July 4 — Christ Gives the True Liberty of Soul

1886

By Rev. D. J. Baldwin

A Sabbath school lesson for the 4th of July comes before us. Can the teachers and scholars turn aside from the noise and confusion of celebrations and give a quiet hour to Bible study?

We stop right at the beginning of this lesson to consider the source of all our liberty, and why we have such a marked day while other nations do not thus celebrate one. Most certainly special blessings have fallen to us and the gifts of God have been abundant. "Thou last not dealt so with any people." Christ came to give liberty to the captives, and here he has most wonderfully shown the power of his spirit in making men free.

We all like to celebrate the blessings of civil liberties and the glory of our republic; but where would be found the glory of our national life if Christ had not opened blind eyes, and turned into the hearts of men the love of God? No true and lasting liberty ever come to men apart from the teachings of Christ and the power of his truth. Christian nations can alone be free nations; and the glory of the cross can alone give us true civil liberty. It is the power of Christ's spirit that has opened the eyes of the blind, and we owe all of our progress in national glory to him. Let us acknowledge this fact.

There will be an unusual amount of rejoicing and thanksgiving this year. Notwithstanding all that has come up on the nation in the way of trouble or disaster, still there has been wonderful progress seen in all that pertains to true life. We are advancing year by year and no one can fail to see this who reads or notices the changes that are taking place on all sides of us.

We have not yet attained into full liberty, but we have in our churches and Sunday schools laid the foundations of such liberty, and a new generation is coming on to declare the work of God and make strong the defenses of the Christian church.

How many blind eyes has Christ opened the last year? How many souls have been made free from the guilt and power of sin? There are actual results enough of the work of Christ among men to cause every one to praise God for his goodness. We are coming out into the liberty of the sons of God. We are learning to love light and truth and the souls of our fellow men. This is one of the facts that we come forward to celebrate; and one of the causes of rejoicing that touches every loyal heart in this nation to-day.

The shadows of spiritual darkness may be over us but the light is breaking. The morning of a better day has dawned; and let all true patriots praise God for it. There is liberty of soul and peace of conscience for every believer in Christ. We do not deny that much sin and spiritual darkness still reigns among the people. When Christ was on the earth he never opened all of the blind eyes. Thousands went down under his touch who never saw the light of day. He could not change the laws of life and death at once, but he could give his grace and love for all men and this should bring in the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, in God's own time.

Christ is present among men to-day, and every miracle of the past is a sign, and a glorious one, of the power of his Gospel. If Christ was anxious to have a man born blind see the glory of God in the natural world, how much more must he desire that the soul should see the glory of God in the spiritual realm!

Hence he says no one sins because he is born blind, but because he refuses to be made whole. There is too much love in Christ to allow him to leave us in our blindness. He will flash out the rays of light and truth upon our hearts, and every year shall show how much he has done for those who are walking in darkness and the shadows of death.

Even now, as we go over the old songs of a liberty loving people, and hear again the stories of a nation's salvation, we do not forget who opened the eyes of one born blind and laid the true foundation of all our blessings in church and state.

In the midst of our enthusiasm and love of country let us go back and give the Savior of lost men his right and true place in our hearts, and acknowledge him as the only true light that shines into the hearts of men.

—The Kellogg Enterprise, Kellogg, Iowa, July 2, 1886.