The Foundation of Morals and Religion.
By S.
We note the following in a leaflet that is being widely circulated through the educational campaign that is being conducted by the organizations favoring the Sunday laws: “Our State Sabbath laws are good and wholesome and afford a sure foundation for morals and religion.” Is it not strange that professedly Christian people will advocate the idea that civil enactments are necessary as a foundation for morals and religion? And is not the idea that the civil government should lay the foundation for religion, a strange idea among the principles of American republicanism? If the Government can properly lay the foundation for religion, why can it not as properly erect the superstructure upon that foundation? As a building depends upon its foundation, so must the character of religion depend upon its foundation; and if the civil power can rightfully lay the foundation, by the same authority it can affect religion in any other way, and establish a state church. If the civil power has authority to do the greater thing, it must have authority to do the less. If state Sabbath laws are the foundation of morals and religion, what foundation had the latter before there were any such laws, or what foundation have they now where no such laws exist, as in California, for example? Are there no morals and religion in California? or do they rest upon another foundation there? and if upon another foundation, why must state “Sabbath laws” exist to furnish them a foundation elsewhere? And how many different foundations can morals and religion have? Christianity is divine and rests upon no human foundation. The foundation of morals and religion was laid long before any human laws existed, even when the relation which they cover first came into being. God himself laid the foundation, and that foundation stands to this day, as firm and as efficient as at the beginning, and thus it must stand through all eternity. Morals and religion which rest upon a human foundation—the foundation of state laws—are not the morals and religion established by the Creator upon the eternal foundation of his own power and wisdom. That which rests upon a human foundation is itself human, and morals and religion which express only human wisdom and human righteousness must be a delusion and a snare to all that trust in them. The conclusion reached in the leaflet is that since the “State Sabbath laws” afford “a sure foundation for morals and religion,” “they should be rigidly enforced.” But there can be no stronger reason why State “Sabbath laws” should not be enforced, than the very fact that they assume to be the foundation for morals and religion. An idea so erroneous as this does not speak well for the cause in behalf of which it was uttered. The cause of truth has no use for the assistance of error.