RIGHTEOUSNESS IS PERSONAL.
By G.
THERE can not be even one Christian without a change of heart; yet we are confronted with a growing mania for making the masses Christian by some kind of legal enactment, some merely human ordinance. There can not be even one truly righteous man except he be imbued and endowed with the righteousness of Christ; yet our modern reformers are loudly clamoring for “civic righteousness,” which means a professed righteousness enforced on the masses by civil law. There are half a score of societies seeking reform along this line, in the name of Christianity. Their votaries include the leading ministers and religious workers, men and women, in the country. There is far more earnest than fruitless effort put forth by professed Christians for promoting community righteousness, thru the medium of politics and political methods, than there is for the proclamation of individual righteousness thru Christ. However, it is refreshing to hear an occasional expression of the true doctrine even from the ranks of such societies. Here is one from a W. C. T. U. field secretary, as given in the Pacific Ensign:— “The real defenses of this nation consist not in the size of its standing army or the strength of its navy, but in the virtue and intelligence of its citizens. The citizen is the unit of the political structure. Whatever helps to develop and strengthen virtue and intelligence in the citizen, strengthens and perpetuates the government. Whatever hinders the citizen in the development of his best self is a hindrance to the highest development of the government and a menace to our national life.”
Now all the real good there is in any community or body of people is that which is imparted by the Spirit of Christ. All true reform is based upon that principle. Whatever of good impulse the worst man in the world may have is, to that extent, the influence of the Holy Spirit. He may not realize it, he may not acknowledge it; but let that Spirit’s influence be entirely withdrawn from any individual, and the impulse to do good—excepting as he may thereby work ulterior evil—will be entirely obliterated. Therefore the only road to real reform in a community is by the influence of Christ’s righteousness upon individual life. And this never can come thru any grade of legislative action. No reformatory law, however good its intent, ever can be made operative unless backed by the sentiment of the people. And there never can be a righteous sentiment pervading a community or a State unless there be first a righteous sentiment in the hearts of the individuals; and that righteous sentiment must be born of the Spirit of Christ—of the Spirit of the Golden Rule, the “commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”—or it will not be a righteous sentiment at all.