READY FOR THE MATCH by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 5, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 48.

READY FOR THE MATCH.

By W. N. G.

In a recent brief report to our church paper, the Review and Herald, Elder N. W. Kauble, president of Colorado conference, says:—

“Some months ago it was thought by some of our brethren that Colorado would probably be among the last of states to persecute, but to-day, in the city of Denver, we have one of the most wicked of Sunday laws; and while it is in a measure inoperative, we do not know how soon persecution may break out in great fury. One thing seems certain, and that is that Satan is now marshaling his hosts for the battle in Colorado. Among other things that lead us to anticipate that such is the case, is the fact that in the metropolis of the state he is now operating through the ‘healer,’ and by this means is casting an influence which tends to lead many souls to array themselves against the truth. How much we need the power of God to enable us to counteract this subtle influence of the enemy of all righteousness!”

There is a volume in that paragraph, were it expanded to express all that it contains. The attention of the reader is called to these prominent points:—

1. Few of those who advocate, and still fewer of the legislators who enact, Sunday laws have any desire to persecute any class of people; therefore it is difficult for them to realize that they are furnishing the weapons to those who may at any time be wrought up to the pitch of vicious espionage of their neighbors, or a fanatical zeal for the “majesty of the law.”

2. Many advocate the enactment of Sunday laws merely from a sentimental idea that this “form of godliness” adds to the dignity and respectability of the state or municipality. They look upon such measures as a kind of advertisement of the moral status of the people, commending the locality to favorable consideration by the “better classes” seeking a change of residence. It is thought by many that the mere fact of the existence of a legal recognition of Sunday will give a good name abroad, and as this is one of the great ambitions of “public-spirited” men in these days of sectional or municipal rivalry, the Sunday law or Sunday-closing ordinance, as the case may be, is seized as one means of commendation. Men advocate and pass such measures who have not the least idea of their having any effect beyond the voluntary recognition of the people. Many advocates of such laws are actuated by political or business or social advantage, who have no idea themselves of adhering to them practically. Others seem to think them justifiable if only a few saloons may be closed upon that day, or part of the day, and they can not see, or refuse to see, the deep-seated possibilities of persecution that are hidden beneath.

3. The Sunday law, as has been the case in many states, may lie dormant for years, an apparently innocent ornament to the reputation of a community or state; and so long as public sentiment does not demand its active execution, it may be practically harmless. But it lies there like the charge of giant powder or dynamite, waiting the match or concussion, and sooner or later the explosion must come. Sometime zealous (or jealous) religionists, wanting in other available resources, will appeal to the law. They will want to find occasion against some other class whose ways are offensive to them, and they will find the Sunday law their most convenient resort. A vicious neighbor may desire to gratify a vindictive disposition and to annoy someone on account of a grudge or fancied injury, and the Sunday law is found a ready implement of revenge. The courts may see and acknowledge the injustice of the action, but the plea will be, We are here to execute the law, and we have no alternative.

4. “Satan is now marshaling his hosts.” It is now preëminently a day of deception. The very spiritual blindness that leads the multitude to seek the fraudulent “healer,” and to seek communion with the dead, and to seek moral reform by means of civil law, will also lead to the folly of enforced Sunday observance as evidence of marked social, political, and religious advancement. And such deception naturally leads to that last resort of religious despotism, “The end justifies the means;” so, when other means fail, persecution must follow. W. N. G.