New-York tribune., 1878-05-11
PIG IRON IN THE PULPIT.


When a clergyman steps outside Of the ordinary
,phere Of the pulpit into the domain OF politics.
Ue infer that he believes himself commissioned TO
deliver some special gospel and feels, Ike his Mas
ler show am straitened till il be accomplished y
His emtnence in the Christian ministry gives to the
words of the Rev. James Freeman Clarke an especial
weight. and we gladly hail the purer and clearer
light from the upper world which be may draw down
upon the tangled pathways of this
What. then is our chagrin TO see the theoOgian
leave his ria sacrd only to limp and stagger and
stumble along the high road trOdden by the most
ignorant and the most abandoned OF politicians
Where shall we bestow reverence when man,
venerable eminent, consecrated IN holy oIuels
rises at the altar where be ministers, and soemhiy
delivers for the everlasting gospel alienation Of
the feeblest platitudes with the most causeess ana
reckless slandersi Is there then 40 balm III Gead'
II there no physician therel Have we indeed fallen
unon the davs foretold by jeremiah the prophet the
son of Hilkiah when every neighbor will walk with
,landers and they will deceive every one his neigh
Dor. and will not speak the truth3 The prophets
prophesy falsely. Shall l not visit for these
thingsi saith the Lord: shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as thisi
A clergyman Is apparently so unaccustomed to
deal with deInOnstTable facts that when ne does
come into their realm he Skips about among them
like young hart upon the hills, with no more ap-
prehension of their real nature than the young hart
has of the corn and vines which his Wild feet
trampe down. 1t would require a superhunan
agility to follow Mr. Clarke across lots and repair
all The mischief Of his raids 4 clergyman can knot
more falacv into balfhOur sermon than an octave
volume can disentangle. But do propose to exam
inc two or three paragraphs of this extraordinary
"Discourse," and to show thence the superficial ma
ture ofits authors observation the truly marvellous
extent of his ignorance, and the wide scope OF ms
slander
viii intelligent lay1nen believe that this clergy
man comes to the door Of his tabernacle and cries 10
them Behold, turn in, pray you, have mes
sage from God uuto thee" and that this message -
cribbed bodily from every morning journal ahd
every evening post in the countTyi "What the
Nation asks of Congress" he says, brisky tripping
into Newcastle with his basket Of Goals " Is stable
currency. 2 reformed civil service aud peace be-
tween all parts Of the Union!" He breaches ser
mon and prints a pamphlet to repeat the hack ana
hacked and hackneye1 platforms Of the political
parties and conventions and newspapers hundred
times promised, not yet achieved, and never ap-
parently put forth with less sincerity, never main-
tanned with less energy, never promulgated VITA
less wisdom than by the present Administration
What all parties agree on with absolute unaninlty,
that Mr Clarke rolls out ore r0tHndo, with heroic
yalor But upon the way Of accomplishing these
desirable ends-the point where all ouI hight Is made
he throws no light, but rather darkness Visible
A single paragraph will show how slight and
supercilious is the mode of treatment adopted by
this man of God who stands up in his own profess
slonal robes to stigmatze the members Of another
profession for professional derelIction. Casting
abOut for the causes of depression in business, lie
aligbtsupon the war-tarifi which he denounces with
categorical severity This tariff, which pro
fesses to protect industry, has nearly DESTROYED it,
Consider the fact that pg-iron, the material OF al
most all other mechanical industry has for many
years been protected from all foreign competition
by a duty from So TO 50 ton and rolled and
hammered iron from $15 to $40 ton. This IS
not an infant industry which requires temporary
protection for it has existed from the first settle
ment Of the country; il involves little skill 1t has
sufficient protection in its weight and expense Of
transportation and vet every industry in the land
which uses iron in any way is obliged to pay tins
tax-because the irOn-masters of Pennsylvania and
elsewhere are so powerful that no politicians are
bold enough to oppose their wishes"
And having thus airly in a single paragraph dis
posed of a subject which has occupied nations for
generations, this profound philosopher Lies him to
fresh woods and pastures new.
Now l do not pretend to know anything worth
knowing about the tarif-anytmng at all except
what the human mlud lnCNliaulN ana UntpHN'i uH'N
ACQUIRES by living in an intelligent atmosphere. Nor
Is il imperative that clergyman should know any
thing about the tariff. There are plenty
of persons whose business it is, and we
have right to leave it to them. But
when a clergyman, before my very face and eyes
breaches nonsense on any subject whatever, it in
mediately becomes my affair. 1t would surely seem
as if man might never have known so mnch as that
Spain held town of Tarifa it would seem as II
man might have been born deaf and dumb and
blind and only touch the world with fumbing fin
ger-tips, and yet, as we country folk say, might
sense that such discourse" as this sermon must be
nonsense.
Grant that a minister believes an important
part of the good tdngs of great JOY which shall be
to all people was low tariff or free trade but why
docs he stand in Boston and vault over his pulpit
ratings and across Massachusetts,, across Connect
ecut across New-Jersey, to pOunce down upon Penn
sylvana pig-irOn for denunciatiOn and dciancef
Every son of Elkanah among us instantly sets him
self TO asking this son of Kish, What meaneth
then this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the
lowing of the oxen which hear ~ Does not Air.
Clarke know that it is the cry Of
the sheep whose fleece and its fabrics are
weighed down with war tariff 10 protect the
hocks OF Hampshire and Berkshire. and the woollen
mills of Salem, and NewburypOrt, and Amesbury,
and Lowell, aud Lawrencef Is it not the lowing OF
the oxen whose tanned hides must pay toll to feed
the shoe manufactures of Lynn, and Beverly, and
Danvers. and all the region roundabout But this
clergyman whose church is built whose streets are
paved, whose clothes are made from war tariff, he
like Sam Weller, looking for his father in the
courtroom ccilIng-lifts his eyes to high Heaven,
and blind to the glare and deaf to the blare Of the
tariff all about him, valanty arraigns the pg-iron
of Pennsylvania, and then glances around upon the
politicians with the triumphant self-satisfaction of
Saul. the King of Israel: IL have performed the