S. B. H by S. B. H.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 26, 1911

S. B. H

By S. B. H.

Notes

RECENTLY the Lutheran churches of Baltimore passed resolutions protesting against the negligence of civil officials in executing justice against violators of Sunday laws. They must have forgotten or been unmindful of the attitude of the great founder of the Lutheran Church, who said: “It is by the Word that we must fight. I am unwilling to employ force against the superstitious or unbelieving. None ought to be constrained. Liberty is of the essence of faith. . . . I have never drawn the sword, nor called for vengeance. I have committed all to God, and have waited for his strong hand. It is with neither the sword nor the musket that Christians fight.”

In the October Christian Statesman one of its editors, on the subject “Bible Politics,” says: “Daniel applied his religious principles in his civic life when he purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s food and drink. His three Jewish friends in their refusal to engage in false worship at the command of the king illustrated the truth that civil law is not binding on the conscience when it contravenes the law of God. Daniel’s refusal to cease praying when the interdict of the monarch forbade it, also illustrated that when divine law and human law conflict, the latter must give way.” Facing this frank statement, why does the Christian Statesman stand for Sunday observance when God’s command calls for the observance of the seventh day, Saturday? And why do the promoters of that magazine petition the civil government to compel the observance of a religious dogma which is not in accord with the divine law?