NATIONAL REFORMERS AND THEIR WORK.
By W. N. G.
Ohio has started the ball rolling for State organizations similar to the National Reform Association. This State organization was the result of a convention held at Columbus last September. The constitution of the National Reform Association was adopted, except that in Article I, the name was changed to the Ohio State Union, and one other change in the matter of dues. We may now look for other States to follow in the wake of Ohio with organizations advocating a religious amendment to the National Constitution. The purpose of this amendment is to “place all the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on an undeniable legal basis.” As an opening wedge National Reformers presented to Congress only the plea for a recognition of God in the preamble of the Constitution, but that was not the extent of their design. One of their secretaries, as far back as 1883, published in their association’s organ an article from which the following is an extract:— “An acknowledgment of God does not of itself impose any restraint on the conscience, nor fix a single law requiring obedience. We have it in our State constitutions, and it has little or no force. It would be complimentary, but not itself binding. But we do not stop here. This is simply the foundation for an imposing structure. These principles are only premises; the conclusion is yet to come, and it has this dangerous character of the syllogism, that the conclusion must come, and come with invincible power.” And the contemplated conclusion had already been expressed some twenty years before, not only in the constitution of the association as before cited, but in a memorial to Congress, wherein it was asked— “That such changes with respect to the oath of office, and all other matters, should be introduced into the body of the Constitution as may be necessary to give effect to these [proposed] amendments in the preamble.” And another leader, a vice-president, is on record with the assertion that “the civil power has the right to command the consciences of men.” Thus it is an undisputed fact that the purpose of the National Reform Association is to have the civil government of the United States, and of the several States, enforce that association’s idea of the Christian religion upon the people. At first the association was a creature of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and while it was in the main limited to that denomination, it was practically harmless. But the leaven has affected about all the so-called evangelical denominations. One prominent influence that has led to this extension has been the formal and active co-operation of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, as an organization, with its interdenominational work, tho we believe that there are many noble women in the Union who are opposed. The association struck a popular chord by putting forward the enforced observance of Sunday. In this way the American Sabbath Union and other Sunday associations and leagues became auxiliaries to its purposes. Along the lines of this National Reform work we now have the Christian Citizenship movement, the Applied Christianity idea, and perhaps the heaviest influence of all, the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor. Not only are all these forces combining in special features of the work, but they are being drawn into its entire purpose. The Christian Statesman, the leading organ of the movement, speaking of preparations for the recent Philadelphia convention, has this to say:— “Pastors are taking their enrollment cards and also subscription envelopes, and putting them into the hands of their young people’s associations, to have them circulated and signed. Ministerial associations are opening the door to have the matter presented before them, and are appointing delegates, so far as can be seen—one association resolving to come as a body. After presenting the cause to a large and living C. E. Society one sabbath [Sunday] evening, a leader among them responded, ‘We will come in a body, and you will hear from us besides.’ They expect to enroll three or four hundred names, and help to share the expenses.” To these and other sanguine expressions of hope for assistance and co-operation, the Statesman adds:— “If any one questions the fact that the tide of interest is rising in this reform, let him take the field for one month, and compare the work with the work five years, yes, two years ago, and he will be blind if he does not see a marked change. And the opportunity never was wider for the National Reform Association to put in her best work than it is to-day.” W. N. G.