Smyrna times., 1872-12-11

De1irercd by Rcr Geo A. PhrLus IN AsJuly {
w. f. Ghnrch, Smyrna, DelaUare, NOr.
2Sh, 1872
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall
prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy
walls, prosperity within thy palaces. For my
brethren and companions sakes will now say
Peace be within thee Because of the house
OF the Lord our God, will seek thy good.
-PS. CXII-2-l6.
In obedience to National and State authority |
we are to-day assembled to give thanks unto |
the name of the Lord, for His merces through |
the past year. We regard the occasion as
eminently suitable for reflection upon OUR RE
LATION AS CHRISTIANS TO THE CIVIL POWER
UNDER WHICH WE LIVE.
As an outline to our thoughts, we have Sc
lected the above passages of Holy Writ. First
because Jerusalem being the civil centre of
the Judaic power, is spoken of as such by the
Psalmist, and is made the subject of prayer,
and the source of individual prosperity and
secondly. because the prosperity Of the cause
of God is interblended and directly connected
with the welfare and prosperity of the civil
power under which it is resident.
We should not do violence to the spirit of
= revelation did we, for our day and community,
change the name of the subject of the
Psalmlsts prayer, by paraphraslng it thus: :
$ Pray for the peace Of the United States they
/ shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within
5 thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces
, For my brethren and companions sakeS | will
r now say Peace be within thee. Because OF
:. the house of the Lord our God, l will seek thy
9 good.
+ In the outset of this investigation it will not
J. be improper to refer to the false system of
r political philosophers, by which they would
.d divorce Church and State so completely as
. that the one shall never be brought into any
r, relation whatever to the other. No one ques.
ar tOns the improperly of combining civil and
p ecclesiastical government under Que and the
a. same head. The head of the nation has
ID neither natural, civil, or moral right 10 the
~ headship of the church, and the contrary is
r equally true; but with all that may be said tC
the contrary, it Is an established fact tha
or religious and civil government, whether uniteC
en- or separate, rise and fall with each other.
tn The great revolutions which have takel
sy place in time pour an UNMARRIED blaze OF llgh
h9 upon this statement. With the fall of tht
IN JehOviStic power in Jerusalem, and the estab
ry ishment of idolatry comes the fall Of the civi
to power, and the captivity of Babylon. Wit
ns nSs the fall of the Roman Power in Spain, ieN
,es years ago, came the fall of the civil power O
ne Isabel the wicked, and the revolution Of tn
l% lso State. With the departure from gospel sim
he plicity and purity in the middle ages, came tn
Of revolution under Martin Luther, the indepeT
,eli dence of the German Emperor, and afterward
"S "p ment. With the overthrow of the BIRTHS
for Power in the Colonies of America, came ais
On. the destruction of the English Ecclesiastic;
Maix M power, and later still in our own history,
bali history of a nation that has no Church an
.sn ess State government under the same or jOir
ihSt headship, when the church had persistent
esi- rejected and mathematical slavery, the natO
t to itself took the same course and revolutlonize
pT" the country and bled and made graves in OF
voll md On fan In n
~ a. the stain. These illustrations might be multi
iue, Piled but enough has been produced to sho
as- the tenableness Of the proposition.
nay nay, If inquiry be made into the occult causes
use, these conditions it will be found that Il
.ket church is the spiritual force that formuates
iuss individual consciences the theory that shall
riot civil action become national and universe
y 'S5 s6 When cid England, for two hundred years.
such fused to support a single Bishop in the Col
@ @hSH MES and thus left the churches uncOnsccrate
'hs and the members without the rite of confirm
aud ton, she was but preparing the rising spirit
ncia State independence, to connect with it cccle
Ard And astical independence, and by this process pI
the pared the way for the establishment OF {
,mG tors Methodist Episcopal Church in these Unit
put States on the very basis on which rests o
,''%" re-, State Governmental Liberty, Equality a
7 z or or Fraternity. Aud side by side with the ci
ip or idea of the government, "al civil power is
ID 9His S rived from the people may be written
olgc, maxim Of the church, all ecclesiastical pow
y ! Eve is derived from the laity. The Christi
sHn'r Church is not a part of the civil power, as
I the eye is part of the body, but it is the SOul
soH the civH po,oer developing its growth into
Is radsr re- and order and harmony, creating its mo
" Tor powers, and Strengthening its processes
ss ss'S tT Justice, public virtue, and humanity.
rPose. these reasons the christians relation to c
I'M mate government is intimate and close nor can
and ,S be true to the race who either ignores tn
shall or lightly esteems them.
upon l proceed now to show the just grounds
which it becomes US to be deeply interested
the welfare and happiness of this great cou
the ry to which we have the pleasure and bless
are to belong. | shall divide the subject into
tates three following phases Of thought. Firs
fear With our government is involved our perso
t "a happiness and prosperity. Secondly-Witl
is involved our social and family prosper
and Third-With it is involved our religi
busi- prosperity.
1. Our personal happiness is intima