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The American Sentinel

Vol. 7, No. 8

February 25, 1892

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Articles
59
Pages
8
Illustrations
1

In this edition

  1. ACCORDING to the word of Christ, the civil power has nothing to do with either God or religion, or with offenses against God or religion. Religion is defined by Webster as “the recognition of God as an object of worship, love and obedience.” Another definition, given by the National Reform Association itself, is “man's personal relation of faith and obedience to God.” If he has no faith at all, and makes no pretensions to obedience to God, that is nothing to the civil government, so long as the man conducts himself civilly. Neither has civil government anything to do with offenses against God; the Lord himself can attend to that. A man is responsible alone to God for the offenses which he commits against God. Civil government has no business to establish a religion, and then make offenses against it criminal; nor has it any business to put itself in the place of God, and presume to declare that an offense against the governmental idea of God is an offense against God. How is the civil government to know whether an act offends God or not? The fact of the matter is, that just as soon as Sunday laws are investigated at all in the light of truth, or justice, or law, it is found that they are inseparable from an established religion—inseparable from a union of Church and State.1 paragraphs
  2. Derivation of Tennessee Sunday LawsW. H. M.16 paragraphs
  3. CHRISTIANITY is a most benign thing. Christ ever rebuked the spirit that would call down fire from heaven to devour his enemies, and it is only when his followers have departed from him that they have invoked the sword of civil power to coerce men in spiritual things.1 paragraphs
  4. KNOWLEDGE of good and evil affords no assurance of a greater love of the one or of a greater hatred of the other than would exist in ignorance. Our first parents no doubt found the devil well enough informed. The archangel Michael and the arch-devil Lucifer may have the same intellectual ability and the same intellectual attainments, but the fidelity of the one and the disobedience of the other make heaven and hell. Unless knowledge ripens into moral force it becomes the tool of selfishness and sin.—Rev. E. P. Marvin.E. P. Marvin1 paragraphs
  5. The Kingdom of Christ.C. P. B.22 paragraphs
  6. Shall Man Enforce God's Law?A. O. Tait8 paragraphs
  7. Badly Mixed.G. E. Fifield17 paragraphs
  8. That Steamboat.A. E. Place6 paragraphs
  9. The Stundists of Russia.6 paragraphs
  10. DETECTIVE WISHART, of the Newark Law and Order League, has, it seems, been in very close attendance upon the saloons of that city, of late, during the hours of Saturday night and Sunday. He has communicated the result of this intimate acquaintance with their doings, in detail, to the Mayor, Chief of Police, Excise Commissioner, City Attorney, &c.4 paragraphs
  11. WE are sorry that a Christian At Work should hold that Christianity is not a part of the common law of the land. Fie! Fie! Change your name or your position.—Presbyterian Journal, Philadelphia.Editor2 paragraphs
  12. Under the title “Rights of Sabbath-keepers,” the Iowa Workers’ Bulletin has the following:—5 paragraphs
  13. Darkest Russia publishes the following letter from Mr. Spurgeon on the persecutions in Russia:—3 paragraphs
  14. ON February 17 the State Senate of New York passed a bill "exempting the Brooklyn Tabernacle from taxation."1 paragraphs
  15. THE Woman's Christian Temperance Union is petitioning the Legislature at Albany quite persistently and industriously, in reference to the closing of the World's Fair at Chicago.1 paragraphs
  16. STATE SENATOR PLUNKITT has introduced a bill in the Legislature for the appropriation of money to keep open the American Museum of Natural History, in this city, on Sunday afternoons and two evenings in the week, in addition to its present hours.1 paragraphs
  17. THE manager of Redmond's Opera House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, who has been drawn through the courts several times for Sunday night performances, has again been arrested and found “guilty of attending an entertainment on Sunday evening.” The case is to be appealed.1 paragraphs
  18. A RESOLUTION has been introduced in the House of Representatives, by Mr. Otis, of Kansas, which proposes to close the World's Fair one day in seven, without making any reference to Sunday. Perhaps the framer of this resolution thought in this manner to shift the onus of discrimination in favor of a day of religious observance upon the World's Fair Commissioners.1 paragraphs
  19. The Church Temperance Society, the Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor, Charity Organization Society, New York Sabbath Committee, American Sabbath Union, Society for the Suppression of Crime, Society for the Suppression of vice, West End Protective League, West End Excise Reform, City Reform Club, Municipal League, and City Missions, have all banded together to defeat the excise bill now before the Legislature, and have issued a call for prompt financial aid. This is a remarkable array of organized forces. If they were honestly directed for the extirpation of the saloon and liquor evil, they would command respect; but they leave the actual issue, and rise up to tilt at a shadow and not to accomplish any reform.1 paragraphs
  20. The Mail and Express publishes a “special” from Chicago as follows:—3 paragraphs
  21. NATIONAL13 paragraphs
  22. Yours truly,— C. H. SPURGEON.2 paragraphs
  23. At the annual convention of the American Sabbath Union held at Des Moines, Iowa, some time ago, this resolution was adopted:—4 paragraphs
  24. The following is the text of a joint resolution introduced in the Legislature at Albany by Senator Hunter:—3 paragraphs
  25. The following is an editorial in the Chicago Tribune of February 2:—Editor5 paragraphs
  26. YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.11 paragraphs
  27. NEW HISTORICAL ATLAS AND GENERAL HISTORY.—By Robert H. Labberton.Robert H. Labberton2 paragraphs
  28. SIBERIA AND THE NIHILISTS.—Why Kennan went to Siberia.William Jackson Armstrong2 paragraphs
  29. THE NEW BIBLE ATLAS AND GAZETTEER, with 16 colored maps by W. and A. Keith Johnson, and a very elaborate gazetteer, giving information about nearly every place which is marked upon the maps, with scripture references. 4to, cloth, $1.50.1 paragraphs
  30. GINN'S CLASSICAL ATLAS—4to. cloth, $2.50. This work contains 23 colored maps, which were projected and executed by the late A. Keith Johnson, with a complete index.1 paragraphs
  31. THE POCKET ATLAS OF THE WORLD2 paragraphs
  32. THE NONSUCH PROFESSOR IN HIS MERIDIAN SPLENDOR—By Rev. Wm. Secker. Introduction by Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D. 16mo, 367 pages, $1.00.Rev. Wm. Secker1 paragraphs
  33. OUR COUNTRY, ITS POSSIBLE FUTURE, AND PRESENT CRISIS—Rev. Josiah Strong2 paragraphs
  34. CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE—A dictionary, and alphabetical index to the Bible. Cloth, $1.25. Sheep, $2.50.1 paragraphs
  35. CHURCH AND STATE—By Philip Schaff, D. D. This book discusses that part of the Constitution of the United States which protects us against the despotism of a State Church, and guarantees to us the free exercise and enjoyment of religion, as an inherent, inviolable and inalienable right of every man. Price $1.50.1 paragraphs
  36. MEMOIRS OF EDWIN BAINBRIDGE.—2 paragraphs
  37. THOMAS J. COMBER, Missionary Pioneer to the Congo—By Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist Missionary Society. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, price, 75 cents.Rev. J. B. Myers1 paragraphs
  38. SAMUEL CROWTHER, the Slave Boy who became Bishop of the NigerJesse Page2 paragraphs
  39. WILLIAM CAREY, the Shoemaker who became a Missionary.—By Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist Missionary Society. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.Rev. J. B. Myers1 paragraphs
  40. JAMES CHALMERS, Missionary and Explorer of Rarotonga and New Guinea—By Wm. Robson, of the London Missionary Society. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.1 paragraphs
  41. ROBERT MORRISON, the Pioneer of Chinese Missions—By Wm. J. Townsend, Sec. Methodist New Connexion Missionary Society. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.Wm. J. Townsend1 paragraphs
  42. JOHN GRIFFITH, Founder of the Hankow Mission, Central China—By William Robson, of the London Missionary society. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.1 paragraphs
  43. ROBERT MOFFAT, the Missionary Hero of Kuruman.—By David J. Deane, author of "Martin Luther, the Reformer," etc. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.1 paragraphs
  44. JOHN BRIGHT, the Man of the PeopleJesse Page2 paragraphs
  45. MISSIONARY LADIES IN FOREIGN LANDS2 paragraphs
  46. HENRY M. STANLEY, the African Explorer—By Arthur Montefiore, F. R. G. S. Brought down to 1889. 12mo. 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.1 paragraphs
  47. FAVORITE BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG— With numerous illustrations. 16mo, handsomely illuminated board covers, 50 cents.; cloth extra, 75 cents.1 paragraphs
  48. JOHN WILLIAMS, the Martyr of Erromanga—By Rev. J. J. Ellis. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.1 paragraphs
  49. BISHOP PATTERSON, the Martyr of Melanesia—By Jesse Page. 12mo, 160 pages, fully illustrated, cloth extra, 75 cents.1 paragraphs
  50. The above-named books will be sent post-paid on receipt of price.3 paragraphs
  51. IN view of the facts stated in the foregoing paragraph, the World makes these observations: “The sensible citizens of Keyport should see to it that the remainder of the law is enforced. They should secure the arrest of every carriage driver who is brought out to convey his employer to church. They should close the drug-stores. They should notify the doctors not to attend patients on the first day of the week. A little practical logic of that kind will quickly bring bigotry to its senses and remind it that we live in a free, secular country, in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and not in a Puritan Colony of the early seventeenth century.”1 paragraphs
  52. The Silver Creek, Nebraska, Times says:—3 paragraphs
  53. AN unanswerable argument against the National Reform theory that Christ is now this world's king, or that he can become such by political action, is found in the fact that his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom (Luke 1:32, 33); and that the subjects of the kingdom will all be immortal. Luke 20:35, 36. Man can not bring this to pass, but “the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”1 paragraphs
  54. A. STATEMENT that is quite often made, and which seems to be considered of much weight, by the workers for religious legislation is that “your rights end where mine begin.” This statement has not a particle of truth in it. It is simply another form of expressing their arrogant assumption of all rights. For if your rights end where mine begin, then it is for me to decide where mine do begin, and wherever that may be, there your rights must end. The truth of the matter is that rights are perfectly equal. Your rights begin where mine begin; and end only where mine end.1 paragraphs
  55. “Certain clergymen of Keyport New Jersey,” says the New York World of the 16th inst., “have banded themselves together for the revival and enforcement of certain exceedingly blue laws that linger in the New Jersey statute book. They have decided to prevent the sale of newspapers on Sunday, to stop the delivery of milk and meat, to shut up the barber-shops and cigar-stores and to lay an embargo upon the running of street cars on that day. Further than this, they have decided to compel all the people of Keyport to attend church every Sunday upon pain of imprisonment in their own houses, under an old provision of law which forbids men to leave their houses on Sunday except to attend church or a funeral.”1 paragraphs
  56. THE fact that we live in the latter part of “the nineteenth century, and not in a Puritan Colony of the early seventeenth century,” does not prove that the Puritan spirit does not survive, or rather that it has not revived. Indeed the facts stated by the World are proof positive that intolerance still lives. Moreover the existence of laws which make such manifestations of bigotry possible, show that the Puritan spirit not only lives but that it is strongly entrenched in the conservatism of the people, and their representatives.1 paragraphs
  57. The suggestion of the World that “the enlightened men of New Jersey and of every other State in which intolerant and un-American Sunday laws survive should unite to secure their repeal,” is a good one; but this is more easily suggested than accomplished. There is a large and aggressive minority opposed to the repeal of Sunday laws and other religious statutes, and because of the indifference of the majority they are able to defeat all attempts to wipe out the Blue-Law inheritance which all the older States received from Colonial times. “The American State is secular,” as the World says. “It has nothing to do with religion except to protect every man in his religious liberty. It has no business to make Sunday laws,” but all this goes for naught; and not only are Sunday laws sustained, but herculean efforts are being made to secure in both State and Nation still more stringent religious laws, and a more rigid enforcement of existing laws. It is high time that the secular press ceases to pooh-pooh these efforts to enforce religious observance by civil statute. A generation has grown up who know not the meaning of liberty of conscience, nor the truth of the adage that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” The people must be educated along these lines, and this is the work which THE SENTINEL is endeavoring to do.1 paragraphs
  58. The World of the 16th inst. remarks, editorially, that “the Minneapolis decision to permit open bars on Sunday seems to be very imperfectly understood in the East. It is in fact a war measure, an act of defense in the struggle between the Twin Cities for supremacy.” The facts are thus stated:—3 paragraphs
  59. THOSE who demand prohibition for religious reasons, because the liquor traffic is sin, and because it hinders religious work, necessarily stand committed to the suppression of everything that in their view is morally wrong, that is, everything that is in violation of the divine law; for it can not be denied that if it were the duty of the State to prohibit the liquor traffic because it is sin against God, it would be equally its duty to prohibit all sin. A good many people are beginning to see this, and the religious attitude of the Prohibition Party is likely to cause its leaders no little trouble in the near future.1 paragraphs