SINCE Sunday rest enforcement was quelled in the city of Portland, Oregon, and in the entire county of Multnomah, through the judicial skill of Judge Gantenbein, there have been but few arrests elsewhere in the state.
Almost all the daily papers in the state are editorially opposed to the Sunday blue law enforcement. The Portland Telegram, January 10, 1916, speaking editorially, said:
"It is apparent to most people that there are two motives which urge the enforcement of this law,— spite, and a certain fanaticism that is sincere enough in its intent to bring about good through strait-laced conduct and by compulsion if necessary. The motive of spite is wholly unworthy, and the other motive in its extreme expression is without reason.
"The law itself is inequitable. Its enforcement would work a hardship without public or private benefit; and it is a safe and reasonable conclusion that the people of Oregon do not want and will not vote for its enforcement."
Under date of March 8, 1916, the Newport Independent Enterprise said in part:
"Last Saturday M. N. Anderson, of Toledo, was arrested and tried before Justice Collins for violating the provisions of the Sunday blue law. A jury . . . found the defendant guilty. He was fined five dollars and the cost of the case.
"Mr. Anderson has a confectionery and ice cream parlor in Toledo; and if this prosecution indicates the policy that Mr. Stewart [district attorney] is going to follow in Lincoln County, the sooner that much talked of recall petition is circulated, the better."
Concealed Religious Persecution
THERE are a few sections of the state where the mutterings of the dragonic spirit are heard and recognized, under color of civil prosecution, when in reality it is Biblically known that in every such case of prosecution there lies concealed in the motive the spirit of religious persecution.
Arrested for Selling Pork and Beans
L. J. GRAY, of Lebanon, Linn County, proprietor of a bakery, was arrested March 16 for selling a can of pork and beans. The case was filed in the circuit court, and tried before Judge Galloway March 24. He placed a temporary injunction against the further enforcement of the 1865 law, it being a revision of the 1854 Sunday blue law of territorial origin. The injunction was at once served on District Attorney Hill and Sheriff Bodine.
As a result of these and other prosecutions, the Independent Grocers have initiated a bill to repeal the Oregon Sunday law. This bill has been filed with the secretary of state, and is placed on the November ballot.
A conference of the United Evangelical Church held in Portland, Oregon, is reported by the Oregonian of April 9, 1916, as follows:
"Report of the committee on moral reform indorsing the proposed one-rest-day-in-seven law was submitted yesterday to the Oregon Conference of the United Evangelical Church. The conference declined to give the measure unequivocal indorsement, but did indorse it as a 'civic measure,' but not as a religious propaganda, for the reason that the present measure 'compromises with theaters and business institutions.'"
"The motion to indorse the proposed rest day law met with opposition from Rev. C. C. Poling, whose name is signed to the law, Rev. S. S. Mummey, and others of the conference, all of whom spoke against direct indorsement.
"Mr. Poling said that his name was used on the measure without his consent, and that he did not approve of the measure entirely. Rev. Mr. Mummey said the proposed law might leave conditions even worse than at present."
Admittedly Religious
THIS body of ministers frankly admits the religious feature of the one-day (Sunday)-rest-in-seven initiative petition which was to have been submitted to the voters of the state of Oregon in the November election. Evidently, however, it did not secure a sufficient number of signatures to meet the requirement of the law, hence it will not appear on the ballot. Of course, conditions would have been worse than at present had this proposed bill become a law.
"Rev. A. A. Winter and Rev. J. A. Goode made strong pleas for the indorsement of the measure as the best that could be framed and hoped for at the present, but not all that was desired."
It is an open secret that the proposed Sunday closing law does not contain all that its advocates desire. Their ideal is that every man be forced to rest on that day after their sectarian idea, even to the extent that not even a daily newspaper be bought or sold on Sunday; that fishing, hunting, baseball, theaters, shows, and all other games and places of amusement, soda fountains, and ice cream stands be closed on that day. But the existing law does not contain all these requirements.
Not a Square Front
THE inconsistency of the Sunday law advocates could not be more clearly shown than by a comparison of statements made by their superintendent, the Rev. G. L. Tufts, through the secular and the religious press. Addressing the general public relative to his proposed initiative bill, he declared in the Oregonian of January 30, 1916, "The proposed law makes no religious requirements." Writing in the Pacific Christian Advocate of July 5, 1916, to the church people, he says: "But there is little public conscience as to the sacred character of the day. A law of this kind should be based upon public conviction that Sunday is a divine institution."
Deny it all they will, a Sunday law is in the interest of sectarian religion, and in its last analysis, will force all classes of men to rest on Sunday or suffer the penalties attached thereto.
Sunday legislation can have nothing whatsoever to do with one's civilization. A man who sells pop corn, conducts an ice cream parlor or a soda stand, sells newspapers, plays baseball, or takes an automobile ride with his family on the great Columbia Highway, on Sunday, is just as civilized as he would be if he were forced to go to church and play the pipe organ, lead the choir, or sit in the front pew, on that day.
Can Neither Work nor Play
DR. JAMES McGRAW, of Los Angeles, California, speaking of the religious enforcement of Sunday, says, "I will say that the Sabbath shall be sanctified by rest on that day from all labor and pleasure, such as is engaged in on other days of the week, a holy day, given to the worship of Almighty God." With such an utterance as this from their national secretary, there can be no longer a question relative to the religious character of such law.
Even though a law exempts those who rest regularly on another day, it is none the less oppressive to those who do not believe in resting regularly on any day of the week. If the state has a divine right so to bind one citizen one day in each week that he cannot work to provide for his daily sustenance, it has the same right to force all its citizens to rest six days each week if it should so choose. But for the state to assume thus to trench upon the rights of its citizens is for it to exceed the limits of its ordained boundary lines.
Would prohibit all fishing on Sundays
While the existing Sunday law of Oregon does not exempt those who observe another day from any obligation thereto, yet the proposed initiative bill did make such concession. Since all the energies of the framers of this584
Echoes of the Dragon's Voice
(Continued from page 7)
initiative bill are now bent toward the defeat of Senator Kellaher's repeal bill, and they announce that if successful in this undertaking, they will then ask the legislature to amend the present law so as to make it up-to-date in every way, it is reasonable to suppose that some such exemption will be thrown as a sop to those who they fear would oppose their efforts. But if it were a good law, no exemptions would be necessary. Why should the state have a bad law? Every Oregonian should vote for its repeal. God's moral law of Ten Commandments contains no class exemptions from obedience thereto; and "the law of the Lord is perfect," and perfection cannot be repealed.
Could Repeal the Exemptions
THE state that makes exemptions may repeal them at will. If any state, or the District of Columbia, has the right to pass a Sunday bill, and thus enact it into law, and attach a penalty thereto for the least violation thereof, and exempt such persons as rest "regularly and conscientiously" on another day of the week than Sunday, and further exempt such persons as may be engaged in specified lines of trade, or theatrical, baseball, polo, cricket, or other similar amusements, it could repeal such exemptions at its pleasure. Should the exemptions be repealed, the law would bind all classes of citizens to the strictest obedience to the Puritan Sunday blue law, even though they believed not in the day, nor even in religion. Such legislation is not that of the republic for which "Old Glory" stands.
The first Sunday law ever enacted had its origin in the interest of pagan religion, being enacted by the Roman emperor Constantine, in the year A.D. 321. It contained exemptions similar to those of the proposed Sunday rest law of to-day. If that religious system had been of God, it would have possessed the power to save men from sin. Hence all must admit that it would not have adulterated its purity by forming an alliance with the state, which cannot possibly do more than punish men for crime, they having still to account for sin to God.
Forerunner of Persecution
IN the year 323 A.D., Constantine professed conversion, and united with the Christian church, and thus further injected into it his religio-civil ideas of religion by force. This religious legislation continued until all exemptions were ignored, and persecution and prosecution raged everywhere; and in the ministration of that system in its last analysis, the Old World was stained with the life-blood of some one hundred million men who were denied their natural right to choose their kind of religion in harmony with individual conscience.
The evil result of the union of the church and the state in that day was foretold by Christ, and chronicled in Matt. 24: 21, 22: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."
The history of that power is recorded in Rev. 13: 1-10, and it is by the All-Seeing One denominated "the beast," because of its oppressive character. Its character was manifest in its dealings with the consciences and religious convictions of men by force.
'Wondered After the Beast'
THAT union of church and state power was to be a world power. "And all the world wondered after the beast. . . . And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" Rev. 13: 3, 4. And when it came, it was a world union of church and state power. That power was false Catholicism.
History is now repeating itself. There is an unsatisfied craving, on the part of would-be Protestant religious sects, to form a union with the state, and enforce sectarian ideas of religion by civil law. The work has already begun; and when it is completed — the church and the state having then entered into unholy wedlock, the church to define the tenets of religious belief, and the state to enforce its creed — then we will have an image to the beast. And that image — false Protestantism united with the state — will demand obedience to church tenets, and enforce its demands by fine and imprisonment.
This system of forced Sunday closing, in its final analysis, will be the crowning act in the union of church and state in our day, and constitute the image to the beast, a living likeness, vividly described in Revelation, chapters 13 and 14. Read them.
We are herein prophetically informed that this system of religious legislation will contain not only the penalty of fine and imprisonment for the violation of religio-civil rest enforcement law, but that the death penalty will finally be attached to the law.
Reader, be not affiliated with the religious alliance that brings about the civil enactment and enforcement of such a law; for God's "wrath" therefore is sure to follow. Rev. 14: 9-11.
Buying & Selling Salvation
By Mrs. E. G. White
Cannot Earn It, Yet Each May Have It
By the late Mrs. E. G. White
THE blessings of redeeming love our Saviour compared to a precious pearl. He illustrated His lesson by the parable of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, "who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." Matt. 13: 45, 46.
Christ Himself is the pearl of great price. In Him is gathered all the glory of the Father, the fullness of the Godhead. He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person. The glory of the attributes of God is expressed in His character. Every page of the Holy Scriptures shines with His light.
The righteousness of Christ, as a pure, white pearl, has no defect, no stain. No work of man can improve the great and precious gift of God. It is without a flaw. In Christ are "hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col. 2: 3. He is "made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. 1: 30. All that can satisfy the needs and longings of the human soul, for this world and for the world to come, is found in Christ. Our Redeemer is the pearl so precious that in comparison all things else may be accounted loss.
Earnest but Dissatisfied
CHRIST "came unto His own, and His own received Him not." The light of God shone into the darkness of the world, and "the darkness comprehended it not." John 1: 11, 5. But not all were found indifferent to the gift of heaven. The merchantman in the parable represents a class who were sincerely desiring truth.
In different nations, there were earnest and thoughtful men who had sought in literature and science and the religions of the heathen world for that which they could receive as the soul's treasure. Among the Jews, there were those who were seeking for that which they had not. Dissatisfied with a formal religion, they longed for that which was spiritual and uplifting. Christ's chosen disciples belonged to the latter class, Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch to the former. They had been longing and praying for light from heaven; and when Christ was revealed to them, they received Him with gladness.
In the parable, the pearl is not represented as a gift. The merchantman bought it at the price of all that he had. Many question the meaning of this, since Christ is represented in the Scriptures as a gift. He is a gift, but only to those who give themselves, soul, body, and spirit, to Him without reserve. We are to give ourselves to Christ, to live a life of willing obedience to all His requirements. All that we are, all the talents and capabilities we possess, are the Lord's, to be consecrated to His service. When we thus give ourselves wholly to Him, Christ, with all the treasures of heaven, gives Himself to us. We obtain the pearl of great price.
Buying the Gift
SALVATION is a free gift, and yet it is to be bought and sold. In the market of which divine mercy has the management, the precious pearl is represented as being bought without money and without price. In this market, all may obtain the goods of heaven. The treasury of the jewels of truth is open to all. "Behold, I have set before thee an open door," the Lord declares, "and no man can shut it." No sword guards the way through this door. Voices from within and at the door say, Come. The Saviour's voice earnestly and lovingly invites us, "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich." Rev. 3: 8, 18.
The gospel of Christ is a blessing that all may possess. The poorest are as well able as the richest to purchase salvation; for no amount of worldly wealth can secure it. It is obtained by willing obedience, by giving ourselves to Christ as His own purchased possession. Education, even of the highest class, cannot of itself bring a man nearer to God.
The Pharisees were favored with every temporal and every spiritual advantage, and they said with boastful pride, We are "rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;" yet they were "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Rev. 3: 17. Christ offered them the pearl of great price; but they disdained to accept it, and He said to them, "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." Matt. 21: 31.
"The Pearl of Great Price."
We cannot earn salvation, but we are to seek for it with as much interest and perseverance as though we would abandon everything in the world for it.
We are to seek for the pearl of great price, but not in worldly marts or in worldly ways. The price we are required to pay is not gold or silver, for this belongs to God. Abandon the idea that temporal or spiritual advantages will win for you salvation. God calls for your willing obedience. He asks you to give up your sins. "To him that overcometh," Christ declares, "will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rev. 3: 21.
There are some who seem to be always seeking for the heavenly pearl. But they do not make an entire surrender of their wrong habits. They do not die to self, that Christ may live in them. Therefore they do not find the precious pearl. They have not overcome unholy ambition and their love for worldly attractions. They do not take up the cross and follow Christ in the path of self-denial and sacrifice. Almost Christians, yet not fully Christians, they seem near the kingdom of heaven, but they cannot enter there. Almost but not wholly saved, means to be not almost but wholly lost.
The Pearl in Lost Humanity
THE parable of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls has a double significance; it applies not only to men as seeking the kingdom of heaven, but to Christ as seeking His lost inheritance. Christ, the heavenly merchantman seeking goodly pearls, saw in lost humanity the pearl of price. In man, defiled and ruined by sin, He saw the possibilities of redemption.
Hearts that have been the battle ground of the conflict with Satan, and that have been rescued by the power of love, are more precious to the Redeemer than are those who have never fallen. God looked upon humanity, not as vile and worthless; He looked upon it in Christ, saw it as it might become through redeeming love. He collected all the riches of the universe, and laid them down, in order to buy the pearl. And Jesus, having found it, resets it in His own diadem. "For they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land." "They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels." Zech. 9: 16; Mal. 3: 17.
But Christ as the precious pearl, and our privilege of possessing this heavenly treasure, is the theme on which we most need to dwell. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals to men the preciousness of the goodly pearl. The time of the Holy Spirit's power is the time when in a special sense the heavenly gift is sought and found. In Christ's day, many heard the gospel, but their minds were darkened by false teaching, and they did not recognize in the humble Teacher of Galilee the Sent of God.
But after Christ's ascension, His enthronement in His mediatorial kingdom was signalized by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was given. Christ's witnesses proclaimed the power of9the risen Saviour. The light of heaven penetrated the darkened minds of those who had been deceived by the enemies of Christ. They now saw Him exalted to be "a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Acts 5: 31. They saw Him encircled with the glory of heaven, with infinite treasures in His hands to bestow upon all who would turn from their rebellion.
As They Set Forth His Glory
As the apostles set forth the glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father, three thousand souls were convicted. They were made to see themselves as they were, sinful and polluted, and Christ as their friend and Redeemer. Christ was lifted up, Christ was glorified, through the power of the Holy Spirit resting upon men. By faith, these believers saw Him as the one who had borne humiliation, suffering, and death that they might not perish, but have everlasting life. The revelation of Christ by the Spirit brought to them a realizing sense of His power and majesty, and they stretched forth their hands to Him by faith, saying, "I believe."
Then the glad tidings of a risen Saviour were carried to the uttermost bounds of the inhabited world. The church beheld converts flocking to her from all directions. Believers were reconverted. Sinners united with Christians in seeking the pearl of great price. The prophecy was fulfilled. The weak shall be "as David," and the house of David "as the angel of the Lord." Zech. 12: 8. Every Christian saw in his brother the divine similitude of benevolence and love. One interest prevailed. One object swallowed up all others. All hearts beat in harmony. The only ambition of the believers was to reveal the likeness of Christ's character, and to labor for the enlargement of His kingdom. "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. . . . With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Acts 4: 32, 33; 2: 47. The Spirit of Christ animated the whole congregation; for they had found the pearl of great price.
These scenes are to be repeated, and with greater power. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was the former rain, but the latter rain will be more abundant. The Spirit awaits our demand and reception. Christ is again to be revealed in His fullness by the Holy Spirit's power. Men will discern the value of the precious pearl, and with the apostle Paul they will say: "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Phil. 3: 7, 8.
GOD'S MEASURING ROD
FROM the psalmist, we learn that as Christ came to earth, the law of His Father was in His heart. See Ps. 40: 7, 8. Through the prophet Isaiah, we hear the prediction that Christ would "magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isa. 42: 21.
From the great Teacher Himself, we get the personal statement that on the two great principles of supreme love to God and loving our neighbor as ourselves, all the law of God is suspended. Matt. 22: 37-40.
An inspired apostle tells us that "love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13: 10.
The revelator presents before us the Judgment scenes. He calls attention to the anger of the nations when the Judgment is pending. He graphically brings before us that then the time is reached for God to reward His saints and to destroy the corrupters and destroyers of the earth. And in that supreme time, the prophet saw in God's temple "the ark of His testament." See Rev. 11: 18, 19. The ark of God's testament contained the Ten Commandment law; and thus did the prophet call to our notice the fact that when the Judgment of God is pending, God's law as enshrined in the sacred ark is the great rule by which the world will be judged.
The remnant church, which would certainly embrace all the true followers of Christ that live in the last generation, will finally be drawn together as commandment keepers, or observers of God's law; for we read, "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12: 17. Notice that the wrath of the dragon is aimed at commandment keepers who are also Christians; for they not only keep the commandments of God, but they have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, we read, in that great warning against the worship of the beast and his image, that "the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14: 9-12.
Wrath Against "Beast" Worship
GOD'S wrath is to be visited upon those who worship the "beast" and his "image." The beast, his mark, and his image are more fully described in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation. This beast and image power commands worship, and utters its decree that all who will not worship according to its prescribed plan must be killed. Rev. 13: 15. But God's message against that false worship is one of the most intensely expressive to be found anywhere in the Bible. And observe that those who join with God in the giving of this message reach the climax in point of character, where God Himself says of them, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
Three pronounced characteristics are shown in those who get the victory over the beast and his image. They have "the patience of the saints"; they "keep the commandments of God"; and they have "the faith of Jesus." Then they are Christians who live in the new dispensation; and not only so, but they are commandment keepers. They observe the commandments of God; and the love of God that is so strongly expressed in the law of God, has developed in these devout Christians "the patience of the saints."
Those Who Have a Right
THE world finally reaches the time when the word goes forth from Jesus, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22: 12. And right in connection with this supreme moment in earth's history, we find the words, "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Verse 14. God's benediction is upon the keeping of His commandments. Those who keep them are to have a "right to the tree of life," and to "enter in through the gates into the city."
And we are furthermore told that "without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Verse 15.
Within the city, then, are the pure in heart, who are to see God. Within the city are those who have learned the great principles of love that are enshrined in the law of God. They have learned to keep those commandments which Jesus bore to humanity in His divine heart; they have learned to love God supremely; they have learned to love their neighbor as themselves; they have learned to exemplify, not only in their outward acts, but in their heart life, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
But those who are without the city are such as tell falsehoods, idolaters, murderers, whoremongers, and sorcerers.
In view of the clear teaching of the divine Book concerning the place God's law occupies in His plan, how carefully should we study that law! Are our lives in harmony with the law as Jesus taught it? Are we keeping every one of its precepts? A record of that law is found in Ex. 20: 1-17. Study it carefully; for those who enter the beautiful city to enjoy the blessings of immortal life are they who, like their divine Master, have had the Father's law enshrined in the heart, so that every act of life, both in motive and in outward deed, has been made to conform to the standard of divine excellence.
The Signs of Our Times
THE Author of the Bible has promised us His Spirit to guide us into all truth. As we reflect upon the conditions which the Book has foretold, and compare them with the conditions in the world, that promised Spirit will impress our minds with the truth; and thus may the reader have the evidence, in his own mind and heart, that these Scriptural predictions are fulfilling, and that they constitute, indeed, the distinct signs of our times.
The great warning against the worship of the beast.
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