MISSIONARIES BARRED by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 12, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 15.

"MISSIONARIES BARRED."

By Editor

We call attention to the article under this caption in the "Missions" department of this paper. It is hard for men who have been reared and educated under a Church-and-State form of government to understand the principles of religious liberty. It is especially difficult for men who have been educated in that feature of such government which calls them to the task of enforcing its principles by military means. There is no doubt that General Kitchener is right in the sense of not allowing the Mohammedans to be unduly interfered with in the exercise of their religion. The Catholics and Protestants whose work had been cut short by the insurrection were probably about to return in the spirit of temporal victors, expecting Mohammedanism to be put down by military force; and to nip such an idea in the bud would be perfectly proper. But to forbid legitimate missionary work, or to set up a specifically Mohammedan government, would be going to the other extreme. One of the hardest things for men to learn, and which the enemy of souls is straining every nerve to keep them from learning, is that the legitimate sphere of civil government is in the domain of natural rights; that the only service it can properly and efficiently render is in the regulation of temporal affairs. The true principle of civil government is set forth in the Declaration of Independence. The domain of religion is in the heart, which no man can know, and therefore can not regulate. "The Lord trieth the hearts." Prov. 17:3. "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Jer. 17:10. The true missionary never will give any government any trouble; he never will interfere with any man's right to enjoy any other religion he may choose. He never will ask any special privileges of the government that will give him advantage over any person or class of persons.

The true missionary of Christ has faith in the Word of Christ, and all the power he asks is the power of that Word. The ambassador of Christ persuades men (2 Cor. 5:11) and beseeches them to be reconciled to God (verse 20), not to the civil government. He never seeks to compel reconciliation. John 12:47; Rev. 22:17. The power and influence of all the governments of earth can not add one feather's weight to the power of God's Word. And the missionary or the religious cause that looks to the civil law for support simply leans on a human crutch.