p. 655 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 41. (10/17/1916)

Would Have Imprisoned Jesus Christ

By Milton C. Wilcox

How a Sunday Law Is Both Unjust and Unchristian

By Milton C. Wilcox

THERE are many good men and women who believe a Sunday law to be a proper thing, just and equable to all, and worthy of support. Will they read these reasons as to why there should never be a Sunday law?

The first of these reasons ought to appeal to all just people, religious or otherwise. The second reason is an appeal to Christians.

I. Unjust

THE first reason is that a Sunday law is unjust.

There are seven days in the week.

There are "six working-days."

One of the six working-days is 16⅓ per cent of one's working time.

The orthodox Jew works six days, and rests on the seventh day.

The Seventh-day Adventist works six days, and observes religiously the seventh day.

The Seventh-day Baptist works six days, and holds Sabbath on the seventh day.

There are many, in the aggregate, who belong to no church, who conscientiously work six days, and religiously observe the seventh day.

To demand that after they have observed one day religiously, they must observe another, is to deprive them, by law, of 16⅓ per cent of their working time. It is a tax upon the laborer of 16⅓ per cent of his income.

A Sunday law demands that he shall pay this tax not to the state, not to benefit any one, but solely in deference to the wishes and will of the Sunday keeper.

In other words, conscience demands that he shall keep the seventh day as conscience demands of others that they keep the first day.

In this, both are equal.

But then the Sunday keeper declares that the seventh-day man shall keep Sunday too, if not of choice, then by compulsion — that he shall give 16⅓ per cent of his working time solely in deference to the religious predilection of the Sunday-law man.

My Sunday-law friend, turn the thing around, and see how you would like it.

You would say that such a law was intrinsically, inherently, obviously, manifestly, unjust, and ought to be forever repealed and prohibited.

II. Unchristian

THE second reason is that a Sunday law is unchristian.

Because Jesus Christ is the personification of love, and love cannot compel service.

Because Jesus Christ never taught His disciples to ask or seek the aid of the civil law, or to use force or penalty, to promote or enforce Christianity or morality; and when two of His leading, most ardent disciples sought to use it, it called forth from Him the rebuke, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." Luke 9: 55.

Because our Lord taught, "If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not." John 12: 47.

Because for all needed things in Christianity, Jesus Christ promises all power from above. Matt. 28: 19, 20.

Because the Golden Rule declares, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Matt. 7: 12. No Sunday keeper would wish to be prosecuted for working on any day.

Because Jesus Christ observed the seventh day, and therefore if He were here upon earth to-day, and worked as He did in Nazareth, a Sunday law, if it were in operation, would condemn the Sinless One as a criminal, or tax Him — the Saviour of men — 16⅓ per cent that it did not tax His professed follower, the Sunday observer.

A Sunday law is therefore both unjust and unchristian, and never ought to have a place on the statute books of any state or nation.

"The Last War of Our Day"

Said Lloyd-George, in a recent speech before an audience of his fellow townsmen. He also said that Britain must exact such retribution from her enemies at the close of the war as to discourage forever the thought of another conflict.

But will it work out that way? Will the nations beat their swords into pruning hooks, and their spears into plowshares, and learn war no more? It isn't a question of what we think about it. The Bible unmistakably predetermines what is actually to occur. You need not be in the dark about it.

ARMAGEDDON

Will enlighten you.

It is a book of 128 pages and cover. The whole question is covered thoroughly and most interestingly. What Armageddon really is, when and where it will be fought, and the nations participating therein, are all clearly explained in this book. A chapter on Turkey and the Eastern question in full is also given. Well illustrated with war pictures.

25 Cents a Copy, Postpaid

Special rates in quantities.

Address your tract society, or the publishers.

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LIBERTY

By Editor

A magazine set for the defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet opposed to every form of religious legislation that tends to enforce religion upon any man. It stands for—

Entire separation of church and state

Freedom to worship or not to do so

Freedom of speech and of the press

Published quarterly. 10 cents a copy; 35 cents a year.

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Don't Be Surprised

By Editor

When you read in your newspaper of some great event in the social, the political, or the physical world. An understanding of the prophecies will make such events clear to you. That man will not be surprised nor overcome who expects to see "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." Luke 21:26.

As an aid in your study, consider the

Signs of the Times Magazine

Its 48 pages are largely devoted to pointing out and explaining the prophecies that have a specific bearing on the big happenings of the day. It goes a step farther; it tells what to look for in the near future. That's what makes the Signs Magazine different from nearly all other periodicals. That's why its thousands of readers keep their names on its mailing list.

Come, join us in studying these things. Read the magazine from month to month. A yearly subscription will cost you but $1.00.

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Christian Science

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Divine

Healing

Does Christian science, so called, accept or reject the gospel of Christ? Does it teach the necessity and the effectiveness of the atonement? Is it based on the Bible or upon the pride of the human heart? Is the healing that is said to accompany its work an evidence of its genuineness? These and many other vital questions are pointedly considered in this latest edition of Pastor R. A. Underwood's work with the above title. Here are some of its chapter headings:

Creation, Sin, Atonement. Spirits, the Holy Spirit, Heaven. Spirit and Matter. Christian Science's Claim to Heal. Christian Science and Spiritualism.

It contains 112 pages, and sells for # 10 Cents

DEATH

WHAT follows? Life in another form, or does the grave hold its victims in an unconscious state? There is a diversity of opinion on this great, vital question. Whether a Christian or an unbeliever, you will find profit in reading

The Other Side of Death

The whole question from the Scriptural viewpoint fully discussed. A book of 128 pages, that leaves no doubt in the mind of the reader. Well illustrated. Paper cover, in colors, 25c postpaid. Special prices on quantities of 10 or more.

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Hard Questions

By Editor

Where did the colored people come from? Does the Bible sustain slavery? Who was the first pope of Rome? Did Mary have other children besides Jesus?

THE Signs of the Times is unlike any other weekly periodical in the country. Others record important passing events, and comment upon them. The Signs of the Times does that and more — it produces Bible prophecy to show their real meaning. Prominence is given to other important Bible questions also. A most helpful journal for the Bible student who really wants to know. 16 large pages weekly.

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The Heritage of Liberty

By Charles M. Snow

BY CHARLES M. SNOW

OUR fathers bequeathed to us a glorious heritage,—the right of every man to think and to believe and to worship as he should choose. Freedom from the control of the nation across the sea was not the greatest of the liberties achieved in the founding of the American republic. Without freedom in religious concernments, men are robbed of the capacity to enjoy any freedom, and all liberty is robbed of its significance.

The mind that is free is the mind that achieves, that builds, that grows, that overcomes difficulties, driving through the darkness of ignorance and superstition a shaft of light by which benighted men may see their way up to the mount of God. That light has been shining in the New World from the day the American nation was founded; and the nation has, in consequence, grown in power and influence. Its citizens have accomplished marvelous undertakings, and the genius of the Old World has been rekindled by the fire lighted in the New. History furnishes no parallel to the growth of this country in all that goes to make a nation great. This progress has not been a work of chance. It has been the direct result of the seed sown.

The value which we place upon the country’s heritage of liberty will be judged by the interest we take in defending the principles and institutions bequeathed to us by the founders of this government.