The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-03-31
WHERE REFORM SHOULD BEGIN
The Business of the Church is to
Declare Justice.
An Honest and True Minister of the Gospel
Thinks a New Reformation Is Needed.

And in those days cometh John
the Baptist, prOclaiming In the wilder
ness Of Judea, and saying, Reform, for
come nigh hath the reign OF the heav-
ems, MATT. III. l, Young's Bible
Translation.
The short and stern proclamation
of the fiery herald is needed today as
much as ever in the history OF the
world. l do not propose to bring any
railing accusation against the church,
or even to refer to its sins Of commits.
sion, but to call attention to some
things wherein it fails to fulfill its
high mission. appreciate too well
its great work in the past and its force
as moral agency in the present to
wish to pen an unkind criticism.
The Church is not the champion of
justice. AS in the days Of Isaiah,
None calleth for justice, nor any
pleadeth for the truth" The mos t
awful crimes against humanity today
and the fiercest threat that menaces
our civilization is the manifest injus-
ticc that prevails in the political, COM
mcrcial, industrial and social world. l
do not mean simply the operation Of
the courts,-that judges and juries
outrage law. Grave charges are made
in that direction; but am inclined to
the belief that the average court is
honest in it's administration. Social
injustice grows out Of the fact that
the few through ages of ceaseless en-.
deavor (and perhaps not Of set and
conscious purpose) have succeeded in
shaping law and custom in the inter
cStS Of class.
The financial system enables the
banking fraternity to levy tribute up
on all who use money, enriching the
one and impoverishing the other. Our
system Of land tenure, private owner
ship and rents, Inevitably results in
aristocracy and tenantry, or serfdom.
Our Industrial system drains the prof
its of toll into the pockets of capital.
Our social system gives all of luxury
to the money owners and leaves moth
ing but toll and discomfort to the
wealth-producers. The trouble is not
in the admins tration of law, for all
this is legal, but in the very texture
of the law itself. In passing l may
say that many good people profit by
monstrOus injustice simply because
the law sanctions it, who otherwise
would recoil from such enterprises.
But the facts remain We have on
the one hand an aristocracy Of money
as ungracious and dangerous to the
welfare of the state as any the world
has ever known, and on the other pov-
erty, paupe rSm and crime not exceed
in any country in christie ndom. This
is because of Djustice, the denial of
God-given and lnalienable rights to
humanity.
Surrounded with such condition Of
affalrs-lts very integrity threatened
by 1.-THE church has no voice of
warning, no word Of rebuke. The
cries Of the poor that enter the ears of
the Lord God of Sabbath do not pene-
trate the walls OF the earthly ia aber-
nacle. The oppression Of the toilers
that must excite the commiseration
OF angels is unobserved by the men of
God in the pulp!ts. The social condi-
tionS which are responsible for vice
and immortality receive no censure
from the church.
may in all fairness go further and