OUR COUNTRY—THE OUTLOOK.
By Editor
IT is with no desire to reflect upon the United States of America that this issue of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is sent forth to our fellow-men. We are glad to recognize— That this is a great and glorious country; That the government was founded on the blessed principles of equality and liberty as no other which ever existed; That despite all its inconsistencies, despite the slavery in its borders, it has been the grandest, freest, government that earth ever knew; and That its glorious flag has symbolized freedom and humanity to all the earth. We do not wonder that the patriot’s heart throbs with new joy and forceful impulses as he contemplates his country’s past. We can understand that to any one less than Christian, one of the most beautiful, most thrilling, objects upon which a patriot’s eyes ever looked with kindling joy is the flag of this country—the Stars and Stripes—waving in the free winds of heaven. We respect the whole-souled ardor of the true, loyal citizen, as he responds to his country’s call. All this we appreciate and heartily recognize. We have been there. But, friends, the true statesman and true friend of his country must make deeper research, must take broader view. It will not do to cover with the court-plaster of expediency the ulcers of the body politic, nor limit the view to the little valley of the immediate present and near future, even yet hidden in the glory of the past. He must probe the wounds for the cause of the rotting ulcer, he must extirpate the roots of the cancerous growth; the blood of the body must be purified before the death sores will heal. He must climb the mountain and get a better, larger view if he would know the condition and outlook of his country. He must know not a few details of a few localities; he must understand the working of the whole, the general tendencies of the system and habits of the patient. He must know that only by adhering to the law of its life, the reason of its existence, can it continue to exist. The Christian, if he be true to his Master, must search deeper still. He must by the power of God’s Word and Spirit look into the hidden springs of human action. Are the sources selfish? Then the end is death. Are they unselfish, consistent? There is continuance of life and vigor. The Christian must get up into "the high mountain," even into the mountain of God, and by faith in prophetic ken, as set forth in the "more sure word of prophecy," he must see as God sees. He must not look upon the land of his birth as the only land, or the land for him and his, alone. He must see that all the lands are God’s, bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. He can not, as a Christian, confine his interest, his love, to the men of the land of his birth. He will love all men, because all are the purchase of the blood of Christ. For the same reason, as he is one of the redeemed ones, he is debtor to all, "both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and the unwise," both to the English and the Boers; both to the Americans and the people of the Philippines. The Christian loves all lands, because "the earth is the Lord's." He loves all men, because they are the purchase of "the precious blood of Christ." Not only so, but he looks beyond this life to the life to come. He believes God; he knows God. He knows that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will;" that even "the wrath of man shall praise Him, and the remainder of wrath shall He restrain;" that when a nation will not work out His will, "He removeth kings and setteth up kings;" and that, finally, Jesus Christ the Branch will have gathered out of all the kingdoms of earth those who will eternally be loyal to Him, and who will share with Him His glorious universal kingdom, which is to come forth by His power alone from the ruin of all earthly powers. All this God has again and again foretold in His Holy Word. The Christian should know as no one else can know, be he historian or statesman, that a nation must be true to the law of its existence if it is to continue to exist. He knows that this is true of experimental Christianity. He knows it is true because God declares it in His Word. The moment a church, or a nation, even as a man, departs from the law of its life, from that moment its decline is at hand. Has this government of the United States of America departed, or is she departing, from those principles which gave her existence? In the light of the evidence presented in this issue of this paper, in the light of much more that might be presented, could we answer otherwise than to say, "She is so departing?" If the Christian sees this, is it not his duty to give warning? Can he be excusable to High Heaven if he give it not? Is this nation living her principles in the purchase and rule of the Philippines without the consent of their people? Is not our fathers’ struggle for freedom paralleled in theirs? Have we cast off the evil of buying and selling humanity as chattels in this country to renew it in the isles of the sea? Are we carrying out the spirit of the charters of our liberty in weakly yielding to the Church of Rome, in the indorsement of the Sunday institution, thereby constituting a civil court the arbiter of religious differences? Few are those who realize these dangers. Fewer still are those who, amid the roar of war, the whirl of patriotic sentiment, the maze of political ways, and the flood of political gush for political purposes, dare raise their voices in faithful warning, for fear of being regarded as enemies, or at least, pessimists. But the truest friends to nation, country and people are those who give faithful warning of the evil day. O friends, fellow countrymen, will you not heed the warnings? Statesmen, legislators, judges, will you not, as did the fathers of the Republic (as stated by Madison), see "all the consequences in the principle," and avoid "the consequences by denying the principle"? Or will you be charmed by the siren voice of an apostate Christianity, and lured to ruin or be carried on to destruction on the almost resistless tide of a plutocratic ambition? What will be your choice?