THE "CHRISTIAN" AMENDMENT.
By Editor
UPON the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, acknowledging God and the Christian religion, the Christian Advocate of March 16 has the following candid statement:— Because of our respect for a number of intelligent and godly men, we deeply regret that it is impossible for us to discern the wisdom of attempting to amend the Constitution of the United States so that the clause, "devoutly acknowledging the supreme authority and just government of almighty God in all the affairs of men and nations, grateful to him for our civil and religious liberty, and encouraged by the assurance of his word to invoke his guidance as a Christian nation, according to his appointed way, by JESUS CHRIST our Lord," shall be placed after the words, "We, the people of the United States." On the contrary, if it had any prospect of prevailing, we should feel called upon to oppose it. Our national coins bear the motto, "In God we trust;" thirty State constitutions recognize GOD; the Declaration of Independence did the same; and the Supreme Court in 1892 decided that, in a broad and general sense, this is a Christian nation. To introduce the name of "JESUS CHRIST our Lord" into the Constitution of the country would be a step toward the union of Church and State, which, so long as we wish liberty of conscience, we can never advocate. We do not agree with those who would strike off from the coins, "In GOD we trust," nor would we maintain the possibility of thoroughly secularizing our government in its forms and phrases. But with the recognitions already mentioned, the use of the Holy Bible in courts of justice to authenticate as far as possible the testimony of witness, and the legal prohibition of business on the Christian sabbath, we should be content. An agitation such as this can simply arouse opposition where it is now slumberous, and lead to the unrestrained utterance of sentiments provocative of irreverence and irreligion. But it will prevail, and the very things which the Advocate favors are the same in principle, though the learned editor does not evidently see it. The Supreme Court decision and the Sunday laws are both great steps in the same direction, and the "Thirty State constitutions" and some of our Sunday laws are the remains of the evil days that were, the leaven that was left, which is rapidly leavening the whole body politic. Willingness to be content with the camel's head is well enough to hold as a sentiment; the logic of its entrance is the admission of its whole body. The Sunday-law head has been welcomed; the complete Church-and-State body will certainly follow. The greatest peril which confronts the church is its departure from God's holy word. Just as long as one holds to God's word, and God's word alone, as the only guide, error is not so dangerous, because the antidote of error is found in the word of God, and he who follows that light will at last reach that sufficiency of light which will shine away all darkness. But when the church feels that this light is emanating from her instead of from God through her, she has reached that place where she, in her own idea, becomes wise above what is written, and walks not in the light of God's word, but in the sparks of her own kindling. This rejection is shown in the higher criticism, and the rejection of the word by that means. Many who once held to the absolute authority of the Decalogue have now thrown away the whole of the Old Testament. Some have even thrown away a large part of the New. An illustration of this trend is shown in the Occident, of some time ago. After speaking of our Saviour's transfiguration on the mount, and the time when the disciples saw Jesus only, the editor says:— The church of to-day is rapidly advancing to the same exalted condition above and beyond the law and the prophets, above forms and ceremonies, above creeds and confessions, when they will see no man save Jesus only; when all the vision of the soul will be filled with the presence of Christ. Now it is absolutely impossible to separate Christ from his law and word. To turn from the law and the word, and to accept of our own conception of what Christ is or should be, literally means the rejection of the word. Certainly the Lord wants his church above creeds and confessions and men, but that is not where the modern church is drifting. Never was there a time when man was so glorified as at the present; and while creeds and confessions are crumbling, it is not God and his word which are demolishing them, but the views and theories of other men. That is, what man has built up man is tearing down. God's word and Spirit will lift above all human creed, and they will, if followed, focalize the mind and heart on the great center of the word, Jesus Christ. But to say that the church is above law and prophets and the forms which God has himself given, means the setting up of a standard which is entirely foreign to the word of God,—which is solely the conception of the human heart. God's word, and God's word alone, is the medium through which Christ will be revealed to the world.