~ PULPIT POLITICS. POLITICS OR NOT DEPENDING WHOBE POLITICS IT 18, UPON [By request we publish the follow- ing sermon denvered at Springfield, Obi), By Rev, Lutheran minister] At the third and fourth verses of the thirteenth chapter of Paui’s letter to the Romans, we find this Seripture, For rulers ure nota terror to good works, but to (he evil, Wilt thou then be afraid of the power: Do that which 1s good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. Bui it thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword is vain; for he is the min. ister of God, n revenger to execuie wrath upon bim that doeth evil. At the thirty-first and thirty-second verses of the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel by St. Matthew, this Scrip ture is wiitten : Tae kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of musin d sled, which a man took aud sewed 10 his fleld : Whicn ind.ed is the least of all seeds : but when it is grown, itis the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. In the first of these [selections of S.ripture we have a reference to civil government—that which has been or- daived of God. And we have a de scription aleo of the moral courage and the moral character to be possess. ed by the civil ruler, or the public official in that government. the evil. sword—that is, the power or the au- thority of the government, in vain | legislative bodiesand says there shall | ij 15 him “Guiteau you are drinking | thio J. B. Helevig, D. D.* when in the New Testament scrijvure is is most clearly taught that govern. ment is ordaived ot God apd where the character of its rulers is also as clearly described as language can give the description of anything ? The year past we believe that the tendency bas been, and endrely too much 80, to regard God ss one thing and government as apother, and wito- out any reference or relation to each other whatever. I do not say that (such has been the mind every | one, by any means, but such has been {too much the drift of and the spirit of the people in general. And that spirit will remain, to a greater or less degree, just in porportion as the sa- of loon remains a factor in our politicts. How can a reformation be made, un= jess the reformation be made there al s0? How can there be a purer polit- | cal atmosphere as long as the sewer of moral impurity remaics open. That i# simply an imposibility. And the saloon interest also knows what a fac. tor itis in our politicts, and hence there: And how largely is our poli- ticts in all its moral aspect now also controlled by the esloon, and not with | regard only to taxation or the regula- tion of the traffic, but also with rgard in relation to the liquor traflie, or to | of temperance. expressed also by tens of thousands of | oq State. But the saloon comes to our! the persistent effort which it makes to | sy * : i maintain its position and its influence any special instructions on the subject | “Has it taken this nation an hun- dred years and others still lounger to to know that it does not pay to have five men in the lunatic asylum be- cause one man sold liquor? Has it iaken a hundred years to learn that it does not pay to have fifiy men and ey? telligent and active boys and young men transformed into criminals in or- life by selling them liquor ? Has it ta learn thatit isa crime against God | and humanity to allow thousands of cursed, and turned into a very hell of discord and misery, in orde that ope ! brewer or wholesale liquor dealer my | amass a fortune ?” the people can cause it to be other wise, And so also has it tekeo an hundred years for this nation to find | out that it does not pay to grant the | theo spend from three to five thous. | land dollars in trying another man for | { committing murder whilst under the | | influence of that liquor 7 How many | to the observance of the Sabbath day | i counties in our State bave had just | Why ? | such an experience as that? And how often also is that liquor sold with | | the almost or quite certain knowledge For instance, a text book is wanted | that such will be the resalt or the help to destroy the saloon is the on the subject of the influence of strong | They ‘are not to be a terror to the | drink upon the human system, sod “| good but they are to be a terror to | They are not to bear the | those among the best citizens of our | field be took a larger dranght of “Prea consequences of its sale ? On the morning of the day of Gui. teau’s assassination of President Gar. | liquor thao usual. The saloon keeper against that which is evil. They are | be no such text book, and there is not | heavier this morning than osusl.” to be the ministers of Gud to the | But for the saloon there doubtless | “Yes” eaid Guiteau, “I have heavier | 40 enc t would have been such { And is that not the explanation of the people for goad, Buch, in & word is the New Testa- ment teaching on the subject of civil | service government and a description | of its public officials. In the second portion of those selec- tions from the word of God we have Scripture setting forth the growth or the development of moral snd Chris tian principles. And it is always important, if possi. ble to unite the two, i. e, men and | principles. And it is important to | have good men associated with good principles from the fact that princi ples will not apply themselves. Prin- | ciples are not self-acting ; they are not selffexecatiog. Principles have no perpetual mwo- tion in them or about them anywhere, but they need to be applied. They | need to be enforced ; and that is what is meant by government-—not the | making of a law merely, forcement as well. Avd to my mind, the difficulty | arises not so much from bringing questions of government and politics into the pulpit, as from the leaving of the spirit of the gospel out of the pdl- pit during their discussion, That which to the Divine mind has seemed to be a proper subject for the pages of the New Testament, should also be regarded a proper subject for the pulpit of the New Testament. To the preaching of the gospel on every subject to which the gospel relates, when that preaching is done in the spirit of the gospel; to that there should be no reasonable objection. ‘l be antare of civil government and the moral, character of its rulers are matters that are frequently referted to im the sacred Scriptures. Io the word of God there is taught the gospel of govetoment and the gospel or the Chrisgianity of politics as surely as say other gospel teuth is taught there, that would necessarily be so, it there is to be a union between God sud civil goveroment. And as God : but its “ | .“ X a willing confession on the part | the people generally. | fore also shonld not want it, text books: | w | may be other ressons for the failure | or the omissi n of the neccessay legis- | lation on the subject. We wili pot | say there is not. Neither do we cen tare, nor do the people centure, in this | matter, sll those comprising the legis lature. Bat it not surprising how more and | 1 more the better minded class of peo | { ple of this country are complacently | submitting to the dictations and the | outrages of the smloon? And is i; : {simply because they must submit to | to that? We do not believe that such would be | of | : 3 the saloon? Has it come Aod certainly | by far the larger number of the peo- | ple do not need the saloon, and there | | Our of the whole number of citi- | three or four classes of people who | would care for the saloon. The man- ufactarer, the seller and the drinker of strong drink. see how these would be with the saloon. But ds, dhise Tastes comprise the majority ofour Littzens / 1 oan bacd- ly belive that they dof And if we | were tJ §0d mother clash, Tei, those thoes who depend ypou ~ —— mend pon the Vote of, NE terest. Do thess four el therefore, we do not believe that the mecy of the saloan, as some of them thio they are. They simply submit to the dictation and crimes and the outrages which are perpetuated by the saloon, becaase in some way they have become accustomed 1 doing wo, And Iam sustained also in that statement, becanse comparatively few of our cit- zens do believe that it is pecrssary. The facts are that we have tried the regulation of (he saloon snd the One can readily indedtified is the author of civil government, who can say that both its laws aud ite rulers should wet slew be in character sccording to what the word of God ffsenny cb—". we do not believe that the word of God teaches that there should be an orgabic union hetween the Church aud the Siate, it most clearly tesches the morality of civil govern. ment and the union of influence be. tween the two, ah the object with the ci be to keep the govern both ia fis legislation and in its raler shi isa} ly as near os possible, as reason to believe that God ju tended What the goveroment should bee And who can question that position liguor traffic so 1oog that wo have be come accustomed to the saloon, and that also without regulating it. All that has been galoed by the attempt ed regulation of the saloon acd the |, liquor traffic has simply been a famil- arity with it. That has been gained, but can up Ot ny Wht eee Hus bites gained? Hy Does soy one way, revenue or fn. cpme! No! Not the tenth, and in some cases not the hundredih part of 0 | its cost 1 the community, aod not ap sll taking into account the went and the woe and the suff. tho traffic fil's ita Hu is work to do to-day than usaal” Yes, he had a President of the hol tter? Soit seems. There we we : 1 United States to kill on that day; snd | thing else. the | | with assassination in his heart, saloon keeper helped him do the deed. And such is bat an illustration of | the well known fact that in hundreds of cases every year the demon of | | strong drink is invoked at the hands of the saloon-keeper to aid in com- mitting the deeds of vice snd violence and crime and death, which would | not be committed. The | poor old man on his way to the poor- otherwise | house, whose dead, hard-frozen body | was found soe morning this winter | after a col and in which the ssioon keepers sold past, I and stormy night, him liquor when already in a state of | helpless intoxication, and which they knew. Who are the criminals there ? Bat to Another why it would be both unwise and return, reason in- | seus T cannot jmagioe of more than | Jurious to the gause of Christ to say | (bat when 8 question was once in poli. ties that it should thea be left out of the pulpit arises from the fact that not vafrequently dor most important | political questions also involve moral as well as political obligations. For instance, some years ago, as many of | you well remember one of the politi- { cal issges in the city of Cincionati was the reading of the Bible in the public schools. That was the issue at the | polls and was sharply cottested also. | And we voted directly ou that issue | = |i the election; of the large school | board in that city. That was the political question for the time there, Bat was there woth | favor of she Bible in the schopis be- cause that had been made a political | question. How would the aoti-Bible ant Christisu pulpit a} then been vileot on that question. of And so also of the observance of the Sabbath day. A question whic | in onr linger cities is pedrly siways in some form or other fa their politics Shall the palpic be silent thea becas we the question of the observance of the | Sabbath day is in politics 7 If wo, theo all that politicians would have 0, db in bi wank be w moral principle and moral obligation the pulpit to the charge of preachiog politims. Xow olwerve, therefirey how wowise and how injurious that would be to the cause of Christ, when wo ands 0 rare wonld be m re grav. om br the $list the regulation their families ragged and in want inj fic have become political questions, that therefore the pulpit of our coun- tro must be silent there ? [hence one of the gravest mistakes It is difficult to see what the final that the Christian Church and its result of such a position on the part pulpit could possibly make would he of the Christian Church would neces | to be wilent when sin is increasing in sarily be 7 There are those who say | the land. there they must saffer. So will it ' alro be with regard to the saloon. And i Politics or no polities in the matter, order that one saloon keeker may be well-dressed and be flushed with mon- Toat it does not pay to have in. ken this nation an hundred years to] homes to be blasted and ruined and | What kind of morality is that when | privilege for an hundred dollars a | year to one mao to sell liquor and | ing then to be said from the pulpit in | element have rejoiced if the Protest " fry rion a sry ives him oral hig gospel and to save souls, Aud is the gospel minister's high and his divine commission, But tell me what, just now, | save more souls in this country der togenable one man to lead an easy | | the destruction of the saloon ? | | | ol fellow nen down ton drovkards ¢ and to a drank rd's hell a3 does the What now briogs so many rave | liguo or ur affic Ti RE stroyer of the soul not beeu | far ab least has the great de. able 10 | find & shorter and a surer and a quick. | | er way down to his own bottomless pit | than the way through the saloon, Lat no one say, recidiore. that you the not p.eaching to | v | are preaching werely to destroy | slo wm, but you are noth | save souls, The facts are thet | ing so effectually blocks up the way {ng : I ! ol the to the house of God and the way salvation to the sinner as does | saloon, Why are there generally so few persons in our churches in comparison to the whole number of our citizens 7 Because of the work and fluence of the Who that ? The preaching, therefore, saloon, denies that will | | preaching also that will help to save And there is amount of deception in i an immense the 1 the gospel, but do not preach As ifthe g rospel her, the soul. phrase, On politics,” was and p g lities an And as if the two had no relation Whilst the true Christian position is to have the ! gospel in our politics as well as in any h other whate ver, 3 kJ not? Are we not to Gi for what ac do as citizens as well as for what we do be. And why { eounited able we in any other relation or fore him ? No man can Jay aside bis moral ac the C apacii y countability when he goes to ballot box to-morrow any more than ad'de that And that fact should | borne in mind, aod especially wontability be Lhe | he can lay ac elsewhere, y | moral and the Christian citizen, The word of God is clear on the | subject. ordained Government bas been of (Gd and the character that the roler ought to have in that government has also been clearly defived by the word of God, Intalligence, moral courage combined comprise the moral character and true rule, And again : When it is sald that) the gospel ministry ought not to] | preach polities, but ought to preach | | th guspel and save souls, I am remind. od of the fact that that was also said when a few wears ago our cooulry | | was within the grip of a rebellion that | was detetmined, if possible, to boid | of to the institation of slavery. And | whilst fo the intense excitement of { those days the gospel of loyalty and) free Jom was not always preached in| | the spirit of the gospel, yet who is | now ready to say, “You did wrong | in waking the pulpit loyal 10 our | | country.’ Who is now ready to say, “You | did wrong to pray for the Unlon | army r* “You did wrong to preach | sermons according to the proclama- tions of the Chief Executive of the pation I" “You did wrong t en’ | courage enlistments for the defense of | the goverament.” Who is sow ready to say these { it is the minister's duty 10 preach the! that | alling would i than our | | the gospel must be, is it a sin, in- | | tion and moral ascountability | those of us especially The prophet (Ezekiel 231, 2- lays down the 3, ele, hf man for | watchman, and if when he seeth [the pulpit when he says: people of the land take the “4 their coasts and set him their the sword come vpon the Jandy he blow the trompet and warn the peoples | of the trumpet and taketh not waraing, then whosoever heareth the sound if the sword come and take him away | his blood shall be upon his own head. Bat if the the c trumpet, watchman gee sword | me and blow not the the people be nos warned, if the sword | come and takeany person from among them, he is taken away in his iniqui- ty, but his blood will I require at the watchman 8 hands. “So then, O thou sot of man, | have set thee a watchman unto the of Israel, therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and (shail) them for me.” Warn The only inquiry for the minister of And’ if it is then it involves moral obliea before (od, and then it involves us all. And then also for your my would be to me sake and the asin, and Ww for mine silence in pulpi You =a | moral wrong and injury. I repeat, therefore, that it would be exceedingly unwise and injurious to r the moral welfare of the to ey, Len and to cause of Christ in general that because a moral question is jn politics—that therefore it should not be taken into the pulpit. But again—with the preaching of politics from the pulpit— I have observed this, and as doubtiess you als, offense of ing politics in the pulpit is not 80 much that politics has been preach: regard to have, that the | preach ed or that politics is oeing preached — but it depends upon whose politics it is that is being preached, Hence the When party is preached, that the likely Is that no, true ? hypocrisy in the chorge, the politics of woe party calls it but than “the gospel,” other party -will more call i “aaltios in the pulpit” -and which in i puiy its estimation should not have been preached. It was so during the war, and it is so now-——and ia all probability it will | always remain so on this subject. And who had vo objections to the proper preaching of politi & during the should not object to it now, war, Consistency is indeed a jewel, and | it is therefore worth preserving. We | should be honest with our conscience | | it has the truth which the people, and | the nation, and the world need ? When in those matters also, as well other matters. All people have, and probably never will, see just As In never | R | have been, | honest diflerences of opinion with re’ | gard to questions of morality and of public policy. And the privilege of which must wmply be acceded —the one to the other. If you ean, then it | is your duty to give me more light | and more truth on those guections? And on the other hand if I can then is it my duty also to give You more light and more truth on those ques tions? But it may still agaio be sald, that the politics 10 which the preaching formerly referred pertained to the two regular parties in the politics then— | sod that in this case it does vot. Bat is certainly does, Is not the regula. like in these matters, There always | and there always will bes | things of the pal was that not also regarded polities in thos days? And polities also dor ng the most exciting political eam. | paigns this country ever withesssd or expericnoed. Bat who is now Mews sy that i 0 Moll x thought that if the. Chris tian paiput north and south had not bein so silent on fhe yubjeet of Huma bondage for nearly a ball century of fers béfore the rebellion, the instivo- won of winery might bave been boii Brin of on Vote oF. ps of that day? Dot | jap 017 state. 1% ¢ | of first wud second pary polices sod tion and the restraint of the liquor [trafie a matter of legidation and a politieal question io the first aod fo the second parties as well as in the third. Has not every General Awew- bly of our State and of other states as well, had this question before them for yenrs past? And has it not also heen a question before the courts of Bo that this is a question leggislaiion as well as of the thira par. ty. y ‘ But again, does the question wheth- et polities ie to ba brought ino the pulpit or wn depind upon the general principle for | 1 { | of and | house might be twice the number of parties that there now for that matter, and yer none of them have the poli- tics that could consistently be taken into the pulpit for discussion ; so that as I have said, it does pot depend up- | on the number of the party but upon | the nature of the politics, Aud here 0, that if the pulpit is to be silentin the presence of the sin and crime of the liquor trafic, the nation's se are tell me al urge, the penple’s de- to be preached ageiost from the pulpit? If | the pulpit is not to lift cp its voice against this monster ini quity of the nineteenth cent ary, then when shall it | spe uk? And the | pulpit may | #troyer—Lthen what sia is question is not that the spesk—bnt ic is that in the hight of its God app inted mission for the moral instruction pal Not to gpean would » mple be a moral crime . - against those for whom Christ died. and the vation of ren, it must speak, “If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his wav, that wicked man shall die his sins—but his et thine 1 1 such an in blood wil | And to | eondemuation at require hand.” one the sentence of will be you | Knew your duty, but vou did it pot. least But I wish also 10 refer to a re mark which is sometimes made with regard to the necessary number of political parties, t ix said, for instance, that more thao two politieal parties in the Same government As a rule that ' i Are Canecessary remark is true—and yet not so at sll places tor at all per iods jn a country’s There are generally but two politica! parties, history for the reason that where a third par. ty is founded upon moral principles sound politieal economy, it more or less speedily becomes the second party the first Such has been the b then in the government tory of both sec- ond and third parties in all ages both in the Church and in the State. For instance, for a thousand years in the history of the Church of the middle ages, there was but ope party, and by which the taken that there a second party, and that all the power of the first party pre- dominant also position Was should not be should by brought to bear upos the second party to crush it at all hazard if possible, But party have did that first or predominate all the truth? Did not the Reformers of that period in the history of the church also have some And ) had they no right to assert it? phy was therg not truth that the people required? moral government with the world a necessity in God's to assert it? But it is said that the Reformers bd only to the seeond pariy in the @hurch, and hence also a neces sity for their existence. But what again is the difference as to the nuw- | ber of the party, whether the second of third or fourth for that matter—if | we retarn only to the year 1839 in the history or our own country we find there is a mere grain of a political | party—a mere handful of an organi- zation numerically, an insignificent aflalr. And by the predominant pst” ties of that day also regarded entirely useless and unnecessary. Bat the platform of the little party declared for the abolition of slavery in the District of Colombia and in the territories, and for the abolition of the interstate slavery trade, and opposi- tion to slavery to the extent of using all constitotional methods for its final overthrow. And at that time the new party received an endorsement to the extent of only 7,500 votes in the entire nation whilst the two predomi. pant parties received nearly two and a half million votes But the voles of the Hitle party were not lost nor thrown away as it is sometimes said. Bat they were counted and thy, were planted. Awd there wasa vital prin. ciple in thew. There was inherent life in thems, There was fundamental goapel truth io them, and they took root and they grew, and four years Inter they instead of seven and a half th naan there were Bixty twa Lhons. aud. Then four years Inter there wore 201 800, then four vears later the vumber full heok to 156.000. Bat four years from that time the prioci. ples written la the pladorm of thay num r of the party—or apa the vi «| tittle third party received au s ndorse. ture of the polities? To wy mid, ment of one aud arhird miliicn voters the question would (aim upon the. wnt four 3 yt tint it vue untae of the eu’ the it vp and a
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