RADICALISM AND THE NATIONAL CRISIS. “ And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees ; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.”— Mat. 3 : : 10— To place the axe at the root of the tree is a figure to denote, that the tree is to be cut down at the roots, not simply trimmed, but actually destroyed. The reason is found in the fact, that it does not bring forth good fruit. By the use of this figure, John the Baptist meant to say to the Jews, that as a people they had fallen upon searching times. The great Teacher and Reformer was about to come, establishing a Kingdom of justice and truth. It would no longer do for them to say,—“We have Abraham to our father.” Principles and conduct were to be examined to their very foundations: Judaism was to be sifted ; and whatever in the notions or practice of the people could not stand the test of truth, was to be discarded. In the person of Jesus a radical dispensation,—a ministry of truth that goes down to the very roots of things,—was about to commence its reformatory career. Such we take to be the meaning of the text in its application to the Jewish people. There are many people, in whose minds the terms radical and radicalism, are about equivalent to the terms fanatic and fanaticism. To their understanding these words mean evil, and only evil, and that continually. Hence they are convenient terms to excite the prej udices of men, and awaken popular odium. Sometimes they are used as a substitute for ideas, and quite often as the slang phrases of those who have some interest in promoting error, or practicing iniquity. I have no desire to make a plea for extremists and fools; yet there is a grand and glorious meaning connected with these much abused terms, which I wish,
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