p. 166 | WHAT IS MOST WANTED by M. J. Cottrell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 1, 1868

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 32, No. 11.

WHAT IS MOST WANTED.

By M. J. Cottrell

Picking up a scrap of an old newspaper, some time since, my eye fell on these words: “I think what is most wanted is a revival of a Christianity that is not afraid of persecution, a religion which has a martyr, at least once in a century, and is not the mere reflection of public opinion.”

My attention was at once arrested, and wondering from whom such sentiments could proceed, I looked farther, and found that they were the words of Judge Bond, of Baltimore, written in reply to a letter from a colored clergyman, who complained of “the burning of twelve churches and school-houses, and other outrages upon the poor freedmen.” “To think,” says the judge, “that such things could take place, and all the pulpits remain as silent as if the millennium had dawned, is marvelous. You colored ministers ought to make your complaints known to the churches to which these clergymen belong in the North. You might shame them into the enforcement of some precept of Christianity, equally bearing on a man’s duty to his neighbor, if he be black.” I could not help thinking, Not so, Judge Bond. They are not to be shamed into the enforcement of any such thing, else it had been done long ere this.

“What is most wanted is a revival of a Christianity that is not afraid of persecution, a religion which has a martyr, at least once in a century, and is not the mere reflection of public opinion.” Truthful words! Ah! yes, for it is a religion which is the mere reflection of public opinion, a Christianity which is afraid of persecution, which fills and governs the churches of our land. What kind of a Christianity is this? Christ was not afraid of persecution; and the faith which he inculcated shrank not from martyrdom. Had it been the mere reflection of public opinion, there had been no persecution, no martyrs. But, alas! that faith has been driven from among the professed friends of its author, crushed out; and now wherever it dares to raise its primitive standard it is laughed to scorn.

Yes, such a religion does need to be revived; but it is to be feared this cannot be done. It has so long been smothered beneath popularity and “style,” that it is to be feared there will be no possibility of bringing it back to anything more than a feeble, inactive life. Yes, we are in want of the revival of such a religion; but how is this want to be supplied, while the professed friends of humanity feed so greedily upon the dry husks of pride, selfishness, and popularity, leaving untouched the rich fruits of benevolence, humility, and right. M. J. COTTRELL.