The Council Passed a Sunday Law—The Mayor Vetoes It—He Thought the Ordinance to Be Religious Legislation
By W. F. MARTIN
ON the third day of February of the present year, the city council of Wenatchee, Washington, passed by a vote of five to two a Sunday closing ordinance entitled, "An ordinance to prohibit the carrying on of certain business and amusements on Sunday and providing a penalty for the violation thereof."
ELECTED WITH THIS IN VIEW
It seems that some of the council were elected by the church people with this in view. After the council had passed the ordinance, the fact developed that the mayor did not favor such a measure and intended to veto it. A few days later he did this and gave his reasons for so doing.
Some of these reasons are so general and apply so well to all Sunday legislation, they will be of interest to the readers of the Signs. There is a concerted movement all over the land in favor of Sunday closing, and the friends of liberty will welcome the broad ideas expressed by Mayor Parr. The entire text of the veto would be of interest, but only those portions are given which have a bearing on the principles of liberty in general.
NOT FOR PEACE OR GOOD GOVERNMENT
"It can not be argued that the ordinance is for the maintenance of peace or good government, for it can not be said that those who attend have not conducted themselves in a perfectly orderly and decorous manner. It can not be said that it is necessary in the interests of good government and the welfare of the corporation and its trade, commerce, and manufactures, because the rights of none of these are infringed. This is admitted by the fact that the theaters are permitted, without restriction or regulation, to operate upon all days except Sunday. It can not be sustained on the ground that it is necessary as a police, sanitary, or other regulation, as a regulation, or as a regulation of any kind or description, for it is, as a matter of fact, a prohibition, pure and simple, no pretext being made to regulate the business of the theater in any manner whatsoever."
"It may be said that the ordinance is made in the interests of those who operate theaters, and that they, in common with other people, should be given a day of rest, and that the ordinance is enacted with that end in view. But the ordinance itself shows the fallacy of such a position, for it recognizes the advisability of a certain few working for the comfort and convenience of the many when it exempts certain kinds of business from its operation."
TO STRIP OFF THE DISGUISE
"These latter suggestions are offered in order that the question may be stripped of any disguise indicating a necessity for the ordinance as a police regulation, and that it may stand before us in its true light, viz., that of a purely religious question. It, in my judgment, is simply intended to enforce by legislation the mandates of the various religious creeds."
THE RIGHTS OF THE UNBELIEVER
"In discussing the question from this point of view, I wish to say that I recognize the right of the devotees of the various creeds to believe whatever they choose, to practise whatever they choose, and to teach whatever they choose, so long as the same is done within legal limits. But in recognizing such right, I do not mean to concede that the rights of that body of individuals who have not been able to adopt the beliefs or the practises of such creeds, and who conduct themselves in an orderly and decorous manner, and desire to attend a theater on Sunday evening for their instruction, convenience, or amusement, should be held less sacred."
"It is said that no less than one thousand people each week attend the theaters in this city, and enjoy there whatever of instruction and amusement is offered. Upon what theory of moral right can any other body of our citizenship say to those persons that they shall not thus employ their time? It can not be said that it is wrong to attend theaters; for in extending the prohibition only to Sundays, the ordinance itself recognizes the theater as a proper institution. If, then, the theater is a proper institution, is a proper place for people to congregate, why is it wrong on any day to congregate there?"
TOO SELFISH FOR JUSTIFICATION
"It is no doubt true that if theaters were not conducted on Sundays, a portion of the attendance would probably attend the various churches. It is probably true that the collection account in the churches would be increased. Recognizing this as desirable, it is nevertheless a view-point too selfish to justify the legislative assistance."
"It may also be said, and it is no doubt confidently believed by the devotees of the various religious creeds, that if certain numbers of these persons attend the church, they will receive a benefit which they will not secure by attendance upon the theaters. Upon this question, however, minds differ, and it is not the province of the legislative authority to decide the question."
IN HARMONY WITH AMERICAN PRINCIPLES
It seems to the writer that these expressions are certainly in harmony with true American principles. This Sunday law, as well as all others, is simply religious legislation. Such legislation not only does not secure better church attendance, but contrariwise, breeds hatred to religion in the minds of those who are thus deprived of their rights.
Have ministers and people forgotten the past history of persecution which arose from a desire on the part of professed Christians to force upon others their ideas of proper worship?
We feel to sound a note of warning, and to urge diligence upon all to preserve the noble principles of civil and religious liberty expressed in Mayor Parr's veto.
Pure Religion and Undefiled
"PURE religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
The Divinely Given Law — It Can and Should Be Kept
By A. S. Booth
God came down on Sinai and spoke His law to the people, with the greatest manifestation of power and glory this world has ever seen since the creation. He also wrote it upon the rock. Thus the law of God is higher than inspiration. When God moves a man to speak or write, that is inspiration. But God Himself spoke and wrote the law.
About fifteen hundred years later the Lord sent us an example of commandment keeping. He sent His only-begotten Son, "clothed in the flesh," "in all points tempted like as we," "subject to like passion," and He kept the law that was given at Sinai. The world can never accuse the Lord of giving a law that could not be kept in the flesh; for after Christ gave the law, He came down and kept it. "I have kept My Father's commandments," He said.
In the Judgment, every mouth will be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Men may say what they please against God's law. They may wear out their very lives in seeking to overthrow it, if they see fit. But that will not alter one "jot or tittle" of the law. It will read the same in the Judgment. Should one say, in that day, "Lord, You gave us a law that absolutely could not be kept under any condition," the Master could answer, "Did you not read that I was interested in giving the law, and afterward I came in the flesh and kept it, also that I was your example in commandment keeping?" So the world is left utterly without any excuse.
However, Christ could of Himself do nothing, but looked by faith to His Father for strength day by day; and we are entreated to follow Him in this respect also. The same faith that grasps the forgiveness of sin should grasp the power of God to overcome sin and keep His sayings.
God does not expect us to keep His commandments in order to make ourselves Christians, but because we are His children. Said the Master, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." A. S. Booth.
When Knowledge Is Better than "Trusting"
WHEN our trust means uncertainty, it ceases to be trust. Is not this sort of mistaken trust the cause of much joyless Christianity? A man who evidently likes ringing conviction speaks a word of caustic reproof of the joyless, uncertain Christian, in a letter to a correspondent:
"Ask these same people whether they are Republicans or Democrats, and they will answer very promptly; but if you ask them whether they are Christians, you have to wait until they get their faces pulled into the proper degree of sadness before you get the answer that they trust they are. Why a man knows he is a Republican, and trusts he is a Christian, is a mystery to me."
When our trust is directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ, it ought to be knowledge — unshakeable, radiant, irrepressible, contagious knowledge. "I know Him whom I have believed," triumphantly declared Paul. We do not really trust God until we know that God is trustworthy. — Sunday School Times.
SIGNS IN THE MOON AND STARS
By Eugene W. Farnsworth
Why Did Not All See His Star?—Unexplained Darkening of Moon—The Great "Star Shower" and Its Significance—Parallel to the Days of Noah
By EUGENE W. FARNSWORTH
LAST week Mr. Farnsworth's article told of the unexplainable darkening of the sun foretold by Christ. He therefore passes that matter over without reference this week, and proceeds to call attention to the signs in moon and stars, and some of the conditions on earth that have fulfilled and are fulfilling the Master's word.
EDITOR.
THERE is an interesting prophecy in the book of Numbers: "I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth." Num. 24: 17.
When we come down fourteen and a half centuries this side of the time when those words were spoken, I see some men coming to Jerusalem,—strangers in that city and to the people. Listen to their inquiry: "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."
THE LUMINOUS SIGN IN THE HEAVENS
Now notice that the prophet said that when Messiah should come, a sign would appear that would remind the people of His coming. In Persia a few men among the Magi one night saw a luminous body in the heavens. They had been reading the books of Moses, and they found this prophecy stating that a star would appear as an omen of the first advent.
Immediately they said, Let us go and find this King. They took gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the offering made to royalty, and then began their travels, which lasted several weeks. All the time, they followed that star, until they came to Bethlehem, and there their journey ended at the place where the young Child lay.
WHY COULD NOT OTHERS SEE IT?
Why did not others see that star? How did it happen that just those few men in the East saw that sign?—It was because they had eyes to see, hearts to believe. They were searching for light, and God led them, by a light hung in the sky, to the great Source of all light. There were millions of men on earth at that time, but they saw no sign that Christ had come. All they could see in the Messiah when they beheld Him was an ordinary man. How was it that others saw in Him the Saviour of the race?—It was because they believed the word of God.
THE MOON SHOULD BE DARKENED
We shall now consider the second sign of Christ's second advent. That sign was the darkening of the moon. On the night following the remarkable dark day of May 19, 1780, the moon was perfectly dark, though at its full. This is an unquestioned fact. The sign was fulfilled as the Saviour said it would be, and you will notice that the second sign shows how extensively the sun was darkened. Some say the sun was dark only in the United States. Now when the moon is full, and its light fails, does that not show that the light of the sun on the other side of the earth has also failed? From this you will see that the sun was darkened during a large share of the earth's revolution.
"THE STARS SHALL FALL FROM HEAVEN"
The next sign the Saviour gave was that the stars should fall from heaven. He did not refer to the great suns a thousand times larger than our earth, but used the term as we commonly use it. When we see a meteor, we say, "See that star falling!" An eminent writer thus describes the scene:
"But the most sublime phenomenon of shooting stars of which the world has furnished any record, was witnessed throughout the United States on the morning of the thirteenth of November, 1833. The entire extent of this astonishing exhibition has not been precisely ascertained; but it covered no inconsiderable portion of the earth's surface. . . . The first appearance was that of fireworks of the most imposing grandeur, covering the entire vault of heaven with millions of fire balls resembling sky-rockets. Their coruscations were bright, gleaming, and incessant, and they fell thick as the flakes in the early snows of December. To the splendors of this celestial exhibition the most brilliant sky-rockets and fireworks of art bear less relation than the twinkling of the most tiny star to the broad glare of the sun. The whole heavens seemed in motion, and suggested to some the awful grandeur of the image employed in the Apocalypse, upon the opening of the sixth seal, when 'the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.'"—"Burritt's Geography of the Heavens."
One more testimony may be given:
"We pronounce the raining of fire which we saw on Wednesday morning last, an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign of that great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the world will witness when the sixth seal shall be opened. The time is just at hand, described not only in the New Testament, but in the Old. A more correct picture of a fig-tree casting its leaves when blown by a mighty wind, it is not possible to behold."—Connecticut Observer.
It was such signs as these that the Saviour said would be seen before He comes the second time. And now He continues: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. . . . Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Matt. 24: 30, 34.
As Christ looked down through the years, and saw the sun darkened, the moon not giving its light, and the stars falling, He said, The people who behold these signs and see these prophecies fulfilled shall not pass away till all things are fulfilled. That statement brings the coming of the Lord very near.
The Saviour says further of that time: "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21: 26-28. We can not tell just when the Lord will come; and from other scriptures, we are led to believe that there will be a time of tarrying while the earth is warned of impending events.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24: 35-37. In these words we are warned against setting any time, the year or the day, for Christ to come. Such calculations are not based on the word of God.
PARALLEL CONDITIONS
The history of Noah's day is cited to represent conditions to be found prior to the second advent. What were the people doing when the Flood came?—They were eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. And it is not wrong to do any of those things in a proper way; but in the days of Noah, the people were thinking more of what they should eat and drink and what they should wear, than they thought of the things pertaining to eternal life. Is it not so to-day? And in what is taking place about us do we not have the most convincing sign of all that the end is very near?
DRUNKENNESS INCREASING ALARMINGLY
The alarming rate at which drunkenness increases in spite of all the efforts made to combat the evil, is appalling. When Greed stands on one side the counter, and Appetite on the other, the power of God is required to keep them apart. The efforts put forth to stop the liquor traffic should be sustained by every one who has the good of his fellows at heart, and may God's blessing rest upon every movement that has for its object the suppression of this curse.
But we can not close our eyes to facts as they exist. The world is surely as it was in the days of Noah. The earth is filled with violence. "Blood toucheth blood." People are eating, drinking, joy-riding, buying, and selling, wholly occupied with the things of the moment, while the day of wrath steals upon them as a thief with muffled tread. And God says this state of things will continue until the trumpet sounds, and they will167be found totally unprepared, asleep to their eternal interests.
WHY WILL THEY SLEEP?
Why will they be sleeping?—Because the great majority do not believe the words of Christ. Did the world know the Flood was coming?—No. Why did not the people know? Noah had been preaching, telling the inhabitants of the world about the Flood, for a hundred and twenty years. Noah and his family knew what was coming.
The difference between Noah and the unbelieving world was that Noah believed God, the others did not. "As it was in the days of Noah," some will be ready and waiting for the Lord; but the great majority of men will be unprepared, because they will not believe the message God has sent.
How to Have a Rich Experience
By David Paulson
IT is easy enough to be good when we feel good and everybody is good to us; but when a flood of trouble seems almost ready to overwhelm us, then we must be anchored to something more substantial than merely a favorable environment. David said, "This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy word hath quickened me." Ps. 119: 50.
It will help us all, whether we are in trouble or not, to remember that the Word declares, "After that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." 1 Peter 5: 10. Thank the Lord for the trouble that is coming your way, if it is His intention that it shall settle you.
If your trials and troubles seem to be prolonged, then bear in mind that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength"—spiritual and physical. Isa. 40: 31.
Do you sometimes think that you are having more trouble than belongs to you? If so, remember that "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted ["permit you to be tried," Syriac version] above that ye are able; but will with the temptation [trial] also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10: 13.
David Paulson.
Christ's Coming to Be Literal
Questions Answered by Bible Texts
1. How literal was Christ's going away from this earth after His first advent?
"And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight." Acts 1:9.
2. How closely did the disciples watch Him while He was going away?
"And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" Verses 10, 11.
3. What promise was given to the disciples as they were thus gazing so intently at their ascending Lord?
"This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Verse 11.
4. What other text shows that "this same Jesus" will come literally and personally?
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:15-18.
5. How bright will the glory of the coming of Christ be?
"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works." Matt. 16:27.
"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." Matt. 25:31.
"Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:26, 27.
6. What are some of the texts that speak definitely of the people seeing the Lord when He comes?
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matt. 24:30.
"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." Rev. 1:7.
EXPERIENCES IN A RUSSIAN PRISON
By W. A. S.
The Political Prisoner Had a Remarkable Dream, but No Hope— The Religious Prisoners Prayed—Their Marvelous Deliverance
IN A RECENT number of the Outlook, Mr. George Kennan, who has written so much of Russian prison and exile life, gives the translation of the story of a political prisoner who graphically describes his feelings in a living tomb, with the watchful eyes of the guard peering at him through what has been named the "judas" window of the cell door. The Russian writer says:
"I listened attentively for some sound of human life or activity; but the silence was that of a sepulcher. Suddenly I became conscious of two human eyes staring at me from a narrow slit in the heavy plank door. As I took a step toward them they vanished, and with a faint click the hinged cover of the peep-hole dropped into its place. The consciousness that vigilant, impersonal, and apparently disembodied eyes were constantly watching me—as if I were an insect under a microscope—took away the only comfort there was in solitude. Aloneness I could endure, but secret, stealthy surveillance, in addition to loneliness, was intolerable. 'However,' I thought, 'darkness will shelter me from that,' and stepping to the table, I blew out the light. In a few minutes the key grated in the rusty lock, the door opened, and a soldier entered with another lighted lamp.
" 'Putting out the light is not allowed,' he said; 'and if you do it again, we'll put you in a place where it will be dark all the time.'
"I made no reply, but when he had gone I set the lamp on the floor, in the farthest corner of the cell, and threw myself on the bed. Slowly and mournfully, at the quarter-hour, the bells in the spire of the fortress cathedral chimed out the air of the liturgical response, 'Have mercy, O Lord!'
"I fell asleep at last; but the eyes at the slit of the 'judas,' and the faint, far-away chiming of church melodies, gave form and color to a vivid dream in which I imagined that I had fallen into a deathlike trance and was about to be buried. The priest who was conducting the funeral service looked into my coffin through a slit in the lid, and saw, with comprehending eyes, that I was alive; but turning away indifferently, he gave the signal for lowering my body into the grave."
The picture is surely a somber one. The story of the peering eyes at the "judas" window reminds us of a narrative told by one of our own workers, Brother L. R. Conradi, now president of the European Division Conference, who visited Russia in the beginning of our missionary work there years ago, and was thrown, with his associate, into prison. Of experiences in the cell, and of the Lord's delivering providence in answer to prayer, Brother Conradi tells us:
"Following our first baptism and the organization of the first church, somebody called out that the police were waiting for us. We showed our passports to the officer, who put them in his pocket. Next day we were brought before the court. We expected to be released at once, but instead we were sent to prison on the charge of 'Jewish heresy,' our observance of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment leading to this charge on the part of the authorities.
"The prison doors were locked. High walls surrounded us, shutting us away from all the rest of the world. There we were in a strange land, among people with a strange tongue, and I at that time able to understand only a few words. But my fellow worker was with me, and I can assure you that we prayed. And we prayed more than once or twice a day, too. In that prison cell there was a hole through which the jailer might look. Many times when he looked in, he found us on our knees praying. One day he said to me: 'O, your prayers are all in vain. Your God will never hear you.'
"Did God have His hand in our deliverance? In 1886, Seventh-day Adventists were not so well known in America as now. There were many states in America where we were not well represented. The ambassador from the United States to Russia might have been from some state where we were but little known; but somehow, or other, in God's providence, the right man for us was in the right place. That ambassador was a man from Detroit, Michigan. He had been at Battle Creek [our former denominational headquarters] a number of times. He knew all about our denomination; and when he heard of our case, he not only wrote a letter to the Russian minister of the interior, but he visited him personally. The minister said to him, 'Are these Seventh-day Adventist people Jews?' Our ambassador replied, 'Upon my word and honor, they believe in Jesus Christ, and are Christians.' 'Well, can you testify as ambassador to that very fact?' He said, 'I can; I know them.'
"Suppose another man had been there, who had not personally known our standing as Christians in the United States. I met that ambassador later in Detroit, and thanked him for what he had done. He said: 'Mr. Conradi, it caused me considerable work; but I was very happy, and all the other ambassadors congratulated me when I secured your release. They had feared it might not be possible.' It was not impossible, for there is One that watches over His children in need.
"Forty days had passed, and the same jailer who told us that God did not hear our prayers, had to take us out. As he led us along to liberty, he said, 'I am not worthy to lead you.' I asked, 'Why?' 'Because your God has answered your prayers.'"
What a blessedness to the soul in trouble to know that there is One in the heavens who cares, and who is able to help in His own good time and way! The Lord sets before His children an open door that no man can shut, the door of access to the throne of grace.
