CHARACTERISTIC INTERPRETATION AND SPIRIT.
IN the Christian Statesman of the 24th ult. is an article given the prominence of the editorial pages on "The Trowel and the Spear." The writer, W. J. Robinson, endeavors to draw a parallel between the work of Nehemiah in building the wall of Jerusalem and the work of those who are trying to support the pseudo sacredness of Sunday. In that work he says:— The "spear" became as essential to the success of the work as the trowel. Not one step could be taken in the building unless the enemy be restrained. Nehemiah recognized the demands of the situation, and prepared to meet them. He went on with the building, but he defended the workmen from the enemy. He was compelled to do so or cease to build. Whether he should use the "spear" or not was not a debatable question with him. The necessities of the situation made it imperative. It was therefore as legitimate, as directly in the line of his work, as the laying of the stones.
And here is his parallel: The workmen of to-day are the ministers. The wall they are building is the spiritual Jerusalem, or the saving of souls. The platform on which the workmen build is the Sunday, called by Mr. R. "the sabbath." The enemies are the desecrators of the Sunday, who come "between the workmen and the wall." "Destroy the sabbath and the work of the gospel cannot go on," says this National Reformer. "In many portions of the land," he says, "the sabbath, in its true character, has become a thing of the past. And the work of the gospel has been forced to a cessation by that very fact." What is the remedy he has to offer? In what way must his gospel be furthered? He answers:— The sword for the defense of the workmen [the ministers of the gospel] to-day is the civil law which is enacted for the protection of the sabbath. And it is the only weapon which the enemy either fears or respects.
The fact is that Nehemiah was doing a civil work under the direct appointment of God, in other words, under a true theocracy, so far as the people of God were concerned, and under powers granted by the king of Persia. He was building the natural wall of a material city with material stones, material trowels, with material enemies to meet. He used the means which it was legitimate to use in that dispensation in the work he was doing as governor. But the work of the gospel is a spiritual work. It is to be accomplished by the power of the Spirit of God. (See article in this paper entitled "The Power and Methods of the Gospel.") It is to be prosecuted by the weapons not carnal but spiritual, but mighty through God. The power is to be of love, of the Spirit of Christ, and not the power of civil law. But what a confession that "if the sabbath is destroyed, the work of the gospel cannot go on"! By this is meant the general observance of Sunday. That is, if Sunday is to be used by people generally as the other days of the week are used, the gospel must stop. What a confession! Think of Paul's saying, "Lord, I cannot go to Macedonia; the Sabbath is not observed there. I can do nothing at Rome, for the Sabbath is not observed there"! No, the old apostle never thought of such a plea. His business was to preach Christ and him crucified, and the preaching of Christ and his gospel would make Sabbath keepers. The whole of Pagan Rome could not stop the gospel. It was not dependent on man, but on the power of Christ. The plea that ministers cannot do their work, cannot preach the gospel, is a confession that their work and power are purely human, and that they require the same methods and supports as any other human work. Much more might be said, but space at this writing will not permit. The above reader, is characteristic National Reform doctrine, but it is not the doctrine of Christ and his word. No power on earth can destroy the Sabbath of the Lord, which is the Sabbath of the child of God. No civil power can add to its obligation or holiness. It has its foundation and support in the very throne of the Infinite, the very power that is behind the gospel of Christ. SUNDAY laws are oftentimes pressed forward as needed moral legislation, "in the interests of public morals," etc. But no legislative body has any right to legislate upon morals, as it has no power to enforce them. Moral pertains to motive; and the judgment of motive does not lie within the province of man. Two acts may be, so far as man may see, exactly similar, but one may be actuated by the basest and vilest of motives, while the other may be actuated by the utmost sincerity and generosity of heart. Man has no right to judge between the acts, because he has no power to read the motives of the heart. CIVIL government can take cognizance of overt acts alone, and of these only in certain lines, where the life, the property, the chastity, or the reputation of the individuals of society demand it. But when it departs from this sphere, the protection of its subjects, to act as monitor and perceptor of morals, it inaugurates a system which degrades morality, brings itself into reproach, and injures the cause which it designed to help. Whatever is proper on one day of the week is proper on another. What is immoral on Sunday is immoral on Monday so far as civil government is concerned. What it is right to do Monday it is right to do on any other day of the week, so far as civil government has jurisdiction. Civil government is ordained, not to make men moral, but to see that they are civil, or, in other words, that its subjects are treated civilly. But the Sunday-law question has another phase, namely, the religious. It is this which lies at the bottom of all the Sunday-law agitation. Many Sunday-law men have in the past tried to evade this and base legislation on the question upon different grounds, because of the prejudice in America against religious legislation. Hence Sunday laws have been called "sanitary measures," "matters pertaining to public morals," measures for the relief of the poor workingman, or in the interests of education. These are mere subterfuges in which the true reason seeks to hide and thus deceive the unwary and ignorant. The first, middle, and last reason for asking or demanding Sunday laws is religious.