June 8, 1899
JUSTICE, whether embodied in statute or not, has always the binding force of law.
MEN can do nothing to save the Sabbath, but the Sabbath can do much to save men.
A SABBATH without religion is a Sabbath without rest; hence Sabbath rest by law is an impossibility.
REAL law being always synonymous with justice, to enforce an “unjust law” is to visit a law and enforce anarchy.
MORALITY cannot be saved by legality. Not the forms of godliness, but the power of godliness, makes an individual truly moral.
THE Sabbath must be preserved not by law, but by its own inherent life. God’s Sabbath, like all that God has made which has escaped the taint of sin, is immortal.
THE State must not be allowed to profess religion; it is not right that it should do so. If it does, it will want to join the church; and who will say that it should not if it can rightfully profess religion? But when it joins the church, there is a union of church and state, which is always an unmitigated evil therefore it is evident that in religion the state cannot do that which would be proper and right for an individual.
WHILE the state is not a moral personality like the individual, it is yet bound to do that which it was instituted to do; namely, preserve the natural rights of man. Man was created for the glory of God; the state was created for the protection man and society. Only through force can the state protect society; but only through love can men glorify God. The state cannot glorify God because it cannot love. The state represents man’s power, but God does not want man’s power. He wants man’s love, and by loving God men will work most effectually to preserve peace and uprightness in society. Love to God is the great preventive of the ills of society; and an ounce of this prevention is worth a pound and more of the state’s attempted cure.