THE WORSHIP OF AN INSTITUTION—IDOLATRY AND HYPOCRISY.
By G. D. Ballou
THE fourth commandment was given to perpetuate the worship of the true God,—to keep ever before the minds of men the Maker of the heavens and earth, and the mighty power, wisdom, and infinite greatness of him who is the Father of all. This reason is found in these words, following the command proper: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." This command does not forbid worshiping God at other times, but it does specify a particular time when all heaven expects man to worship. God has made this time holy, and man is to keep it holy by abstaining from his own work and worshiping the true God. Now if we take God and his worship out of the Sabbath, it becomes only a day of idleness and mental and moral dissipation, a curse instead of a blessing to man. The shell is left, but the kernel is gone. The outward appearance of reverence for him who made the Sabbath and all else remains, but this is hypocrisy. The Sabbath is revered before the world, but God is forgotten. Thus the institution is worshiped instead of God; and what is this but idolatry? Now for the application. The would-be moral reformers of these days disclaim all idea of enforcing the worship of God, because this claim would be too flagrant and bold to receive the least toleration. It would be too much like the work of the papal hierarchy during the midnight of history. They dare not boldly attempt such a thing. But instead they set up an institution in the place of God's appointed day of worship, and they call this institution the "civil sabbath," so as to leave God out; the "American sabbath," to appeal to the patriotism of the people; the "Christian sabbath," to enlist the religious fervor of professing Christians and not lose the idea of worship, and thus in the sheerest subterfuges they lay their foundation. Then a loud clamoring is raised everywhere for "civil sabbath" laws, both State and national. When they carry this point, what will they have?—Simply laws to enforce a day of idleness without any worship of God in it to the godless citizen more than it had before the law was made; laws to preserve an artificial shell without a kernel. The institution is everything in the law. The day must be honored by every citizen, whether he ever thinks of God or not, and the Sunday-law advocate glories that he is doing God service by enforcing what he calls one of his institutions. Mark it, the open demand is for the preservation of the "Christian sabbath," or the "American sabbath," as the occasion may call for, and not for the worship of God. In fact, worship of God cannot be enforced. And when the criminal is arraigned before the courts for doing common labor on Sunday, the question is not, Have you failed to worship God, but, Have you broken the legal sanctity of the Sunday sabbath? Thus the institution is made the object of reverence and worship, and God and the principles of his truth are forgotten. When the national Sunday law is passed, this will be true in the cases of 30,000,000 of godless citizens of the United States of America. The day will be scrupulously observed in outward legality, with never a thought of God. And how much better is this than heathen idolatry? By such a law Sunday becomes the legal idol of the United States. And its advocates and abettors are pleased that the nation has the outward semblance of piety, when they know God is not in all the thoughts of many of its millions. What is this but glorying in hypocrisy? Will God be deceived by this sham worship of a sham sabbath? I leave it to you, reader.