A Letter to Senator Johnston by W. A. Colcord

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 10, 1910

A Letter to Senator Johnston

By W. A. Colcord

ON the morning before the Johnston District Sunday bill passed the Senate, Jan. 27, 1910, the following letter was sent to Senator Johnston:

“Senator Joseph P. Johnston. Washington, D. C.

“DEAR SENATOR: In view of your oath to support the Constitution of the United States, of your profession of Christianity, of your being a member of the Methodist Church, and finally of the binding claims of the immutable law of God, how, may I ask with all due respect and kindly feelings toward you personally, can you favor or champion such a measure as Senate Bill No. 404?

“The Constitution prohibits Congress from passing any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Sunday laws are the very badge and sign of religious establishments—of a union of church and state—and can only result in interfering with the free exercise of religion.

“The golden rule laid down by Jesus Christ forever bars the professed followers of Christ from using force in matters of faith and conscience. No one would himself wish to be coerced in such matters. What right, then, have we to use force in religious concernments on others?

“The standards of the Methodist Church prohibit the use of force or compulsion in matters of faith and religion. Note the following:—

“‘Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind or degree, to the spirit of persecution. If you can not reason nor persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force a man into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God, the Judge of all.’—John Wesley.

“‘Dr. Adam Clarke: ‘No other kind of constraint [than prayers, counsels, entreaties, etc.] is ever recommended in the gospel of Christ. Every other kind of compulsion is antichristian, can only be submitted to by cowards and knaves, and can produce nothing but hypocrites. . . . The church which tolerates, encourages, and practises persecution, under the pretense of concern for the purity of the faith, and zeal for God’s glory, is not the church of Christ, and no man can be of such church without endangering his salvation.’—Notes on Luke 14:23.

“‘Jonathan Crowther: ‘Civil government has no right to command what is contrary to the commandments of God, even in what relates to the body, our fellow creatures, and the present world. Civil governors have no right at all to interfere between God and the souls of men. Civil government and religion are two things which ought to be totally separate from each other. Will the persons who want to prescribe to me what opinion I shall believe, and the form in which I shall worship God, undertake to answer for me at the day of judgment, and to insure my eternal salvation, provided I comply with their wishes? And if they should undertake this, can I with confidence and due security leave the matter in their hands?’—‘A True and Complete Portraiture of Methodism,’ 1811.

“‘Moreover, there stands the immutable, unchanged, and unchangeable law of God:—

“‘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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’

“‘How are men going to answer to God if they assume to alter this law, set up by human laws another sabbath, and, under pains and penalties of fine and imprisonment, compel their fellow men to keep that? Will they be ready to assume the responsibility of the results, both temporal and eternal,—of the individual accountability to God,—of those affected by such laws?

“‘These questions, it appears to me, are worthy of the most careful consideration.

“Sincerely yours, “W. A. COLCORD, “Secretary Religious Liberty Bureau.”