“I say it in all seriousness, there is no name under heaven, the power of which we as a progressive people have greater reason to fear, than the name of Jesus, as used by religious people. It is the rallying-cry under which they are striving to unite Church and State; the claim is that he shall be the ruler of, not only this, but all Nations; the Sabbath bill is being backed by the power of Jesus’ name, and step by step we are thus being deprived of our liberties.”AMS March 13, 1889, page 59.2

This is only one of the things that the National Reformers and their allies are responsible for; but this is enough to stamp their whole scheme as antichristian. While they profess that theirs is a Christian movement, there is nothing else in the world that is doing so much to bring Christianity into disrepute. Just as the false Christianity of the Roman Catholic Church, which was accepted as true Christianity, was responsible for the infidelity of Paine and Voltaire, so this professed National Reform, which will be taken by many as being just what it pretends to be,—an exhibition of real Christianity,—will disgust many with the very name of Christ and Christianity.AMS March 13, 1889, page 59.3

We can tell our neighbor that although the name of Jesus is used very often by these would-be reformers, “the power of Jesus’ name” is altogether wanting. It matters not how much they may claim that he is to be king of this Nation, he himself has declared, “My kingdom is not of this world.” The power of Jesus’ name has never been exercised except for the benefit of the human race; but the mere name, the sound, has been used to back up crimes that would almost make a demon blush. It was the power of his name that healed the sick and raised the dead, in the days of the apostles. When, however, the sons of one Sceva, a Jew, thought to accomplish the same wonders that the apostle did, by calling the name of Jesus over one possessed with a devil, the demon overcame them, and drove them from the house naked and wounded, proving to them that the name of Jesus without the power could accomplish nothing towards diminishing the woes of the world. National Reformers should learn a lesson from the seven sons of Sceva.AMS March 13, 1889, page 59.4

The “power of Jesus’ name” has done more than to raise the dead; it has enabled men to resist the strivings of appetite and passion, has delivered them from the bondage of vice and sin, so that they have stood free men, pure and clean, changed so greatly as scarcely to be able to recognize themselves. The power of the name of Jesus can and does diminish sin; but nobody can apply that power but Jesus himself. When men attempt to diminish sin by law, using the name of Jesus, they will find that they only increase it. Jesus does not have any vicegerents in this world, and his reign is a reign of love. National Reform Christianity is of the kind described by the apostle Paul, when he says that in the last days men shall be “lovers of their own selves,” etc., “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” From such we are exhorted to “turn away.”AMS March 13, 1889, page 59.5

E. J. W.

March 6, 1889

March 20, 1889