THE WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION

In the published reports of the National Reform Association for the years 1886-87, appears the following suggestion, made in 1885, on the relationship between the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the National Reform Association:—TTR 733.2

“Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, suggested the creation of a special department of its already manifold work, for the promotion of Sabbath observance, co-operating with the National Reform Association. The suggestion was adopted at the national convention in St. Louis, and the department was placed in the charge of Mrs. J. C. Bateham, of Ohio, as national superintendent. Mrs. Bateham has since, with her own cordial assent, been made one of the vice-presidents of the National Reform Association.”TTR 733.3

Again; of the year 1886, the same report says:—TTR 733.4

“It was your secretary’s privilege this year again to attend the national convention. A place was kindly given for an address in behalf of the National Reform Association, and thanks were returned by a vote of the convention. A resolution was adopted expressing gratitude to the National Reform Association, ‘for its advocacy of a suitable acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ in the fundamental law of this professedly Christian nation.’”TTR 733.5

And again:—TTR 733.6

“In the series of monthly readings for the use of local unions as a responsive exercise, prepared or edited by Miss Willard, the reading for last July [1886] was on ‘God in Government;’ that for August was ‘Sabbath Observance’ (prepared by Mrs. Bateham), and that for September, ‘Our National Sins.’ Touching the first and last named readings, your secretary had correspondence with their editor before they appeared. A letter has been prepared to Woman’s Christian Temperance Union workers and speakers, asking them in their public addresses to refer to and plead for the Christian principles of civil government. The president of the National Union allows us to say that this letter is sent with her sanction, and by her desire.”TTR 733.7

In that same National Reform Convention, which was held in Pittsburg, Pa., May 11, 12, 1887, in the discussion of a resolution complimentary to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, one speaker declared:—TTR 734.1

“This movement is bound to succeed through the influence of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.”TTR 734.2

Another expressed the National Reform hopes thus:—TTR 734.3

“When we get woman and Christ in politics,—and they will both go in together,—we shall have every reform, and Christ will be proclaimed King of kings and Lord of lords.”TTR 734.4

And the chairman closed the debate on this resolution by saying:—TTR 734.5

“When woman undertakes anything good, she will do it. And if she attempts anything bad, she will accomplish that. What Ahab would not do. Jezebel did. And what Herod would not do to John the Baptist otherwise, his wife caused him to do.”TTR 734.6

No one attempted to explain just exactly where, in this observation, there lay the compliment to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. It seemed to the author of this book who was present, that the compliment was rather back-handed. And yet he could not help wondering whether in the end the observation might not prove true and the examples appropriate, even though the statement be not preeminently complimentary as it stands.TTR 734.7

Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Union; Mrs. J. C. Bateham and Mrs. Woodbridge, of the National Union; Miss Mary A. West, editor of the Union Signal; Mrs. Hoffman, president of the Missouri State Union; Mrs. Sibley, president of the Georgia Union; Mrs. Lathrap, president of the Michigan Union; Mrs. Burt, president of the New York Union; Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, president of the Iowa Union; all these are vice-presidents of the National Reform Association, according to the latest printed list (that of 1890-91), and have been such for the last three or four years. And District Secretary M. A. Gault, reporting his work in the Christian Statesman of November 15, 1888, said:—TTR 734.8

“The four weeks I spent recently in the eight Wisconsin district, lecturing under the auspices of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, were among the most pleasant weeks since I went into the lecture field. The weather was unusually fine, and there were but very few meetings in which everything was not in apple-pie order. Ladies wearing the significant white ribbon met me at the train, and took me often to the most elegant home in the town ... The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union affords the best facilities for openings for such workers more than any other organization. It is in sympathy with the movement to enthrone Christ in our government.”TTR 735.1

In the monthly reading for September 1886, before referred to, regarding which the secretary of the National Reform Association had correspondence with Miss Willard before it appeared, one of the responses is as follows:—TTR 735.2

“A true theocracy is yet to come, ... and humanity’s weal depends upon the enthronement of Christ in law and law makers: hence I pray devoutly, as a Christian patriot, for the ballot in the hands of women and rejoice that the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union has so long championed this cause.”TTR 735.3

Nor is it simply as an ally as such, of the National Reform Association, that the Union works for these bad principles. In its own separate and organized capacity, the Union advocates the whole National Reform scheme, At the annual convention of the National Union for 1887, held in Nashville, the president, Miss Frances E. Willard, in her annual address, officially reported in the Union Signal of December 1, declared the purpose of the Union, as follows:—TTR 735.4

“The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, local, State national, and world-wide, has one vital, organic thought, one all-absorbing purpose, one undying enthusiasm, and that is that Christ shall be this world’s king of its courts, its camps, its commerce,—king of its colleges and cloisters,—king of its customs and its Constitutions ... The kingdom of Christ must enter the realm of law through the gateway of politics. ... We pray Heaven to give them [the old parties] no rest ... until they shall ... swear an oath of allegiance to Christ in politics, and march in one great army up to the polls to worship God.TTR 735.5

“I firmly believe that the patient, steadfast work of Christian women will so react upon politics within the next generation, that the party of God will be at the fore; ministers will preach for it from their pulpits, and Christian men will be as much ashamed to say that they never go to the caucus as they would be now to use profane language or defame character; for there is just one question that every Christian ought to ask: ‘What is the relation of this party, this platform, this candidate. to the setting up of Christ’s kingdom on the earth? How does my vote relate to the Lord’s Prayer?’TTR 736.1

“The answer to this question is sacred, not secular, worthy to be given from the pulpit on the Sabbath day. In the Revolutionary War the question at issue being religious liberty, our forefathers felt that they could preach and pray about it on the Sabbath. In the Civil War, both sides believing their cause to be holy, could do the same; and now, when it is a question of preserving the Sabbath itself and guarding the homes which are the sanctuaries of Christ’s gospel, we women believe that no day is too good, no place too consecrated, for the declaration of principles and the determining of notes. The ascetic in the olden time shut himself away from the world and counted everything secular except specific acts of devotion. The Christian soldier of to-day reverses this process, and makes everything he does a devotional act, an expression of his loyalty to Christ—so finding his balance in God, that no sin can overcome, and no sorrow surprise him. Prayer is the pulse of his life; there is no secular, no sacred; all is in God; and as the followers of Bruce inclosed that hero’s heart in a silver shrine and flung it into the ranks of the enemy that they might fly to win it back, shouting. ‘Heart of Bruce. I follow thee,’ so Christian men to-day take their ideal of Christ in government, hurl it into the ranks of his foes, and hasten on to regain it, by rallying for the overthrow of saloon politics and the triumphs of the Christian at the polls.TTR 736.2

“Our prayers are prophets, and predict this day of glad deliverance as being at the door. The man who, in presence of such possibilities, says, ‘I don’t want throw away my vote.’ is quite likely to throw away something even more valuable—and that is the voter himself. For, as Miss West has said, ‘To-day Christ sits over against the ballot-box, as of old he sat over against the treasury, and judges men by what they cast therein.’”TTR 736.3

The official report cordially announces that by an “almost unanimous vote” of the whole delegation assembled, this address “was accepted as expressing the principles of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,” and “the audience manifested its appreciation of this grand address by universal hand-clapping and waving of handkerchiefs.”TTR 736.4

Although Christ himself has plainly declared that his kingdom is not of this world, these “devout and honorable women” (Acts 13:50), like those people of old, seem determined to take him by force and make him king. No one should be surprised, therefore, that he should do now as he did then—he “departed” from them. It is well to remember also that although “the ascetic in the olden time shut himself away from the world,” he was always ready, upon any question of orthodoxy, to return to the world, and pour out upon it all the pent-up passions of years. Many a time did these also march in great armies up to the polls, not to worship God, but to “blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle and them which dwell in heaven,” and to outrage every principle not only of Christianity, but of humanity. ^{13[Page 737] Pages 412, 415, 424, 425, 429, 432, 444, 490, 510, 545-547, this book.}TTR 737.1

In a convention of the eighth district of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of Wisconsin, held at Augusta, October 2-4, 1888, and representing fifteen counties, there was passed “without a dissenting voice” the following preamble and resolution:—TTR 737.2

“Whereas, God would have all men honor the Son, even as they honor the Father; and,—TTR 737.3

“Whereas, The civil law which Christ gave from Sinai as the only perfect law, and the only law that will secure the rights of all classes; therefore,—TTR 737.4

“Resolved, That civil government should recognize Christ as the moral Governor, and his law as the standard of legislation.”TTR 737.5

And the national convention of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union for the same year, held in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, the nineteenth to the twenty-third of the same month, confirmed this action and the principle of it, by passing the following resolution, the first in the series of resolutions there adopted, as officially reported in the Union Signal of November 8:—TTR 737.6

“Resolved, That and his gospel, as universal king and code, should be sovereign in our government and political affairs.” ^{14[Page 738] Page 489, this book.}TTR 738.1

At the Chautauqua (N. Y.) Assembly of 1886, Mrs. Woodbridge of the Union made a speech (July 23), in which she said:—TTR 738.2

“An amendment to the national constitution requires the indorsement of two thirds of the States to become law. Although the action must be taken by State legislative bodies, let such an amendment be submitted, and it would become the paramount issue at the election of legislators, and thus God would be in the thought, and his name upon the lip, of every man. May not this be the way opened to us? How to bring the gospel of Christ to the masses has been, and is, the vexing problem of the church. Would not the problem be solved? Yea, Christ would then be lifted up, even as the serpent in the wilderness, and would we not have right to claim the fulfillment of the promise, that ‘He will draw all men unto himself’? ...TTR 738.3

“In considering the submission of such an amendment, we may use the very argument used by Moses, in his song containing these words of Jehovah, ‘For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land.’ How prayerfulness would be stimulated! Conscience would press the words, ‘If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him!’ Then would there be searchings of heart, as David’s, of which we learn in the fifty-first Psalm. Prayer would bring faith and the power of the Spirit; and when such power shall rest upon the children of God, there will be added to the church daily such as shall be saved.TTR 738.4

“The National Reform Association makes this plea in the name of the Lord and his suffering ones. It asks the prayerful consideration of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, by which, if adopted, we, the people, will crown Christ the Lord, as our rightful Sovereign.TTR 738.5

“The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, pursuing its work ‘For God, and home, and native land,’ in thirty-nine departments of reform, can but see that were a nation to be thus aroused, were it to make such an acknowledgment at the ballot-box, the laws of our land would ere long be truly ‘founded on the old Mosaic ritual.’ Then we could [Italics hers] have no other God. Unto the Lord Jehovah would we bow. Should we take his name in vain, or fail to keep the Sabbath holy, we would be criminals.”TTR 738.6

Is there any one so dull as to be unable to see that in this scheme there lies the whole theory and practice of the papacy? In this way precisely the “gospel” “was brought to the masses” in the fourth century. ^{15[Page 739] Pages 298, 299, this book.} In this way precisely, then, God and his name were put into the thought and upon the lip, clubs and stones into the hands, and murder in the heart, of every man; and so there was, then, added to the church daily such as should be ______. And, by the way, the women were among the leaders and were the main help in bringing about that grand triumph of the “gospel” among the masses. And “history repeats itself,” even to the part the women would play in the political project of bringing “the gospel to the masses.” ^{16[Page 739] Pages 374, 375, 419, 423, 501, 503, of this book.}TTR 738.7

To propose a political campaign managed by ambitious clerics, political hypocrisies, ward politicians, and city bosses, and call that the bringing of the gospel of Christ to the masses, and the means of adding to the church daily such as shall be saved, is certainly a conception of the gospel that is degraded enough in all conscience. But when, to cap such conception, it is avowed that such would be the lifting up of Christ even as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, and the fulfillment of the promise that he will draw all men unto him, the whole idea becomes one that is vastly nearer to open blasphemy than it is to any proper conception of what the gospel of Christ is. Yet such, and of such, is the gospel of the National Reform Woman’s Christian Temperance Union combination. Instead of lifting up Christ, it tramples him under foot. Instead of treasuring the gospel as the pearl of great price, it casts it to swine to be trampled under their feet. Instead of honoring Christ, it puts him to an open shame. Instead of the gospel being held forth as the mystery of godliness, it is supplanted by the mystery of iniquity. For the testimony of history is unanimous in confirmation of the truth that “men will fight to the death, and persecute without pity, for a creed whose doctrines they do not understand and whose precepts they habitually disobey.”TTR 739.1

Before leaving this division of the subject, it is but justice to all concerned to say that there are none who have more respect or more good wishes for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, in the line of its legitimate work, than have the author of this book and the Christian people with whom he has the honor to be connected. We thoroughly believe in Christian temperance. Not only do we believe in it, but we practice it. We practice Christian temperance more strictly than the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union even preaches it. But believing in it as thoroughly as we do, and endeavoring to practice it as strictly as we believe in it, we would never lift a hand nor open our lips in any effort compel men to practice the Christian temperance in which we believe and which we practice. Christianity persuades men, instead of trying to compel them. By the purity and love of Christ, Christianity draws men instead of trying to drive them. It is not by the power of civil government, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, that Christianity secures the obedience of men and the practice of Christian temperance, as well as every other Christian virtue.TTR 740.1

We sincerely wish that the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union would stick to its text, and work for Christian temperance by Christian means; and not for Christian temperance by political means, nor for political temperance by theoretical means. We know there are Christian women in the organization, who look at this precisely as we do. We know many such who have left the organization solely upon account of the political and theocratically course of its leadership. And every other woman would do well to leave it, unless its leadership and the course to which that leadership has already committed, it can be changed. The leadership of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union has led it in wicked ways, has established it upon evil principles, and has committed it to the very worst alliance that could possibly be made; and those who disapprove of all this cannot remain much longer in it without becoming a part of it.TTR 740.2

The next ally that the National Reform Association was enabled to gain was and is—TTR 741.1