p. 8 | THE RIGHT TO DO RIGHT by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 1, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 48.

“THE RIGHT TO DO RIGHT.”

By W. N. G.

PROFESSOR HERRON, of Iowa College, in a recent lecture, is reported to have complained of “a common tragedy of soul which the denial of the right to do right is begetting among men of economic power.” The professor is an outspoken advocate of Church-and-State union. In a lecture delivered in several cities in different States a few years ago, he said:—

“Not only must the State become Christian, but the Church must become political. The religious faith of the people must seek through the State to realize upon earth the kingdom of heaven.”

Now, there is no principle in this world that has done so much in the way of attempting to deprive men of the right to do right as the principle of Church and State union, whether that union be with the State as the dominant factor or with the Church directing the State. Under no other condition have men been so extensively or so cruelly punished for doing right. In this connection, we give a quotation from the more recent address to which allusion is first herein made:—

“The highest right of every man is the right to do right; the right to obey an enlightened conscience; the right to earn his living in such a way as to help the living of every other man; the right to live a guiltless life. The right to do right includes every other right under the heavens; it has been God’s hidden secret at the heart of every movement for liberty since the world began. The right to do right is the substance of the economic problem; it is a problem of things only in the sense that conscience demands the right to organize things as the support of spiritual freedom.”

There is no power on earth that can take away a man’s right to do right, or compel him to do wrong. If he allows himself to be coerced into wrong doing, it is because he chooses to do wrong rather than to suffer for doing right. The true follower of Christ will always “obey an enlightened conscience,” at whatever cost. Thus did Christ Himself, and “he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.

The State had nothing whatever to do with Christ’s doing right. It has nothing to do with any man’s doing right. Man may and can do right without regard to the State, just as Christ did. He never asked any favor of the State. Natural rights are God-given; the State can neither give nor take away. It is the province of the State to protect men in their rights—not the majority merely, but every individual, no matter if he stand alone in politics and religion. The “right to do right” is not “the substance of the [true] economic problem;” but the doing of the right, regardless of consequences, is that substance. The union of Church and State is an adulterous union, and can bring forth nothing but evil. It never has given or protected rights, and never can do so. W. N. G.