p. 16 | A Parallel Case

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 29, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 34.

A Parallel Case

The Methodists believe that their religious liberties in South American countries are abridged, and have petitioned the pope for a remedy. The Pittsburg Catholic, in commenting on this, thinks that if real grievances exist the pope will doubtless protest to these governments through his accredited agents. But these are exceptions. It says:— “As is well known, these countries complained of are Catholic. There the religious ceremonies are often open and public. For instance, on the feast of Corpus Christi the Holy Sacrament is borne in solemn procession. In all Catholic countries, before the presence of Jesus Christ, the Sovereign, in the veiled sacramentals, kings and emperors are uncovered. In the armies of Catholic states, arms are presented at the elevation as at the passing of royalty. Now, it seems, at the great procession of Corpus Christi in Ecuador, these brethren of the Christian Advocate did not see fit to remove their hats, which the populace near by did for them. Why?—They were not idolaters; could they yield to rank superstition? At least they could have acted as gentlemen. If this is an abridgment of their rights, we feel certain they will get no relief from the pope or South American governments. Jesus Christ will not be made the subject of insult in the house of his friends.”

Now the Methodists could not uncover their heads before the “Holy Sacrament,” because for them to do so would be to their consciences idolatry. They do not believe Jesus Christ to be present in the wafer. It is not a matter of human courtesy; it is a matter of conscience. Just so it was with the three young Hebrews of Daniel 3. And just so it is with the Seventh-day Adventists in Tennessee and Maryland. They observe the Sabbath of the Lord as taught in his word, and as observed by Christ. Sunday is to them a rival sabbath, a usurper, and enforced by civil law, the sign of the apostasy. It is not with them a matter of human courtesy or expediency; it is a matter of conscience. They may not even seem to bow down to the rival sabbath of Jehovah, just as the Methodists of Ecuador could not even seem to sanction idolatry or to render false worship. The case is an absolute parallel. Ecuador does abridge the religious liberties of the Methodists, and violence, fine, or imprisonment visited upon them for refusal to acquiesce in the religious ceremonies contrary to their conscience is religious persecution. Is it not the same, brother Methodist, with the Seventh-day Adventists in Tennessee?