The Daily Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Or.) 1876-1883, 1883-09-02
Politics and the Pulpit.

4 church IN Connecticut has ac-
cepted a donation of a lot of land for
a parsonage on conditions imposed by
the donor that the minister must not
preach "Caesarism, politics, Garfield
ism, or glorifcation or denunciation
of any living or dead person, nothing
but the pure scriptural facts Of Christ
and him cruci6ed." Some persons
who had contributed money towards
building a parsonage sensibly objected
TO tying up their donation by any
such restriction and the giver of the
land said he would make good any
subscriptions which were lost for this
reason.
The local paper thinks it is easy to
look forward dozen years and see
how sick that church will be Of Its
bargain. In the first place. no preach
er with any respect for his manhood
or his calling can submit to any such
restriction on what he must say as
these conditions impose. 1t tickles
the ears of a great many thOughtless
people to say that minister shouldn't
preach politics, but If he means to
tell his people the truth, he can't
preach ''Christ and him cruci6ed"
long in these DAYS without running
athwart the current of politics. And
If the preacher Is a true man, with a
particle of grit in him, he will not
hesitate to say his say when a vital
r ,..es.,,,l 1..nr.xs -
ted to the peoples decision. His
station as preacher cannot absolye
him from duty which every one will
agree wonld rest upon him were he in
any other vocation. Whatever "Ce-
sarism" or "GArieldism" may be, we
are unable to say. Perhaps Christ
himself was guilty of preaching the
former when he said, "Render unto
Cesar the things that are Caesars. "
But then he didn't have a parsonage
to live in.
But that church, when it finds pas
tor. will also find itself given up to
hunting for heresies in his sermons.
He will be far more OF a diplomatist
than most preachers if he can keep
his discourse clear from all expressions
which could be considered as trench
ing on the forbidden subjects. Like
the boy who throws stones at the
street lanterns to see how little he can
miss them, the clergyman will find
himself making experiments with his
hearers to see how much politics he
can preach to them without their
knowing 1t. But should he, like the
greatest preacher of Christ that ever
lived, reason earnestly with his con-
gregation of righteousness, temper
ance and judgement to come" he
would be sure to raise the ire of some
sensitive soul, who would not be at a
loss for arguments to show that he
had violated all the conditions by
which he held his pulpit. The church
cannot fail to be doomed to no end of
internal trouble arising from the at
tempt to muzzle its preacher.
The fact is, while the primary pur-
pose and chief mission of the church
is spiritual, it cannot ignore the
everyday current of human life and
be successful. This donor of an acre
of land wants nothing preached-in
the most literal sense-except "Christ
and him Crucifed. But Christ him.
self never preached any such doctrine,
and what is more he never practiced
1t. His greatest sermon was full OF
eyery-day-life of maxims which
were directly applicable to the
commonest duties Of his hearers
The pulpit of to-day can have M
better model.