Chapter 19 — Counsels Concerning Religious Liberty Work

IT IS NOT POSSIBLE IN ONE volume to write all of the various questions and activities concerning which the Spirit of prophecy has given the Adventist Church most valuable inspiration and direction. To do so, one would have to tell the entire history of the advent movement, for every part of our work, not only in America, but in many other lands, has been helped by this light from the Lord. In fact, the whole advent movement, as represented by Seventh day Adventists in our time, is so intertwined with the Spirit of prophecy messages that the story of one cannot be told without telling the other. The church in its present spirit, faith, and form has come as a result of the light given us in the Bible and as a result of the guidance of the prophetic gift. In no department of our church work, however, has the value of this gift been seen more clearly than in that of religious liberty. Our effort for freedom of conscience is one of the youngest of our departmental endeavors, but there is no activity among us that has given us more prestige with mankind and more opposition from the foes of freedom than has our work for religious liberty. Adventists consider themselves heirs of true Protestantism, and early in our history the Spirit of prophecy stated that as a church we should hold high the banner of religious liberty.FSG 263.1

One phase of the message we preached called attention to coming persecutions before the second advent. This was our exposition of the last half of Revelation 13. As early as 1851 our denomination began to preach that the second great prophetic symbol of that chapter represents the United States. This was a new exposition and immediately created much interest in many circles. But even though we were preaching that message, there was in our church no organized religious liberty activity during the first forty years of our history. In fact, the efforts to change that fundamental tenet of American democracy, the separation of church and state, and to bring in the European conception of the state as guided and led by the church, had grown strong in America before we took notice and began our work for freedom.FSG 264.1

The so-called National Reform Association was, in fact, organized during the Civil War, that is, in 1863. Its avowed purpose was to further religious legislation and to change our great charter of freedom, which separated the church from the state. Article two of the constitution of that association reads:FSG 264.2

“To secure such an amendment to the Constitution of the United States as will declare the nation’s allegiance to Jesus Christ and its acceptance of the moral laws of the Christian religion, and so indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on an undeniably legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.”FSG 264.3

This organization, which seemed small and innocent in its beginning, soon led to larger and more successful activities of those who would introduce political religion. These men were really determined enemies of the old American principles concerning freedom of faith and conscience, and this enmity, or rather this zeal for what they called religion, soon took the form of strong propaganda in favor of Sunday laws. On May 21, 1888, the so-called Blair Sunday Bill was introduced into Congress and very widely discussed. At first it almost looked as though it would be passed.FSG 264.4

About the same time a still stronger effort was made to secure an amendment to the United States Constitution in which this Government would recognize God as its ruler and His law as the law of the land. In this agitation the Protestant church followed closely the Catholic protests against a godless state, which the Papacy had made right from the beginning of our history. At first, however, our people did not seem to sense the danger. When their attention was called to it, some of our leaders took a decided position that we knew religious persecution would come, and as the prophecies were certain to be fulfilled, why warn against the future oppression? Aside from that, they held that our task in the advent movement was to preach the third angel’s message, and they stated that to teach religious liberty was political rather than gospel preaching.FSG 265.1

While this agitation was on, pointed instruction with stern reproof and a clarion call to immediate action began to come from the messenger of the Lord on the need of religious liberty work and the perils of neglect and indifference. Mrs. White wrote:FSG 265.2

“If the leading men in our Conferences do not now accept the message sent them by God, and fall into line for action, the churches will suffer great loss.” “The people need to be aroused in regard to the dangers of the present time. The watchmen are asleep. We are years behind. Let the chief watchmen feel the urgent necessity of taking heed to themselves, lest they lose the opportunities given them to see the dangers.” “When the National Reformers began to urge measures to restrict religious liberty, our leading men should have been alive to the situation, and should have labored earnestly to counteract these efforts. It is not in the order of God that light has been kept from our people,—the very present truth which they needed for this time. Not all our ministers who are giving the third angel’s message, really understand what constitutes that message. The National Reform movement has been regarded by some as of so little importance that they have not thought it necessary to give much attention to it, and have even felt that in so doing, they would be giving time to questions distinct from the third angel’s message. May the Lord forgive our brethren for thus interpreting the very message for this time.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:715.FSG 265.3

As the efforts for Sunday legislation and constitutional amendment became more and more widespread and insistent during the eighties and early nineties, the Spirit of prophecy again began to urge strongly that we neglect this work no longer. We were told:FSG 266.1

“As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation’s iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob’s trouble.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:451.FSG 266.2

“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and Republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:451.FSG 266.3

To us at this late day, after years and years of agitation for religious freedom, it seems strange to look back and see the apathy of many at that time. But the trumpet appeal of the Spirit of prophecy to act was not in vain. At a mass meeting held in the Tabernacle in Battle Creek, Michigan, July 21, 1889, an organization known as the National Religious Liberty Association was created. A constitution already prepared was submitted and adopted, together with the following declaration of principles:FSG 266.4

“We believe in the religion taught by Jesus Christ.FSG 267.1

“We believe in temperance, and regard the liquor traffic as a curse to society.FSG 267.2

“We believe in supporting the civil government, and submitting to its authority.FSG 267.3

“We deny the right of any civil government to legislate on religious questions.FSG 267.4

“We believe it is the right, and should be the privilege, of every man to worship according to the dictates of his own conscience.FSG 267.5

“We also believe it to be our duty to use every lawful and honorable means to prevent religious legislation by the civil government; that we and our fellow citizens may enjoy the inestimable blessings of both religious and civil liberty.”—National Religious Liberty Association (tract), page 1.FSG 267.6

The above declaration of principles was signed by 110 persons, and thus the association was born. About four years before this meeting was held, Seventh-day Adventists, in harmony with instruction from the Spirit of prophecy, had begun to print a monthly journal for religious liberty called the American Sentinel. The first number of this was issued by the Pacific Press in January, 1886. At this time, too, some of our brethren in certain States in America were arrested and condemned to terms of imprisonment because they had worked on Sunday. At the General Conference session of 1897, Allen Moon, president of the Religious Liberty Association, gave the following facts about the many arrests for Sunday work.FSG 267.7

“The result to our own people has been that more arrests have taken place, more convictions have been secured, and more time has been spent in jails and chain-gangs than in all the time since the enforcement of the Blue Laws of New England. Our records show that seventy-six Sabbath-keepers have been under arrest for violating Sunday laws within the last two years. Thirty of these have served terms of various lengths in jails, chain-gangs, etc., aggregating 1,144 days, which would amount to three years and five months for a single individual.”—The General Conference Bulletin, 161, 1897.FSG 267.8

As the persecution for Sunday labor increased, our work for religious freedom grew. It became more and more evident that God had entrusted to Adventists as true old-time Protestants the holy task of standing as champions and defenders of liberty as did the martyrs and Reformers in earlier centuries. It also became evident that America would be the great battleground where the last struggle for the rights of conscience would take place. Today we see this far more clearly than we possibly could have seen it back there. With America leading the world, with our capital spoken of as the capital of mankind, and with ecumenical Protestantism embracing the principles of Rome, the outlines of the conflict ahead are not hard to see. The climax of the issue is right upon us, and the rapid growth of the Catholic church, now by far the largest in America, is the cap sheaf of this triumph of political religion, which is destined to transform America from an asylum of freedom to a land of oppression and again call forth a “church of the catacombs.”FSG 268.1

As we now look back over the past decades we cannot but be most thankful for the messages that opened our eyes to see the increasing religious apostasy all about us in every land and the rapidly increasing peril of persecution from a restored Papacy, or what some now call a “Papal Protestantism.” No activity of the Adventist Church has given us the prominence and prestige, whether with friend or foe, that this religious liberty association has in its earnest campaign for freedom. Adventists are not thinking simply of themselves. The Spirit of prophecy led us to take a far broader view of the issue. We would be as earnest against a law compelling people to keep Saturday as a law forcing all to cease from labor on Sunday. We want freedom for all. We regard religious liberty as the cornerstone of all true freedom.FSG 268.2

The Spirit of prophecy has taught us that the divine dignity of man created in the image of God is vitally involved in the rights of conscience. We want more than mere tolerance or exemptions in our favor; we claim freedom as a God-given right and heritage. The light which has come to us from God’s messenger is of untold value, and we rejoice in the work for freedom that has been so nobly accomplished by the religious liberty association—and its work in the future will no doubt be even larger and more essential. Not alone in the United States but overseas in many lands we have had some stanch and progressive lovers and advocates of true liberty—and not the least in countries with strong state churches.FSG 269.1

When we tell about our large and fruitful endeavor for religious freedom, we should also mention some perils in connection with that work. It has often been true that the defenders of a good cause were in danger of becoming a bit one-sided. Those who fight the battles of the Lord sometimes get too much of the “fighting spirit,” and there have been those in the religious liberty activity who were in danger of going too far. That, in fact, has been a peril to the church in days of persecution. Right in this time in lands of religious oppression we have seen devoted, conscientious believers who brought persecution on themselves by their extreme position or lack of tact and wisdom. In regard to this danger the Spirit of prophecy has earnestly cautioned us, and thus kept us from serious mistakes.FSG 269.2

In the first place, there were those among us who felt we should make our religious liberty work a political agitation rather than a spiritual. They were inclined to join with other organizations, such as the Secular Union, which were largely under the influence of atheists and irreligious people. Others urged strongly that we should begin anti-Catholic propaganda, something after the order of certain radical journals and pamphlets in America and England. They also advocated that rather we should conceal, or at least say nothing about, our faith in Christ, but join with these more or less ungodly people in favor of what they called liberty. Against this the Spirit of prophecy raised a voice of warning. We were definitely told that in all our work as a church for religious liberty we must conduct our attack from the gospel approach. Our purpose was not merely to secure exemption from persecution for the Adventists. Our duty was to preach the doctrine of religious freedom for all mankind as found in the life of Jesus Christ.FSG 269.3

When we speak of religious liberty, we do not mean freedom for the church as an ecclesiastical body, as do the Catholics, who thus deceive multitudes. We mean freedom for the individual believer and for every man to follow his own conscience as one who is accountable to God alone for his worship. We believe, too, in soul liberty, which no state or police can take from us—the freedom to serve God even when persecuted and in prison.FSG 270.1

In our religious liberty work one perplexity that arose was that some understood they must work every Sunday. Light came on this question early, but a few still maintained that whoever did not labor on Sunday or even whoever refused to keep the Sabbath thereby received the mark of the beast. That, however, was not our original position concerning the mark of the beast, for we first taught that the mark of the beast was still future. On this, too, the messenger of the Lord gave clear light.FSG 270.2

“No one has yet received the mark of the beast. The testing time has not yet come. There are true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman Catholic communion. None are condemned until they have had the light and have seen the obligation of the fourth commandment. But when the decree shall go forth enforcing the counterfeit ... worship of the beast and his image, the line will be clearly drawn between the false and the true. Then those who still continue in transgression will receive the mark of the beast.FSG 270.3

“With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal Sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin.”—MS. 51, 1899, quoted in Evangelism, 234, 235.FSG 271.1

The Adventist teaching as set forth in the preceding paragraphs, that the receiving of the mark is still future, is stated in The Great Controversy, 449. In the Review of November 8, 1892, Mrs. White wrote: “An apostate church will unite with the powers of earth and hell to place upon the forehead or in the hand, the mark of the beast.”—page 690. And of Sunday keeping she says, “The observance of this day is the mark of the beast.”—Testimonies to Ministers, page 133. From this it is evident that when warning against Sunday legislation, we are to teach that Sunday keeping will someday be enforced as the mark of the beast.FSG 271.2

In the nineties a few outstanding and sincere leaders who labored with burning zeal against the union of church and state took an extreme position concerning the duties of Christians as citizens and of their relation to the state. They claimed that the children of God could not be citizens of any human government, because their citizenship was in heaven. They stated distinctly that no one could have a double citizenship—an earthly and a heavenly.FSG 271.3

As a Union College student, I watched the agitation in favor of the mistaken idea and the confusion it brought to many. It was taught that we were not citizens and consequently had no right to vote. In the village of College View, Lincoln, Nebraska, nearly every man at that time was an Adventist, and if the town had no right to vote, the community would be left without civil rule. Some of these men were recent arrivals from Europe, and if they could not be citizens, they, of course, must not become naturalized. Not a few, indeed, refused to become American citizens, to their great loss and embarrassment when World War 1 began.FSG 271.4

The Spirit of prophecy has never sanctioned such sentiments as this. It has not at any time or in the remotest way taught that Christians were not citizens and could not vote in the country to which they belonged. The messages from the Lord admonish us to obey the civil authorities as faithful, loyal citizens of the land. They do warn us not to be stirred up with the frenzy of party strife; but that is quite another matter. The Lord has given His children the gospel work of saving the lost. We are not to neglect that for political affairs. We read:FSG 272.1

“The Lord Jesus is disappointed in His people. He is the Captain, they are to file under His banner. They have no time, wisdom, or strength to spend in taking sides with political parties. Men are being stirred with an intense activity from beneath, and the sons and daughters of God are not to give their influence to this political strife. But what kind of spirit takes hold upon our people, when those who believe we are now under the third angel’s message, the last message of mercy to the world, brothers in the same faith, appear wearing the badges of opposing political parties, proclaiming opposite sentiments and declaring their divided opinions.”—The General Conference Bulletin, Volume 1, page 58, 1897.FSG 272.2

This danger of uniting with the world in a matter that would bring in strife had been stated early in the history of Adventists, but the Spirit of prophecy warned just as earnestly against the other extreme, that Christians could not be citizens. Concerning this peril in our religious liberty work, the Spirit of prophecy gave the following warning:FSG 272.3

“Brethren and sisters, I appeal to you as Seventh-day Adventists to be all that this name signifies. There is danger of departing from the spirit of the message, and adopting measures that will imperil the work of God. As the Lord has presented these things before me at several times and in different places, I have been brought into your assemblies where articles were read and statements made which were false in principle and dangerous in their tendency. I was shown that those who advocated these sentiments were not following the counsel of God, but were bringing in that which would surely lead souls away from safe ground, away from the third angel’s message, into wrong paths, to a careless disregard of the injunctions of God, thus imperiling their own souls and the souls of others.”—The General Conference Bulletin, 256, 1891.FSG 273.1

Attention is called to yet another of the extreme ideas taken by some who urged what they called the total separation of church and state. They claimed that we should not receive grants or gifts of any kind from any government, either at home or in mission fields, and further, that we should pay taxes on our church property. It was taught that if we failed to do that, we were being favored by the government and receiving support of the government for our religious work. But this was in no sense in harmony with the Scriptures. Many godly men in old times received favors from kings and other government men. Concerning this, the Spirit of prophecy said:FSG 273.2

“The movements they have made to pay taxes on the property of the sanitarium and Tabernacle have manifested a zeal and conscientiousness that in all respects is not wise nor correct. Their ideas of religious liberty are being woven with suggestions that do not come from the Holy Spirit, and the religious liberty cause is sickening, and its sickness can only be healed by the grace and gentleness of Christ.... just as long as we are in this world, and the Spirit of God is striving with the world, we are to receive as well as to impart favors. We are to give to the world the light of truth as presented in the sacred Scriptures, and we are to receive from the world that which God moves upon them to do in behalf of His cause. The Lord still moves upon the hearts of kings and rulers in behalf of His people, and it becomes those who are so deeply interested in the religious liberty question not to cut off any favors, or withdraw themselves from the help that God has moved men to give, for the advancement of His cause.”—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 200-202.FSG 273.3

As a church, we owe much to the light given us in the Spirit of prophecy concerning these perils. But that is only one side of the question. Again and again the prophetic gift had directed and urged us to engage in larger and larger promotion work for the cause of religious freedom. When we first, in the late eighties, began to gather petitions to Congress against Sunday laws, it was an entirely new thing, and the ensuing discussion, together with instruction from the messenger of the Lord, made the Adventist Church religious liberty conscious. This characteristic has followed our work in every country. In many lands where there are state churches and where our people have been subjected to every persecution in the way of fines, imprisonment, and even death itself, the light given us of God concerning the rights of man, the dignity of the individual, and our duty to obey God rather than man has been and still is a safe guide.FSG 274.1

The work carried on for freedom of worship up till now is in part a preparation for a sturdier task ahead. The strongest testimony for liberty is given before rulers or courts of justice or in prison by those persecuted. This is emphasized again and again by the Spirit of prophecy. But this witness for freedom in Christ will be given by each individual believer in his own country before his own government. Adventists are loyal to their own land and flag. When Mrs. White was visiting various lands in Europe, she found some members here and there opposing the practice of having the flag of the country in the church. On one occasion, so it is reported, in reply to these wrong ideas she said:FSG 274.2

“When I preach the gospel of Christ in Norway I love to have the flag of Norway up in front near where I stand when speaking.”FSG 275.1

During this trip to Norway, in the autumn of 1885, a large temperance meeting was planned in Oslo. Of this she writes:FSG 275.2

“On Sunday, by request of the president of the temperance society, I spoke upon the subject of temperance. The meeting was held in the soldiers’ military gymnasium, the largest hall in the city. An American flag was placed as a canopy above the pulpit; this was an attention which I highly appreciated.”—Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 207.FSG 275.3

When we look back over the work for religious freedom carried on through the years by the Adventist Church, and when we study the messages on that subject from the servant of the Lord, we feel most grateful to God for His guidance and help. We honor the brave and noble men who have stood for liberty and for their wise efforts on behalf of the religious liberty association. Today the association stands stronger and more experienced than ever, and its work for the future will be far larger than anything seen in the past since the great struggle for freedom in America and in all the earth is yet future. When Mrs. White visited the Roman Catholic lands in Europe, she, after speaking of the Roman church, wrote:FSG 275.4

“And this is the religion which Protestants are beginning to look upon with so much favor, and which will eventually be united with Protestantism. This union will not, however, be effected by a change in Catholicism; for Rome never changes. She claims infallibility. It is Protestantism that will change. The adoption of liberal ideas on its part will bring it where it can clasp the hand of Catholicism. ‘The Bible, the Bible, is the foundation of our faith,’ was the cry of Protestants in Luther’s time, while the Catholics cried, ‘The Fathers, custom, tradition.’”—The Review and Herald, June 1, 1886, page 338.FSG 275.5

We are counseled to have confidence in civil government and to avoid all needless conflict, because “the restraining hand of God has not yet been withdrawn from the earth. Let the leaders in the work bide their time, hide in Christ and move and work with great wisdom. Let them be as wise as serpents, and as harmless as doves.”—Testimonies to Ministers, page 203.FSG 276.1

But while we are cautioned not to come into conflict with the authorities, unless our obedience to God’s law is at stake, we are also earnestly urged to stand loyally for truth, without any fear of the consequences. If in the past some may at times have been a bit extreme, we of the present and future need beware lest we yield and compromise.FSG 276.2

The Lord has given us special light never to compromise on the observance of the Sabbath. We read:FSG 276.3

“‘Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work,’—the usual business of life, for worldly profit or pleasure. These words are very explicit; there can be no mistake. Bro. K, how dare you venture to transgress a commandment so solemn and important? Has the Lord made an exception by which you are absolved from the law He has given to the world? Are your transgressions omitted from the book of record? Has He agreed to excuse your disobedience when the nations come before Him for judgment?”—Testimonies for the Church 4:249. “God will accept of no partial obedience; He will sanction no compromise with self.”—Testimonies for the Church 4:148.FSG 276.4

Going to extremes on some minor matter is a small evil compared to the major disaster of compromising on vital issues and principles. On the bearing of arms, on all religious legislation, and on every other issue involving the matter of soul freedom and the separation of church and state, Adventists are admonished to stand as loyal defenders of the faith once delivered to the saints. True believers are “called to freedom,” and the remnant church is to be the strongest bulwark for religious liberty in this generation.FSG 276.5