Infidel Reformers by N. Y. Evangelist

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 2, 1856

Infidel Reformers.

By N. Y. Evangelist

To the shame of the church it must be confessed that the foremost men in all our philanthropic movements, in the interpretation of the spirit of the age, in the practical application of genuine Christianity; in the reformation of abuses in high and low places; in the vindication of the right of man; and in practically redeeming his wrongs, in the moral and intellectual regeneration of the race, are the so called infidels (?) in our land.

The church has pusillanimously left not only the working oar, but the very reins of salutary reform, in the hands of men she denounces inimical to Christianity, and who are practically doing with all their might for humanity's sake, that which the church ought to be doing for Christ's sake; and if they succeed, as succeed they will, in abolishing slavery, banishing rum, restraining licentiousness, reforming abuses and elevating the masses, then the recoil upon Christianity will be disastrous in the extreme.

Woe, woe, woe to Christianity, when INFIDELS (?) by force of nature or the tendency of the age, get ahead of the church in morals, and in the practical work of Christianity; in some instances, they are already far in advance, in the vindication of truth, righteousness and liberty, they are the pioneers, beckoning to a sluggish church to follow.—N. Y. Evangelist.