An Appeal to Christians
By Editor
THE writer of this is a believer in Christ Jesus as his Saviour and Lord, and he appeals to those of like faith, by whatsoever name they are called. Whatever may be their predilection, inheritance, early teachings, or convictions concerning a Sabbath, he asks them: If Sunday is a holy day, does it not receive its sanctity from God, and is not God able to care for it? If it is of God, will not the presence of God in it vindicate its holiness, as it did that of the ark among the Philistines anciently? It was a wise saying of Gamaliel's, "If it be of God, ye can not overthrow it." If, on the other hand, the Sunday sabbath be not of God, no law, men, or nations can preserve it. It is the word of our Lord, "Every plant which My heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13. You, my Christian brethren, know that large numbers, or majorities, do not make things right. All the children of Israel, at the head of whom was God's high priest, could not make the worship of the golden calf right. Moses, the man of God, and a few others, stood alone. The three Hebrew children were right when they would not bow to Nebuchadnezzar's apotheosis of patriotism on the Plain of Dura, and all Babylon was wrong, patriotic as they were. Daniel in the lions' den was right, and Persia was wrong. All the Jewish nation — doctors, scribes, priests, and the mass of the people — were wrong, while the Victim of Calvary alone was right. It has ever been true in this world that religious truth has been in the minority, but always the right has triumphed, or does triumph, or will triumph. "The endless years of God are hers," tho she die in the dungeon, or is crucified on the cross, yet ever — "Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own." The grave portals may seemingly forever close above the right, the truth; but the grave has been tunneled by the Prince of Life, and there is eternal victory on the other side. Majorities signify nothing; masses signify nothing, so far as religious truth is concerned. This is the lesson of the ages: It is "not by might [an army], nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts," that His work is wrought. Why not use God's way for the Sunday question? Granted that there is much wickedness and foolish, reckless pleasure on that day; granted that law might be able to stop much of it in outward manifestation. Yet you do not change the heart thereby; you do not convince the wrong-doer; you do not make men. But you do make hypocrites and cowards, and foster crime. Why not take God's way, His Word, His Spirit, and prayer? "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." Why turn to the State, to Egypt, to Babylon, to Assyria, to Cæsar, to civil power, when the mighty Master of Christianity, with whom is all authority in heaven and earth, has vouchsafed His power and presence, apart from all earthly power? "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal," nevertheless are they "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." But again: Your Sunday law may suppress useful labor, but it can not stop sin. Every evil thing in religion contrary to Christ and truth, a thousand times worse than common labor, may be taught that day. Will the aim of the Sunday law men be the suppression of all false religion? Who, then, will decide what is true? In some States Catholics are in the majority. Shall the Roman Catholic religion be established by law in such States? In some States Protestants would be in a majority; but in both cases there would be a revival of the century-long strife between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, which strife would be minimized if the tenets, dogmas, or creed of neither were entrenched in civil law. Why work for a recrudescence of the Dark Ages by a Sunday law? The church — any church — has never attempted to rule civilly without bringing a curse upon both herself and humanity. Why repeat the sad, suffering lessons of history? Why leave God's way? Makes Loyalty to God a Crime
Again — the question is of infinite import: Why make loyalty and devotion a crime? The conscientious Jew, the Sabbath-keeping Christian, observe, in loyalty to God, the seventh day. They have in truest worship rendered to God that which bears His image and superscription. Their duty to their families and to their God, as they see it, — as millions of others see it on a different day, — demands that they shall work at their usual business on six days of the week, and consequently on Sunday. They injure no one, interfere with no one in so doing, yet a Sunday law makes them criminals, and makes them criminals for just what Jesus Christ did, whom we all profess to serve. Why, Christian friends, will you make criminals of those who are conscientiously following Christ? Will You Stand for This Injustice?
Again: Do you feel that it is right and Christian to demand of your fellow Christians who may differ with you as regards the day, sixteen and two thirds per cent of their time, solely in deference to your opinion? Think of it. They have observed the Sabbath, as they believe, of the Bible, taught by the fourth commandment and enforced and observed by Jesus Christ. You have observed the first day of the week, believing it to be a holy day. In that respect you stand equal. They feel that they can not lose the time to spend Sunday in idleness, and you do not believe that it is your duty to observe the seventh day, or spend it in idleness. Both classes stand on the same basis exactly before God and before all American governments in the light of elemental and fundamental law. But now the Sunday law comes in, and you, through that Sunday law, demand that your seventh-day neighbor shall give up one whole day in the week of precious time — one sixth of all his income, sixteen and two thirds per cent of his earnings — simply and solely in deference to you. Do you believe that is right, or just, or Christian? It seems to us that if you will once let that question come home to your heart, that of itself would decide forever with you that you would never ask for a Sunday law, nay, more, that you would throw your whole power against a thing that would work such injustice. Once more: These observers of the seventh day believe that in loyalty to God they ought to observe that day. They believe that when Jehovah said, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," He meant it. They believe that when He called it "My holy day," and commanded that man should turn his foot from that day, He meant it. They believe that our Lord honored that day when He said, "The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." They believe that that day, according to His own Word, is a memorial of His creative power, and a sign of His redeeming power, because His redeeming power is creative power. They feel that it would be disloyalty to God to do otherwise than to observe it by the grace given through the Lord Jesus Christ. They look upon Sunday as originally a pagan institution, that it has been brought into the Christian church through apostasy, that it bears the stamp of apostasy in demanding through civil law its observance, and they feel also that it would be disloyalty to God to place such an institution alongside that which all the Sacred Writings uphold. They do not judge or condemn their fellow Christians who may keep Sunday. They leave that with conscience and God. They would not have one single soul on earth observe the Sabbath of the Lord unless he can do it believing it to be right, believing it to be true, believing it to be a blessing. They know that religion, if it is of worth, must be voluntary, that service to God must be, if acceptable, by love; and therefore they can not believe in coercion or compulsion. They hold that this very principle is elemental in true service to God and in Christianity. And therefore I plead with you, my Christian brethren, as Christians, that whatever may be your regard for Sunday, or your disregard for the seventh day, you will let the spirit and principles of Christianity rule regarding the upholding or the promoting of religious belief. It is our prayer, and it shall be our prayer, that whatever may come, or whatever questions may come before you, whatever position you may have taken in the past, the great God who rules over all men may help you to see error, may lead you with clear vision to see truth, and may give you will and conviction to decide for the right. Yours in Christ Jesus our Lord, THE EDITOR.