The Right of Dissent

Notes

(a) An established religion.

(b) The right to dictate in religious things.

(c) The allowing of that which is not approved.

(d) The right to prohibit and compel. (See note 3.)

Notes

1. Before there can be religious persecution there must be a union of the civil and religious forces,—Church and State must be united. The Church must get control of and use the power of the State before she can punish those who dissent from her doctrines, dogmas, and dictation.

2. Tolerance—"The act of enduring."

Tolerate—"To suffer to be or to be done; to allow or permit negatively, by not preventing."

Toleration—"The allowance of that which is not wholly approved. Specifically, when contrary to or different from those of the established church or belief."—Webster.

3. Over the colonnades fronting the lake shore at the Chicago World's Fair, of 1893, was this motto, "Religious toleration the best fruits of the last four centuries." If this be true, then the fruits of these centuries have not been the best, for religious liberty is a long way ahead of religious toleration. Toleration is freedom recognized, not as a right, but as a favor. Toleration implies:—

(a) An established religion. It means that some religion is the favored religion, and that all others are heretical and disapproved, but permitted. Wherever there is an established religion the only thing the State can do, aside from persecuting, is to tolerate. This is why so many English writers talk about toleration instead of liberty. England has an established religion.

(b) Toleration implies the right of the State to dictate in matters of religion.

(c) It means the allowing of that which is not approved or liked, as a matter of sufferance or endurance.

(d) It implies the right to prohibit. The right to permit implies the right to prohibit. And the right to permit and prohibit implies the right, also, to compel. The right of the parent to say to the child, "You may go," and, "You must not go," implies the right to say, "You must go." If the State has a right to say to its citizens, "You may work on Sunday," it has the right to say, "You must not work on Sunday." And if it has the right to say these, it has also the right to say, "You must work on the Sabbath."

"There is a very great difference between toleration and liberty. Toleration is a concession which may be withdrawn. It implies a preference for the ruling form of faith and worship, and a practical disapproval of all other forms."—Schaff's Church and State in the United States, p. 14.

"The free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, is something which every man may indeed demand as a right, not something for which we must ask a privilege. To grant to the State the power of tolerating is implicitly to grant to it the power of prohibiting."—Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, vol. 4, p. 165.

"Toleration denotes neither the freedom of religion from State control, nor the equality of all religions before the law. Toleration is the allowance of that which is not wholly approved. Religious liberty, on the other hand, is absolute freedom of religious opinion and worship."—Thompson's Church and State in the United States, p. 12.

"What other nations call toleration we call religious rights. They are not exercised in virtue of governmental indulgence, but as rights, of which government cannot deprive any portion of citizens, however small. Despotic power may invade those rights, but justice still confirms them."—U. S. Senate Report, 1829.

4. To ask the State to allow us to work on Sunday is virtually to concede to it the right to dictate in the matter. To be consistent we should abide by its decision, whether favorable or otherwise, else why should we ask? In the fourth commandment God has told us what to do on all days of the week, and that should settle the question for all men and for all time. The fact is, the State has not the allowing to do in the matter. It might just as consistently be asked to allow us to breathe or eat or walk or sleep as to allow us to work. To labor at honest toil is a natural right, and, whenever done, cannot justly be deemed a crime.

"The time was when toleration was craved by dissenters as a boon. It is now demanded as a right; but a time will come when it will be spurned as an insult."—Lord Stanhope, in House of Lords, in 1827.

5. To give to men their natural rights is not in the power or province of the State. It has no such rights to give. Rights come from God. The Michigan Sabbath Watchman, of June, 1892, failed to comprehend this when it said: "The only legal right the Seventh-day Adventists have to do secular work in shop, in house, in field, or to run their presses, etc., in their publishing concern on the Christian sabbath, is a right given them by this State on religious grounds only."

6. "To protect liberty of conscience is the duty of the State, and this is the limit of its authority in matters of religion."—Great Controversy, p. 201.

"Government exists for the protection of the persons and property of men."—Macaulay on Mills' Essay on Government.

7. Macaulay, in his essay on Gladstone, well said, "Have not almost all the governments in the world always been in the wrong on religious subjects?" Indeed they have, and for the simple reason that they are controlled by majorities, and the majority are almost always wrong on religious subjects. They are wrong on the subject of the Sabbath, and this manifests itself wherever governments legislate on the question. They favor and defend the Sunday, the papal sabbath, and not the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord.

8. To say that because we are told to be subject to the higher powers we are therefore bound to obey every law that men may make, would imply that if the State commanded men to murder, they would have to do it; or to steal, they would have to steal; or to lie, swear, dishonor parents, or worship idols, they would have to do all these things. Every person knows better than this. It is evident, therefore, that there must be some limit to human legislation and the duties which men owe to civil governments.

9. Anarchy is a disregard for all law. To disregard unjust laws that transcend the rights of conscience is not anarchy. The most loyal and patriotic can do this. Neither is it resisting the powers that be to disregard such laws. The resistance spoken of in Rom. 13:2 is a rising up against, or a resort to forceful means. This no Christian will do. He will firmly refuse to comply with laws that violate his conscience, and submit to whatever consequences such a course may entail. "Christ's embassadors have nothing to do with consequences."—Great Controversy, p. 609.

"Conscientious men are not the enemies but the friends of any government but a tyranny. They are its strength and not its weakness. Daniel, in Babylon, praying, contrary to the law, was the true friend and supporter of the government; while those who, in their pretended zeal for the law and the constitution, would strike down the good man, were its real enemies. It is only when government transcends its sphere that it comes in contact with the consciences of men."—Fairchild's Moral Philosophy, p. 185.

10. The argument of Daniel's persecutors is a familiar one to the people of all ages. They secure the unjust measures they desire, and then demand submission and obedience to these measures because they are the law. "We ask only obedience to law," is the favorite motto with the advocates of Sunday enforcement. Of course that is all they ask after they get the law they want; but we deny the right of the existence of the law.

11. The following was Roman law in the time of the apostles:—

"Worship the gods in all respects according to the laws of your country, and compel all others to do the same. But hate and punish those who would introduce anything alien to our customs in this particular.

"Whoever introduces new religions, the tendency and character of which are unknown, whereby the minds of men be disturbed, shall, if belonging to the higher rank, be banished; if to the lower, punished with death."—Neander, Church History, vol. 1, sec. 1, part 1, div. 3, par. 2.

12. "When the laws of men conflict with the word and law of God, we are to obey the latter, whatever the consequences may be."—Testimonies to the Church, vol. 1, pp. 201, 202.

"It is too obvious to need discussion that the law of God, the great principle of benevolence, is supreme, and that 'we ought to obey God rather than men' in any case of conflict between the human law and the divine."—Fairchild's Moral Philosophy, p. 178.

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to Him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of civil society. Before any man can be considered a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the universe."—Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance, State Papers, p. 29.

"The question is asked, Shall we not obey the powers that be?—Yes, when they are in harmony with the higher powers that be. God made His law for all the universe. He created man; He gives the bounteous provisions of nature, holds our breath and life in His hand. He is to be recognized, His law honored, before all the great men and the highest earthly powers."—Mrs. E. G. White, in Review and Herald, April 15, 1890.

"The framers of the U. S. Constitution recognized the eternal principle that man's relation with his God is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this conscientiousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and in flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate. The bigot, in the pride of his authority, may lose sight of it; but strip him of his power, prescribe a faith to him which his conscience rejects, threaten him in turn with the dungeon and the fagot, and the spirit which God has implanted in him rises up in rebellion, and defies you."—U. S. Senate Report, 1829.