The American Sentinel 13
November 3, 1898
“Notes” American Sentinel 13, 43, p. 677.
MERE motion, even in a straight line, is not always progress. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.1
THE man who is careless of the truth is often very particular about error. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.2
THE “old-fashioned” methods of reforming society which some modern preachers have outgrown, have not become antiquated with the Lord. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.3
WHEN the state interferes with conscience, it raises its hand against the only barrier between manhood and knavery. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.4
THERE is something very serious the matter with the eyesight of the government when it cannot distinguish the interests of the individual citizen apart from the mass. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.5
THE hardest place in the world with a clear conscience is more comfortable than the easiest place without it. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.6
THE great trouble with the world to-day is that it has forgotten what it ought to have remembered, and discovered what it ought never to have known. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.7
THE pressure of religious legislation always falls heaviest upon the person who refuses to be a hypocrite. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.8
THE righteousness which is set up by the State, is by that fact dependent upon the state, and therefore lacks the stable and permanent character of true righteousness. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.9
THE foundation of all successful government is individual self-government. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.10
ALL religious legislation is an effort to stagnate the current of religious thought, the flow of which maintains the religious life of society. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.11
THE State can exercise no power for the good of its people beyond that of protecting each individual in the enjoyment of his rights. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.12
IT requires neither education, wealth, nor political influence to be a despot. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.13
[Inset.] THE INDEFINITE SABBATH AND THE DEFINITE SUNDAY. SPEAKING to his congregation concerning the observance of the fourth commandment, the preacher says it doesn’t matter about the particular day of the week; God isn’t particular about that, but merely requires that we observe one day in seven, and this we do by observing the first day of the week. But an individual who chose to observe the seventh day of the week instead of the first, in harmony with God’s Sabbath law but contrary to man’s, discovered that the particular day of the week was really a most important matter in the view of the upholders of the Sunday law. He found himself under arrest for not observing the particular day of the week “commonly called Sunday,” and the preacher explained to him very positively that his arrest was altogether proper, because in not observing that particular day he had desecrated the Sabbath. AMS November 3, 1898, page 677.14
“The Development of Despotism” American Sentinel 13, 43, p. 678.
TO ANY people seeking to avoid the despotism which in civil government has so often trample human rights under foot in the past, a knowledge of the source from which it is likely to arise, is of prime importance. AMS November 3, 1898, page 678.1
The cry which is heard against the oppression and tyranny that are felt in the land, is directed almost invariably against the man of wealth, the representative of the Trust, the aristocrat. And that he is not innocent of the charges made, for the most part, is not to be denied; but the man of wealth is by no means the only source, or even the chief source, of danger. AMS November 3, 1898, page 678.2
It is a significant truth, which should be known by all and forgotten by none, that the despotism of the Roman empire,—that “furious and crushing despotism,” the worst probably that ever darkened the civilized world, arose not from the aristocracy at all, but from the people themselves. AMS November 3, 1898, page 678.3
The aristocracy were represented by the Roman senate; their purposes were carried into effect by that body. But in the days of Julius Cesar, before the empire was set up, the power of the Roman senate was broken and dissipated. It remained a part of the Roman government only in name. The shaping of the affairs of government was wholly in the hands of the people, and of their idol Cesar. “In legislation, the senate was totally ignored; Cesar acted directlyk with the assembly of the people, and passed such laws as he pleased.” 1 The people themselves, having lost the power of self-government, set up over themselves a despotism far worse than that which had incited their struggle against the patricians. AMS November 3, 1898, page 678.4
Turning now to the American Republic, we cannot shut our eyes to the plentiful evidence of despotism lurking within those organizations and movements directly representing the common people,—despotism which has on occasions boldly avowed itself. In the State of Illinois a few years ago, for example, by the fiat of one of these organizations, railway travel within the State was completely paralyzed, and the governor was obliged to ask of an individual in no office of governmental authority, permission to travel by rail within the boundaries of his own State. And to-day, in this same State, we see owners of mine property debarred by the governor under a threat of armed interference, from the right of operating their mines by such labor as they see fit to hire,—a right which, however obnoxious its exercise may be to some citizens of the State, they undoubtedly possess under the fundamental law of the land. AMS November 3, 1898, page 678.5
Let it be remembered, also, that the tyranny which is set up in the name of the common people passes more rapidly than any other form into the despotism of one-man power. It was so in the republic of Rome; it was so in the French Revolution; and it will be so in the Republic of the United States. AMS November 3, 1898, page 678.6
The common people are oppressed; that is true. But in most cases the worst oppression which an individual suffers is self imposed. The worst misgovernment is that of the individual who cannot restrain himself. Let the people learn true self-government, let them maintain the principles of manly independence in their own lives, and the despotism of wealth will crumble away. But if they choose to oppose tyranny with more tyranny, only worse tyranny can be the result. If they choose to “fight the devil with fire,” they cannot complain if they are the victims of a conflagration. AMS November 3, 1898, page 678.7