THE TENDENCY TO MONARCHISM.
By G.
Logically the most unexpected thing in the United States would be a tendency toward monarchical principles. Such would logically be the more unexpected because of the unparalleled prosperity of the republic, and of the people under a republican form of government. But in spite of natural expectations, the prophecy has said that this government would make an image to a power that is the very essence of human monarchy; and that power is comprehended in the term Papacy. The fulfilment of the prophecy of Rev. 13:11-17 is the very last thing that would be naturally expected in the United States, yet that is just what is rapidly coming to pass. We do not have to criticize any administration or political party in demonstrating the truth of this assertion, for the reason that the progress in that direction has been manifest under every political auspice for the last forty years, and especially under the religious and political auspices in the last twenty years. In a republic both the State and the church establishments are grounded in the people, and the people are logically responsible for their conduct, their influence, and their fruits. In a monarchy the people are largely what the government makes them. One king of Israel has gone into history as “Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin;” and this case illustrates the principle. In a republic, however, the administration is what the people make it. The officials are representatives of the people. In a State-sustained church it is generally true that “like priest, like people;” but in an independent church, the reverse is more likely to be the case. Then when we see the tendency to mimic monarchy in the republic, to make an image to the Church-and-State power of Rome, we must look to the people for the signs that mark the tendency, for the manifestation of the spirit that actuates the movement. This tendency toward monarchism is manifested in many ways, but we will note one given by an Episcopal minister as quoted in the Christian Cynosure. Of course it was not the purpose of this minister to show the tendency to which we refer, nor was that the purpose of the Cynosure in quoting him; but the application is none the less pertinent. This minister has been engaged in missionary work for his church in the State of Washington, and expresses a good degree of satisfaction at finding a rather favorable attraction toward the display connected with ritualistic worship. Here are his words:— “I found, to my surprise, that even the use of the surplice, cassock, and stole, instead of arousing prejudice, as something to be regarded with suspicion or treated with ridicule, as in some localities I have known farther East, only serves to attract worshipers. This fact need not, however, excite wonder. In a community where almost all of the men and a considerable number of the women belong to various orders, such as the Masons, Odd Fellows, and Knights of Pythias among the men, and the Daughters of Rebekah and the Order of the Eastern Star among the women, at whose stated meetings each official is expected to wear the uniform peculiar to his or her office, the custom of a clergyman to wear a distinctive dress in his public ministrations is regarded as proper and appropriate.” The growing mania for membership in some secret order is self-apparent in every section of the country; and they are anything but republican in form or purpose. The membership in each is a class formation, and the benefits are restricted to the class. Conspicuous regalia and high-sounding titles are evidences of the innate love of royal recognition. There is nothing in any of them that is designed to foster the plain principles of republicanism. They seem to be born of a desire to enjoy even a semblance of the pomp and display attached to monarchism. And the foregoing acknowledgment that they generate and foster a taste for ritualistic display in worship, shows that they gender to the religious monarchism of the Papacy. As to the monarchism of the secret lodge, it is pertinent to add that the new head of the Mother Supreme Council of the World of the Masonic fraternity is a member of the United States Congress. His Masonic salary is $3,000 a year, and when he travels his expenses are paid. “The Holy House of the Temple” is situated in Washington, is owned by the Scottish Rite Masons, and valued at $150,000. It is a life position, and the Cynosure says: “Few monarchs will be more gorgeously enthroned or more ceremoniously attended than he while executing the functions of his office.” A New York paper, commenting upon this accession to the throne, says: “The gorgeous throne upon which Mr. Richardson will sit while exercising the functions of his office overlooks a grand hall known as the Senate chamber of the Supreme Council.” Then it describes the gorgeous regalia worn by this American monarch. Thus we have an extensive monarchy within the republic, with its capital within the capital of the republic, and many of the citizens and officials of the republic manifest a supreme regard for the monarchy. It would be impossible to estimate the influence of this monarchy on the affairs of the republic. And there are many other orders of more or less extent and influence which are all patterned after this one. Is it any wonder that the principles of republicanism and Protestantism are so fast decaying in the United States? G.