It Is the Law | AdventAI

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 29, 1906

“It Is the Law”

The following letter appeared in a recent issue of the Grand Rapids Evening Press, from the pen of Brother A. Smith:—

“Editor of the Evening Press: Kindly permit me to reply to Valdez in your issue of March 8 under heading ‘Because It Is the Law.’ He says that Sunday is properly called ‘the Lord’s day,’ but God calls the seventh-day Sabbath ‘My holy day’ (Isa. 58:13); and again, ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord;’ therefore, the Sabbath is the Lord’s day. Valdez says concerning the Sunday closing ordinance, ‘It is the law.’ Ancient Babylon had a law, and by it three Hebrew children were cast into a fiery furnace. Medo-Persia had a law that consigned Daniel to a ‘lions’ den.”

“The popular religionists of Christ’s day said, ‘We have a law, and by our law he ought to die;’ and yielding to their persistent clamor, the governor consented to the crucifixion of the Son of God. There are thousands of people in our country who ‘breathe in liberty with the very air.’”

“As to attending churches or theaters, or going on excursions, engaging in plays and other innocent recreations, they have a right, guaranteed by our national Constitution, to choose their own time and place for them, so long as they do not in so doing interfere with like rights of other people. Valdez voices a widespread sentiment among religious advocates of Sunday law when he says, ‘Disregard of law is anarchy.’ Therefore, according to this unjust charge, Daniel, Christ, and Paul were anarchists.”

“If free men are not awake and alert just now, they will soon be bound in fetters that can not be easily broken. Their danger lies chiefly in their apathy.”