Religious Liberty

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 25, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 13.

Religious Liberty

THE term "Religious Liberty" is used in a twofold sense: (1) To mean the only liberty which brings satisfaction—liberty from the bondage of sin; (2) It is applied to liberty vouchsafed by civil governments to the individual to worship or not to worship as he may elect, providing his course of conduct does not transcend the equal rights of his fellow men. Christianity—the religion of the Bible—grants both in its fullest sense.

What Man Owes to God.

1. What is man's duty to God, the Creator?

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12: 13, 14.

"So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." See James 2: 8-12.

2. How is man's duty elsewhere expressed?

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. 22: 37-40. See also Deut. 6: 4-6; Lev. 19: 18.

NOTE.—This is man's duty. God, his Creator, has commanded it; there is no alternative. God's law is the great law of right; His creatures have under Him, in their relations to Him, no right to do otherwise than right. God demands that as the creature's duty to his Creator, as the only method of assuring harmony of the universe, for the creature's highest and eternal good.

The Power of Choice.

3. Yet what awful power has God given man?

"Therefore CHOOSE." Deut. 30: 19.

"If any MAN HEAR My voice, and OPEN the door." Rev. 3: 20.

4. If we choose according to duty, what good will result?

"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that both THOU and THY SEED MAY LIVE; that THOU mayest LOVE the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest OBEY HIS VOICE, and that thou mayest CLEAVE UNTO HIM; for He is thy life, and the length of thy days." Deut. 30: 19, 20. See John 1: 12; Rev. 22: 17.

5. What will be the consequence of choosing our own way?

"Because I have called, and YE REFUSED; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: for that they HATED KNOWLEDGE, and DID NOT CHOOSE the fear of the Lord: they WOULD NONE OF MY COUNSEL: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the FRUIT OF THEIR OWN WAY, and be FILLED with THEIR OWN DEVICES. For the TURNING AWAY of the simple shall SLAY them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Prov. 1: 24-32.

NOTE.—God has given to every soul the right of choice. He has thrown around every soul a sacred circle of responsibility which Deity itself will not, can not, enter to compel the soul's choice. It is an awful thought. It is said that Daniel Webster declared that the greatest thought which ever came to him was "man's personal responsibility to God." Browning says:

"You forget too much That every creature, female as the male, Stands single in responsible act and thought, As also in birth and death."

Why?—Because God demands love of His creatures, the obedience of faith and love, and love can not be compelled by law. Forced outward service is mockery in our relations to God. When God does not, will not, compel such service, should the human presume even to think to do it? Thus to do is to lift one's self above God.

6. What is our condition by birth?

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3: 23.

"Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [slave] of sin." John 8: 34; see also Rom. 6: 16.

7. Who alone can make us free?

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8: 36.

8. How may this liberty from sin be maintained?

"If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8: 31, 32.

"I will walk at liberty; for I seek Thy precepts." Ps. 119: 45. See also Isa. 61: 1; Luke 4: 18; Gal. 5: 1.

NOTE.—The liberty which Jesus gives is freedom from sin and sinning. It does not promise in this world freedom from hardship, toil, pain, persecution, death; but it does promise victory in all these thru Christ, and glorious victory at last over all the results of sin, death, and the grave. Yet the liberty which Christ gives here with all its hardships is sweeter than all that the world can give without Christ.

How Only Saved.

9. By what means only can we obtain Christ and His life of freedom?

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3: 16.

10. How alone could His disciples bring souls to Christ?

"For the LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINETH US." 2 Cor. 5: 14.

"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we PERSUADE men." Verse 11.

"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as tho God did BESEECH you by us; we PRAY YOU in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Verse 20.

11. What did Peter say?

"The elders which are among you I EXHORT, who am also an elder: . . . FEED THE FLOCK OF GOD which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; NEITHER AS BEING ensamples to the flock." 1 Peter 5: 1-3.

"I BESEECH you as strangers and pilgrims." 1 Peter 2: 11.

12. Had the apostles control over the faith of God's children?

"NOT for that WE have DOMINION over your FAITH, but are helpers of your joy; for by FAITH YE STAND." 2 Cor. 1: 24.

13. How did Jesus declare Himself even as regarding man's rejection of Himself?

"And if ANY MAN HEAR MY WORDS, and believe NOT, I JUDGE HIM NOT; for I came NOT to judge the world, but to save the world." John 12: 47.

14. What did He say to those rash disciples who desired to call down fire upon the heads of those who rejected Him?

"He turned, and REBUKED them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to SAVE THEM. And they went to another village." See Luke 9: 51-56.

15. By what and when will man's choice and conduct be judged?

"He that REJECTETH ME, and receiveth NOT MY WORDS, hath One that judgeth him; the WORD THAT I HAVE SPOKEN, the same shall JUDGE him in the LAST DAY." John 12: 48; see also verse 49.

Equality of Man.

16. How has the Bible expressed the equality of men?

"God that made the world and all things therein, . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Acts 17: 24-26.

"One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." Matt. 23: 8.

17. In what great state documents is this truth repeated?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain INALIENABLE RIGHTS; that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS."—Declaration of Independence.

"Congress shall make NO LAW respecting an ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, or PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."—Con. of the U. S., Amendments, Art. I.

18. What does the historian, George Bancroft, say of those who gave birth to these great declarations?

"Vindicating the right of individuality even in religion, and in RELIGION ABOVE ALL, the new nation dared to set the example of accepting in its relations to God THE PRINCIPLE FIRST DIVINELY ORDAINED IN JUDEA."

NOTE.—The Declaration of Independence does not say as ministers and statesmen often quote it: "All men are created FREE AND equal;" for its framers knew that many came into this world as born slaves. Neither did its framers mean that all men were of equal worth or beauty or weight or height, or equal in mentality or intelligence; but EQUAL in the pursuit and choice and use of the God-given rights—"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Those rights and that equality every human government ought to secure and maintain to all within its jurisdiction.

Difference of Sphere.

19. What principle did Jesus enunciate as to human duties to God and to earthly government?

"Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's." Mark 12: 17.

20. What is the duty of Christians toward civil rulers?

"Let EVERY SOUL BE SUBJECT UNTO THE HIGHER POWERS. . . . Ye must needs be SUBJECT not only for wrath, but also for CONSCIENCE' SAKE. For this cause PAY YE TRIBUTE also. . . . Render therefore to all their dues, TRIBUTE TO WHOM TRIBUTE IS DUE; CUSTOM TO WHOM CUSTOM; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." Rom. 13: 1-7.

"SUBMIT YOURSELVES TO EVERY ORDINANCE OF MAN FOR THE LORD'S SAKE; whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." 1 Peter 2: 13-15.

21. To whom is our worship due?

"Thou shalt WORSHIP THE LORD THY GOD, and HIM ONLY shalt thou SERVE." Matt. 4: 10.

22. Is worship without obedience acceptable?

"Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do NOT the things which I say?" Luke 6: 46. See Matt. 7: 21; Titus 1: 16.

23. Who commanded the Sabbath, and to whom should it be kept holy?

"And God spake: . . . Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD: in it thou shalt not do any work." Ex. 20: 2-10.

"Six days may work be done; but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, HOLY TO THE LORD." Ex. 31: 15.

24. When Nebuchadnezzar, the "servant" of the Lord (Jer. 27: 6, 7), entered God's sphere of government, and sought to regulate conscience by demanding the worship of the image to Babylonian patriotism, what did God's servant, justifiably in God's sight, answer?

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we ARE NOT CAREFUL to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But IF NOT, be it known unto thee, O king, that we WILL NOT SERVE THY GODS, NOR WORSHIP THE GOLDEN IMAGE which thou hast set up." Dan. 3: 16-18.

25. When under the Persian dynasty, under the guise of patriotism all outward homage was forbidden save that to the king, what did God's servant do?

"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and PRAYED, and GAVE THANKS BEFORE HIS GOD, AS HE DID AFORETIME." Dan. 6: 10.

26. When the apostles of Jesus Christ were forbidden by those in authority to preach certain disturbing things to current customs and orthodoxy, what replies did they make?

"But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to harken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye." Acts 4: 19.

"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, WE OUGHT TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN." Acts 5: 29.

27. Should the religion of Christ be promulgated, promoted, or defended by carnal weapons?

"For tho we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare ARE NOT CARNAL, but mighty thru God to the pulling down of strongholds); casting down imagination, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST." 2 Cor. 10: 3-5.

"Jesus answered, MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence." John 18: 36.

28. How was Peter rebuked when he sought to defend his Lord with carnal weapons?

"Then said Jesus unto him, PUT UP AGAIN THY SWORD INTO HIS PLACE: for all they that TAKE THE SWORD SHALL PERISH WITH THE SWORD." Matt. 26: 52.

29. What did Jesus assure His disciples would come?

"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogs: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16: 1, 2.

30. Why would men do this?

"And these things will they do unto you, because THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN the Father, nor Me." John 16: 3.