WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?
By G.
ONE of the resolutions of the National Reform Association, adopted at the recent national convention, says:— We hail with gladness the evidence that the nations of the world, during the progress of the ages, are becoming more and more Christian. We would be rejoiced to see just a little of that evidence. All of the nations that profess to be Christian at all are increasing their strong-drink bills every year, and increasing their criminal list right along. In all these nations the rich are growing richer, and the poor are growing poorer. The immensely rich class is increasing, and the very poor class is correspondingly on the increase, because of the oppression of the poor by the rich. In all this there is no evidence that the nations “are becoming more and more Christian.” Then all the nations that even pretend to be Christian are bankrupting themselves in equipping and maintaining vast armies and navies. Now Christianity says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal,” and the purpose of Christianity is “not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” So when we see the only nations that claim to be Christian increasing their facilities for war, and spending each year more and more of their substance in preparations to destroy men's lives, we incline to doubt the expression of the resolution in question, and call for the “evidence.”