The World's Christian Citizenship Conference at Philadelphia
By C. M. S.
One of the most striking addresses of the conference was that given by Rev. C. A. R. Janvier, of India. He spoke of the way in which the East was “hustling,” as evidenced by “an imperial parliament in Turkey, an imperial parliament in Persia, an imperial parliament sitting last month in China, which makes it look as if the beginning of the great millennium is near.” As an illustration of the awakening of China, he instanced a journey from Peking to Hankow, which a few years ago required forty days by ox-cart, but is covered now in thirty-six hours by train. The city of Peking now has ten daily papers, and the whole empire seems to have its face turned toward a new life. These changes in China, Japan, India, Siam, Persia, and Turkey he attributed to the work of the Christian missionaries, and the placing of the Bible in the hands of the people. “This unrest in all this region,” he said, “is the most tremendous, critical, and suggestive situation that this old world has ever seen; and it means to the Christian church such a call as you and I must be deaf indeed to be unable to hear. . . . God in a marvelous manner is not only preparing the way for a tremendous movement for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, but he has chosen his instruments, and has marked those instruments as those by which Jesus Christ is to be enthroned.” These missionaries in foreign lands recognize that there is a mighty force at work in the earth, and they realize that it is vitally connected with the progress of the gospel work. It is the purpose of the National Reform Association and its allies to make these missionaries believe that in this movement God is endeavoring to have the nations crown Jesus Christ as their king. If the zeal and activity of all the foreign missionaries of the great denominations can be turned into a propaganda of such a character, it is not difficult for a student of prophecy to see that the great swing of world events will very soon be toward that oppressive régime of state-churchism of which the Revelator warns the world. That this missionary felt he was taking part in one of the greatest undertakings in this world was shown by one of his closing statements. He said: “You and I of the British and American nations have a responsibility, which, if we do not meet, we shall answer for one day before the great white throne of the King of kings.” Character of the Lord's Day Act
The question of the Canadian government's relation to Christianity was discussed by Mr. John A. Patterson, an attorney of Toronto. He prefaced his remarks by stating that he came from the greatest monarchy in this world to the greatest republic the sun ever shone on; that he was not shaking hands across a gulf, “because there was no gulf between them, and had not been for ninety-eight years, and never would be again if the Christian men on both sides did what was expected of them,”—a declaration, virtually, that men possess in themselves the ability to bring peace to this troubled world. The speaker declared that Parliament could not make right; that its business was to protect original rights; that “rights do not rest upon the infallibility of the majority;” and yet he held aloft the Dominion Sunday law as a thing of which Canadians should be proud, declaring it to be “the best Lord's Day act the world around.” That Lord's Day act takes from the minority one of those “original rights,” which “Parliament could not make;” and the passage of such an act is a plain assumption of the “infallibility of the majority” in the matter of men's religious rights. Consistency is impossible where one attempts to defend religious legislation, and at the same time pose as an advocate of religious liberty. This fact was again demonstrated in the following:— It (the Lord's Day act) does not by its provisions inculcate any religious observances. The growth of intellect and religious freedom has widened the scope of men's consciences. Our Lord's Day act enforces a civil rest day. It then gives opportunity for the ministers of religion to convince their fellow men to take the civil rest day, guarded by human law; and as it is a day for voluntary worship and quiet devotion, while rendering to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, they are more evenly privileged to render unto God the things that are God's. Note the position: The provisions of the Lord's Day act do not “inculcate any religious observances;” but the Lord's day itself is a religious observance; and when it is enforced, a religious observance is enforced. There is no escaping the conclusion. Furthermore, the state compels all men to rest, and the next thing is that “the ministers of religion” have an opportunity to work with the persons whom the state has made idle. It requires no acuteness of intellect to see that the state has made them idle in order that the “ministers of religion” may work with them. The laborer can see this as well as the minister can, and is not likely to be much moved by such parliamentary evangelism. This statement of the Toronto attorney brings to mind that statement of Neander's concerning the operations of an apostate church, which finally ended in the establishment of the Inquisition: “In this way the church received help from the state for the furtherance of her ends.”—“History of the Christian Religion and Church,” Vol. II, sec. 3, part II, div. 3, par. 5. The Friends and Enemies of the Act
The following statement of Attorney Patterson shows very plainly who are the friends and who the opposers of state-churchism in Canada as well as in the United States:— The Lord's Day act . . . was passed against the embattled strength of the railways, mining corporations, Jews, and Seventh-day Adventists; but with the support of the labor unions, and (what we did not expect) the efforts of the prelates and dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church. The passing of the act was one of the miracles of modern times. With the active help of the Roman Catholic premier, that act was passed. Leaving out the corporations, whose interests of course are clearly and only commercial, we have on the one side two bodies of religious people, the Jews and the Seventh-day Adventists, and on the other, Federated Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and labor-unionism. These are the forces which are to face each other on this question until the consummation. When the great decision of that question comes before the whole world, it will not be merely by the co-operation of the Roman Catholic premier, but by the co-operation of the Pope himself, that the passing of a Sunday law for the world will be accomplished. When one goes to the length that this attorney has gone, it is not difficult for him to accept the whole program of church-and-state union, as was evidenced by his purpose to have not merely the Bible read in the schools of the realm, but to have religion taught in all the schools. In harmony with these principles spoke the Rev. A. Carman, D. D., LL. D.,12general superintendent of the Methodist Church in Canada. He declared that if Canada was to be saved, she must be saved from the Sabbath of southern Europe. “We must save our young men,” he said, “from the viciousness of many activities.” The advocate of Sunday laws seems to forget that idleness is the curse of kingdoms; that “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do;” and that “an idle brain is the devil's workshop.” Program for United Action for Christian Citizens in All Countries
The whole purpose of the Christian Citizenship Conference was to set before the delegates from all countries a declaration of principles and program of action which had been prepared by the National Reform Association. This matter was presented by Rev. T. P. Stevenson, editor of the Christian Statesman and corresponding secretary of that association. As it contains what National Reform stands for and is to work for in all the world, we give it here:— Nations are rewarded and punished and sometimes destroyed according to their moral conduct. The Lord Jesus Christ has been appointed by the Father the moral governor of the world. Nations, therefore, like all other moral beings, are under his authority, and bound to obey his laws; but his government is a government of mercy, not of wrath; for salvation, not for destruction. He offers himself to the nations of earth as their Saviour, and entreats them to accept his grace and yield to his authority, that they may escape the doom of impenitent, disobedient nations. The Word of God is a revelation of the will of Christ, and is, therefore, in so far as it relates to national life, a definite obligation to nations and governments. The nation to which the Word of God has come can no more escape the responsibility created by that fact than can the individual man. It has the liberty to accept the offer of the forgiveness of national sins and of divine guidance in the conduct of national life; and it is placed under infinite obligations to regulate its action toward its own citizens, the citizens of other nations, and to the principles and laws set forth in the Word of God. This does not contradict, but sustains and supplements, the teachings of history and of all sane political philosophy. The nation which accepts and is guided by these principles will receive the forgiveness of national sins, and will enjoy the favor and blessing of God. Therefore these principles are vital to national welfare. It follows, moreover, that every nation which accepts these principles ought to make acknowledgment of them. Every Christian nation under the law of self-preservation ought to teach these principles to its citizens. . . . If a nation may thus informally and indirectly educate her citizens, her right to inculcate these principles directly and formally in the schools which she establishes for the training of her future citizens, is a right unquestionable. The right of a Christian nation to transmit and perpetuate her Christian character and institutions is identical with her right to possess such a character and establish such institutions. The principle which would forbid the one would forbid the other. It follows, first, That it is the duty of Christian citizens to publish and uphold these principles. Christian citizens in all countries ought to publish these principles, and endeavor to persuade their citizens of their truth. 2. The church, through her missionaries, literature, and schools, is a great agency for teaching these principles to the world, and in doing this work, she is rendering invaluable service to the nation. 3. When these principles have been proclaimed among any people, and accepted by any number of citizens, it becomes their duty to get together as citizens, and make these principles dominant in the life of their respective nations. 4. The nation and the family of civilized governments recognize in their laws the vital place which the nation has in the family. In order that these laws may serve the united group, the family, they ought to conform to the moral laws of the Christian religion. 5. Christian citizens in all countries ought to uphold the right of the state to educate its citizens, and to inculcate these principles of Christian truth which relate to national life, and which have marked the character and institutions of the nation. 6. The claims of any citizen, or of any minority of citizens, to the right to lay a veto on the free action of the state in this matter ought to be earnestly resisted. 7. The public school ought to be used as the most efficient instrument in the possession of the nation for the uplifting of the nation through the establishment of right moral character in all her citizens. 8. The Observance of the Lord's Day. Christian citizens in all countries are urged for the sake of the national welfare to show by their example their belief in the definite appointment of one day in seven as a day for rest and worship, to uphold the laws which safeguard it, to conform their social usages, the usages of their governments, and the operation of all public utilities, to this beneficent arrangement of their Creator. 9. Righteous Men for Civil Office. We ask Christians of all nations to consider whether any man who does not fear God and has no regard for his moral laws, can be safely elected to civil office. . . . Indifference to the moral character of those elected to civil office contradicts the voice of God, who, as the Author of civil government, has prescribed the moral qualifications of rulers: “He who ruleth must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” We appeal to good citizens in all countries to withhold their suffrages from men whose character shows them to be unfit to deal with the moral and religious interests of the people. 10. Congress of Peace. We urge the Christian citizens of all nations to work together for the abolition of war, for the establishment of courts of arbitration, international justice, the adoption of treaties whereby all disputes shall be referred to such courts for settlement; the disarmament of private citizens. 11. The manufacture and sale of instruments of death ought to be restricted by law. That is to be the curriculum of this new school of the nations, who, through the instruction they are to receive from their missionaries, are virtually to sit at the feet of the National Reform Association for a post-graduate course in national religion. When every heathen nation of the world has had some kind of a national religion, it is like carrying coals to Newcastle for American and British and German Christian missionaries to go into their midst now, and teach them the need of a national religion. Of course it is the idea of the promoters of this plan that Christianity as a national religion will be far better than the systems they have had; but it must be remembered that when a divine religion is made dependent upon the enforcement of human law, that moment that religion descends to the same plane which every heathen national religion has occupied. It is reft of all divinity, and stands where they all have stood. The fallacy of the reasoning that, because God has spoken to groups of peoples, inviting them to turn from their sins and accept his proffered salvation, therefore nations are moral beings, possessed of moral characters, for whose salvation Christ died, ought to be apparent to every thoughtful individual. Nations are made up of individuals, for each one of whom Christ died. If half of those individuals are finally lost, and half of them are finally saved, then we have the peculiar and distressing anomaly of a “moral being” half saved and half lost, and to remain so forever. And yet such a proposition is considered of sufficient importance to be placed first among the principles which men have been gathered from all quarters of the world to study and accept and promulgate in the various nations of earth. In fact, the idea that nations are moral beings, and may be saved or lost as individuals are saved or lost, is the pillar on which the whole temple of National Reformism is built. Acknowledge that premise, and the rest follows naturally. How important it is to know, therefore, what disposition the Ruler of the universe intends to make of the governments of earth when he comes in the clouds of heaven. “Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.” Rev. 19:15. “Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.” Ps. 2:8, 9.13 Between the program which the National Reform Association has mapped out for the whole world and the program which Inspiration has outlined, there is no smallest note of harmony. As the Bible is true, the National Reform program is entirely out of harmony with revelation; and with the records of history before us, we must declare that it is also out of harmony with reason. We must not fail to notice paragraph six of the foregoing program. In that is hidden the dragon features of the power which that program is to develop. By that it is proposed that the state shall have the right to override every right of the individual if it shall choose so to do. That would scatter to the winds every guaranty of religious liberty for the individual, and put the whole world back again into the distressing conditions against which protested Savonarola, Luther, Huss, Melanchthon, and Wycliffe; that is, the rule of the ecclesiastical hierarchy over again, with the state as the subservient tool of the church, to enforce its dogmas and punish the objects of its anathemas. Note, by paragraphs five and seven, that the public school, supported by general taxation, is to be used as the instrument for the propagation of these religio-political tenets. Note, by paragraph eight, that the welfare of the nation is made to depend upon the keeping of Sunday; that in paragraph nine the spirit of our national Constitution, which makes every citizen equal before the law, and equally entitled to offices of public trust, is attacked and nullified, and that a religious test is specifically provided for applicants for public office. Were such a program designed for one nation only, it would not be so serious; but when it is proposed that the nation which, above all others, has stood for the inalienable rights of man, and has been the schoolmaster of the world in that branch of education, shall face square about, and teach the world to take up again the discarded program of darkness, the proposition becomes a serious one. But that is the proposition; and the prophecy indicates that it will be carried out.