“EXCEPT the State be born again, it cannot see the kingdom of God.” This statement is conspicuously inscribed upon the official organ of the “Christian Citizenship League,” and is credited to a “professor” of “applied Christianity” in a western college. It is the doctrine that Christianity can be applied to the State—that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the State as well as of the individual. There is but one way of salvation, and that is by being “born again,” as the Saviour explained to Nicodemus. Supposing then that the State could be “born again,” what would result? It would have to manifest the spirit of Christ, which would necessitate that it forgive its enemies; and forgive them not once merely, nor “until seven times,” but “until seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21, 22. So as often as the trespasser against the State might say, when brought into court, “I repent,” the State would be obliged to forgive him, and discharge the debt! Could any arrangement better suit the desires of the criminal classes? or more quickly and thoroughly destroy the whole structure of civil government? Could any doctrine be more thoroughly anarchistic? These questions answer themselves.
And yet it is actually a fact that this doctrine is, in this very land of enlightened government, now held and advocated by nearly all the leading religious societies! And those who would warn the people against it are denounced as anarchists!