REFORMATORY PROGRESS.
"The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places
plain."--ISAIAH, xl. 4.
The half-century just passed has been notable for the progress of
thought in reference to the significant reforms now claiming public
attention. Foremost among these is that of
_Temperance._
In no other period of the past has its work been so marked and
cheering. In Great Britain and America its manifestations were almost
simultaneous. Intemperance was seen to be a monstrous national vice,
and societies were formed for the suppression of it. Abstinence from
distilled liquors was at first the pledge taken; but subsequent
discussion of the subject induced the next and safer step forward, of
total abstinence from all intoxicants. From 1834 to 1838 nearly the
whole of the original societies through England and Scotland extended
their principles on the new and broader declaration, and worked with
renewed enthusiasm.[31] The same course was taken in our own country,
and similar effects followed. The new pledge was consistent, because
it struck at the root of the evil.
The Temperance reform enlisted the sympathies of Universalists in the
beginning. It was a vindication of the Gospel of enlightened and pure
manhood, maintaining its supremacy over the sinful inclinations and
indulgences "that war against the soul." Indeed, one of the first
avowed advocates of the practice of total abstinence, as early as
1778, was the well-known and honored Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a firm believer in
Christian Universalism. He not only advocated this practice himself,
but was especially interested in commending it to the attention of two
religious bodies in Pennsylvania, the Episcopalians and Presbyterians,
at their annual meetings. When in later days the attention of the
Christian churches was called to the consideration of this reform, no
more zealous friends of it were found than those among Universalists.
The Universalist ministry was well represented, and its services
welcomed by others. An instance is remembered of a deserved tribute,
given in his peculiar quaintness of speech, by the elder Dr. (Lyman)
Beecher, to Rev. Edwin Thompson, at an annual meeting of the
Massachusetts Temperance Society. Mr. Thompson was State agent for the
Society, and had been very active in its work during the year; so that
a speaker alluded to him as having been in that time "the main spoke
in the wheel." "Indeed," said Dr. Beecher, "it seems to me that he has
been the hub, and all the spokes, and a considerable part of the rim!"
The reform in our country was quickened by the "Washingtonian"
movement, which involved the reformation of the inebriate, and his
work to redeem others from the destroyer. Although there were
backsliders in this, as in all reformatory movements, yet the number
of the saved justified a thousand times the interest taken in the
great work itself. It was an indication of what might be done
everywhere and in all time by Divine aid, and human will at work
relying upon it. It seemed also to emphasize the truth that men,
however far overcome by wrong habit, are not to be given over as
irreclaimable. It was in accord with the grand idea that there are no
lost ones so far astray as to be beyond the mercy which sent Him into
the world, who said, "I came not to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick."
Legislation took higher and stronger ground in reference to the evil
of intemperance. The subject went into politics more than ever. The
doctrine of prohibition gained advocates. A law favoring it was passed
in Massachusetts, and afterwards in Maine. Prosecutions and law-suits
followed, and appeals went up to the highest courts to test the
constitutionality of the law. This was affirmed by them, just as the
framers of the law knew that it would be. Despite all sophisms and
evasions, the common sense of every man will settle down into the
conviction that the people of a nation, if they would be really strong
and free, must employ every safeguard against this giant evil, that
has so constantly outraged and cursed our world.
The rising of the women of the West, in 1873, to suppress the
demoralizing work of the liquor-saloons, was an outspoken,
providential protest against these scourges of our civilization.
Jeered by the thoughtless, and insulted and cursed by the dealers in
the death-poison, it was an indication that made the traffickers in
strong drink thoughtful, the friends of woman to take new note of her
righteous demands and of her reformatory power, and every true soldier
in the temperance army to put on new courage in view of the many
instrumentalities which God is able to raise up in aid of His
redeeming work with His children. One result of the Woman's Crusade
has been the formation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Unions in
all parts of our land.
The signs of progress in this reform are more significant than ever.
The popularity of the Prohibitory Law in Maine; the Prohibitory clause
just put into the Kansas and Iowa Constitutions, and proposed in other
States; the numerous Reform Leagues; the proposal to institute in our
Congress a thorough investigation in reference to the bearing of this
question of liquor-making and vending on the industrial, social, and
political welfare of our nation; the continued discussion of the
effects of the use of intoxicants by leading statesmen, scientists,
and medical professors of our age, and the bringing out of new facts,
all showing the vital importance of the Temperance reform; and, also,
the evident tendency of these movements, as apprehended by the
devotees of the liquor interests themselves, moving them, as at a
recent convention of brewers in Washington, to avow their
determination to defeat, if possible, by all practicable means, the
legal, moral, and especially the religious endeavors put forth against
the evil by which they are enriched at the expense of the prosperity,
happiness, and peace of so many millions of our land,--these facts are
unmistakable indications of still greater achievements in the days and
years to come.
Like most reforms, this one must work a long way on to its completion.
The evil against which it contends is deep-seated and far-reaching.
Appetite, avarice, and the drinking usages of society are its
strongholds. But all these are not impervious to the inroads of the
right upon them. The public conscience is awake to the demands of this
reform as it never was before. When that is more truthfully and
generally educated, moral suasion will have freer course, and
restrictive laws will find a stronger support everywhere.
_Peace._
The history of our race is one of warfare. "Wars and fightings" have
been realized among men from the beginning, and the world has not
outgrown the sanguinary strife. Even during the time of which we are
speaking in these pages, when so much has been done for the mental and
moral enlightenment of mankind, these murderous human contentions have
been going on in the Old World and the New. Our own nation has passed
through one of the darkest passages of its history. The war of the
Rebellion came of a war that existed previous to the withdrawal of the
Southern States of our Union, the war of slavery,--for slavery itself
is war always, an outrage on the rights of human beings, perpetrated
by members of a common brotherhood. And thus one war opened the way to
another. They who were warring upon others could no longer bear to
have their wrong-doings questioned, but claimed the right to multiply
and perpetuate them. So came secession, so came the fratricidal
contest. The majority of the nation did not seek war, did not desire
it. But the Unionists of the nation deemed themselves justified in
resisting the efforts of the secessionists to dismember the nation,
and so through a defensive warfare sought to preserve the Union. It
was a terrible ordeal, and although the abomination of slavery was
swept away, it was at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, of a
vast amount of treasure, of suffering as yet unrevealed, and of a
lamentable demoralization. The Almighty brought out of it a new order
of things with our nation, by abolishing human bondage and placing
freedom in the ascendancy. The new order, however, is not yet fully
effected. It will take time, wisdom, patience, mutual forbearance,
sympathy, and fraternal help to secure this result.
But one reform aids another. A higher view of the claims of human
freedom will tend to effect a clearer perception of the great claims
of the human brotherhood. If man is too good to be enslaved by his
fellow-man, he is too good to be destroyed by him. If human freedom is
sacred, so is human life. And we are sure that this grand conception
has been very clearly realized, and as clearly affirmed, during the
middle of the present century.
In the midst of the world's conflicts during this time, the advocates
of peace principles, on both sides of the Atlantic, have not been
inactive. They have had a hearing, if a limited one, in Christendom.
Peace associations have been more operative than before, and the
pulpit and press have made new appeals to the public for the promotion
of peace principles. Excellent publications in essay, sermon, or
oration have been issued from the press. We hear of one Sunday, in
1845, when one hundred and twenty peace sermons were preached in the
city of London. Our philanthropic countryman, Elihu Burritt, has done
much for this cause. One of the ablest and most admirable of appeals
in behalf of "peace on earth and good will to men" was given in 1845,
in Boston, by Charles Sumner,--who may be justly reckoned as one of
the brightest lights among philanthropists and statesmen of the
present century,--on "The True Grandeur of Nations." Moved by the
threatening aspect of affairs between the United States and Mexico,
the orator denounced the war system as the ordeal by battle still
unwisely continued by international law as the arbiter of justice
between nations, and insisted that this system ought to give way to
peaceful arbitration for the settlement of international questions, as
the private ordeal of battle had given way to such substitutes in the
administration of justice between individuals. "The oration attracted
unusual attention, led to much controversy, and was widely circulated
both in America and Europe. It was pronounced by Richard Cobden to be
'the most noble contribution made by any modern writer to the cause of
peace.'"[32]
The delusion that wars must always be expected more or less with
mankind is a vagary of barbarism, and not a true Christian thought.
Rather is the poet right, when he says:--
"War is a game, which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at."
Wars may be lessened, may be outgrown in human society. There are
better ways of settling human disputes than by an appeal to arms.
Facts in the history of our own nation prove it. Here are a few of
them:--
In 1794, the question of the Northeastern boundary between the United
States and the dependencies of Great Britain was settled by
arbitration.
In 1822, the question of restitution or compensation for slaves found
on board of British vessels during the war of 1812. The matter was
referred to the Emperor of Russia, and his award accepted by both
nations.
In 1858, a difficulty between the United States and the government of
Chili and Peru, was referred to the arbitration of the King of the
Belgians, and settled by his award.
In 1869, the claims of the United States and Great Britain to landed
property in and about Puget Sound were adjusted by peaceable
reference.
In 1871, the well-known Alabama claim, which caused so much ill
feeling between the United States and England, and threatened to
involve the two countries in a terrible war. President Grant,
referring to the settlement of this claim, said in his message of Dec.
3, 1871:--
"This year has witnessed two great nations, having one language and
lineage, settling by peaceful arbitration disputes of long standing,
which were liable at any time to bring nations to a bloody conflict.
The example thus set, if successful in its final issue, will be
followed by other civilized nations, and finally be the means of
restoring to pursuits of industry millions of men now maintained to
settle the disputes of nations by the sword."
Is this good possible? Assuredly, if good is able to prevail over
evil, right over wrong, love over hatred. And what does the Christian
Gospel signify but this: "Peace on earth and good will toward men"?
This "good will" shall come, if Christians will do their duty by
insisting on the practicability of it. The undercurrent of a better
feeling is gaining force as the great truth of the Brotherhood of Man
is more deeply and extensively realized. If the present toiling-time
is dark, there is light beyond it, the unerring prophecy of the time
when "nations shall learn war no more."
As said Victor Hugo, at the Congress of Peace in Paris, in 1849:--
"A day will come when the only battle-field shall be the market open
to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas; when a cannon shall
be exhibited in public museums just as an instrument of torture is
now, and people shall be astonished how such a thing could have
been. A day shall come when those two immense groups, the United
States of America and the United States of Europe, shall be seen
placed in presence of each other, extending the hand of fellowship
across the ocean, exchanging their produce, their commerce, their
industry, their arts, their genius, clearing the earth, peopling the
deserts, meliorating creation under the eyes of the Creator, and
uniting, for the good of all, these two irresistible and infinite
powers,--the fraternity of men and the power of God."
In agreement with the foregoing statements in reference to the reform
movements of our time, we may note more briefly certain other
indications of the increase of that spirit which would lessen the
afflictions and wrongs and promote the well-being of society.
_The Treatment of Criminals_
has been a subject of much thought and discussion during the
generation just passed. It has been, and still is, an open question
among the more thoughtful, whether the subject of the proper treatment
of criminals has been regarded aright. We may justly plead for
benevolent sympathy without being the apologist of crime. Conscience
must be remembered as well as the cry of pitying tenderness, and
punishment must have a meaning, or the distinctions of right and wrong
are lost. "It will be a sad day," as one has truly said, "when those
who violate our laws are more pitied than blamed." Christians are
bound by their religion to labor for the prevention of crime, and for
the strict application of all righteous laws to the criminal; to
impress as they can the awfulness of sin on their own and on other's
consciences, and to recall the fallen back to virtue, shamed by his
sin, and resolute and strong in the working of a regenerated will,
thus vindicating and imitating "the goodness and severity of God." The
treatment of convicts in our prisons at the present time is generally
more in accordance with these considerations than in the past, when
severity was deemed more needful as applied to criminals who were
subjects of total depravity, than a proportionate mercy, which
regarded them not only as lost ones, but as capable of a possible
restoration to their rightful Owner and Almighty Friend. The reform
schools in our different States are working in this Christian
direction. The subject of
_Capital Punishment_
has elicited much attention during the time of which we are speaking.
It has been discussed in newspapers, pamphlets, legislatures, pulpits,
and lyceum halls. Some of our States have abolished the gallows,
others are agitating this subject in their legislatures. The present
governor (Long) of Massachusetts, in his annual messages of the last
two years, has recommended the abolition of the death penalty. A large
number of ministers of the Universalist Church have constantly
affirmed their opposition to it. Rev. Charles Spear published a
sensible work on the subject, and Rev. Hosea Ballou, D. D., thirty
years since, gave the whole question a very thorough investigation, in
reply to Rev. Dr. Cheever of New York, and others.[33] Michigan was
the first State in the Union to abolish the death penalty, and a late
Report makes the statement that, with a population of 1,500,000, no
man has been executed in the State during the last thirty-five years,
and that a less number of murders have been perpetrated during the
last ten years, in ratio to the population, than during the same
decade in any other State where public or even private executions have
prevailed.[34] Capital punishment has also been abolished in Maine.
_The Position and Work of Woman_
has also been a subject of deep and widespread interest. Christianity
has ever given to woman a place denied her by all other religions. As
Christian thought has had freer course, and Christian theology and
practical work new and brighter development, the relations of woman to
the welfare and progress of human society have been more clearly
understood and appreciated. Her rights in law are now more plainly and
justly defined, and the importance of her equal education with the
other sex admitted and emphasized. She is prominent and indispensable
as a teacher, all over the land; she is a graduate of the college and
a professor there; she is a successful practitioner in the legal and
medical professions; she is an ordained minister of the Gospel; she is
a merchant, a book-keeper and accountant, an editor, an artist, a
mechanic, a farmer, and has more than average success in all these
departments of activity. Her right to the ballot is slowly but surely
coming to a settlement, which it will take time and thought on her
part (for when _she_ asks for the ballot it will be hers), and
enlightened legislation to effect. Where she has exercised this right,
none but favorable results have been witnessed.[35] Our State
legislatures are called upon to give attention to the subject, and a
committee of our national Congress have just decided to report a
proposed amendment to the Constitution, declaring that "the right of
citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on account of sex, and giving
Congress the power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the
provisions of this article." If Congress will agree to propose this
amendment, and three fourths of the States will ratify it, woman
suffrage will be legalized.
_Other Questions._
The philanthropic and successful efforts in behalf of the blind, the
deaf and dumb, and feeble minded, of fallen women, and orphan
children, are becoming more and more apparent every year, all in
cheering accord with that restorative mercy and power evinced in Him
whose mission was to relieve the sorrows and remove the afflictive
evils that beset mankind. And no more unmistakable evidence of the
decline of that horrible doctrine of endless suffering for the wicked
can be realized, than the instituting and maintaining societies for
the suppression of cruelty to animals. Surely, the Father of our
spirits will not be less merciful towards any of his children, than
these children are justly called upon to be to the inferior creatures
of his forming hand! These are some of the signs of Christian progress
during the last half-century. _Laus Deo!_
[31] Chambers' Miscellany.
[32] New Amer. Enc.
[33] Universalist Quarterly, Vol. VI. No. 4, October, 1849.
[34] "Gospel Banner," Augusta, Me., June 10, 1882.
[35] The Governor of Wyoming affirms that woman suffrage is an unqualified
success in the Territory.