May 18, 1899
NO GOVERNMENT can give securities which can be deposited in the bank of Heaven.
WHEN coercion is joined with religion, many people are made hypocrites, but none are made Christians.
A RELIGION which is joined with the State if a friend of the world, and therefore an enemy of God.
HUMAN law cannot enter the realm of conscience without coming in conflict with the law of God.
THE Sunday laws are based upon the decisions of majorities; but Christianity never rested on this basis.
THE wisdom of man nowhere appears in more painful contrast with the wisdom of God than in the provisions of the Sunday laws.
WHEN religion gets into politics, religious bigotry and intolerance disguise themselves in a political garb, and do their work in the name of political necessity.
AMS MAN cannot create anything superior to himself, it is certain that the interests of civil government cannot be superior to those of the men who make it.
AMS NO civil government ever yet loved its enemies, and as Christianity demands the love of one’s enemies, it is plain that civil government cannot rise to the level of Christianity.
WHEN a civil government professes religion, it is logically bound to coerce dissenters from its religion, as it does dissenters from any of its laws; and to coerce dissenters in religion is to persecute.
AMS IT is true that “out of the heart are the issues of life,” and as no human law can reach the heart, it is plainly true that human legislation is powerless to reform the life and save society from moral decay.