Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1876-02-05
The PhiIosonhr OF Reform
In an article under the above title DR..
Holland writes in Scribner for February:

In an article under the above title DR..
Holland writes in Scribner for February
1t is most interesting and instructive,
we repeat, to observe how all the pat
ent methods that have been adopted out
side of, or in opposition to, Christianity,
for the reformation to society, have, one
after another, gone to the wall, or gone
to the dogs. \ dream, and a few futile
or disastrous experiments, are all that
ever comes to them. Societies, cOmmuni-
ties, organizations, melt away and are
lost, aud an that remains of them is their
history. YeC the men who Ofigfffatetl
them fancied that they were radicals,
while they never touched the roots either
of human nature or human society. The
most intelligent of those who abjure
Christianity have seen all this, and have
been wise enough not to undertake 10
put anything in its place, They content
themselves with their negations, and
leave the race to founder along rs il
will.
We suppose it matter of wender tC
such men rs these that Mr.. Moody and
Mr.. Sankey can obtain such a following
as they do. They undoubtedly attribute
it TO superstition and Ignorance, but these
reformers are simply eminent radicals
after the Christian pattern, who dea
with the motives and means furnished
them by the one great radical reformeI
of the world-Jesus Christ himself
They are at work at the basis of things
To them politics are nothing, organiZa'
( tiOns are nothing, or entirely subordl
nate. Individual reform is everything
After this, organizations will take care
of themselves. No good society can pos.
sible be made out of bad materials, and
when the materials are made good, the
society takes 4 good form naturally, as {
pure salt makes its perfect crystal without
its superintendence. They are proving
! day, by day, what all Christian reform
ers have been proving for eighteen cen
turies, viz, that Christian reform, as il
relates to individual life and character
/ possesses the only sound philosophical
basis that can be found among reforms
/ Christian reform, with all its motives
and methods, is found to be just as Vita
to-day as il ever was. 1t is the same
yesterday, to-day, and forever. There
are a great many dogmas of the church
whose truth, or whose Importance, ever
if true, it would be difficult to prove
but the great truths, that humanity Is de
graded, and can only be elevated anC
purified by the elevation and purifica
tion of its individual constituents, art
evident to the simple mind. Men know
that they are bad, and ought TO be better
and q mOtiYe,-Or 4 series of motives K
/ refOrmations, addressed directly TO thu:
/ consciousness, Sis not long in achieving
results The radicalism of Christianity
! holds the secret of revivals, of the stabili
! ty of the church, of the growth and i'm
provemeut or Christian communities
All things that are true are divine
/ There can be no one thing that is NOR,
/ diyinely true than any other thing tina
/ is true. Christianity is divine, if for NJ
I other reason than that it holds and mo
/ nOpolizes the Only radical and philosOphi
cal basis of reform. The criticism of n
/ those who ignore these facts are necesSa
/ rily shallow and unworthy of cOnsidera
/ tiOn-just as shallow and just rs worth
/ less, as the dogmatism inside the churcl
/ which attributes the power of Christian
/ ity TO those things which are not source
/ of power at all. Christianity must live
and triumph as 4 system of reform
/ because it goes 10 the roots of things and
| because, by so doing, it proves itself TO b
/ divinely and oternally true.