The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-05-30

When a clergyman steps outside of the
ordinary sphere of the pulpit into the
| domain of politics, we infer that he be-
lieves himself commissioned to deliver
some special gospel, and feels, like his
Master, chow am | straitened till it be
accomplished" His eminence in the
Christian ministry gives to the words of
the Rev. James Freeman Clarke an es-
pecial weight, and we gladly hail the
purer and clearer light from the upper
world which he may draw down upon the
tangled pathways of this.
What, then, is our chagrin to see the
theologian leave his via Sacra only to lin p
and stagger and stumble along the high
road trodden by the most ignorant and
the most abandoned of politicians
Where shall we bestow our reverence
wnen a man, venerable, eminent, conse-
Grated in holy orders, rises at the altar
where he ministers, and solemnly deliv-
ers for the everlasting gospel an alterna-
tion of the feeblest platitudes with the
most causeless and reckless ISLANDERS
Is there no balm in Gilead Is there no
physician there? Have we indeed fallen
upon the days foretold by jeremiah the
prophet, the son of Hilkiah, when every
neighbor will walk with ISLANDERS, and
they will deceive every one his neighbor,
and will not speak the truth The
prophets prophesy falsely. Shall l not
visit fer these things saith the Lord ::
shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this
A clergyman is apparently so uuac
customed to deal with demonstrable facts
that when he does come ito their realm
he skips about among them like young
hart upon the hills, with no more appre-
hension of their real nature than the
young hart has of the corn and vines his
wild feet trample down. 1t would re-
quire a superhuman agility to follow Mr.
Clarke across lots and repair all the mis-
chief of his raids. a clergyman can knot
more fallacy into half hour sermon than
an octave volume can disentangle But
| do propose to examine two or three
paragraphs of this extraordinary Dis
course" and to show thence the superb
cial nature Of its authors observation,
the truly marvellous extent of his ignor-
ance, and the wide scope of his SANDER.
Will intelligent laymen believe that
this clergyman comes to the door Of his
! tabernacle and cries to them: Behold,
turn in, l pray you, l have message
from God unto thee" and that this mes
sage is cribbed bodily from every morn
ing journal and every evening post in the
country What the Nation asks OF
Congress- he says, briskly tripping into
Newcastle with his basket Of Goals, lis a
stable currency, reformed civil service,
and peace between all parts of the
Union = He breaches a sermon and
prints a pamphlet to repeat the hack and
hacked and hackneyed platforms of the
political parties and conventions and
newspapers-a hundred times promised
not yet achieved, and never apparently
put forth with less sincerity, never main
tanned with less energy, never promul
gated with less wisdom than by the
present Administration. What all par,
ties agree on with absolute unanimity
that Mr.. Clarke rolls out, ore rotundo
with heroic valor. But upon the way oi
accomplishing these desirable ends-the
point where all our fight is made-he
throws no light, but rather darkness Wis
ible.
A single paragraph will show how
slight and supercilous is the mode OF
treatment adopted by this man Of God
who stands up in his own professional
robes to stigmatlZe the members Of an
other profession for professional derelic
ton. Casting about for the causes of de
preston in business, he alights upon the
wartariff, which he denounces with cat
egorical severity: This tariff which
processes to protect industry, has nearly
iron, the material Of almost all other me
chanical industry, has for many year:
been protected from all foreign c0mpeti
ton by d duty from Sc to 80 ton, anc
rolled and hammered iron from $l5 tt