The Annual Collection for Religious Liberty Work
By K. C. Russell
WHILE it is true that no department of the third angel's message is more important than the others, yet there is a sense in which the prosperity of all is largely contingent upon the success of the Religious Liberty department. The reason for this is the fact that when we are deprived of our civil and religious rights, we shall then be unable to use some of the most effective agencies that we now employ in the proclamation of the third angel's message; namely, free speech, the public press, and the use of our literature. It will require no argument to convince every Seventh-day Adventist that these statements are neither extreme nor fanciful. The truthfulness of these propositions can be grasped quickly when we consider the far-reaching effect of the terrible meaning of the words, “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” From the rapidly growing demand for religious legislation in the city, state, and nation, we can all see that the final struggle is not in the distant future. I wish that all the readers might have been present at the hearing, February 8, of H. R. bill 10570 before the commissioners of the District of Columbia, and observed the intensity of spirit on the part of those who were pleading for a more rigid Sunday observance in the District of Columbia. While we do not know what the present outcome of this measure will be, we are impressed with the importance of exerting ourselves as never before in disseminating the true principles of liberty. All understand that this must be done largely with our literature, and a large amount of means is required to do this work successfully. It has seemed necessary for our department to publish already three times as much matter to effectively explain the two bills now before Congress as it did to explain the bills last year, and it is also true that our work is enlarging, and will continue to increase until it is finished, and they that get “the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” It should be remembered that the Religious Liberty Bureau has no resources of its own, and is therefore dependent upon the returns from this annual collection which was voted at the last General Conference. Let all put forth a special effort to make this religious liberty annual offering for 1906, which is to be taken Sabbath, February 24, a large and liberal one. Remember how much depends upon the work we do in enlightening the people before the final crisis comes. K. C. RUSSELL,
Chairman Religious Liberty Bureau.