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ENFORCED rest always makes a well man very tired. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.1
DEMOCRACY and great wealth cannot flourish together in the same land. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.2
EVERY Sunday law finds fault with men for following the example of the Creator. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.3
THE cords that hold mankind in the channels of morality are not attached to any earthly source of power. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.4
THIS age is doing its best to give the lie to that old and familiar Scripture, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.5
THE nations all profess friendship for one another, but no nation has as much friendship for any other nation as it has for gold. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.6
THE only significance that can belong to a weekly rest upon a specified day is a religious one. That was the significance given it by the Creator in the beginning, and no sophistry of man or act of the legislature can make it different. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.7
THE only Sabbath which God ever provided for mankind is a spiritual Sabbath—“the Sabbath of the Lord;” and that the Omniscient never provided any other ought with Christians at least to be proof that no other is needed. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.8
IT is not more and louder thunders of law, with all awe-inspiring manifestations of power and majesty, that is needed to make things better in the world. The ancient Hebrews had all this at Mount Sinai, but instead of drawing them nearer the Lord, it only drove them farther away. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.9
IN republican government an institution is subservient to the individual, and not the individual to an institution. Government serves the individual, and is not his lord and master. The former was made for the latter, not the latter for the former. The individual was the crowning active God’s creation, and man has not made anything greater than was made by him. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.10
CHRISTIANITY aims to purify men by casting out the world from their hearts. But there is a false Christianity in the land to-day which aims to purify the world by casting out men. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.11
Great religious organizations are holding conventions and planning for an aggressive campaign to “purify politics.” Certain classes of men must be cast out of Congress and the State legislatures, that these political bodies may be purified and we may have a truly Christian government. When the government has been purified the evils that are now rampant in a society will disappear, and there will be ushered in a reign of righteousness and the establishment of the kingdom of God, so they say. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.12
This is the old story of the world purifying itself, which is only one form of the subtle doctrine that man can be his own Saviour. Politics is of the world, civil government is of the world. In this country the most worldly men, equally with those who profess religion, participate in the government, and any scheme for a less worldly government must contemplate withdrawing the franchise from worldly people. This could not be done, and if it could, by that very act would the government proclaim itself to be hopelessly unchristian than before. The right of self-government is proclaimed by Christianity for every man, whether good or bad. Without self-government, no man can be fit for the kingdom of God. AMS July 27, 1899, page 449.13
Politics cannot be separated from the world; and the attempt to purify politics and to cleanse the temples of civil government, is an attempt to purify the world. In the Christian sense of purification, it cannot be done. The world cannot be purified. Whatever is of the world must be destroyed, and is reserved unto destruction, against a future day so graphically portrayed in the second epistle of Peter. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.1
The attempt, therefore, the purified politics, Congress, and the legislatures, in the name of Christianity, is a tremendous mistake and can only end in complete failure and disappointment. It aims at governmental rather than individual salvation, and rejects the individuals who most need saving. Christianity seeks out the most sinful and erring, not to cast them out but to save them. It brings to them not condemnation, but pardon and hope. It knows no salvation that is not of the individual. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.2
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The New York Sun comments upon a “Strange Fourth of July in Hawaii,” saying that an orator delivering an address might speak of “the President,” the “Constitution,” or “the flag,” without having it understood by his audience whether he meant President McKinley or President Dole, the Constitution of the United States or that of Hawaii, the flag of the one country or that of the other. It appears that Mr. Dole is still acting in the capacity of President of the Island government, the Constitution of the Hawaiian republic is still in many respects the fundamental law, and the Hawaiian flag is still officially recognized. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.1
“No wonder,” says the Sun, “that at an enormous mass-meeting in Honolulu on the Fourth of July, the American or rather Americanoid citizens there assembled... should adopt a preamble setting forth their weariness of the present state of uncertainty and confusion, and a resolution as follows:— AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.2
“‘That this assemblage earnestly and respectfully asks of President McKinley and his advisors and the Congress of the United States to take such action as will cause the speedy expansion of American territorial laws to Hawaii.’” AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.3
But in the way of their hopes stands the decision reached by the United States Government, that the island possessions recently acquired are merely the property, and not a part, of the United States. Considering that these islands are populated mostly by people of inferior and uncivilized races, it is much more conventional for the Government to treat them as its property than as territories entitled to enter the American Union. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.4
So while it was a “strange for the July” that was celebrated at Honolulu, it was a perfectly natural one under the new policy of imperialism. Indeed, under this policy a fourth-of-July celebration is logically a strange thing anywhere. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.5
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A great outcry is raised over the growing desecration of the “American Sabbath,” and the breaking down of all barriers which restrain it is set before us as a possible stupendous calamity, to avert which proper legislation must be earnestly invoked. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.1
Suppose all barriers were removed; suppose everybody in every State were left perfectly free to observe Sunday or not, to rest or to work or to play, just as he might feel inclined: would the church lose anything by it? Would Christianity lose anything? Would not every Christian in the land keep the Sabbath just the same as before? Yes; every church member who is a Christian would be true to his convictions of duty; and the world, whether in the church or out of it, would simply act as it is in their hearts to act, as regards Sabbath observance. And as the church has nothing to gain from worldly people in her fold, and as such people only do her harm, it is plain that the removal and complete breaking down of all man-made barriers about the Sabbath would not only do no harm to the Christian Church, but would be much to her advantage. The line of demarcation between the true church and the world would only be more sharply drawn, and that would always be to the advantage of the church. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.2
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THE actors’ society of America has published the following resolution as a declaration of its attitude toward Sunday theaters:— AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.1
“Whereas, the usages of Christian civilization and the customs of our forefathers have ever observed one day in the week as a day of rest; and whereas, we believe that one day in the week may be with advantage to the actor always respected as a day of rest and of moral culture; therefore, resolved, that as a society, we object to theatrical performances at any hour of the day on Sunday, and will always use whatever legal influence we may have to suppress the same.” AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.2
It may be inferred, though it is not declared, that the actors will use their moral as well as their legal influence against Sunday theatricals; and if their moral influence is really used, it will be used first of all on themselves, in themselves refusing to perform on Sunday, whether there is any law on the subject or not. Moral influence that stops short of this is no influence at all, and if their moral influence is not exerted against Sunday work, it will only be inconsistent and absurd for them to use their legal influence against it. And the same is true of any other class of laborers. AMS July 27, 1899, page 450.3