THE difference between God’s character and man’s is indicated by these words of the 25th Psalm: “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” The slightest of the trespass, not the greatness of it, would be the ground on which pardon would be asked of man.
IT needs not faith, but only intelligent observation, to see that now—
“We are living, we are dwelling,
In a grand and awful time.”
The times call for some decisive action on the part of everybody. The person who sets out to be merely a looker-on in the great earth-drama, will be overtaken by a grievous surprise.
THE Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish government are united. This is a plain, undeniable fact. In belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, therefore, a person is bound to be at least friendly to Spain. His church, while the union lasts, goes with that government, and he must likewise go with it or withdraw from his church. This is what is demanded by logic and consistency.
And it is the same as regards the person who is a Protestant. If he is a part of the state he must go with the state; and if he is a part of the church he must also go with the church. Then when the church and the state go different ways—as in the case of Spain and the Catholic Church in America—he must withdraw from one or the other. No person can ride two horses at once, going in different directions. Of course, he may still profess allegiance to both; but logically—and actually—he must repudiate one or the other.
And it is a fact that the Christian church and the state—any state on the earth—are not going in the same direction. The Christian church is going to heaven; but the state is not going there; no state is going there. Individuals from every country on earth are going there; but no state will go there. Every state is moving toward extinction; for no state has immortality now any more than Babylon, Greece, or Rome had it. The end of the world will be the end of every state and government in the world. And, therefore, the Christian church cannot be joined with any state, and no individual can be at one and the same time, joined with the state and with the Christian church.