01.085. LAWFUL BUSINESS.

LAWFUL BUSINESS.

"S. O." Accept our thanks for your faithful letter. Its tone and spirit are very grateful. Still, we fear you have not read our answer in No. 90 with sufficient care. If you will kindly refer to it again, you will find that we do not, by any means teach, that a Christian cannot engage in the lawful business of this life. Nothing is further from our thoughts. The question of our Laurencekirk correspondent had reference merely to the Christian’s taking part in the politics of this world. We believe it to be inconsistent with the teaching of John 17:1-26 and Colossians 3:1-25. We maintain that it is contrary to the example of our blessed Lord, whose steps we are to follow: and finally, we declare that the Christian, in meddling in this world’s politics, is acting without a single line of Scripture authority. The word of God furnishes the Christian thoroughly unto all good works, but it does not furnish him with any authority to be a politician. It teaches him to pray for the government, to obey magistrates, to submit himself to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake; but it nowhere teaches him to wield the sword of worldly power. It is unintelligent to refer, on this subject, to Old Testament Scriptures, inasmuch as it was perfectly right for a Jew to exercise worldly authority, seeing that his citizenship was earthly; but "our citizenship is in heaven." (Php 3:1-21)