CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY.
By Mrs. E. P. Naylor
The question, “Are we civilized and Christianized?” was asked by a writer anent the murder of the young pugilist, referred to last week in these columns. There is a confused idea in the minds of many as to what Christianity really is, what the acceptance of Christianity involves, and the manner in which the work of Christianizing the world should be conducted. The accepted definition of civilize is “to polish; to reclaim from barbarism.” Man’s natural tendency is to look out for self, and, unrestrained, it makes a barbarian of him. So he must be held in bonds and compelled to respect the rights of others, and this is accomplished by civil laws. By their success in this work the pace of a nation’s civilization is measured. It decides what is due from man to man. Christianity is the religion of Jesus Christ. It is a spiritual digest, and was designed to teach man to control himself by the aid of the Holy Spirit in his relations to God and to man. Civil law binds man under penalty to act civilly toward his neighbor; but it has no power to compel love for that neighbor, or to compel true worship toward God either according to his own or another man’s ideas or conceptions of God’s requirements in the case; because this is a matter of choice, so ordered by God. “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,” is the word of God. Paul, that great teacher of Christianity, says, “We persuade men;” and Christ said: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” He yearned for this love and confidence that He might protect and save them from evil and destruction; but they would not hear the call. Tho they killed the prophets and stoned them that were sent unto them with the message of salvation, there is no hint of compulsion in the matter of accepting the “good tidings.” Many who know the power of the Spirit to regenerate the soul, and who have experienced the love and peace of God, feel that if the civil law would take hold of the matter, the world would soon be Christianized. The Saviour says, No. “Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Civil government restrains men from wrong-doing, while Christianity governs through love. The affections and the will can not be ordered from without. “If it were the province of the law to prescribe man’s duty to God, it could decree one set of opinions to-day and another to-morrow, as has been done in the past by kings, queens, and popes, making of belief a heap of confusion,” says Roger Williams. Luther said: “Subjection in spirituals is real worship, and should be rendered to God alone.” “The love of Christ constraineth us,” was the key-note of Paul’s wonderful career as a Christian; and shall not we who desire the world’s conversion “spend and be spent” in that effort through this power alone? Leave Cæsar to his legitimate work, and let us yoke up with Christ, work for and with Him, and so “share in His glory and enter into His joy.”