An Acknowledged Failure.
By J. H. W.
It has been the confident expectation of the churches of this generation that the millennium was near at hand; that the world was fast growing better. And it has been their confident boast that they were going to “take the world.” So I heard a minister express it. They have boasted also of the greatest revivals within the last fifteen years, especially in 1858, that have been experienced in a long time. And now how do they stand? Albert Barnes said the American churches were responsible for American slavery; that there was no power outside the churches that could have sustained that institution an hour, if it had not been sustained by them. Some of them ignored the question entirely; others connived at it, while others upheld it as a Bible institution, and a blessing to society! But slavery pushed them to the wall, and made most desperate efforts to destroy the government, which had so long been perverted to sustain the abomination. Then as a matter of necessity, a war policy, the government put forth its strength and crushed out the viper, when, lo! the churches set up a jubilee shout over the downfall of slavery. Even the American Tract Society, which had utterly refused to speak a word on the subject, mutilating valuable works of foreign authors, as was repeatedly charged against it, to get out all allusions to the sin of slaveholding, then issued books against slavery—when slavery was dead and gone! Why did not the churches put forth their moral power, and influence, to put down the evil? Simply because the evil was popular. Now they admit that slavery was wrong, and that its abolition was a great benefit to the world; but, instead of their being the light of the world, and moving out in advance against the evil, they wait till the world moves out, and they follow in the light the world offers to them. But the abolition of slavery did not bring the millennium. Evil does not seem to be greatly on the decrease, according to their showing. And now what do they propose to do? Is it to renew their consecration to God, to humble themselves before him, to send forth men full of the Spirit of God, to reach the hearts of the people, and revive true religion and morality in the body of the nation? Nothing of the kind. Indeed, they have greatly lost their faith in these old-fashioned gospel means. Now they are calling for constitutional amendments and legal enactments to put “all Christian laws, institutions, and usages, on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the nation.” A quotation from the Cincinnati Christian World, in the last number of the Christian Statesman, the organ of the National Association for the amendment, contains the following expression of the object of the movement: “The restoration of society from its demoralized condition, and its demoralizing tendencies, by the enactment of such a legal principle as shall give the State higher powers in the peculiar province of legislation, and so enable it to solve the difficult problems in the civil organization.” The difficult problem in question is this: Sin is openly on the increase; irreligion, recklessness, and every evil work, are becoming so bold and out-breaking that many begin to see that the whole body is diseased and corrupt, and something must be done to check “the demoralizing tendencies” of society, as our very existence as a people is in peril. And what are the churches doing? Are not they “the light of the world,” and “the salt of the earth”? So they claim.109But alas! their light is gone out—the salt has lost its savor. Their influence is powerless for good, and legal enactments become their only hope in these days of peril. It is said of Nero that he amused himself with fiddling while Rome was burning. Notoriously wicked as he was, many have doubted the correctness of such a statement of history, not believing it possible that any one could be so hardened as to look with indifference on such a calamity, especially as he bore a great responsibility in regard to the welfare of the nation. That a conflict is pending—a crisis is near, all admit. That the very existence of the nation is in peril, the association believes; and the representative men of almost every denomination are pleading for the Religious Amendment as the only hope. What are the churches doing to check the downward tendency, and save the moral world from utter demoralization? They are “eating and drinking with the drunken;” inventing new methods of frolic and fun to call in the rabble and get money! Neck-tie socials, sheet-and-pillow-case socials, oyster suppers, and all manner of silly and wicked amusements find patronage in these institutions of popular folly, while the prayer-meeting is neglected, and devotion becomes a thing unknown. When we consider the great increase of crime, the danger impending, and the awful responsibility of these churches as professed servants of the Most High, and then behold their suppers and amusements, their church parties and socials, their flaunting advertisements of “fun for everybody,” we no longer look upon Nero as a sinner above all others! The Saviour said of the last days, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Read 2 Tim. 3: 1–5, and see its fulfillment in our own times. That the American churches have utterly failed to fulfill their mission cannot be denied. The reasons set forth to prove the necessity of the Religious Amendment are an acknowledgment of this fact. They well know that the people have not confidence in their preaching and their moral standing so as to be influenced by them. “A great revival” is no longer an index of a great reform. Their moral influence is not sufficient to check the “demoralizing tendencies” of society, and they call for laws to stay its downward progress! It is time they learned that human laws cannot make people religious. They may make bigots. They may make hypocrites, and gather into their folds dishonest politicians, and thus add to the worldliness and corruption of their own bodies. “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” But this end can never be brought about by legal enactments. However specious the pretence for this amendment may be, all history attests this truth, that the nearer the church is allied to the State the more corrupt the church becomes. And were not the churches already blinded in regard to their duty, as well as to their condition, they would regard the success of this movement as the greatest calamity that could befall the cause of true godliness and vital piety. The church of Rome tried the experiment of extending the influence of religion without the slow process of increasing religious sentiment, and Protestants are following in its footsteps. The result, if successful, will be “an image” to that which so long wore “out the saints of the Most High.” The Saviour’s injunction to “Watch!” becomes his people now.