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Evangelicals and Utilitarians
- Cairns
"It is the hope and prayer of the author that this discussion
of the social impact of revivalism in England will alert
Evangelicals to the responsibility which they have as citizens of
earth as well as of Heaven. If some are made aware that they have a
horizontal orientation of love in action toward their fellows as
well as a vertical orientation of faith toward God for personal
salvation the author will be satisfied. If the Evangelical believes
in the Second Advent of Christ, participation in social change
should lead neither to a blithe optimism that social reform will
create Utopia nor to a paralyzing despair concerning a perishing
temporary world in which the Christian mistakenly thinks that his
only responsibility is to prepare his own soul for the coming of
Christ. Instead the Christian will realize that his task is to
'occupy' socially as well as personally until the Lord does come. (signed
March 1960 by EE. Cairns, Wheaton, Ill.)
"Nowhere and at no other time can such a large body of
refosrms be credited to any group as the social reforms which were
brought about by the leadership of the Clapham Sect and their loyal
evangelical and Dissenter supporters in both the clergy and laity.
The study of these reforms, the strategy by which they were put into
effect, and the spirit which was behind them can be of great value
to contemporary Evangelicals. (p. 43) ...
"The evangelicals wanted reform because men were spiritual
beings who were actual or potential sons of God, while Utilitarian
Bentham and his followers wanted reform because men had dignity as
rational creatures. Bentham emphasized reason and utility based on
the greatest good to the greatest number. As long as the efforts of
the Utilitarians were directed to the good of men, the Evangelicals
would co-operate with them temporarily for a common good end without
in any way giving up their religious principles. Evangelicals and
rationalistic humanitarians co-operated in the common service of
humanity." (p. 154)
Saints and Society, by Earle E. Cairns, Moody Press, 1960.
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