The American Sentinel 13
February 17, 1898
“Editorial” American Sentinel 13, 7, p. 97.
CHRISTIANITY is intolerant only of sin. It makes no account of crime, as such. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.1
HE who renders to God the things that are God’s, will not fail to give to Cesar that which is Cesar’s. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.2
WHEN Cesar dictates what shall be rendered to God, the latter gets only that which Cesar does not want for himself. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.3
THE kind of legislation which debars the “Louisiana lottery” and sanctions church lotteries, will not benefit the country in the long run. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.4
THERE is no reform worthy having that cannot be realized through that individual change of heart which is Scripturally described as being “born again.” AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.5
THE papacy did not make the union of church and state; the union of church and state made the papacy. Such a union will make a papacy anywhere. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.6
ONE of the greatest delusions of this day is that of moral reform through politics. Such reforms always manage to keep a little way ahead of the present realities. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.7
IF only that missing Scripture text could be found which says that Sunday is the Sabbath, how much less state and national legislation would be needed to afford a basis for Sunday observance! AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.8
“IT is not the office of Christianity to remove men from temptation, nor temptation from men.” And no legislation to secure either of these ends can be asked for in the name of Christianity. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.9
NOTHING more utterly useless could be imagined than the forming of political organizations in the church with the object of trying to get the Lord to change his mind and accept the kingdoms of this world in its present state. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.10
THE goal of military service is to destroy life; that of Christian service is to save life. And yet many people cannot see that militarism has no proper place in the Christian church, or in the Christian’s heart. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.11
“A Chimerical Project” American Sentinel 13, 7, pp. 97, 98.
JESUS CHRIST refused to accept the kingdoms of this world. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.1
Once the people came to take him and make him a king by force; but he departed and hid himself from them. John 6:15. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.2
Upon another occasion the devil offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he would fall down and worship him. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.3
Jesus did not deny that the devil had the control of these kingdoms as he claimed. In fact, at another time he acknowledged the truthfulness of the claim, by referring to Satan as “the prince of this world.” John 14:30. But he refused the devil’s offer. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.4
It is evident that if Christ had accepted this offer, he would have taken the kingdoms of the world under Satan. The devil would not have been destroyed, nor his works. But it was to destroy the devil and his works that Jesus Christ came to earth as the Saviour of men. 1 John 3:8. AMS February 17, 1898, page 97.5
The works of the devil must be destroyed before Christ can accept the kingdoms of this earth. But so long as the devil lives, and wicked men exist upon the earth, the the [sic.] devil’s works will continue. For he is the spirit that “worketh in the children of disobedience.” AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.1
And there are only two possible ways in which the world can be freed of sinnners [sic.]. They can be destroyed, and they can be converted. If they refuse to be converted, then there remains but the one way of destruction. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.2
And there is but one possible way in which sinners can be converted, and that is through faith, as revealed in the gospel. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.3
It is therefore perfectly plain that no more chimerical project can be conceived than that of legislating the kingdoms of this earth, or any one of them, into the hands of Christ. He cannot accept them while the earth remains in its present state. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.4
And it rests entirely with the Lord to remove sinners out of the earth, so that the works of the devil will be destroyed. His power alone can convert sinners, and to destroy sinners is his prerogative alone. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.5
Now, in his love and forbearance, he is appealing to men by his Spirit to become converted and thus fitted for his eternal kingdom. But his Spirit will not always strive with man; and when its work is done,—when man’s probation shall have ended and the time of the appointed Judgment shall have come, then God will arise clad in the “garments of vengeance,” to do “his strange act,” of purging the earth of wickedness by the bolts of his wrath. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.6
Then will be fulfilled the Apocalyptic prophecy (Revelation 11:15-18): “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.... And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou ... shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Also that prophecy of the Psalms, in which God says to his Son, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Psalm 2:8, 9. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.7
Yet notwithstanding the utterly chimerical nature of the project to legislate the kingdoms of earth into Christ’s hands, as made plain by the facts here considered, there are millions of people enrolled in religious societies in this land who are to-day calling upon Congress and the state legislatures for laws which will “regenerate society,” make this a “Christian nation,” and “enthrone Christ on Capitol Hill.” AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.8
Never by the remotest possibility can the movement succeed. It can never do any good; but it can—and will—do incalculable harm. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.9
“To Legislators” American Sentinel 13, 7, pp. 98, 99.
WE would call the attention of legislators everywhere to the fact that there are many people in this country who would like to be good, if the legislators would only give them a chance. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.1
They would like to be good, but the laws of the country are not so framed as to make it an easy thing to be good. Hence they go on in sin. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.2
They are waiting for legislation to be enacted which will make it easy to be good, and difficult to be bad. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.3
For example, there are many people who would like to close their shops on Sunday; but if they should do so, without a Sunday law, some other persons would keep their shops open; and how can one person keep his shop closed on Sunday when another person—a rival in business, perhaps—is keeping his shop open and taking in money? AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.4
How can it be expected that an individual can afford to sacrifice money—actual cash—for mere religious principle? AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.5
Some legislation must be had so that a person can be true to the dictates of conscience without making any sacrifice of a cash value. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.6
As things are now there is a broad way which leads down to ruin, and multitudes are traveling in it; while only a narrow way leads to life, and this is traveled by the few. There must be legislation which will hedge up this broad way, so that it will be narrow and difficult, and at the same time enlarge and smooth down the narrow road to life, so that it will be the easy road, instead of the other. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.7
What do you think, legislators, of the task marked out for you? AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.8
Do you think that it is really difficult to be good in this world without the help of state legislation, or that such legislation can make people any better than they are? AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.9
The Bible says that it is impossible for any person to be good, under any circumstances, without a change of mind from the carnal to the spiritual. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.10
It says too that it is just as easy for a person to be good after his heart has been renewed by divine grace, under any circumstances, as it was for him to be bad before that work of grace had been done. The testimony is that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:20. Where sin abounded in the heart, before conversion, making the individual do that which is contrary to righteousness, now, after conversion, grace does “much more abound.” Certainly then it can be no less easy under the latter state to do right, than before it was to do wrong. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.11
This is the testimony of Scripture; the Scriptural plan of doing right makes no account whatever of any aid from the arm of flesh. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.12
It is always easy for God to do right; he cannot indeed do otherwise. And “Christ in you”—Christ, who is God, in every one who believes—is the purpose of the gospel, and is the Scriptural and only way of changing from a life of sin to that of righteousness. AMS February 17, 1898, page 98.13
“Bible Study with the ‘Christian Citizen’” American Sentinel 13, 7, p. 99.
GOD brought his people out of Egypt. Forty years they wandered in the wilderness before they could enter the promised land. During this time, that people were “the church in the wilderness.” Acts 7:38. They were out of Egypt, but not yet in their own land; therefore they had no country where they were. They were only strangers and pilgrims there. Their only country was the one to which they were going. AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.1
Now of Christ, and in him of all Christians, it is written, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Matthew 2:15. Christ was out of Egypt, but he was not in his own land; therefore he had no country, no kingdom where he was: “My kingdom is not of this world.” He was a stranger and a pilgrim, between Egypt and the promised land. AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.2
Christians are the sons of God. John 1:12; 1 John 3:2. They are called out of Egypt; for “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Christians are out of Egypt, but not yet in the promised land, not yet in their own land; therefore Christians have no country, no kingdom, where they are. Christians are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.3
You may say, “Israel should not have remained in the wilderness all that time.” That is true. But they must necessarily be in the wilderness some portion of time; because the wilderness lay between them and the promised land, and they must needs pass through it to get to their own land. And being out of Egypt, and not yet in their own land, it is essentially true that in this interval they had no country and no kingdom where they were; but were strangers in that land, and pilgrims passing through to their own land. AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.4
It is true, however, that Israel of old, the ancient “church in the wilderness,” should not have remained in the wilderness forty years. They should not have wandered in the wilderness at all: they should have gone straight onward from Egypt, from the Red Sea, to the promised land. All this delay and wandering was solely because they “in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.” Acts 7:39. Bodily, outwardly, professedly, formally, they were out of Egypt. But in heart they were yet in Egypt. And being in heart yet in Egypt, they were ever longing to be there in the body also: the flesh-pots of Egypt were the great object of their desire; and they were ever ready to cry, “Let us make us a captain and go back to Egypt.” It was their longing and their failure to be separated in heart as well as bodily from that country, that kept them forty years wandering in the wilderness. AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.5
Likewise it has been this same thing that has kept the professed Christian church wandering up and down and round and round in the wilderness of this world so long since the time when first “out of Egypt” God called these his sons. From the days of the apostles till this hour the great difficulty and lack in the lives of Christians has been that, though professing to be Christians, and in this professing to have come out of Egypt, they have yet in heart been ever inclined toward Egypt. The flesh-pots of Egypt, the things of the country from which they profess to have “come out,” have ever had for them a stronger attraction than has the country to which they profess to be going. AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.6
These Christians in the United States profess to be “strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” merely passing through this country to that “better country.” Yet in practice they take just as much interest in trying to “run things” in this country as though this country was their own, and the only one they ever expect to see. Their profession and their practice do not in any sense agree. If a few of these same “Christian citizens” of the United States were to make a tour of Europe, where they would be strangers and pilgrims, they would not count themselves citizens of the countries through which they passed. And however important and agitating were the affairs of those countries to those who were citizens there, yet these tourists—these strangers and pilgrims—would not consider these affairs to be of sufficient concern to them to require more than a mere passing notice. And if these folks were really inconvenienced by some occurrences in the countries through which they were passing, they would bear it gracefully under the comfort that as they did not belong there, it could not last long for they would soon be out of it. AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.7
That is the way these “Christian citizens” would act and consider matters if they were to become for a little time “pilgrims and strangers in Europe.” Now they profess and proclaim, and sing, that they are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Why then do they not act thus in this country on the earth, when they know full well that they would act precisely that way in any country in Europe? Is it not perfectly plain that a pilgrimage in Europe would be to them a much more real thing, than is pilgrimage on the earth which they profess and proclaim, and of which they sing? AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.8
But any “Christian” to whom earthly things are more real than are heavenly things—even his Christianity is not real. Any “Christian” to whom a pilgrimage in Europe would be more substantial and practical, than is his pilgrimage on the earth, is not in fact a pilgrim on the earth at all. His professing it, his proclaiming it, and his signing it, are all a fraud. AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.9
“Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” Christians are the sons of God. They are therefore out of Egypt. But, through out of Egypt, they are not yet in “their own land.” Therefore they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, they are without a country in this world, and are active citizens nowhere but in heaven. “Our citizenship is in heaven.” AMS February 17, 1898, page 99.10
A. T. J.
“Why Is It?” American Sentinel 13, 7, p. 103.
THE greatest power in the universe is the power of God. AMS February 17, 1898, page 103.1
The greatest power is capable of accomplishing greater results than any lesser power. AMS February 17, 1898, page 103.2
In the direction of reform, therefore, the greatest results will be accomplished by the power of God. AMS February 17, 1898, page 103.3
“The power of God for the reformation of man is manifested in the gospel, and in that alone. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 1:16. AMS February 17, 1898, page 103.4
There is now a great call made for moral reform and the regeneration of society. AMS February 17, 1898, page 103.5
Yet those who are sounding this call and organizing movements for its accomplishment, do not propose to make use of this power of God which is by faith, but of another power—the ballot. AMS February 17, 1898, page 103.6
Why do they propose to use the ballot in the place of the power of God? Why do they pass by the greatest power in the universe and select a power which is infinitely inferior to it? AMS February 17, 1898, page 103.7