The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-11-22

then to be Immediately used in elections, voting
on questions Of which they thoroughly ig-
norant. The suffrage and naturalization laws
are badly formed. No man or woman should
have vote until he or she can read and write
the language of the country We have here
little Helvetias Bohemias and Swedens, where
the languages of those peoples are solely used
in schools, churches. and even in the courts.
1t is only when the Roman Catholic Church
acts as political institution that she fears evil
from it, 1t is against free rress and free speech
In Catholic France 480 jour nalists were at one
time in prison for criticisirg the government. If
that law applied in the United States. there
would not be an editor out of Jail; but wthal, it
would be great calamity to hamper the press
She saw another evil in the division of school
money among religious sects. 1t the de-
mand OF the Catholics; but any law TO that end
should be frowned upon A portion of the
Catholics would mean another to the Baptists,
another to the Methodists and throughout all &C.
nominations. Yet some morning she expected
to read that a lot OF precious demagogue5 had
passed just such Law.
The saloon in politics was another danger. for
what party came to power without the grace OF
this traffic! Onefourth of the people of the
United States live in cities. and there the saloon
influence Is the greatest. There were two
kinds OF socialism, one of the working
men and the other Of the interna-
tionalists, who are the Anarchists 1t
is impossible 70 build society on the Louis
Blanc idea until all men and women angels.
AS for the Henry George theories, she regretted
he did not succeed in election, because one year
would be sufficient to expose the inherent weak
of his system of government Socialism is
an importation. 1t naturally belongs where the
few rule the many. But in this country it found
encouragement because wages in the factory and
mining regions were insufficient AS wages in
crease so do the wants of the workngmen. The
advance of civilization is ahead of their condi-
tons. Our factory systems produce a class of
hereditary operators They are cramped and
belttled mentally. On the other hand
is the increasing power OF capitalists and mo-
nopolists. 1t is not good reading to the poor
men, this exhibition of fortunes won the
stock exchange. Yet the workingmen who favor
anarchy spend in Chicago alone $l,00O,0OO a
month for liquor. $4,000 900 a year. She did
not believe that their way to success lay through
boycotts and strikes. The skrmishing of the
conflict has begun, and no one can tell the end
The cities the dangerous centers, there ali
the devitry being Matched, with vice riding tri-
umphant. She could suggest no remedies, but
hoped for the best
The Christian Conception of Politics.
At the Fourth Presbyterian Church yesterday
morning Rev G. L. McNutt preached from the
text: "And Jesus came and spake unto them
saying, All power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth, Matthew xviii. 18. The sermon
was the last in the series he has been giving on
the life of Christ. He asked the questions THE
redemptive work Of Christ on earth being finished
has all relation between Christ and the world
ceased2 is it not common conception that
Christ is waiting in heaven for the millennium.
then to begin his reign as King eternal9 Is it
true, has Christ been idle all these centuries9"
He said the New Testament in man passages
affirms that Christ is to day the Lord of L ords
a re L 49, Ill
ereiens III heaven and on earth. In the language
OF Dr. Hodge. Christ is the God of Providence
1t is in, and through, and by Him that the uni
verse is governed" If so be that God will over
turn the nations until He whose right
they are, it is practical question to consider
anew the question of politics Politics is the
science of government Church and state may
be divorced. Politics and religion can never be-
Politics is part of religion. Religion is the
spiritual eravitation between God, as a spirit,
and made in His image In the
nature of things it must be So
Between the earth that is material
and every atom of the universe there exists a
relation that cannot be ignored. The atom can
not ignore the earth. The earth is bound to
recognize the atom. Between God and all
moral beings there must be similar gravita-
tion. Man cannot ignore God. He may curse
him-the relation exists Just the same. A man
may defy Rrayitation, but grayitation never
changes. This spiritual gravitation is religion,
VI WulVI pUliltCS Is q pdrL OlltlCS Is not q
field cut off from ali moral principles and prac
tees. No Christian has right to say II am
out of politics; it is too corrupt for me to mingle
with" The Christian cannot get out of politics
He may refuse to vote or hold Office. He must
live under government-and all governments are
under Christ-either Loyalty or in rebellion. In
many respects ours is a heather nation. All
reference to God Is excluded from our schools
and all thought of Him from politics But God
in Christ is still in politics. We may go on ig-
noring the fact We may rush blindly over the
precipice. and over the wreck the future his
torian will write the epitaph of every nation
whose ruins strew the path of history, '"They
knew not God" Sometime from the ruins Of
the past, from disaster and humiliation, the ma
tons will learn who is ruler, and "at the name
of Jesus every knee shall bow" If every voter,
if every law-giver if the President and all in au-
thority should bow the knee at the name of
Jesus. this country would be endowed with i'm
mortal youth. This is the Christian conception
of politics