right by law has forgotten—if he ever knew it—that the “weightier matters of the law” are justice, mercy, and truth.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.8

CONSIDERING the absolute confidence which the political factions display in the coming success of their opposing candidates at the polls,—which is of course an absolute impossibility,—one is led to reflect that it would be sad indeed if Christianity offered no surer ground of hope and belief than does politics, or so often lured its adherents into “knowing things that are not so.”AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.9

IT is a mistake for the state to act as though it were the creator of the people, and held their rights at its disposal. The people are the creators of the state.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.10

IF I am not permitted to choose whether I will keep the Sabbath or not, Sabbath-keeping cannot become a part of my nature; for only that can be wrought into my nature which comes through my own consent.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.11

“The Test of Loyalty” American Sentinel 12, 43, pp. 673, 674.

ATJ

THE test of loyalty is one that no person in this world who arrives at the age of accountability can escape. And the test is one of loyalty to law.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.1

But what law? Is it that law which is continually changing with the rise and fall of political parties, or the variations in legislative assemblies? Is there a varying standard of loyalty? It is manifest that such a standard could not serve as a universal test for mankind.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.2

No; the standard is unchanging—the same for all men in all ages—because it is based upon an unchanging and unchangeable law. The only law which changes not is the law of Him who is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.3

The principles of this law come in contact with the daily life of every individual. No one can escape them. And they are the principles of religious liberty. No one, therefore, can stand in the position of a looker-on while the struggle for the preservation of that liberty is in progress. Unconsciously to himself, it may be, but none the less certainly, he is standing under one or the other of the opposing standards; and if not an active participant in the contest now, he is receiving a training which will make him such in days to come.AMS November 4, 1897, page 673.4

Jesus Christ, the divine expounder of the law of God, said that “the weightier matters” of that law are justice, mercy, and truth. There can be no loyalty to that law, therefore, without an adherence to the principles of justice and mercy. The Pharisees, to whom Christ addressed these words, held the opposite idea, or at least put the opposite of it into practice. They were the greatest sticklers for “the law,” and made a most elaborate formal compliance with it; but at the same time they laid grievous burdens upon other people’s shoulders, and cared naught for the welfare and the rights of their fellow men.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.1

It was by displaying the opposite spirit that Jesus Christ manifested his loyalty to the law of God. He came to undo the heavy burdens, to break the yokes under which men were held in bondage, to open the prison doors, to relieve in every way the distress which had become the common lot of humanity. And it is in the same way that loyalty to the divine law will manifest itself to-day.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.2

The movements for “setting other people straight,“—for laying obligations upon their shoulders out of professed regard for “the law,” for putting upon them the yoke of Puritan theology and inflicting the penalty of fine or imprisonment upon all who refuse conformity with their ideas, partake of the Pharisaical spirit and not of the spirit of genuine loyalty to law.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.3

It is upon the law of the Sabbath that the Pharisaical spirit fastens itself most readily. For no part of the law were the Pharisees more zealous than for that which commanded Sabbath observance. How frequently they accused Christ of Sabbath-breaking, because he had broken—not the Sabbath, but—their ideas of Sabbath observance. The record of their mistaken zeal in this respect should furnish a warning to others of a later day to beware of any movement which would force people into uniformity in the matter of observing the Sabbath.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.4

Loyalty to the law of God will be manifested in opposition to the spirit of all such movements. Such movements are in the earth to-day, and are rapidly swelling in volume and intensity; and it is in this way that the test will be brought to the people of this day. Let those who would stand for law, stand for the law for which Christ stood, and stand for it as he did. That means that they will manifest the spirit of Christ and not that of the Pharisees. The “weightier matters of the law” are justice, mercy, and truth. Without these, a zeal for the law becomes only a cloak for anarchy.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.5

“Note” American Sentinel 12, 43, p. 674.

ATJ

IT was wisely said by Melancthon that God has not made “our knowledge all of a size any more than our bodies,” and that therefore people should “be afraid of making the articles of their faith too numerous lest they shortly become heretics themselves by disagreeing with themselves; and should be afraid of making too strict laws for those who differ in judgment on controvertible points, lest they should shortly change their own judgments, and so make a rod for their own backs.” The wisdom of that observation has been demonstrated in every case of legislation in behalf of religious customs, rites, or institutions, that there has been in the history of the world.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.1

THE Christian Citizen says, “Except the state believe on Christ and accept and apply his law of righteousness and love as the fundamental law of the land, it cannot be saved.”AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.2

And the Lord said, “He that believeth and he baptized, shall be saved.”AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.3

Now will the Christian Citizen tell the people how the state can be baptized when it does “believe on Christ?”AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.4

Will the Christian Citizen tell the people, in a plain deliberate, and thoughtful way, just what the state is?AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.5

“Tobacco and Christianity” American Sentinel 12, 43, pp. 674, 675.

ATJ

MR. E. A. KING, author of “The Cigarette and the Youth,” has gathered many facts relative to the use and effects of this most deadly instrument of modern civilization, among which we mention the following:—AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.1

“During the fiscal year 1895, the total output of the cigarette companies was 4,042,391,640. During one month nearly 358,000,000 were produced. During the fiscal year 1896, 4,043,798,737 were produced, making an increase of over one million for the year. During the month of October, 458,929,090 were produced.... It is stated on good authority that there are nearly 5,000 cigarette smokers in Chicago public schools.”AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.2

“This is a Christian nation,” declares the Supreme Court, and the statement is echoed in many places by pulpit and press. Yes; we are a smoking Christian nation,—four billions and over of cigarettes consumed in a single year by the youth, besides all the tobacco that is manufactured into cigars and smoked in pipes. Very suggestive is smoke of Christianity and all that pertains to it! Is this “Christian nation” to find at last in a realm of smoke its congenial home? An observer might well be pardoned for coming to this conclusion.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.3

“Swearing like pirates, smoking like chimneys, and headed straight for the saloon, go young America by the thousands,” says an authority upon the subject of the tobacco habit in this country. And the cigarette habit is the first step in this downward career. And yet our Sunday laws allow the sale of tobacco on Sunday as a necessity, and prohibit the sale of bread! There is nothing to equal the sagacity and fine discernment of a Sunday law.AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.4

It steps are to be taken to save this nation and make it Christian, let them be first and foremost in the line of checking this terrible tide of evil that catches its human prey in the very outset of their lives. But what can be done to rescue the children from the tobacco demon while fathers and older brothers and even mothers voluntarily bring him into their homes; yes, while these and even ministers of the gospel set the example in the use of the filthy weed?AMS November 4, 1897, page 674.5

The trouble with the youth of the country is first of all with those to whom the youth must look for guidance. The trouble with the whole country is not primarily with the bad men, but with the “good” men who, in their ambition to reform others, have become insensible to any applied reformation in themselves.AMS November 4, 1897, page 675.1

“Notes” American Sentinel 12, 43, p. 675.

ATJ

THE present day theocrats continually ring the progress on the statement that “Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the state and the nation, as well as of the individual.” But not one of them spends any time in telling the people just what and where the state and nation would be, if there were no individuals. Yet this is just the point upon which turns their whole contention, without a plain and distinct exposition of this point, all their words are simply a darkening of counsel without knowledge.AMS November 4, 1897, page 675.1

“Activity in Time of Peace” American Sentinel 12, 43, p. 675.

ATJ

NOT long since we received a communication from a personal friend, who in a kind manner took occasion to suggest that we were setting up men of straw—that as there was no actual persecution going on, why discuss the principles of religious liberty so earnestly as we do?AMS November 4, 1897, page 675.1

Many years ago one with keen foresight declared that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” This is just what the SENTINEL believes. When this paper first made its appearance, a short life was predicted for it, because, it was said, the evils it contends against do not exist. True, they were not full grown, but they were in embryo; and almost before the people were aware of it, they had developed into full-grown giants, stalking through the land, showing themselves as living realities. And while there is just for the time being a lull in the direction of active persecution, yet there is no real diminution in the activity of the forces that are behind the movement. Indeed, they are continually gathering strength, and no intelligent, observant individual can confirm that the SENTINEL made its appearance any too soon.AMS November 4, 1897, page 675.2

When it is known that a midnight smoldering fire threatens the inmates of a home, shall the alarm not be given for fear of disturbing their peaceful dreams? Indeed it should be given, and in no uncertain tones.AMS November 4, 1897, page 675.3

True, there is a little lull just now, but pernicious influences are at work blinding minds as to the true issues at stake; and the SENTINEL wants all the people to know it. It is for this reason that “in times of peace we prepare for war”—not with carnal weapons, but with the dissemination of the principles of civil and religious liberty before the world. It is for this reason, too, that now we are preparing for more aggressive action than ever before; and whenever the opportunity presents, we shall expect our friends everywhere to help along the good work by putting their shoulders to the wheel. We shall be heard from further along this line.AMS November 4, 1897, page 675.4