Christians and the Laws
By L. A. S.
SPEAKING about the necessity of activity on the part of Christians to secure the enforcement of law, the Northwestern Christian Advocate says:— A revival of genuine Christian patriotism is needed. There must be a waking up of public sentiment on the subject of the enforcement of law. Those whose duty it is to enforce the law, do it not. Those who have the power to insist upon it, do not use their power, and those who grieve over the demoralization seem powerless, because they do not see how to move in concert. There is a law in most of the States against open saloons and against doing ordinary work or business on the Sabbath, and yet saloons and play-houses run wide open, stores sell goods, printing offices hum with work, Sunday papers issue, and are hawked about the streets by yelling urchins in open day, making the Sabbath hideous with the noise of secular pursuits, while the humble worshiper, whose conscience demands obedience to the law of God, is contemned, and his rights are trampled upon. The Advocate is here speaking of the laws of man. But no doubt the Advocate and all those for whom it speaks will admit that the laws of God are violated far more frequently and flagrantly in this world than are human laws. This being so, the first and great concern of the Christian should be to secure a reform among men with respect to the laws of God. His zeal and activity should be employed to secure reverence and obedience for those laws, in the place of the general disregard of them which on all sides is so painfully evident. Occupying himself to this end, the Christian will find that the work is one which calls for his whole measure of time and service. The great controversy between good and evil, between righteousness and sin, overshadows and transcends all human conflicts. It affords the fullest opportunity for his constant and best endeavors. Whatever interest he may have in human affairs, in the enforcement of just laws among men, he can not cease his activity in the cause of God. He can not transfer his energy in behalf of the kingdom of God, to the maintenance of a government of earth. He will not let go of the greater* thing to take up the less. And yet every Christian does work, and works effectively, for good government on the earth. The extension of the kingdom of God in the hearts of men can not but afford a sure support for the cause of justice among men, and regard for human rights, upon which the best earthly government is founded. Obedience to the law of God can not but mean obedience to all human laws which do not conflict with the eternal code. It is because men have lost reverence for the law of God that they display so little respect for the laws of man. It is because men have lost sight of the truth that they are bound by divine, immutable precepts upholding the eternal government of God, that they are so prone to regard law as a light and trifling thing. The preachers have proclaimed from the pulpit that God's law has been done away; and that idea, eagerly welcomed by the carnal heart, has been disseminated, and is bearing fruit unto lawlessness. Christians do their part in the cause of good government on the earth. They do more than any other class of people7to maintain peace and obedience to law. They do this not at the polls or the primary, where their power individually is only equal to that of the knave; they do it not by any appeal to force, but by co-operation with divine agencies, by means of which one chases a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight. They do it by being the light of the world and the salt of the earth. The Christian can not do more, and he ought not to do less. By being zealous in the service of God, he renders the best possible service to his fellow men. Divine agencies, not the law and the police, are the real preservers of the world's peace. L. A. S.