Hold the Torch of Freedom High!

Maintaining the principles that led to the founding of this nation.

R.A.A. is editor of the Ministry. 

During these summer months hundreds of thousands of Americans are reliving the experiences that led to the founding of this nation. This issue of THE MINISTRY features the new Mayflower and also sets forth vital principles dear to the hearts of all who love liberty. Nothing is so precious to the human soul as freedom. It is a divine principle lying at the very heart of the gospel, yet liberty has suffered much through the centuries at the hands of those who should have been fervent in its pres­ervation.

God brought Israel out of Egypt that they might be a free nation. At Sinai He gave them "the perfect law of liberty." But while they learned the letter of the law, many of them did not partake of its spirit. On the contrary, in the face of the clearest counsel of God through His prophets, Is­rael became contaminated with the ideas of the pagan world around them. Their national overthrow was the direct result of their willful disregard of the great princi­ples of justice and soul freedom they were commissioned of God to carry to the world. So blind did they become at last that they demanded the crucifixion of the greatest of their prophets, the Son of God Himself, the author of liberty.

In the ancient world in general, individ­ual liberty was practically unknown. A man existed for the state, and not the state for the man. Family life, religion, property, one's time and service, were all under the control of the state. When Christianity called its converts to "obey God rather than men," it was bound to clash with the gov­ernment of those days. But there is something about the human spirit that cannot be destroyed. Men sang the praises of God even in the dungeon, and while a Peter might be crucified and a Paul decapitated, the church nevertheless went on "conquer­ing, and to conquer." In about three cen­turies the church, despised and persecuted by the empire, was accepted, and Christian­ity became the religion of Rome. History reveals that where liberty conies easily, men quickly forget. Consequently that freedom was short-lived. Like Israel of old the church learned the way of the heathen and for a thousand years despots sought to rule the consciences of men.

How difficult it seems for men to learn that the size of the group can never deter­mine the rightness of the issue. Those who stand for right and truth may be few in number, as were the three Hebrews before the fiery furnace, but truth will always con­quer in time. The tree of liberty grows slowly, however, and even some who de­nounced intolerance in others were guilty of intolerance themselves. The greatest axi­omatic truth ever uttered on civil and reli­gious liberty was stated by Jesus Christ when He said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." As the champion of freedom He "brought deliverance to the captives and set at liberty them that are bruised . . ." False liberty is freedom to do what a man likes. True liberty is freedom to do as one thinks is right so long as it does not harm another.

Freedom has marked the history of the American Republic. Whatever contribution that great land has been able to make, has been made because these great principles have been recognized. However, we live in a generation in which the areas of liberty are rapidly shrinking. Political and reli­gious elements are combining their forces for a great social, religious, and economic society wherein individual freedom will be sacrificed for the benefit of the collective group. Some who foresee this declare the days of democracy are ending in the twi­light of a darkness that is rapidly envelop­ing our world. This constitutes a challenge to every lover of liberty and every exponent of human rights. As heralds of the gospel we must ever guard the principles of justice and equity, and lift the standard of true freedom as we seek to stem the tide that is sweeping civilization from its moorings and threatening the well-being of mankind everywhere.

The founders of this nation were correct when they said that the state cannot inter­fere with primary rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are God-given, not state-given. It is the responsibility of the government to protect these rights for its citizens.

The colonists who came seeking freedom and established their communities along the Eastern seaboard of the New World needed, however, a clearer understanding of the principles of true freedom. Not until a century and a half passed did these great principles come into full focus. Civil and religious liberty are twins—Siamese twins, neither can exist without the other.

The American Constitution

William E. Gladstone, one of England's foremost prime ministers and one of the clearest thinkers of his time, declared, "The American Constitution is, as far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." That Constitution guarantees in­dividual liberty because it forever separates church and state. But this is the fruitage of a long and intensive struggle.

It was a divine providence that shaped this nation, and although many who came to America as immigrants were not mem­bers of any church, yet the great majority were seeking freedom. Not even Jefferson, who drew up the Constitution, was strictly a church man. He was a deist, but no man saw more clearly the vital prin­ciples of true liberty. Those principles set forth by his pen have been interwoven into the whole life and structure of the nation. The Constitution protects the di­vine right of man against the so-called divine right of kings and dictators. While it permits Congress to establish a court, it prohibits it to establish a religion. The state can lawfully suppress an insurrection but not a newspaper. It can close a port but not its citizens' mouths. It can regulate commerce but not our lives.

The Future of Freedom

Will the principles on which this nation was founded continue? Yes, they will, pro­vided men recognize that liberties are safe­guarded by citizens and not by politics. The future of freedom in this country or any other country depends upon its citizens' becoming aware of the real issues at stake. There is much fog in the political atmos­phere today. It is easy to be misunderstood, and one who raises his voice on important issues can be looked upon as an alarmist.

Daniel Webster emphasized the truth when he said, "God grants liberty to those only who love it and are always ready to guard it."

James Russell Lowell, in his "Stanzas on Freedom," strikes at the very keynote of liberty:

They are slaves who fear to speak

For the fallen and the weak.

They are slaves who fear to choose Hatred, scoffing and abuse

Rather than in silence shrink

From the truth they needs must think.

They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three.

Edwin Burke, in one of his famous speeches in the British House of Commons in 1784, declared, "People never give up their liberties but under some delusion." How true that is! In this generation we have seen free peoples, great nations, co­erced and enslaved because they were de­luded by false leaders. As students of proph­ecy we realize that the greatest delusion of all time is just ahead of us when Satan, with his master deception, will deceive the whole world. Prophecy indicates that the climax of all human history will be reached by a coalition between Spiritualism, Roman Catholicism, and apostate Protestantism. And this will culminate in enforced wor­ship to a false power. It is in preparation for this greatest and final deception that God is sending His last message of warning to the world. And that message is a call to the worship of Him who made heaven and earth, and through whom alone men can know real soul liberty. For "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17).

A few years ago an eight-year-old girl, visiting New York with her family, was en­thralled with the wonderful sights. Among other things she was taken to see the Statue of Liberty. This fascinated her and with rapt attention she listened to the thrilling story of this gift of France to the United States. She saw Miss Liberty lifting aloft her torch to enlighten the world. It was getting dark when they returned across the bay. From the deck of the little boat she watched the statue receding in the distance.

After a tiring day of sight-seeing the fam­ily retired, but sleep did not come easily to the little girl. Her father said, "Why don't you go to sleep, honey?" And in her sweet, childish way she said, "Daddy, I am thinking of the beautiful lady out there all by herself with no one to help her hold up that lamp. Don't you think we should be helping Miss Liberty to hold it up?" That little story is more than an apt anecdote. It is a challenge to all who love liberty. Every citizen has a duty to help hold up the torch.

Our Responsibility

While America is reliving its history, let us as preachers of the great prophecies of our time realize our opportunity to enun­ciate the principles that have given us the liberty we enjoy today. We have a respon­sibility not only to inform our hearers of the victories of the past but, as evangelists and teachers of God's Word, to set before our audiences the guiding principles of liberty and freedom, and prepare them for the greatest challenge of all time when the whole world will be forced to make a deci­sion for or against God. Special truths have been committed to us and these we must proclaim with courage and certainty. The third angel's message, while couched in the setting of the everlasting gospel and the true understanding of righteousness by faith, contains also the light by which men may trace their path through the muddled thinking of our time and discern the ulti­mate goal—the Holy City of God.

Nationally and denominationally it is true that "we have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history," yet our eyes must also be directed to the future—the climax of the ages.

But when men and demons have done their worst, God will write the last chapter of human history. We may not always sense it but Lowell with clear insight states a tremendous truth when he says:

Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record

One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old sys­tems and the Word;

Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne,—

Yet that scaffold sways the future; and, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

—JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, "The Present Crisis"

R. A. A.

 


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R.A.A. is editor of the Ministry. 

August 1957

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More Articles In This Issue

Religious Motivation of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims

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Who Were the Pilgrims of Plymouth?

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Character High Lights of the Pilgrim Pioneers

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Women in Colonial America

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A Plan for Teaching Patients in S.D.A. Hospitals II

The second part of our consideration of beside manners from a Christian perspective.

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