p. 9 | God and Caesar by H. W. Cottrell

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 28, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 21.

God and Caesar

By H. W. Cottrell

By H. W. Cottrell, President of Western Oregon Conference

WHEN our Lord was on earth, critics inquired of Him whether or not taxes should be paid to Caesar—civil government. He replied, “Show Me the tribute money. And they brought unto Him a penny. And He saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto Him, Caesar’s. Then saith He unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar [civil government] the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Matt. 22: 17-21.

The Master herein recognized the rights of both God and Caesar, divine and civil government, Church and State. He designed to impress upon the minds of those critics, and humanity throughout all time, that there are civil governmental rights by divine injunction, which should be rendered to civil government by each individual; and that there are other natural, inherent, unalienable, God-given, individual rights, due to be rendered in worship to God only, with which civil government can by right have nothing to do.

In Eden there was divine government only. The transgression of divine law introduced sin into the world. Sin brought selfishness—loss of respect for the rights of others. In order that the outworking of inward selfishness might be restrained, and the invader of the rights of others punished, God ordained civil government, with human authority, to protect every man in the enjoyment of his natural, inherent, divinely given rights. Especially did He ordain civil government for the protection of the weak against the strong, the minority against the majority, the one lone individual against mob violence, that each might enjoy his God-given liberty to worship God, or not to worship Him, according to the dictates of his own conscience, as he may elect.

In the utterance, “Render therefore unto Caesar [civil government] the things which are Caesar’s,” our Lord declares, most specifically, that when man has rendered due allegiance to civil government, by rendering to it “the things” that pertain thereto, there then remains certain other allegiance which it is the individual’s duty to render to God direct. Thus Jesus placed bounds defining the limit of Caesar’s legislation. He spoke authoritatively in defining this limitation to civil authority, and from His statement there can be no appeal.

Mr. Bancroft, in his “History of the Constitution of the United States,” accords so perfectly with Christ’s decision on limitation of rights of civil legislation, that I quote:

“The AMERICAN CONSTITUTION, in harmony with the people of the several States, WITHHELD from the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT the POWER to INVADE the HOME OF REASON, the citadel of CONSCIENCE, the SANCTUARY of the SOUL; and not from indifference, but that the infinite Spirit of eternal truth might move in its freedom and purity and power.”—Last chapter.

The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States says:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Ex-President Roosevelt, in an address delivered at Oxford University, England, on the occasion of the conferring of the degree of D.C.L. by the university, said:

“True liberty showed itself to best advantage in protecting the rights of others, and especially of minorities.”

God alone can enter the realm of and deal with questions of religion and conscience, for such are results of inward promptings of the soul. Civil government can not enter the realm of conscience, nor can it even make a fair pretense, unless the stocks, thumbscrews, and fagot should be reinstalled.

Every individual has a natural right to think, to draw conclusions, to speak, and to live out his conviction of conscience, in religious or non-religious matters, provided in so doing he does not invade the equal rights of his fellow men.

Church and State

The personnel of the church receive their gifts and grants from God; “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17. The Sabbath is a good and perfect gift, hence comes from God to men, and not from State or nation. All gifts pertaining to the church or religion come “down from the Father” above, not from men beneath; come from the divine throne, not from Congress, Parliament, or legislature.

The duty of the State and nation is to legislate upon civil matters, thus to make and enforce laws for the protection of life, liberty, and all other inherent rights within the power of man to take from his fellow man, and not to invade rights. The man who is not willing to protect the same rights and liberties for others which he asks for himself, and to require them at the seat of civil government, has not a true appreciation of liberty.

Sabbath (Sunday) legislation is religious legislation. Such legislation is wrong, if for no other reason, because it is class legislation. It is in the interest of that class of citizens who observe Sunday as a day of rest and worship, and is an invasion of the equal rights and liberties of other classes of citizens who choose to rest and worship on another day of the week. And it also trenches upon the liberties of another very large class of citizens who choose not to be religious.

Jesus said, “Render . . . unto God the things that are God’s.” No candid person will deny that the Sabbath is God’s. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” It must be received from God, not from the State. It must be rendered to God, and not to the State or nation. Then why should ministers of the Gospel of Christ be clamoring for Sunday legislation in the interest of Christianizing the working men, when civil legislation can not give spiritual life?

Sabbath-keeping is an act of worship, and is spiritual, and due to be rendered to God. The State can not enforce true worship, because true worship is spiritual, and the State can not discern the motives of the hearts of men.

Sabbath legislation is religious legislation; and religious legislation is an unlawful union of Church and State, and is a carnal invasion

of the inherent rights of all men, whether they are Christians or whether they are not. It is an invasion of the God-given liberty of the non-Christian, for it would compel him to act one day in seven as if he were a Christian, when he is not. True worship and Sabbath-keeping are prompted by the inflowing of God's love into men's hearts, not by force — civil authority.

Representatives of the Lord's Day Alliance, National Reform Association, Men and Religion Forward Movement, and kindred orders, are advocating State and national Sunday legislation under “color” of relief to postal clerks, carriers, factory employees, and working people in general, as if they were seeking for them one day in every week for physical rest. The day of rest thus sought by civil legislation is either a Sabbath or a holiday. If a Sabbath is desired, it is not within the purview of the State to legislate upon that question; for the Sabbath is God's; it must be received from Him, and rendered to Him. If a holiday, it should have no religious restrictions or penalties attached thereto, but every man should be free to rest or not upon the day, as he may elect to do, as upon other holidays.

H. W. COTTRELL.