April 12, 1900

“Front Page” American Sentinel 15, 15, p. 225.

ATJ

NO PERSON can gain moral strength by leaning on the law.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.1

CIVIL law may be an obstacle to conscience, but never an aid.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.2

RELIGION cannot be bound by binding the men who profess and teach it.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.3

TO ENFORCE a religious observance is to put law in the seat of conscience.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.4

THE more the church enters politics, the more will politics enter the church.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.5

RIGHT and justice were established before there was any such thing as a majority vote.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.6

SABBATH rest is an excellent thing in itself; but it never does the person any good upon whom it is forced.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.7

THE powers that be are ordained of God, but the voice of the former must not be mistaken for the voice of the latter.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.8

THE enforcement of the Sunday laws makes more real disturbance on Sunday than is caused by any amount of honest labor.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.9

CONSCIENCE may sometimes lead an individual wrong; but without conscience, another power will control the individual which will always lead him wrong.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.10

MAN’S prohibition can never stand where God has planted his permission; and he has permitted labor on the first day of the week, both by precept and by his own example.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.11

“Extending the Constitution” American Sentinel 15, 15, pp. 225, 226.

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THERE is a great deal of talk everywhere in political circles over the question whether or not the Constitution extends of its own force to Puerto Rico and other new territory of the United States.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.1

This however is not the fundamental question that is raised by the acquisition of this new territory. The great question underlying all others, is Shall justice be done to the inhabitants of this territory?AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.2

Some would-be statesmen talk as though the question of doing justice to these people depended on the question whether the Constitution extends to their lands or not. If it shall be decided that the Constitution does not extend to them, then this country is not bound to consider the question of justice in its dealings with them! Congress can govern them in any arbitrary way that it sees fit!AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.3

This is just the reverse of the truth. The question of doing justice in any territory does not depend upon the question whether the Constitution extends to that territory or not; but the question whether the Constitution extends thither depends upon the question whether the United States is bound to do justice in that territory.AMS April 12, 1900, page 225.4

For what purpose is the Constitution? As set forth in the preamble, it is to “establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Are these things desirable for the people of the new territory? Ought such provision to be made for them? If so, then the Constitution must extend to their land, because the Constitution is the very means devised by the United States to secure these blessings here at home. And this does not mean that their country and circumstances must be made to fit the forms and technicalities of the Constitution as it applies to the United States, but that the Constitution must be applied to them as their situation demands. Some of the forms of the Constitution may not fit their country, but this is no reason for denying them the essence of the Constitution—the principles of just government by which domestic tranquility, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity, are to be secured.AMS April 12, 1900, page 226.1

To say that the Constitution does not extend to the new territory, then, is to say that the people there do not need the blessings secured by it in the United States, or that they shall not be given them whether they need them or not. The latter has in effect been said by the Government. For the people of that territory are a conquered people, and a conquered people cannot secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity except by successful revolt against their conquerors. Having begun by denying liberty and justice to these foreign people, it is entirely logical that the decision should now be reached that the Constitution created for the purpose of securing these blessings to the people under it, does not apply to the territory where they reside.AMS April 12, 1900, page 226.2

“More Separation Needed” American Sentinel 15, 15, p. 226.

ATJ

THE London Christian affirms that church members are responsible for Sunday journalism in America, and fears that Sunday papers may yet be supported upon a similar basis in England. It says:—AMS April 12, 1900, page 226.1

“The seventh-day newspaper in America stays because it pays, and it pays because Christians advertise in it—so it is affirmed.AMS April 12, 1900, page 226.2

“If they withdrew their advertisements, something might be done. We fancy that this would be the difficulty in this country also. Representatives of both the journals that offended here for awhile have said that there was money in the venture, and therefore we can hardly count ourselves safe, unless Christians should be ready to make a stand and separate themselves. Separation we imagine, will become a vital question for the church in the not distant future. Testimony for our Master and his truth is wanted and it is not easy to see how we can give it while the world and the church are so intimately blended.”AMS April 12, 1900, page 226.3

Yes; the church and the world are altogether too “intimately blended” to-day. The church needs a more clearer line of separation between herself and the world, but such a line will never be drawn so long as she ... the world to gain political power. The church can never have that separation from the world which Christianity demands while the leaders of the church look in the halls of legislation, to persuade the state to give its support to religious institutions, such for example, as the Sunday Sabbath. Every religious law upon the State books is a bond of union between the church and the state, and so between the church and the world.AMS April 12, 1900, page 226.4

“Back Page” American Sentinel 15, 15, p. 240.

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THE Christian Statesman accounts for the lack of growth in the Methodist and other prominent churches the past year, by pointing out that these churches have not done their duty in the matter of “Christianizing society.” This is an important duty for the church, says the Statesman, because without it there will not be “an environment in which the Christian character can come to perfection.” “It is hard if not impossible to be a consistent Christian in society as we now find society.” So the churches must destroy the evils that flourish in society, and so remove temptation and furnish an environment in which it will be easy to do right.AMS April 12, 1900, page 240.1

This conception of the mission of Christianity contains two fatal defects. In the first place the church cannot renovate this world so that the evils flourishing in society will be eliminated. If the Scriptures teach anything at all, they teach that the world itself will be destroyed by fire, with all the wicked upon it, and that thus the evils that afflict society will be finally removed. Christians will not save the world, but will be saved out of the world. And secondly, Christian character is not brought to perfection by removing obstacles from the Christian pathway, but by a vigorous surmounting of these obstacles by the faith which lays hold upon infinite power. Christian character represents not a work done outside the Christian, but a work done within him. God’s plan is not to take man and women to heaven by smoothing the way so that they can slide along easily, but by filling them with power to overcome the world and to rise above every possible obstruction. The only smooth way in this world is the way that leads downward.AMS April 12, 1900, page 240.2

“EAMSTER” is observed by the churches because of the resurrection of Christ. The day is celebrated as the anniversary of the day of the resurrection. As the anniversary day, it would, like Christmas or one’s birthday, occur in different years upon different days of the week. Hence the churches would find themselves celebrating Monday, Tuesday, etc., as the day of the resurrection of Christ, when they had celebrated the previous Sunday for the same reason! In the interests of Sunday observance this would never do.AMS April 12, 1900, page 240.3

So it was decreed that the anniversary must always fall on Sunday, and we have an anniversary day which not only always falls on Sunday, but spreads out in the course of years over a period of four or five weeks between the beginning of March and the end of April! It does’t [sic.] matter whether it falls in March or April, just so that it falls on Sunday.AMS April 12, 1900, page 240.4

All this celebration of Easter is of course a confession that Sunday is not the day of Christ’s resurrection. A weekly event cannot be an anniversary, and an anniversary cannot be celebrated weekly. The logic of the weekly observance demands that there be no Easter, and Easter in turn disposes entirely of the claim made for Sunday as the weekly Sabbath.AMS April 12, 1900, page 240.5

Why will intelligent sensible people be guilty of such inconsistency! Why do not the churches either drop Sunday as the Sabbath, or drop Easter? If there is any good reason for holding to both as commemorative of the same event, we really wish some one would tell us what it is.AMS April 12, 1900, page 240.6