The American Sentinel 13
September 22, 1898
“Notes” American Sentinel 13, 37, p. 581.
ALL religious legislation puts a barrier between man and God. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.1
NO LAW of man was ever powerful enough to drag a soul to Christ. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.2
THE true evangelist points the weary and burdened soul to Christ, not to the law. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.3
IF the Sabbath is not the seventh day of the week, it is not the seventh day of anything. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.4
SINCE all men must come to Christ to find rest, the rest which the Sabbath law enjoins must be religious. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.5
NO MAN can come to God save through Jesus Christ, and no man can come to Christ save through the freedom of his own will. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.6
INSTITUTIONS which rest upon a basis of truth, are much more stable than those which rest merely upon a legal basis. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.7
THE law of the Sabbath, which commemorates creation, is no more uncertain or imperfect in any way than the laws by which creation is governed. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.8
SOCIETY needs not the restriction of new laws, but liberation from the old laws inwrought in human nature, which hold men in the ruts of sin and error. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.9
IT is religion, and that alone, which keeps the Sabbath rest from becoming a period of aimless inactivity positively demoralizing to mind and body. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.10
PEOPLE who think they ought to legislate upon religious matters should remember that a good motive did not protect Uzzah when he put forth his human hand to stead the ark of God. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.11
CONSCIENCE should be the only compelling power in all religious observances. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.12
IF men would be careful to give to God as much as they exact from their fellowmen, there would be far less hypocrisy practiced in the name of religion. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.13
IF God had not mean to make his Sabbath law plain to human comprehension, he would not have used in expressing it so many words of one syllable. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.14
THE workingman needs the support of a moral strengthing [sic.] within, rather than the propping up of religious laws from without. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.15
[Inset.] JESUS CHRIST says, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Those only who accept this invitation will find rest. It must be an act of their own free will. But the Sunday laws are for the purpose of compelling the “heavy laden,” and all people, to rest. And to be compelled to rest is not accepting an invitation to rest; free will and forced will are exactly opposite conditions. And therefore those who yield to the Sunday laws—those who are compelled by them—by that very thing shut themselves away from receiving the rest which Christ offers, and which they need. They are shut away from the blessing of God. AMS September 22, 1898, page 581.16
“Rest Not Secured by Law” American Sentinel 13, 37, p. 582.
IT was the Lord of the Sabbath who said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It is He who gives this same invitation to every weary soul to-day. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.1
The Sabbath was made for rest, and the Sabbath law commands rest; but He who made the Sabbath and gave the law, bids all men find rest by accepting his invitation, “Come unto me.” AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.2
And by this He testifies that rest can be found by men in no other way. They cannot find rest except they come to Him. They cannot therefore find it through the compulsion of law or in the formal observance of the law. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.3
The purpose of the Sabbath and the Sabbath law be realized only in Christ. He who remains separated from Christ can find no benefit—no rest—in the Sabbath. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.4
And as no Sunday law can bring any soul to Christ, it is certain that no Sunday law can in any way promote Sabbath observance. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.5
Jesus Christ is “the end of the law for righteousness.” There can be no observance of the law of righteousness outside of him. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.6
“The Church’s ‘Mightiest Helper’” American Sentinel 13, 37, p. 582.
A PAPER which is devoted to the propagation of the doctrine that religion and politics ought to be united, says:— AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.1
“Were the powers of the state used to protect the Sabbath and maintain its sacredness, to purify the family and prevent vice, it would be the church’s mightiest helper.” AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.2
Think of it: the state becoming the church’s mightiest helper! What church, what religion, could hold to such a view? Not Christianity; for that affirms that the church’s helper in her contest with evil here is none other than the almighty One above. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.3
No; this is the religion which seeks the help of the state and the pathway of politics. That the state can become the church’s mightiest helper is exactly what that religion teaches. It is what every one must accept as truth who holds to the idea of religion in politics. It is the old principle of church and state union. The very essence of that union is the idea that the state can—and therefore ought to—help the church. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.4
But it is not the truth, and brands as false the religion which maintains it. When the church looks for the state to become her “mightiest helper,” she turns her back upon Him who said to His people, and for them in all ages, “All power is given unbto Me in heaven and in earth;” and “Lo, I am with you always, even unbto the end of the world.” AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.5
“Religion in Politics” American Sentinel 13, 37, p. 582.
IT is said that politics and religion ought to be united; and this, by individuals who profess total dissent from any union of church and state. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.1
But can politics be separated from the state? and can religion be separated from the church? The Christian religion, certainly, is bound up in the Christian Church. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.2
Since then politics cannot be separated from the state, nor religion from the church, how can politics and religion be united without making by that very act a union of church and state? And through what other means did church and state ever become united? AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.3
“Note” American Sentinel 13, 37, p. 582.
JUSTICE alone does not represent Christianity; justice alone is not the aim of Christianity. To deal with the sinner as he justly deserves, is directly contrary to Christianity. And therefore any power institute for the purpose of securing justice alone, cannot join with Christianity. Christianity does not call into use anything which aims at securing justice only. This is why Peter, when he drew the sword to resist the attack upon Jesus, was told to put it up again into its sheath. AMS September 22, 1898, page 582.1