The Sabbath Needs No Civil Protection
“A Christian Sabbath cannot long be maintained if the protecting fence of civil laws be thrown down.” So says a prominent W. C. T. U. worker connected with the “Sabbath Observance” department of that organization. A weaker statement could hardly have been uttered, as any unbiased person who knows aught of history and of revelation must admit. “If it be of God ye cannot overthrow it,” is testimony that applies to the Sabbath institution, and should settle the question of its perpetuity with any person or organization taking the Christian name. What civil law in defense of the Sabbath was in existence during the time of Christ and his apostles, and for scores of years and even centuries afterwards? The Christian Sabbath existed then as it does now, but without any “protecting fence” of civil enactments whatever. And the Christian religion though opposed instead of protected by the civil laws, spread and triumphed, and the Christian Sabbath became more and more widely observed, until the church, intoxicated with pride and the love of power, made an alliance with the state, and substituted a false religion in the place of the true worship. To say that that which is Christian cannot be maintained without the protection of civil law, is to say that divinity needs the support and protection of humanity, which is just the reverse of the truth. A Sabbath which needs a protecting fence of human power and wisdom for its preservation cannot be the Sabbath of the Lord.