Futile Hope | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 23, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 49.

Futile Hope.

For several years past an appeal has been made to the Christian people of the country, to secure a better observance of Sunday by the enactment of laws to prevent the desecration of the day. The Rev. Leonard Woods, D. D., professor in Andover Theological Seminary in 1831, said at that time:—

"Some have relied upon the salutary influence of civil laws requiring the Sabbath to be treated with respect, and forbidding, under severe penalties, all open violation of it; but, in my apprehension, we have no reason to expect that mere civil enactments will ever be productive of any extensive and permanent benefit in regard to this subject, except merely as they afford protection to Christians in worshiping God according to their own consciences. The experiment has often been tried here and in other countries, but the result has made it evident that the great interests of morality and religion cannot safely be made to rest on the power of the civil law. The due observance of the Sabbath must be promoted by considerations addressed to man's reason and conscience and heart."—Sel.