READ the article "Christ Came to Break Sin's Chain." There are hope and help for every sinner in Christ who longs for Christ's help. There is freedom for him who truly desires to be free.
IN the article "Persuasion versus Compulsion" are set before us the two methods of the worlds of light and darkness, of the mystery of God in Christ Jesus and the mystery of iniquity, as manifested in all apostasy. Study these principles, reader; we need to discuss them now.
THIS week appears the first of a series of articles on different phases of the Lord's coming. These will present the Lord's coming as related to the times in which we now are, and the work of preparation to precede it, followed by several independent articles on the eternal home of the saints.
THE "sweet singer of Israel" prays, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." We begin next week a series of five articles on the "Perfection of the Law" of God. We earnestly ask for them a careful reading, believing that they contain fuller light from the heavenly sanctuary.
"HISTORY repeats itself;" and this fact should be of special importance to the people of God now. The times through which this republic is now passing may be seen in the last days of the Roman republic; and the changes now taking place in the church at large, and especially what is known as the Protestant church, may be seen in prototype in the church of the second to the fifth centuries of the Christian era. These considerations should make of special interest to the thoughtful reader the series of historical notes which Elder I. E. Kimball has furnished for the SIGNS, and which will shortly appear.
SOME of the Sunday-law measures have been unfortunate in advocates and authors. One of the prominent advocates for the closing of the World's Fair on Sunday was Senator Matthew S. Quay, whose reputation is decidedly unsavory, and whose career is anything but honorable, if prominent journals of both great parties may be believed. And Hon. William C. P. Breckenridge, author of the Breckenridge Sunday Bill, is not posing before the country now in the most favorable light. But religious legislation always affords favorable grounds for hypocrites to curry false religious sentiment.
Patriotism, Protestantism, Christianity
Patriotism is "love of one's country;" but it is often used with the sense of loyalty to country, or government, or nation, whatever its character.
PROTESTANTISM, as expressed by D'Aubigne in his "History of the Reformation," is a "protest" against "two abuses of man in matters of faith; the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate; and the second, the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these abuses Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible church." And, so far as it goes, it is in this respect Christian. It is the negative side of Christianity, so far as faith and personal obligation to God are concerned. While the man may hold to the Protestant religion, he will not seek to compel others to think or worship as he does; and if he be a true Protestant, he will protest against any interference in the rights of those who oppose him religiously as quickly, and as earnestly, and as sincerely as he would protest against interference with his own rights.
BUT to do this a man must be a Christian; he must have the Spirit of Christ. He must be able to say, as did Christ, "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. He will, when the kingdoms of earth are offered to him, reject them, as did Christ (Luke 4:5-8; John 6:15), because his kingdom was not of this world, and it could not be defended by the weapons and power of the world (John 18:36). He would not permit violence to be visited upon those who turned him weary from their doors, but rebuked those who would avenge the slight, with the words: "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." Luke 9:55, 56. This was the Spirit of Christ; this is the spirit of Christianity and genuine Protestantism.
THE only way of obtaining this disposition is by faith—personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this means the emptying of self, the reception of Christ. Christ, Christ's cause, then becomes all in all. It is first and last, and all encompassing; for in it is all good, and out of it will flow all good. And this is what every man's religion ought to be to him. But we cannot compel it so to be, nor ought we to attempt it, nor do we desire to attempt it; for true religion is a thing of the heart and conscience, and cannot be compelled.
THE man who is a Christian will be a good citizen and the best of patriots. That is, he will have a love for his country which will lead him to do nothing to her injury, but all for her good. He will give his life, if need be, to save the souls of those who dwell therein. But, as a Christian, he cannot give his allegiance to principles of injustice, intolerance, or iniquity in any form. And if the government under which he is a citizen becomes a party to intolerance, his higher allegiance to Christ will demand that he shall protest against it. Love of country and people will demand it. And yet this very stand for righteousness and truth is ever in great crises misunderstood, and the hero is condemned. Jesus Christ loved Judea and Jerusalem as none other ever did, but he was condemned as her enemy. Elijah was the truest patriot in Israel, but he was called a troubler. Roger Williams breathed the pure principles of the liberty of the gospel, and would have made a most earnest patriot had he been permitted a home in Massachusetts, but he was driven hence by that people, who considered themselves to be the only patriots and only Christians, but who knew neither patriotism nor Christianity as taught in the religion of Christ.
READER, do not be deceived. The patriotism of the world is not Christianity, nor will it save a soul. Christianity is not the patriotism of the world; it is much more. It places Christ first, and all things earthly secondary and subsidiary; but it will labor more earnestly, and make greater sacrifices for mankind, yea, even its own enemies, than the most ardent patriotism ever knew. It is not Patriotism, Protestantism, Christianity, nor is it Protestantism, Patriotism, Christianity, but it is Christianity, Protestantism, Patriotism; and both of the latter, in the truest sense, are found in the former.