THE NATIONAL REFORM AIR-CASTLE.
The whole National Reform Association theory is based on the assumption that the nation stands in the same relation to God as an individual. All the subtle arguments and specious pleas of the leaders of this movement spring from this fundamental fallacy. But the air-castle reared on this sandy foundation is made so alluring by perverted Scripture and flattering promises of reform, that many people are beguiled by the gilded structure without taking pains to examine the ground-work. The unit of responsibility to God is the individual. It was the individual who disobeyed God, and brought sin and death upon the race. So Christ died for the individual, that the individual might be saved; that “whosoever [not whatsoever nation] believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The national idea did not come into consideration in either case. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he [the individual] that believeth not the Son shall not see life.” So far as the evidence of history goes, the human race existed more than two thousand years without a nation. Yet the Gospel was preached, and the work of salvation went on. The building of nations was the work of human ambition, yet God has overruled and utilized them just as He has other machinations of sinful men, making even the wrath of man to praise Him. There is no assurance that any of the world's nations will be saved; on the contrary, we are assured that they will all be destroyed to make way for the everlasting kingdom of Christ, whose kingdom is “not of this world” (John 18:36), yet “it shall fill the whole earth” and “stand forever” (Dan. 2:34, 35, 44). This shows that no matter how much “reform” the National Reformers may secure through religious legislation and its resultant persecution of heretics, the nation can not be made Christian, nor be saved as any constituent part of the kingdom of God. The National Reformers lay great stress on the claim that “this is a Christian nation,” but their principal evidence lies in the assertion of the United States Supreme Court to that effect. And in support of its declaration the court has only the claims and pretentions of men, and these primarily resting on Roman Catholic documents dating back to the days of the Inquisition. If an individual were to pose before the world as a Christian, with no more convincing evidence of Christian character than the testimony of the Supreme Court, we doubt if even a National Reformer would heartily accept his claim. No one with the most rudimentary knowledge of what it means to be a Christian, will contend that a character is worthy the name of Christian that would not pass the unerring judgment of the Court of heaven. And any one possessing even such rudimentary knowledge knows that no person can pass the judgment of God, and be saved, whose Christian character has no higher voucher than the endorsement of an earthly court, however exalted. All the Christians in the world could not construct a Christian nation. The moment they would undertake to set up an earthly government, they would place themselves in a position of distrust of the government of God. Christians ought not to need any other government than that of God for themselves (Luke 22:24-26), and it is not their province to rule other people. They are to be subject to the powers that be. Romans 13. “The Gentiles shall come to thy light” (Isa. 60:3), but not to submit to thine authority. God alone can make a Christian nation, and that only of citizens with His law in their hearts, and the government of such a nation would be solely a spiritual government; for the law of God is spiritual. No code of laws save “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” can constitute a Christian government, and no human power or human agency can administer such a code. Nor can any authority administer such a code upon a sinful people; for “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. All this was fully illustrated in the government of ancient Israel. It failed so utterly that God took9away the kingdom, and will not establish it again in the earth until Christ Himself shall come to reign. Dan. 2:25-27. At its best, the government of Israel was only a type, a shadow, of the real kingdom of Christ. We are now past the dispensation of types and shadows. To undertake a repetition of such a government is to deny the faith of Christ. To presume to set up a better theocracy than that of Israel, in which God Himself made the laws, is to assume a superiority over God. Moreover, the principle of church-and-state union, since the Christian dispensation was ushered in, was also fully tested, and the test was the Dark Ages. So what could the adoption of a religious administration of civil government in this country be but a return to the methods and consequences of the church-and-state rule under Rome? Like causes produce like effects; and history repeats itself, because human nature is always the same. It has been demonstrated over and over again that political religion can work only a corruption of both church and state. To attempt their union is to reject the plain Word of God and the lessons of past experience. Christian reformation never can be accomplished by human law. The prayer of Christ to His Father in behalf of His disciples is, “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth.” The system of national reform by means of national religion and church politics is a delusion and a snare, a broken reed, a system wrought of the traditions of men, that would make of none effect the law of God.