An Editor Indorses the Religious Liberty Resolutions
The resolutions adopted by the Bartley (Nebr.) church protesting against the passage of the Johnston Sunday Bill, were printed in the Indianola Reporter of Jan. 30, 1913. Accompanying this report was an editorial from which we take the following paragraphs:— “Every student of history who is acquainted with the union of church and state in government, must admit that the above sentiment, as expressed by the Seventh-day Adventists, is true and just, and should be indorsed by every lover of liberty, equal justice, and fair play. “History records that such laws were generally framed to subdue other religions, though there are a few exceptions, but in such cases, bigots, tyrants, and unprincipled rulers soon forced themselves to the front and subdued freedom and religious liberties. “Johnston is seeking notoriety rather than justice and religious liberty for the people. If he is an intelligent man, he should know that such a law would mean ignorance, tyranny, oppression, and finally the destruction of our government. “People who wish to inform themselves on the effect of such a law need only to read the history of the crusades, the Bartholomew Massacre, the driving of two hundred thousand from Russia, the reign of King James II, Calvin, Cotton Mather, and the laws on witchcraft. “Read your histories and encyclopedias on these things, and you will find that the history of all governments is a blank so far as any good results derived from such laws. “Had Johnston or any other Sunday-law agitators any good reason, favorable historical incidents, or even any Bible to uphold such a law, it would be different. . . . Judging from these records, and in support of freedom and justice, we should gladly join the seventh-day people and petition Congress and the President to sit down on those religious fanatics, and not allow them to fasten upon our free institutions a bondage that will deprive us of our liberties, bring tyranny upon the people, and in the end destroy our government.”