IGNORING THEIR OWN RESOLUTION.
By Editor
A RESOLUTION of the National Reform Conference, held in New Concord, Ohio, a few weeks ago, reads in part as follows:— That in all reform work we will ever bear in mind that the Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme Reformer, and that His church is, under Him, commissioned to regenerate and reform the world. It would be a grand thing if the National Reformers would just bear that in mind. But, instead, they have assumed that the National Reform Association "is, under Him, commissioned to regenerate and reform the world." And the association, in such assumed capacity, has ignored the methods employed by Him, under whom they profess to work. Christ operated by the Spirit, through the Word of God, and never once appealed to the civil law or to human magistrates or human legislators. He gave to His successors in the work the Word of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit, that they might be guided in its use; and the church of the first century made no effort at reform through the application of civil law. That pagan idea crept in later, and was fully recognized when Constantine adopted nominal Christianity as the State religion. The scheme grew apace until it developed the Papacy, and then—the Dark Ages, with all that the term implies. But the modern National Reformers seem to think they can work the scheme to better advantage. But in the endeavor to regenerate and reform the world in that way, they are not working under the leadership of Jesus Christ.