Editorial Notes by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 17, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 38.

Read the full edition

Editorial Notes.

By L. A. S.

“To-morrow” is for our comfort and hope, not for our convenience.

THERE is not money enough in the whole world to satisfy the soul of avarice.

THE more an individual fears God, the less will he fear anything that is not of God.

THE blessings of God are given on condition that the receiver will pass them on to others.

HE will have the most true independence who most fully acknowledges his dependence upon the Lord.

EVERYTHING that is in opposition to the law of God is in league with anarchy, whatever may be its profession.

THAT you are an observer of every law of man, does not prove that you may not be a violator of every law of God.

WHEN you are riding across the country on a railway train, it appears that the trees, the houses, and the rocks are going by you, though they are really motionless. Likewise when you are finding fault with everybody around you, it appears that everybody else is working against you; but the motion is on your part, not on theirs. Turn about and speak well of others, and you will find others speaking well of you. But the quarrelsome nature will catch at imaginary evidence that some one has been slandering it much more willingly than it will accept the plainest proof to the contrary.

WE must prepare for the troubles before us, not by fixing our gaze upon the approaching calamities, but upon the face of Jesus Christ and our approaching redemption. The way to endure afflictions so as to make them seem light, is to keep looking at the “eternal weight of glory.” Never tell men that trouble is coming without also telling them of the glorious consummation that is at hand. When the Spirit that inspired the prophets “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ,” it testified also of “the glory that should follow.” The truth we hold is not pessimistic; it is the hope of the world.

CAN a Christian be a politician? A good answer to this question, though not intended as such by the author, is given by “Mr. Dooley” in summing up the requisites of the creed of the next Democratic candidate for the presidency. “Mr. Dooley” expresses it thus to his friend “Hennessey:” — “WANTED.— A good, active, inergetic, dimmycrat, sthrong iv lung an’ limb; must be in favor iv sound money, but not too sound, an’ anti-impeeryalist, but f’r holdin’ onto what we’ve got, an’ inimy iv thrusts, but a frind iv organized capital, a sympathizer with th’ crushed an’ downthrodden people, but not be anny means hostile to vested intherests; must advocate shtrikes, gover’mint be injunction, free silver, sound money, greenbacks, a single tax, a tariff f’r rivinoo, th’ constitution to follow th’ flag as far as it can go, an’ no farther, civil-service rayform iv th’ lads in office, an’ all th’ gr-reat an’ gloryous principles iv our gr-reat an’ gloryous party or anny gr-reat an’ gloryous parts thereof.”

It is proposed to enact a law providing the death penalty for the crime of which the anarchist Czolgosz is guilty. But will this, if done, prove an effectual barrier to anarchy? From the attitude and utterances of this anarchist we must conclude that it will not. He believes that he has killed the President, and expects to die for it. He did not calculate on anything else. He did not expect, nor did he attempt, to escape. He chose an occasion and circumstances under which escape would be impossible. He had considered the matter beforehand, and deliberately decided to do the deed no matter what the consequences. Doubtless he is not an exception to the general class of his kind; there are other anarchists ready to do the same. The death penalty will not deter a man who has already decided to die.

For the suppression of anarchy we must depend upon means which strike not at the fruits of anarchy, but at the roots of it.

IF freedom is dear to man and essential to his happiness, as no one will dispute, the life of a humble, inconspicuous peasant is very much more desirable than that of most crowned sovereigns. Here is a dispatch to the London Times from its Paris correspondent, from which we may get some idea of the pleasure there is in being the Czar of Russia: —

“One measure taken to insure the safety of the Czar during his visit to France is that all persons employed in preparing the palace at Compiègne have been photographed. Minute inquiry has been made into the past of each person, and he cannot enter the palace inclosure unless he shows his photograph.”

“Similar measures will be taken with the cooks, hostlers, and other servants.”

“When the Czar arrives, every nook and corner of the palace will be explored and watched by detectives.”

The czars have done much to restrict the liberties of their subjects, and these have in turn restricted the freedom of the Czar, so that he is almost prohibited from traveling, and must always be attended by a body of men, and live in a prison-like fortress. If the Czar would give his subjects more freedom, he would have much more freedom himself.

THE pope, says a press cablegram from Rome, is about to issue an encyclical on the subject of anarchy. He “has been so impressed by the attack upon President McKinley that he intends to take the initiative in joint action by the Christian Powers against anarchism. He is writing,” says the dispatch, “an important encyclical on the subject, which will be published next month.”

But what system does the pope himself represent? If anarchy means opposition to law, what can be said by the chief representative of a system which is opposed to the law of God—which opposition it has manifested by striking out the second precept of the decalogue, changing the fourth, and dividing the tenth? If opposition to law be anarchy, what but the very essence of anarchy is shown by opposition to the laws of the Almighty? This system is well described by Inspiration as “the mystery of lawlessness.” 2 Thess. 2:7, R. V.

An encyclical on lawlessness by the representative of the “mystery of lawlessness” will be a unique document. The whole history and teachings of the papacy show that it regards no opposition to any law or being, human or divine, as anarchy, save only that which opposes the papacy itself.

SAYS the Springfield Republican: “Let us all tie to the processes of law and order, any pulpits to the

contrary notwithstanding. That is the only safe and Christian standard.”

And here is one of the pulpits which have spoken “to the contrary.” The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage is quoted as having said to an audience of nine thousand people at Asbury Park, N. J., in a discourse delivered Sunday, September 8: “I wish the officer who arrested the assassin of President McKinley had knocked out the felon’s brains with the butt end of the murderous pistol.” And this utterance was received with “tremendous applause.”

Such a proceeding as this would have been as truly anarchy as was the attempted killing of the President. If civil government in this country is to be swept aside, nothing else than anarchy will be left; and if civil government is to be maintained, criminals of every kind must be dealt with according to law.

There is in Christianity a remedy for every evil that afflicts mankind; and this popular clergyman should, as a minister of the Christian religion, have been able to point to the principles of the kingdom of heaven, and apply them to the case in question, instead of advocating the braining of the criminal, in disregard of all law, both human and divine. If anarchy is ever put down in this country, the process will involve a reformation on the part of many of the clergy.

THE President of the United States is the representative of the people—the 76,000,000 people of this country. For this reason, any violence offered him is a more heinous offense than is an attack made on an ordinary individual. But it should be remembered that this added sanctity which pertains to the high office, and thus invests the person of the President, is not inherent in him, but is derived from his office. It is representative of the rights and liberties of the people themselves. The office of the representative is sacred because the rights of the people whom he represents are sacred. There is danger of losing sight of this most important truth, and transferring the sanctity of the rights of 76,000,000 people to the individual who represents them. The ancient Hebrews had sacrificial rites given them which pointed to the sacrifice to be made on Calvary, that would be effectual to take away sin; but in time they lost sight of the thing typified, and attributed all the remedial virtue to the things which were only types. The first kings were chosen by the people, and derived from the people all that made them superior in position to their fellows. But in time the rights of the people were lost sight of, and it was claimed that kings ruled by divine right, and the people were their subjects. And history tends to repeat itself in this respect.

We hear much about the necessity of future guarding of the President, and the severe punishment which should be provided for any attack made upon the person of the nation’s chief executive; but we hear little or nothing about the necessity of guarding the rights of the people. The very papers and journals which are foremost in calling attention to the sacred office and person of the President of the United States, either are indifferent to the popular liberties in the face of movements which threaten them, or are inclined to think that the people have too much liberty, and that this government ought to be modeled more upon the pattern exhibited by those of the Old World. And the fault of all this lies in the people themselves, who have forgotten their higher interests, as Jefferson predicted they would, and left their rights to take care of themselves, in the absorbing craze of the age to acquire wealth.

THE newspapers are now telling us again about the “delay” in granting Cuban independence. For about three years the people here and in Cuba have been aware of a hitch in the evolution of this promised independence, so they are not startled now when further delays are announced. L. A. S.