THE only thing that Jesus Christ ever did in the way of using force among men was to take a “whip of small cords” and cleanse the temple of God. He used force—or its equivalent—to drive worldly men out of the temple of God; but to-day his professed representatives want to use force to drive worldly men into that temple.
THE AMERICAN SENTINEL does not assume the position of an adviser of this or any other civil government. We say this in reply to the assertion some have made that the SENTINEL was trying to run the Government, while telling Christians that they could not properly take part in political affairs. If this were true, the SENTINEL’S position would of course be very inconsistent; but it is not true. The SENTINEL says that civil government should not do certain things which constitute an interference with natural rights. This is not saying how the government should be run, but only how, as regards these rights, it should not be run. And it says this from the standpoint of Christianity; not as taking part in civil government, but as stating to men the divine truth which was summed up by Jesus Christ in the words, “Render therefore unto Cesar the things that are Cesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” And it says these things to men in order that they may escape the condemnation and disaster which a different course from that set forth in these words of Christ must bring upon them.