Last week reference was made to the object of this great gathering, and some expressions uttered by its speakers, showing the method by which it is hoped to gain their object. As before stated, they hope to secure an amendment to the Federal Constitution of this country which will permit the courts to decide criminal liability on the basis of Christian requirements.
Wrong Reasoning
The logic by which this demand is reached is unanswerable when one admits the premises assumed. Then, too, their antecedent proposition is so boldly asserted, and with such apparent pious candor, that few stop to question its firmness. The result is that their assertive methods of reasoning win many to their standard. As a sample of their process, I quote some of the opening words of a speech by Rev. W. I. Wishart in the Academy of Music. Said he:
Rev. John Royal Harris, a prominent National Reformer, pastor of Shady Avenue Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
“In the first place, I take it for granted that the nation is a moral personality; that it is a being with an intelligence, a conscience, and a will. I take it for granted, in the second place, that the nation, being a moral personality, is accountable to the moral Governor of the universe. I assume this without argument.”
There is the basis of their whole system of reasoning. But any unbiased mind can readily see that a nation is not a personality, except as it is the aggregation of many personalities, and these of an extremely variable nature. To speak of this multiplicity of fluctuating units as a single moral individuality, is to beg the question, and to provide no foundation for the ultimate conclusion. But each succeeding step in their trend of thought rests on this unsustained and questionable elementary proposition.
American Academy of Music, Philadelphia, where the great mass-meetings were held
Unless this can be maintained, their whole structure falls to the ground. To assume to call into unity of action by civil enactment all the minds of a nation, on the ground that they constitute a single moral personality, would be as futile and childish as to chase after the shadows of the rainbow. But these men say that while personal religion is all right, in the words of Dr. Carson, they feign to believe that
“It is not enough for individuals within the nation to accept and adopt the Gospel spirit. The nation as a moral personality must make the Sermon on the Mount its code.”
Let us briefly examine this statement. It admits that individuals WITHIN a nation constitute the nation itself. How then can a nation, made up of many single units of individuals, form the Sermon on the Mount into a national CODE, except it be by first analyzing the sermon itself, and then specifying the requirements of its parts? But this is not all. Having done all this, the whole thing could then be formed into a code only by legislative enactment, which would give it the authority of civil law. Then pity the poor soul so rash as to assert his right of private judgment regarding the Sermon on the Mount. Who can fail to see that the end of all such manipulation of Bible teaching would place the individuals of a nation in the same plight as were the people of the Dark Ages?
Result of Such Legislation
This would be not only religion and the state intertwined, but it would be sectarianism in secular government, and clearly hostile to the very spirit of Christianity itself. That this would be so, is shown by the statement of one speaker who said:
“The Jew is without a country; and shall we allow the Jews to compel us to run our country according to their views?”
This sentiment can be construed to mean but one thing, and that is that the Jews, constituting but a very small per cent of the people of the nation, instead of being permitted to influence any public utility, must yield to an ideal Christianized (?) form of government, regardless of their religious preferences. And if the Jew is thus forewarned of what he may expect under the anticipated system of government, is it not reasonable to expect that all dissenters, Christian or otherwise, would receive a like treatment?
One speaker at the Christian Citizenship Conference deplored the treatment Jews are receiving in Russia. But there is no assurance, after the words quoted above, that the régime proposed by this movement would treat them a whit more humanely, to say nothing of Christianity. He who advocates the invasion of the sacred rights of the individual conscience, be he Jew or Mohammedan, declares himself hostile to the original doctrine of American citizenship, and also departs from the very first doctrine of Christianity, which requires one to love his neighbor as himself.
After quoting a portion of the old Coronation hymn, “and crown Him Lord of all,” as tho these words proved his point, Mr. Wishart assumed that Christ is even now Lord over the “great political entities which we call nations,” and that He is in fact King of “this great American republic.” For this reason, he asserted, the name of Christ, and the code of His government, should find recognition in the fundamental law of the land.
A New Vicegerent of Christ
Rev. J. S. Martin, general superintendent National Reform Association, and pastor of College Hill Reformed Presbyterian Church, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
If it be true that the nation is already Christian, as was constantly stated, then why12the need of putting a notice of that fact on paper? If the nation is really Christian, will not that be readily seen by the spontaneous actions of its individual parts? But they say there are saloon-keepers, and fallen women, and corrupt politics, and a multitude of other iniquitous things which need to be suppressed. But will the suppression of these by force of civil law make Christians of those who are now responsible for this state of things? And that proves that the nation is NOT Christian, despite the declaration of the federal Supreme Court.
But in the event of securing the desired change in the Constitution of the nation, which is to give a “system of morals clearly defined, and definitely established,” who is to administer the laws in harmony with that altered Constitution? Will Christ do so in person? O no, the church is to do that,—those who claim to represent Christ on the earth. So then, by this there is to be set up here another,—the REAL VICEGERENT OF CHRIST, to administer His government. Yet these people deny that their plan of government would in any sense be a union of church and state.
What Success Means
To look at the true side of this matter, it proves to be but the question of how human beings may seize the power which belongs to God, and so become “like the Most High,” by reigning over their fellow men. Let this movement succeed, and the history of the Dark Ages can not fail to be repeated, because men will not have laid off their human nature, and so will advantage themselves by their opportunities as they have ever done. Let the warning be taken up and sounded loud and clear, that all may see the dangers which confront the nation, and that they may prepare themselves for the final conflict, which will terminate in the Lord Jesus appearing to punish the wicked for their temerity, and to reward the righteous for their loyalty to Him.
J. O. CORLISS.
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Death of Mrs. Mary Baker Glover Eddy.—Mrs. Eddy, “discoverer and founder of Christian Science,” died of old age, probably hastened by pneumonia, at 10:45 P.M., December 4, in her 90th year. She was born July 16, 1821. She had three husbands, Glover, Patterson, Eddy. From the second she was divorced. The others died. Her first school in Christian Science was called then the “Massachusetts Metaphysical College.” She organized her first church in 1879, known as the “Mother Church.” Her belief was decidedly spiritistic. As stated by Alfred Farlow:
“Mrs. Eddy is still conscious of individual existence, and will continue to advance until perfection is attained. She is still carrying on her own work. Her passing away has been a mere transition into another state. We do not use the word ‘death,’ for this reason.”
By Mr. Frank W. Gale:
“Mrs. Eddy still lives, and her life-work still continues.”
How long will it be ere some person will claim to be inspired or controlled by Mrs. Eddy’s spirit? Certainly, the way is left wide open for it. And how long will it be before many able leaders like Mrs. Stetson will break Christian Science into fragments? This is ever the tendency of every movement built around a human personality. Christian Science is now at one of its strong testing points.
The editor of the “Appeal to Reason,” Mr. Fred Warren, was sentenced some time ago in the United States Circuit Court of Kansas to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of $1,500 for sending through the United States mails envelopes offering $1,000 reward to any one who would kidnap Ex-Governor Taylor of Kentucky, and return him to Kentucky authorities. The United States Court of Appeals at St. Paul affirmed the sentence. We can
not see why Mr. Warren should be prosecuted for instigating kidnapping when the Government was guilty of the act itself. This decision of the Court of Appeals will make lots more Socialists. Of course, it will be said that the crime is against the postal laws, but it will be difficult for many to see how it was.
An editorial in an exchange, referring to Professor Cockerell’s theory that man has a hundred thousand years of life on this planet, demurs, and says “that we are going down at a rate so rapid that a few centuries at the most will finish us up. . . . We have not one chance in a hundred for race permanency as compared with mammals lower in the scale,” and the editor is probably correct; but how does this comport with his theory that God lives in every one of us? Is not God able to overcome this lack of vitality? Somehow the two theories do not seem to hold together.
A pontifical decree to be embodied in a new code of the canon law of the Catholic Church will restrict the fifteen thousand priests and bishops of the United States from engaging in financial enterprises, even in those which have a charitable phase. It is thought the ruling will have marked effect in Southern Europe, where hostility is shown against those of the clergy engaged in manufacturing. It is rumored that early in the new year the Italian government will propose the abolition of the article of the constitution which proclaims Catholicism the religion of the state.
The International Sunday-school Lesson Committee has been severely criticized by a Presbyterian minister at the last session of the Sunday-school conference held by that church. The lessons prepared by “the Sunday-school lesson trust” were criticized “chiefly because they did not teach enough about salvation and slighted the presence of sin in life.” A petition will be sent to the committee supplying the lessons, to remedy the defect.
In addressing the abbot and several Roman Catholic dignitaries in the Benedictine Monastery at Beuron recently the German emperor said: “The governments of Christian princes can only be carried on according to the will of the Lord. The altar and throne are closely united and must not be separated.” The official organ of the Vatican expresses great delight because of the kaiser’s favorable view of church and state union.
Recently the town of Lamro, South Dakota, was moved two miles across the prairie to Winner, nearer the railway. More than fifty substantial buildings, some as large as fifty by ninety feet, and about one hundred private residences, had a transprairie ride, drawn mostly by traction engines. On one building seventy-two horses were employed in its removal, their movements being as uniform as an army.
The Associated Women Students of the University of California have passed resolutions adopting a new code of etiquette which endorses the simple life. Hereafter, the co-eds state, it will be utterly bad form for callers to remain after 10:30 o’clock. It will also be considered impolite for any woman student to go out in the evening without making known her destination.
Peter Lawler, a youth of Brooklyn, New York, an incessant cigarette smoker, has become a raving maniac. For the past three years he has been smoking on an average one hundred cigarettes a day. This incident shows to what extent the brain may be affected by the tobacco habit, and that the mental power of even moderate smokers is injured by the indulgence.
The Socialist gains in the United States over 1908 are put by them as 423,877 votes, quite uniform throughout the country. They are splendid missionaries in propagating their faith. No sooner was election over than they began again. Would that Christians were as much awake. The Independent remarks that the bee is their fit emblem.
A method of felling trees with no other means than a wire and a motor has been devised by a clever German inventor. The use of a wire heated by electric current has long been known, but the process has been simplified by causing the wire to become incandescent through the work that it does itself.
Religious papers of various denominations come to our table, some of them with many pages of advertisements, at from $2.00 to $3.00 a year. There are but few of any worth which are cheaper. Considering the matter it contains, the instruction it gives, the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is one of the cheapest papers in English speaking lands to-day. Now is a good time to subscribe.
It is said that a thousand miles of barbed wire fence is to be erected between this country and Mexico, to prevent the straying of cattle across the border, to keep cattle diseases in the country where they originate, and to make it harder for criminals to pass from one land to the other. For the latter purpose the fence will be patrolled by both Mexican and United States troops.
In consequence of the stubborn nature of the czarina’s illness, which is a combination of various complaints, the German emperor has consented to an endeavor to cure the empress by means of hypnotism. She will be hypnotized by a famous German specialist and told she is “the happiest woman alive.”
Perley E. Davis, a graduate of the Massachusetts agricultural college at Amherst, has won the world’s record for corn growing, and was awarded the $500 grand prize offered by the Bowker Company at the Worcester Corn Exposition. He grew 103¼ bushels of crib-dry yellow flint corn on one acre.
The corn crop of the United States this year is placed by the Government at 3,121,381,000 bushels, exceeding last year’s crop by 350,000,000, and it is also of superior quality. There is a falling off on the wheat crop of 45,000,000 bushels. The yield of most other staple crops was above par.
Frederick Wilhelm, heir to the German throne, has been sent by his father, the kaiser, to make a tour of India and the Far East. The prince is accompanied by a royal suite made up of the smartest men in the German army, and goes loaded with largess to all.
Seventy-five per cent of the population of Portugal can neither read nor write, says an exchange. This, too, in spite of the fact that the Roman Catholic Church dominated the nation for centuries. Ignorance and suppression of the Bible go hand in hand.
A petition signed by 150,000 Spaniards asking for absolute religious freedom instead of mere tolerance now existing for non-Catholic denominations in Spain has recently been presented to Conde de Romanones, president of the legislative chamber.
New Testaments to the amount of 1,490 copies have been presented to the sailors of the Japanese fleet in San Francisco. They were donated by the Golden Gate Christian Endeavor, people of the San Francisco churches, and the American Bible Society.
Three hundred twenty-three cans of contraband opium, valued at fifty dollars each, was burned at El Paso, Texas, by order of the Federal Court. The opium has been seized during the last few months, and several men have been imprisoned.
The whole of Manchuria is officially declared to be infected with bubonic plague, but not with cholera as has been erroneously reported. Stringent action has been taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
Dr. John Hurley, of Boston, has announced a new anesthetic which permits operations on the brain, eye, or ear while the patient is conscious. The operation is said to be both bloodless and painless.
Fifteen hundred Roman Catholic priests in France have renounced the priesthood and the Romish Church in the last ten years. A large number have followed their example in Austria.
