The Lawlessness of the Land.
OUR secular and religious press has much to say about the growing lawlessness of our people, and the reckless disregard of human life, evidently increasing at a most fearful rate in every part of the land, especially in our large cities. Why should we be surprised at it? Strong governments, in a great measure, keep this lawless spirit in check; but when there is no restraint upon individual freedom, where men grow up without parental restraint, or the more wholesome restraint of God’s law, and every man, because he is a man, without regard to his fitness, is permitted to have a voice in the government, and, from his very infancy, is reminded by the demagogue, who governs the land, of his “God-like privileges,” this lawless and reckless spirit must of necessity be generated. Nothing but Christian culture can keep it in check. And where is this wholesome Christian culture to be had? A very large proportion of the working people of our land have no Christian training at all, and in most instances where they have any, it is most defective. Even the very literature of our Sunday-schools is poisoned with this idea of every man’s “glorious right as a free citizen of the greatest of nations.” Instead of teaching the boy “to do his duty in the sphere of life in which it pleases God to call him,” his Sunday-school book tells him to do right, and he may become President or Senator. The French revolution which to-day tears down and destroys everything that is hallowed and sacred, and would rob every prosperous individual of his rights, clearly shows what may always be expected, where unrestrained freedom exists, without Christian culture. Is there not much reason to fear that we are rapidly drifting into the same current, and that fearful revolutions may be in store for us? Like causes may be expected to produce like results. Even now we are beginning to hear in our midst the vandal cry of the communist and the agrarian, “Down with the rich, down with corporations, down with churches.” None can deny the fact that the vulgar crowd now governs the land. Men of the highest character are now rarely selected to office. It is well known that the man who controls the most money and distributes it the most freely is the man who gets the office, without regard to his fitness for it. Bribery and corruption are fearfully on the increase. Though it is not yet true, it is a common saying that “every man in office has his price.” Questions of the deepest interest, connected with the constitutional law, and vitally affecting the welfare of States and individuals, are now constantly settled according to the numerical strength of the party, whose prosperity is to be promoted or insured by its settlement. Solemn compacts, justice, truth, and everything else that is sacred and holy, are now trodden under foot, where the interests of party demand it. Men in high places violate their oaths of office, and shamelessly say, “We cannot afford to go against our party.” Thus we see everything like Christian principle disappearing from among our rulers, and a very large proportion of the worst elements of our population turned aside from honorable pursuits, and absorbed in an everlasting “hunt for the spoils of office.”—N. Y. Times.