New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-08-06
RELATION OF THE CHURCH
MORAL REFORM.

MORAL. REFORM.
Read at the Methodist Convention a
Athens, Tennessee, June 16, 1871, b.
Rev. l.. G. Matlack, ID. ID.
moral reforms embrace all the move
ments Of philanthropists which aim at i'm
proving both the moral and material inter
ests of mankind, such as the anti-slaver,
| movement of the past thirty years, the anti
| gambling societies, the temperance move
ment, the peace movement. - Il
Forty years ago societies formed for sup
4 pressing RIGHTEOUSNESS were exclusivel,
designated as moral reform societies. AL
efforts for correcting the great social evil
| and for promoting the observance of ths
1 command, "Thou shalt not commit adul
terry" are most emphatically moral re
forms. They are included in this discus
| sion.'
I Other reforms there are, which aim at Inn
| proving the material interests of mankind
but do not involve directly any question o.
| morals, such as for homestead law, the
4 eight or ten hour system, universal suffrage
and others. These are excluded from the
/ present discussion for obvious reasons above
| indicated.
With this definition. the question involved
takes another form. What has the church
to do with oppressions with fraudq with in
| temperance? with war; with adulteryl MOI
is there any occasion to argue that the same
| question may be even more directly put
! thus: What has the church to do with sin
| And when thus reduced to its simple essence
the. only remaining question is one of as
constituent, as to why anybody should ask
such question at all For it is perfectly
| logical to assume that if the church has
nothing to do with moral reforms, it has
nothing whatever to do in this immoral
| world
| This analysis of the subject matter may
seem to dispose of the question and fore
close all further discussion. But there yet
remains to be accounted for remarkable
| fact in Church history which demands a
| careful and thorough examination. And
that fact is, that for many years, In all de-
nominations, leading ministers in America
denied, outright, that the Church had any
thing to do with moral reforms.
Where the custom of repairing the ma
chinery of cotton-mills on the Sabbath pre-
vailed, there were ministers who preached
the Gospel and let Sabbath breaking alone
Where Christian (9) distillers poured out an
unbroken stream of whisky 'every day and
Sunday too," ministers preached the Gospel
and let temperance alone! Where Chris
tan [! Shareholders bought and sold and
beat and bred human chattels, ministers
preached the Gospel and let slavery alone
And even now, how vast is the majority of
ministers who preach the Gospel everywhere
and let adultery alone
This let-alone policy let loose on society
legions of devils, who preyed upon the
vitals of manhood and did largely people
hell with victims, whom cOwardly priests
lost without struggle. Not so did Jesus,
however, even when devils prayed "let us
alone" The dumb devil under whose in
spiration sin is unrebuked when it should
be mathematical in thunder tones; the
violent pro-slavery devil that would tear
and foam and bruise men; and the unclean
devil of adultery that would burn men in
the internal fires of passion, or doom them
in the foul streams of icentious pollution,
all shrank away abashed from the purity
OF His presence, or fed, bowling in agony,
to the lowest place in hell.
All this striking contrast of action be-
tween the model Christ and his followers
was the necessary result Of misapprehend-
ing a fundamental principle on the part of
modern religious teachers. They over
looked the exact mission of the Church
They mistook the material interest, organic
perpetuity and numerical strength of their
denomination for the actual body of Christ
To secure and retain these required pru-
dental regulations and conservative resO-
lutions, and, furthermore, to justify this
mastery inactivity in the moral battle
field, prominence was given to the spiritual
interests of men. These must be looked
after first; foremost always. They seemed
determined ito know nothing among men"
that had any relation to this world To
get ready for the next world after a fashion,
and to get well out of this was the great
end of life. And so Christianity was as
sumed to be only spiritual doctrine Re-
hgion was defined to be only a spiritual
experience. The mission of the Church
was made to be only a spiritual mission
In other words, it had to do only with the
souls of men.
must not be desecrated by the unspiritual
lecture on temperance or human freedom.
ministerial lecturer on these subjects was
stigmatized as leaving or neglecting .he
regular work. Attendance upon conven-
lions for promoting these reforms was rated
if not 'insubOrdinate and contu-
maeious.r
To all this it may be said, that is past;
different state of things exists now. Yes,
that Is true. But did we, as churches, or
as nation, correct Ourselvesa Or, did not
God descend upon our mount in fire, with
thunders and ightnings and the voice of
trumpet, sounding louder and louder, as
the furnace smoke of battle covered the
land! Alas we have no merit of our own
to plead
And was not that awful harvest of wrath
the legitimate fruit of bad seed soYn by
our hand And is not some of that same
seed saved To prevent it's being used on
any portion of American Methodist soil,
this detail is submitted relating to the last |
quarter of century 1t is also proper
to the statement of series of !
which will conclude this paper.
l. The Christian Church is a human Or
sanization of Divine appointment for the |
of truth, for the development |
Of character, for the unifeatisR\ of man
Kind, and for the ultimate exhibition on |
earth of race of beings entirely recovered |
rom all the consequences of sin upon both |
body and soul.
2. The mission of the Church, therefore, |
the personal, spiritual and physi- |
al condition; the social and family rela- |
ion; the civil responsibility, as well as the |
uture eternal welfare of men.
3. Whatever the Bible plainly prohibits
,r commands must be enforced by the dis |
,ipline of the Church as conditions and tests |
If Christian fellowship, or the Church must |
all short of its glorious mission as ''the pill |
ar of truth, the salt of the earth, the light |
VI the world"
4. The conclusion is inevitable that the |
citation of thu Church to moral reforms is
hat OF divinely appointed general agency
u reform, which must ultimately cover all |
he field now occupied by every specific
moral reform.
Then will cease forever the reproach of
o-day, and of the past, that Church MEM
'ership may be retained by men whose low
trade OF morals excludes them from tenn
,erance orders, from anti-slavery societies,
rom boards of trade and chambers of COM
nerce. For that good time coming let us
levoutly watch, and pray, and work.
Thomas Jefferson wrote of Marie An
Oinette: "This angel, SO gaudily painted |
fl,o, hon - Il