abstract: But, yes, we still maintain, though spoken humbly from a heart in total submission to the King of kings, that, we must say even today that the world is indeed opening to the truth--the truth of biblical Christian civil government that Jesus Christ is Lord of the state and His Word is the basis of civil law. It is the church that is the problem; the church's grasp of this truth has just been delayed for a century or more, while her failure to believe and teach it has resulted in today's societal fling with apostasy and unbelief

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by Raymond Joseph

This article comments on David McAllister's book, A Manual of Christian Civil Government, 1890 edition; 316 pp, hardback (this book is out of print; I am indebted to the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary Library for graciously loaning him the book). The 6th edition of A Manual of Christian Civil Government appeared in 1927 (the year your author was born).

Part of Christian Civil Government in America, the sixth edition, of 1927, of A Manual of Christian Civil Government is posted on this web site, being hand transcribed from a copy loaned by Andrew Sandlin. The links in this article are to that partial copy on this web site.

Yes, beyond any question, it is useful to take a historical glance at the level of support for the National Reform Association--to look at what it once was (and yet, could be in the future--and indeed will be?). So please read on. Take a good look; reflect on the level of support for the National Reform Association as portrayed by the number of officers of the NRA in 1890, and their positions of influence. Then, having done that, ponder the striking comparison with today's culture! NRA officers are listed in 1890 from most states in the Union at that time (Washington was not yet a state, so it is listed as "Washington Territory").

One sentence from A Manual of Christian Civil Government reveals the biblical optimism of the day. Comments the Manual: "The world is opening to the truth..." (p. 61) Wait! How was that again? One more time: Opening to the truth? Stop the presses! Can it be true, that any reasonably observant commentator would make such a brash and bold statement as "the world is opening to the truth"? Yes, in 1890, that is what the man said. He was speaking at a time halfway into the existing history of this nascent republic--still an adolescent nation. In the annals of world history, 1890 is merely a heartbeat from the past. Why, my own father was born just five years later!

But, what of today--a mere 112 years later? Do we still have that absolutely vital biblical optimism which gave birth to such a startling statement as, "The world is opening to the truth"? Is the world really "opening to the truth"? And, will it still be "opening to the truth" in the future?

For the Christian who knows what his Bible teaches about the victory of King Jesus' kingdom on this earth, the answer must be a confident "yes," though perhaps it will be muted when reflecting on two World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Cold War, and now a "war on terrorism" which springs from the very heart of a heretical religion.

But, yes, we still maintain, though spoken humbly from a heart in total submission to the King of kings, that, we must say even today that the world is indeed "opening to the truth"--the truth of biblical Christian civil government that Jesus Christ is Lord of the state and His Word is the basis of civil law. It is the church that is the problem; the church's grasp of this truth has just been delayed for a century or more, while her failure to believe and teach it has resulted in today's societal fling with apostasy and unbelief, and its infatuation with the supposed supremacy of "human rights." Indeed, in many church circles, there is outright opposition to this truth. Some even speak with a particular vehemence against anyone who would have the temerity to suggest that the kingdom of our Lord of lords, King Jesus, should be victorious on this earth before His return to end history as we know it and to usher in the eternal age!

But, fellow soldiers in the King's Army--believe it! Someday our cultural atrocities will be dissected, examined, and finally regurgitated and expelled from today's influential institutional digestive systems.

But now, a return to 1890. Our NRA worthies encouraged all interested Christian citizens to sign this petition, as noted in this edition of A Manual of Christian Civil Government (p. 9):

For a Christian Amendment to the United States Constitution: The undersigned, citizens of the United States, petition your honorable bodies for such an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States as shall suitably express our national acknowledgment of Almighty God as the source of all authority in civil government; of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler of nations and of His revealed will as the supreme standard to decide moral issues in national life, and thus indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of the government on an undeniably legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.

Now, for the true Christian patriot who believes that the Lord Jesus Christ is King of nations, does reading the above paragraph make your mouth water? It should. "But," some of you are thinking: "Such a thing will never happen! Something approaching this statement will never be seen in our cultural institutions--the media, the legislatures, the executive branch, the judicial branch! Look at our law schools--and the ACLU. They seem dedicated to removing all vestiges of Christianity from any meaningful visibility in this nation. It will never happen--never!"

If that is your thought, then we must ask a fundamentally appropriate question: "When will such a clear statement again be supported by Christians?" If you are a Christian who is convinced of the crown rights of King Jesus, then you should be anticipating that someday there will indeed be a positive answer to that "when" question--all the while confessing, of course, that only our King has the answer, and He has not seen fit to reveal the timing of His victory to His people--not yet.

The "times and seasons" are in His hands; He will bring it to pass in His good time. But the answer to a prior question--will it happen?-- should not be in doubt: Yes, it will happen, in the sovereign timing of the King of history. In the meantime, we are to proclaim its inevitability with all the conviction at our disposal, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I hope that you, the reader, are not in doubt about one revealing proposition: It must be evident, even to the most uninformed among us, that 1890 was a different day than ours! This is painfully obvious. There have been many pervasive changes in our nation in the 112 years between 1890 to the present.

But looking back to our founding era as a nation, the contrast between then and 1890 is not so obvious. From its inception, there was a prevailing assumption in our new nation that a Christian presence underlying civil government was absolutely necessary to maintain a minimum civic morality. This assumption carried well past 1890. The expression of devotion to the necessity of a Christian presence in civil government during the founding era of our country, was prominent from 1787 to 1890. For the first 112 years, the changes are barely discernible, contrasted with the changes since 1890 which have been awesome to behold. Most Christians have given up on any realistic possibility of a "Christian Amendment" being actually introduced (it was once), passed by Congress, and sent down to the states for ratification sealing its approval as part of the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America. And, why? Because there has been a near total failure on the part of the American church to teach and preach Christian civil government. This has breached the dam of the wrath of Almighty God, which has been poured out on us in ever increasing ferocity. The 20th Century is proof of that; the 20th Century goes down in the eternal records as the most bloody century in human history.

Preceded by our own Great Bloody Holocaust of 1861-1865, the 20th Century has witnessed destructive horrors emanating in judgment from the heavenly throne of the King of kings, the White Horse Rider of Revelation 19, from whose wrath the kings of the earth cry out to the mountains, to: "Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb!"

The chilling pronouncement of the Spirit of God in Psalm 2 is readily visible to those who are willing to believe it. Speaking to the Son, the Father says: "You are My Son; today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron! You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel!"

The National Reform Association has been pointing out an earlier sentiment which once prevailed in our founding generation (1787ff.) It is striking. Our Manual comments (p. 79):

The two vital elements of the young nation's life, its sovereignty and its moral and religious principles--those of Protestant Christianity as opposed to Romanism on the one hand, and infidelity on the other--were thus associated in the minds of the fathers of the republic. They believed that ours could continue a free and sovereign republic only as it preserved and maintained the moral and religious principles of Protestant Christianity.

These comments in the 1890 Manual are in response to President John Adams' official words on November 20, 1800, on the occasion of the newly finished capitol building in Washington, D.C.:

"It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple, without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe and imploring his blessing. May this territory be the residence of virtue and happiness! ...Here, and throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion flourish forever!"

Yes, but one can discern the influence of deistic Christianity even in this official statement by President Adams. Deism was a compromised theological contrivance, seemingly hatched in reaction to the burgeoning Enlightenment movement which was ominously threatening and moving like a juggernaut across the Atlantic from its birthplace in atheistic France. With its roots in Renaissance Italy, the Enlightenment seemed to sweep all before it. Christian civil government was significantly compromised; the passage of time has revealed how mortal a blow it received.

Unfortunately, the Christians among our founding framers were not free from these blighting acids of Enlightenment modernity. They were, after all, creatures of their times--and their times were rife with an incipient humanism. Deism was too weak to resist humanism successfully. In the ensuing struggle between a weak deistic "Christianity" and a roaring humanism lunging for the jugular vein of the existing Christian society, humanism has won, hands down. As the NRA has observed, it is now threatening this once Christian nation with oblivion.

However, though humanism may have won a battle, it has lost the war. We firmly believe, undergirded by the intercessory prayers accompanying the efforts of the National Reform Association, that God mercifully has delayed the outpouring of His wrath so long as there were some Christians who persisted in recognizing the kingship of His Son over the nation.

Nevertheless, how prescient; how true; how promising; how observant is this 1890 Manual of Christian Civil Government. Today, with our 20/20 hindsight, we can see how devastating were the encroaching attempts of the Evil One to derail the new Christian nation--a nation which began in such a bright and hope-filled manner. And yet, even President John Adams' brave dedication of the new Capitol building contained lurking dark Enlightenment storm clouds, which, it must be said, had already served as a damper on our founders/ obligations to the King of kings, preventing otherwise Christian statesmen from unequivocally founding this new nation of religious liberty on a recognition of the law and authority of that same King of kings!

So now we follow on with a brief list of NRA vice presidents by categories. These were influential people in 1890--all vice-presidents of the National Reform Association. Herewith, a summary: 25 College and University Presidents, including those of Princeton and Amherst and others; 5 VPs with law degrees, including several professors in the Law Departments of colleges and universities; 64 ministers, most with DD degrees; several with Ph.Ds, and LL.Ds ; 5 ex-Governors of states; (yes – Governors!); an ex-Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; a legislator; 4 editors; and assorted "others." In addition, there were the usual Secretaries; Corresponding Secretaries; Recording Secretaries, 7 District Secretaries, and 13 "Special Secretaries"; a Treasurer. Finally, 3 past presidents are listed, one of them being a United States Supreme Court Justice (Hon. William Strong, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States--NRA President from 1866-1869). Serving as National Reform Association president, at the time of publication of the 1890 Manual, was another judge who continued to serve as president for 21 years. It is outstanding to note that previous to 1890 another one of the vice presidents of the NRA was the noted theologian, A. A. Hodge, then a professor in Princeton Theological Seminary.1

However today, for at least two generations, if not three, there has been a "politically correct" wisdom surfacing among Christian leaders (including some "Reformed" Christians), that to have prominent civic leaders (ministers, judges, university presidents and professors, state governors), as NRA officers committed to advancing the cause of a Christian Amendment to the Constitution, is a detriment to the cause of Christ.

This cavil represents a codicil of unbelief, a failure--perhaps on the part of some; perhaps even a refusal (?)--to believe that the Father's appointment of His Son as King of nations (Psalm 2) will ever be openly and practically realized in the kingdom of man. The biblical teaching that every knee will bow to Christ, on this earth and in time, space, and history, before the earthly return of King Jesus, is denied.

Indeed, the very proposal that a Christian Amendment would represent a vital application of the generations-long Christianizing of this nation, is so rarely found among today's evangelical and Reformed churches, seminaries, and colleges, as to be virtually non-existent.

Consequently, it falls to the energetic leadership of the National Reform Association to teach this and future generations of American Christians the much neglected, but absolutely essential, biblical truth that Jesus Christ is King of nations, and should be--indeed will be--acknowledged as such before He returns to this earth to end history as we know it and usher in the eternal age.

But, in 1890 it was not so. In fact, it was not so all the way back to the beginning of the Christian era. From the beginning, the Apostolic Church preached Jesus as Lord of all, including Lord over civil government--and in that day, civil government was represented by Caesar, who claimed that he was "Lord of all." And, though it took 250 years, by the 4th century the old pagan Rome was so Christianized that Caesar himself was converted to Christ--Caesar Constantine.

It is amazing that today's "politically correct" Christian opinion proposes that even the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine should be regretted. Though Constantine ended the persecution of Christians, proclaimed religious liberty (the Edict of Milan, A.D. 313), and helped to convene the first Christian council (Council of Nicea, A.D. 325), we are told to ignore those blessings of God. This "politically correct" thinking opines that all these developments were somehow a huge mistake; that the cause of Christ was hindered, not helped, by the Christianizing of the civil government of hitherto pagan Rome.

Such flawed reasoning on the part of many of today's Christian leaders boggles the mind and defies common sense. To appeal to the Constantinian analogy: those who maintain that the emperor's Christian conversion represented a setback for Christianity, evidently assume it would be better for Christians to be slaughtered than for them to be granted religious liberty.

So it is with those who decry the cultural prominence and Christianizing influence of the National Reform Association as seen by a survey of the 1890 Manual. To propose that the "salt and light" of Christian presence can never reach the level of openly Christianizing civil government is specious reasoning. It is blind to the Christian belief in the expanding leaven of the kingdom of Christ. Especially, it denies the cultural Christianizing force of our Lord's Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Jesus commanded His followers to make all nations His disciples, and to baptize them (the nations) in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The partial list given above of National Reform Association officers in 1890 is informative, educational, and comparative. Three obvious points can be deduced: a) the National Reform Association once cut a wide swath in America, and acted as "salt and light" in the American culture; b) today, the NRA doesn't have the influence it once did--(not just yet); c) the NRA's past influence delayed and prevented the internal rot of humanism from prospering; but when the NRA lost its fervor after World War I (the war to end all wars), the downward decline steepened. Its "salt and light" somehow evaporated, and the American culture, under the judgment of Almighty God, accelerated its decline into oblivion without the vital preservative powers contained in the formerly vibrant civic witness to Christ's kingship by the NRA.

So, what of the future? Should we be discouraged, or downhearted, or surrender to despair over the future of this vital witness of the National Reform Association?

Today, the Holy Spirit is calling us to return to a former faithfulness to the biblical vision. Under renewed leadership with the biblical vision restored, the future is bright under the blessing of Almighty God. The NRA's vision is the same: the passing of a Christian Amendment to acknowledge Christ as King of the nation. Her strategy is the same: the proclaiming of this goal to America's churches and civil government through its religious leaders and legislators, persuading as many as will listen to join together in this high and noble cause of honoring our Savior and King.

As I write, we are under terrorist attack from a militant Islam. Only Christ can save us. Nothing less than acknowledging His Kingship will save this nation from destruction.

The Bible clearly teaches that the kingdom of God will triumph on this earth over the kingdom of man. God's praise book, the Book of Psalms, exults in kingdom victory. It is then that our Lord will return to "end history as we know it" (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

"Even so come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20).

Raymond P. Joseph is Pastor Emeritus of Southfield Reformed Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the National Reform Association Board of Directors and a former editor of The Christian Statesman.

Endnotes

1. Here are some more facts on the NRA vice presidents of 1890--their states and positions:

Massachusetts: President of Amhurst College; Professor in the Law Department of Boston University; 4 prominent ministers; Professor at South Hadley; a Judge of the Supreme Court; another judge.

Connecticut: Judge in the Supreme Court of Errors.

Rhode Island: one minister.

New York: Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Syracuse; 3 other ministers; President of Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute; Secretary of Methodist Episcopal Society; President of New York W.C.T.U. (a lady).

New Jersey: 3 ministers, one of whom was President of Evelyn College, Princeton.

Pennsylvania: 3 judges, one of whom was Justice of the State Supreme Court; Bishop of Reformed Episcopal Church, Philadelphia; Secretary of Presbyterian Board of Publication; 13 ministers, one of whom was professor in the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg; another was President of Wayne College; another President of Lincoln University, Oxford; another President of Lafayette College, Easton; another Professor of History and English Literature, Oxford; another Professor in Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Allegheny.

Maryland: 2 ministers, the editor of the Methodist Protestant, in Baltimore.

District of Columbia: Chaplain of the United States Senate.

West Virginia: President of West Virginia College, Flemington.

North Carolina: the Governor; 2 ministers, one of whom was retired President of University of North Carolina, Smithfield.

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