An Evil and Its Cause by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Sep 29, 1904

An Evil and Its Cause

By L. A. S.

UNDER the heading, “The Law or the Mob,” the United Presbyterian of September 22 makes this comment on one of the striking signs of the times:—

The spirit of the mob is rising. It is rising in every part of the country. In almost any city, there is a possibility of an outbreak of popular passion that throws away all sense of right, and defies restraint. If an accident occurs, by which some one is injured, a crowd may gather quickly, and if some excited one cries, “Bring a rope,” there are a hundred to take it up.

There are doubtless many causes for this increase of the mob spirit, but whatever they may be, the spirit gains headway and force through the indifference of the people. First, there is gross dereliction on the part of many whose special duty it is to prevent and quell disorder. Beyond any question, in the case referred to, a very reasonable determination on the part of the police would have prevented the riot. And back of this, and, if possible, worse, is the public at large. We read and are scarce startled at the violence. Strikers combine and commit gross violence, even to the degree of murder, and it is accepted as an incident of labor strikes. A man is charged with crime, and before it is possible to arrest him, he is seized and cruelly killed, and we read of it with but little feeling of indignation. There is, at the present time, no greater danger to our institutions and the very existence of the nation, than this spirit of lawlessness, which first disregards legitimate authority, and then in fierce passion seeks to inflict punishment without law, or commits violence where no law is violated, but only personal interests are affected. The spirit of obedience to legitimate authority is at the foundation of the nation, and is essential to righteousness.

What is the cause of this present reign of lawlessness? “There are doubtless many causes,” says the journal quoted above, but it does not attempt to state them. Religious journals often speak of the increasing lawlessness, but they are more ready to state remedies for the situation than to trace effect back to its cause. Yet the cause of an evil must be discovered before any effective remedy can be applied.

Has the United Presbyterian or other church organs in this country ever considered the question whether the teaching that the law of God has been abolished has had anything to do with fostering disrespect for law in the minds of the people? Of late years this teaching has become very prominent. Not all churches have taught this, it is true, but the abolition of the decalogue, either in whole or in part, has been taught by all the leading religious bodies, Protestant and Catholic.

The Catholic Church teaches that the law of God has been changed by authority of the church; which is to say that the precepts of God have given place to those of man. A part of the Protestant church teaches that the law of God has been abolished altogether; and the great bodies composing the remaining part teach that the fourth commandment of that law has been abolished, and a new sabbath substituted in place of the one there ordained. Has all this teaching of the abolition of the highest law in the universe had any effect upon the carnal minds of men, to lower in them respect for law and for authority?

What other effect could it have? And when people are taught disrespect for the law of God, how long will they continue to respect the laws of men? This teaching, we say, has been especially prominent of late years, and for a certain reason, which is, that of late years a message has been going to the world calling upon men to return to the observance of God’s holy law wherein they had departed from it, namely, in the matter of Sabbath observance. This teaching has arisen mainly in opposition to the message calling men to return to the observance of the fourth commandment.

Which teaching is most calculated to promote respect for law in the world, that which says that the law of the Supreme Ruler has been abrogated, and is no longer binding on mankind, or that an essential part of that law—the fourth precept, which alone names the God who gave it—need not be regarded, but may be set aside for popular custom and the authority of tradition; or the teaching that the law of God is holy and immutable, and is as binding on all mankind to-day as it was when the world shook with its proclamation on Mt. Sinai; and that that holy law is the standard by which men’s lives will be tested in the judgment? Which of these opposite teachings that are being heard to-day in the land is best calculated to restrain the spirit of lawlessness in the human heart? The churches and the church

organs would do well to consider this question.

By the spirit of prophecy we are told that lawlessness prevails in the earth because men have cast off the divine restraints, and driven away the Spirit which strives with men and brings forth in the lives of those who yield to it the fruits of gentleness and peace. We are told that we are in the last days, when conditions should be as in the days of Noah, when “the earth was filled with violence.” Others see that these conditions exist; they point them out and comment upon them; and this should confirm Seventh-day Adventists in their belief of the truth, and stimulate their zeal to go forward to accomplish the work committed to them, while the day of mercy still lingers upon the earth.

L. A. S.