ENACTING AND ENFORCING GOD'S LAW.
Mr. Walters, a member of the Kansas Legislature, has introduced into the Assembly of that commonwealth the following bill, copy of which Mr. Walters kindly furnished us (the Ten Commandments are from the version used in the Episcopal prayer-book):— An Act to Give Statutory Force to the Ten Commandments: Whereas, The men of the present generation have become doubters and scoffers; and, Whereas, They have strayed from the religion of their fathers; and, Whereas, They no longer live in the fear of God; and, Whereas, Having no fear of punishment beyond the grave, they wantonly violate the law given to the world from Mount Sinai; Therefore, Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:— SECTION 1. Thou shalt have none other gods but me. SEC. 2. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me; and show mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments. SEC. 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain. SEC. 4. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it. SEC. 5. Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. SEC. 6. Thou shalt do no murder. SEC. 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. SEC. 8. Thou shalt not steal. SEC. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. SEC. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his. SEC. 11. Any man who shall violate any of the provisions of this act shall be punished as follows: For violating section one, $1,000 fine; for violating section two, $1,000 fine and one year in the penitentiary; for violating section three or four, $500 fine; for violating section five, $500 fine and six months in the penitentiary; for violating section six, hanged by the neck until dead; for violating section seven, penitentiary for life; for violating section eight, fine or imprisonment, in the discretion of the court; for violating section nine, imprisonment in the discretion of the court; for violating section ten, fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. SEC. 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the statute book. There is no question but that the preamble is true from beginning to end in general and in particular. The third chapter of Romans tells us the same thing with respect to the whole world. After speaking of the heathen, the apostle says:— “What then? are we better than they? No, in nowise; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. . . . And the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” The portion omitted but adds to the indictment. It is even stronger than the preamble of our Kansas resolution. After this fearful recital of sin the Word continues: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” It is certain, therefore, that the proposed Kansas law can not make just those whom the preamble condemns. But we wish briefly to show the futility and wickedness of such legislation. 2. But a civil government can not enforce spiritual law. “The law is spiritual” is the declaration. This does not mean that one part is spiritual, another something else; it is all spiritual in every part. But that which is spiritual pertains not to mere outward acts, but to the spirit, the mind, the heart, the motives. Civil law, however, can only take cognizance of that which is outward, the overt act. Civil government can not, therefore, enforce God's spiritual law. 3. Take illustrations of this. Section one reads, “Thou shalt have none other gods but me.” Who is the “me”?—Of course in the original law it is the great Jehovah; but in the above if passed it is the State of Kansas. Where has the great God authorized Kansas to arrogate to herself his prerogatives? But if Kansas says the “me” refers to God, where has God made Kansas or any other State his vicegerent? Further, worship of God, acceptable worship, must be a matter of faith and the heart; for “without faith it is impossible to please Him,” and man must love him with all the heart. He who does not thus truly worship and love God certainly has another God to whom he renders a superior homage, even tho it be but himself. How will the executors of law in Kansas, or the Kansas courts, condemn the worst transgressor, providing he is skilled in hypocrisy? Some men frame their gods of wood and stone; others embody them in creeds; still others fashion them in their own hearts; but they are all false gods. The Kansas government could punish only the first, while the last two would be equally guilty. 4. Section three provides that the name of the Lord shall not be taken in vain, under penalty of $500. This would, of course, take in all that a judge would term profane swearing, in which the name of the Lord was used. But what about the myriads of times it is taken altogether “in vain” by professed Christians, who in mere form repeat their meaningless, faithless prayers? How would the law distinguish these from those who use the ineffable Name not in vain? 5. Section four provides that the Sabbath day (namely, “the seventh day”) shall be kept “holy,” under penalty of $500 fine. Of course this means not the enforcement of Sunday, but of the day of the week previous, commonly called Saturday. There could be no other meaning to the law. This is admitted, as by the Christian Work, in SIGNS of last week. But the law is that the day be kept “holy.” It demands, under penalty of $500 fine, that every inhabitant of Kansas amenable to law shall keep the seventh-day Sabbath “holy.” Holiness has reference to intrinsic quality, not to outward act. It is an act which can be performed only by a holy heart willingly. Civil power can neither make a heart holy nor willing. It, therefore, can not enforce the fourth commandment. 6. The sixth section forbids murder. Civil law can restrain and forbid outward killing, but the commandment of God forbids hatred of another. 1 John 3:15. The seventh commandment forbids lustful thoughts. Matt. 5:27, 28. This is what is meant in God's law by “Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not commit adultery.” What law can prohibit hatred or lust? And who can compel honor to parents, the stealing of reputation, the bearing of false witness by implication, and coveting? Earthly government may attempt all this, but it can not succeed. It may make men cowards and hypocrites; it may persecute the better man than the hypocrite; it may put itself in the place of God, and so become antichrist; but it can never make man better nor society holier. This only can be done by the Gospel of Christ applied by faith. But, it may be said, no one expects a Legislature to attempt to enact and enforce the Decalogue. Why not? Men are working might and main to enforce “sabbath laws.” Mr. Walters, with inexorable logic, takes the whole law; for it is just as consistent to attempt to enforce every part of God's law as one part. But God has abdicated to no one. His glory is not yielded to another. He has no vicegerent among earthly rulers.