The American Sentinel 14
April 20, 1899
“Front Page” American Sentinel 14, 16, p. 242.
THE Creator means every man to be a monarch—never himself. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.1
TO OBEY Cesar in any matter of religion is to rob God of his rightful worship. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.2
IF the kingdom of heaven could be set up by vote, it would be liable to political overthrow. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.3
WHEN religion gets into politics, it is only to be expected that politics will get into religion. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.4
THE papacy never asked for anything more than that the State should enforce “the revealed will of God.” AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.5
THE individual who is determined to attain popularity must expect to part company with all unpopular truth. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.6
THE business of the Christian Church in this world is not to drive the world to God, but to reflect the glory of God to the world. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.7
TO CLOTHE the State with the attributes of divinity does not elevate the State, but in principle degrades God to the level of a man. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.8
THE man who claims to be a successor of the prophets, is pretty likely to be a descendant of the Pharisees. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.9
YOU cannot legislate or vote good fruit out of a bad tree—good government out of a corrupt people. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.10
THE man who needs a revolution in his own heart to set things right, generally imagines things can only be straightened out by a revolution in society. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.11
“The Issue in Pennsylvania” American Sentinel 14, 16, pp. 241, 242.
WE mentioned last week a very significant feature of the work now being done to promote Sunday enforcement in Pennsylvania; namely, that of a body of workers five thousand strong covering the large cities of Pittsburg and Allegheny with reform literature in a single day. This is evidence of the earnestness and resources that accompany this movement; and there were other evidences which could only be appreciated by listening to the speeches and witnessing the spirit which controlled the meeting. AMS April 20, 1899, page 241.1
Much was made of the fact by prominent speakers, and not without reason, that on this occasion the church and the workingmen had at last come together. Here, for the first time in the history of the Sunday movement, the long sought alliance of the Sunday and labor-protecting movements became an accomplished fact; and here, also for the first time, an army of workers gave the movement their vigorous support. AMS April 20, 1899, page 241.2
This is the beginning of what has been long expected by those who have watched this movement and understood its import,—the beginning of an impetus which is to sweep all before it and accomplish in full the union of religion with the State. It is the beginning of the end. AMS April 20, 1899, page 241.3
The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers is one of the strongest labor organizations in the land; and this organization, which is now the ally of the church forces in the cause of Sunday enforcement, has resolved to prosecute every mill and factory operator and railway official who violates the Sunday law of Pennsylvania. This is the first time that a great labor organization has taken up the work of enforcing the Sunday laws. AMS April 20, 1899, page 241.4
At the mass meetings held in the Bijou Theater, Pittsburg, one speaker said: “This country is being formed into one vast amalgamated association. Don’t be alarmed, for we are all going to join it, and have one vast confederacy and federation; but woe to him who stands up against it! Woe to him who desecrates the Sabbath [Sunday]!” AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.1
Woe to him who stands up against the coming combine of religious and secular forces, armed with the power of legislatures and the courts, to dictate to every person the day which he shall observe as the Sabbath! That is the ultimatum that is coming; and what reply will you, reader, make to it? Are you ready for it, and are your friends and neighbors ready for it? Have you done all that you care to do to enlighten the people upon the principles of truth involved in this coming crisis? AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.2
“The World’s New and Most Chivalrous Knight” American Sentinel 14, 16, pp. 242, 243.
THE Rev. Dr. John Henry Barrows was one of the leading spirits in the calling and conducting of the World’s Congress of Religions in Chicago, the year of the World’s Fair. He was chosen to give the first series of lectures on oriental religions, which is conducted by the Chicago University in India. From there he continued his tour around the world, speaking upon the world’s religions, in behalf of a world’s religion. Since returning to America, he has traveled extensively throughout the United State, continuing the same work. About the first of the year 1899, he was called to the presidency of Oberlin College. March 20 a reception in his honor was given by the Congregational Club of Toledo, Ohio, at which he delivered a speech upon “Greater America.” Because of the position that he occupied in the World’s Congress of Religions, and the position he occupies now, and what he has done all around the world in behalf of a world’s religion, the views which he expressed, of greater America and of its mission now in the world, are worth noting. As reported in the Tribune of this city, he said:— AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.1
“We have forsaken the policy of selfish isolation, and come to realize our world-mission in these days when God has made us a world-power. We have not abandoned the Monroe Doctrine, as European countries will discover if they attempt to disregard it. We are drawing into closer fellowship with the people of the Western Hemisphere. There must ever be peace and good understanding with Canada and Mexico and the South American republics. These are great areas for our commerce and for our ideas. But America has widened westward across the Pacific, which is to be the chief highway of the world’s future commerce. In Hawaii and the Ladrones and the Philippines we have stepping-stones for American ideas clear over to the greatest and most populous side of the world. My own observations in the Orient have deepened the conviction that the greatest event of the twentieth century is to be the uplifting of Asia and thus the unitizing of the globe. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.2
“Heaven forbid that we should go to the Philippines in the spirit with which Spain went to Cuba or Holland to the South-eastern Asiatic Archipelago. If we hold them, and I do not see how we can get rid of them, let us hold them as a ‘trust for civilization.’ Let us show that America does not mean selfishness and spoliation, but means enfranchisement, uplifting, enlightenment, peace, and toleration.” AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.3
“We need great men, great leaders, to shape and direct. And God is giving them to us. The Greater America must have greater statesmen. We, of course, shall need a larger army and a larger navy. We could hardly have better ones. We must have a better diplomatic service, national schools, for training the representatives of the republic. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.4
“We shall have a new national expansion in the days to come. We shall see our commerce and our ideas penetrating and controlling the West Indies and the East Indies. Our scholars, our missionaries, our preachers, our books, and our business, will have a deep entrance into the world of Asia. We are now the chief branch of what men call the Anglo-Saxon race, and whatever greatness we have already achieved is hardly to be mentioned by the side of the grandeur that awaits us before the close of the next century. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.5
“The expansion has already come. America is no longer a babe in the wood, but the foremost of western nationalities, and the sight to-day of our people for the first time thoroughly united, contemplating expectantly and in no shallow and trifling temper, the greater destinies to which God is calling is a hopeful and inspiriting spectacle. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.6
“I wish to express my confidence, reborn out of what I have seen in the Orient, and out of what I have seen in more than thirty thousand miles of travel in nearly all parts of our country, wherein during the last fifteen months I have been able to touch the vital centers of American thought and character—my confidence that this land ‘to human nature dear;’ this land which is not unbeloved of God; that this Republic, filled with God-fearing and man-loving people; that this Nation, proud and grateful for a history reaching from Plymouth Harbor to Manila Bay, is no longer to be treated as a foundling, but is the strongest and most chivalrous knight, equipped for valiant service in the kingdom of God, to be seen on the face of the earth. AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.7
“I have felt the pulse of National Christian conventions; I have had my Americanism refortified; I have entered the homes of men and women who pray to God for our country, the home of many a Christian pastor, East and West; and the home of the Christian President at Washington; I have talked with scholars, statesmen, far-sighted editors, university professors, devoted women, whose hearts are aflame with the purest patriotism; I have faced many thousands of college students and Christian ministers and candidates for the ministry. I have stood by the grave of the mighty American dead, as more than a year ago I stood by the graves of American missionaries in India, beneath the rustle of the palm tree and the light of the Southern Cross; I have seen in the last six months a puissant nation rousing herself from sleep and shaking once more her invincible locks, and those timid and pessimistic teachers who are warning us to beware of our destiny and shrink back from it misconceive and underrate the mighty and noble spirit of the American people.” AMS April 20, 1899, page 242.8
Thus it is seen not only that he is still pushing forward his idea of a world’s religion, but that he is enlisting in the enterprise this “greater America” which he describes. And she, with her united people, her greater army and navy, her combinations of Christian teachers, and Christian scholars, and Christian professors, and Christian preachers, and Christian president, is already dubbed “the strongest and most chivalrous knight, equipped for valiant service in the kingdom of God, to be seen on the face of the earth.” And thus this nation is expected to take the lead in turning this world into the kingdom of God. AMS April 20, 1899, page 243.1
There can be no doubt at all that in all this Dr. Barrows has rightly gauged the “Christian” public opinion of the United States, for this is exactly the new phase that the theocratic combinations already formed, might properly be expected to take on; it is strictly in their line of things; and as marking the progress of the National Reform elements of the country, it is a distinct sign of the times. AMS April 20, 1899, page 243.2
A. T. J.
“Christianity and Federation” American Sentinel 14, 16, pp. 250, 251.
“WE believe,” says the Christian Citizen (Chicago) “the day is not distant when there will be a federation of Christian people of all creeds and denominations under some such name as Christian Citizenship League, or Christian League, with some such motto as the organization has with which we are working.” AMS April 20, 1899, page 250.1
But what have Christian people to do with “federation”? Federation is not Christian union. Christian union is unity, established and mained by the agency of the Holy Spirit. It is plainly declared in that Word which is authority to all Christians, to be even such unity and oneness as exists between the divine Father and his Son. It is a most important feature of the Christian system. Where it is lacking, there can be only a semblance of Christianity, and not Christianity itself. AMS April 20, 1899, page 250.2
Federation, therefore, does not serve the purpose of Christianity. Yet it is to hold together a “league” which claims to be Christian. But when an organization professedly Christian is held together by an earthly bond of union rather than the heavenly bond expressly provided by the Lord and set forth in his Word as indispensable for all Christians, we may be certain there is something wrong. We may be sure such a “league” is going to do something not in the line of Christian work. AMS April 20, 1899, page 250.3
We believe with the Christian Citizen that this league is coming. But when it does come, will it mark an advanced, or a retrograde, position for the churches enrolled in it? And what will be its attitude toward those Christians and others who dissent from its principles and aims? The history of such combines in the past is not very reassuring to friends of the Christian cause. AMS April 20, 1899, page 250.4