DISREGARD OF LAW | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jun 20, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 25.

DISREGARD OF LAW.

A Potent Cause.

It does not add to the serious facts, but it is good to know that men in prominent positions notice them and call attention to them. Dr. C. R. Brown, of the First Congregational Church in this city, in a sermon preached March 11, is thus reported:—

"In our wanton disregard of law, we have excused ourselves on the ground of liberalism. We presume on God's wonderful goodness. The wanton disregard of law is noticeable in the home. If people do not get along together, there is always the quack lawyer, who promises a divorce, quick, easy, quiet, painless, and people are free to begin all over again. The impression has gone out in society that people ought to go and have a good time.

"The same lawless spirit which was a symptom of the French Revolution characterizes our times. And unless we correct many things we will write some chapters which will be sorry reading later on for the American public.

"The doctrine of expediency is responsible for lax observance of laws in nations. It is as tho our citizens said, 'Mr. Devil, the Lord is in a tight place; won't you help him out?'

"The wanton disregard of law is due largely to the intellectual flabbiness of those among the religious leaders, those who believe in all things, and can be at the same time Catholic, Theosophist, and Unitarian."

Now all this is true; and it has all been foretold in the Word of God. We are living out in these very days the fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah and other Scripture prophecies of these times. And the cause is more than "intellectual flabbiness," it is moral and religious flabbiness. God designed that His church should be the light of the world, the salt to penetrate and preserve it from destruction. But when the light is hidden under the bushel of expediency, and the salt of piety has lost its savor, what should we expect of the world generally but "disregard of law"?

More than this: When God's law of Ten Commandments, given by His own voice, confirmed in the life, teaching, and death of Jesus Christ, is disregarded by ministers of the Gospel, what should we expect of the people? "He who offends in one point is guilty of all," are the words of Inspiration. The same royal law which declares, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not steal," also declares, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: . . . the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Yet professed teachers of the Gospel are partial in the law. They tell the people that the law is done away, the Sabbath is "Jewish," and in divers ways bring the law into contempt. Thousands of Christians to-day know their duty as regards the Sabbath, but justify their disregard of God's law through the false teaching of pastors or on the ground of "expediency."

If pastors may do this, why not their flocks? And if church-members—professed Christians, followers of Christ—may wantonly disregard the law of God in one point, why may not the world in another?

We are beginning to reap a fearful harvest, from the seed-sowing of religious "expediency." We are nearing a revolution and condition of things of which the French Revolution was but a weak prototype. And the judgment day will reveal that the most potent and prolific cause of all this disregard of law is the disregard of God's law by the professed followers of Christ. Christian brother and sister, "sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies; because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men." Hosea 10:12, 13. "Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar."