Morning journal and courier., 1890-09-01
THE GOSPEL AND THE STRIKES.

Laws-Cfv1l Governments and True |
Liberty-The Courts and Arbitra-
ton.
elias the gospel anything to say about
disturbances or strikes?"
The above was the theme of DIR. Nc
Chesney's sermon at the Trinity M. E.
church yesterday morning. The text for |
the occasion was taken from the First |
Epistle of Peter, second chapter, thirteenth
to sixteenth verses inclusive. A large
audience was present among whom where
many prominent men of the city. In COM
mencing his sermon the doctor said:
"Some people have hastily inferred that
religion belongs to the sphere of sentiment
and that it has little if anything to do with
practical life. This unworthy conception
of the true province of religion works mis-
chief in several ways. It brings religion
itself into contempt. For if religion fails
to meet our actual necessities, then fail
to see how its claim upon ones time and
substance can be maintained. Any theory
of religion which divorces it from practi-
cal life must reduce religion to
the department of incidentals. And
in so far as this theory gains credence in
the popular sentiments of society, the
people will turn away from its affairs.
| This seems to me to be good place to
raise this question. l will not dwell
upon it, but simply throw it out as
query to your meditations. In those
| parts of Christondom where church at
| tendance is confined to the few, while the
multitudes pass by magnificent and al
most empty churches, how. far is this
/ !, r, TO no cir of
religion lies outside the sphere of practi
| cal life. Another unworthy conception
| of religion is that it is it's Office to adjust
| a mans relation to his God only. But
| that mans relations to his fellow man
| must be determined by something which
lies outside of religion itself. In
other words that mans relations to
his God must be settled according
| to the laws of God and his relations
upon an independent basis. In harmony
| with this theory it has been supposed that
the Bible is very good book to determine
all questions bearing upon mans relation
| to good, but that in order to settle mans
| relations to his fellows we must look else
| where for our guidance. Is that the rea-
| son why the air is SO full of various
| schemes of socialism? Is there not q sub
| tie expectation that some wise man OF
|
forth and reorganize society and SO solve
| all social problems, as though in these lat
| ter days new perplexities had arisen and
| that new elements are to be formed, prob
| lens unknown before and which neither
| God nor man have been able to find So
| luton. AS I read this Bible-revealed re-
| 1igion it covers not only all the questions
relating to man as an individual but all
problems concerning his present and
future God has made provision for every
condition and relation of life. The Psalm
list said, Thy commandments are exceed
ingly broad. The scope of morality is as
| wide as as human life and conduct. The
Bible regulates the household, which is the
unit of social organization. 1t sets forth
| the duties of husband and father. It sets
forth the principles of commercial life, and
it is significant fact that any departure
from these principles settles confusion in
the business world. Many a worldling
| who never enters church knows how es-
sential honesty and truthfulness is to the
business world. The Bible warns men
pointing to Lot, who made a mistake in
pitching his tent toward Sodom. He be-
came rich, but his family was runined,
and Lots-history has often been repro
duced in spite of warnings. The
Bible teaches every vital and moral
principle involved in politics. It teach
es rulers how to govern men
and furnishes the principles of just and
righteous administration. 1t teaches sub
lection on the part of the governed; it
teaches that civil government has sacred
functions with divine authority back of it.
There can be no government without law.
We have for our guidance the admoniJions
of history. Great nations that once flour
ished were sunk into decay. Egypt, Per-
STA, Assyria, Greece and Rome, with the
Hebrew nation, paved the way for thei,
great overflow by ignoring private, social
and political morality. One of the signs
of the times is a tendency to ignore the
natural groupings of society and to super
sede them by experimental theories of So
cial organization. The lax divorce laws
of some of our states have the same ten
dency. What are the obligations of a citi-
zen to his state! We must uphold law and
order A good citizen is law unto
himself. The same God who gave
us the church has given us civil
government with its laws and institutions.
Now let us turn to the text, Submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for
the Lords sake" That is to say, as citi-
zen be law abiding-be such for the Lords
sake, don't riot, don't revel, don't encour-
age mob law for that 10 outlawry. re-
ligion that does not inspire a becoming
respect for the laws of the land is a fail
ure. The function of civil government
are providential in their origin. As magis-
trates they should be respected. They are
for the punishment of evil doors and for
the praise of them that do we'll The
apostle tells us that this matter of well do
ing as citizens is not simply matter of
or own option or of human expediency,
but that it is the will of God. A part of
his revealed will as much as the ten COM
mandments, we'll doing as citizen is one
of the tests of true religion. There
is no word perhaps in our Ian
guage 80 frequently used and SC
little understood as that word liberty.
1t is an ancient word, used by prophets
and apostles alike. Reformers have made
frequent use of it. 1t is quoted by states
men, rulers, preachers, editors and polltl-
clans, all classes and conditions of men.
Men who have owned slaves and traded in
human flesh have chung to the word lib
erty. Despots whose right hands were red
with innocent blood have prated about lib
erty. The men who inspired and enacted
all the horrors of the French revolution
did all that in the name of liberty. The
effort that was made nearly thirty years
ago to disrupt this Union and set up
shareholders confederacy was attempted in
the name of liberty. The men who fill
l
pollute this fair land, degrade manhood,
impoverish our populace and overload oul
iaiis, etc.-such men, along with the entire
saloon brigade, pirate much about liberty
In the days Of the apostles men used
liberty as cloak OF malicious
ness|used liberty as cloak te
conceal something else. The great foe OF
liberty is despotism and tyranny. Liberty
means freedom to enjoy all industrial and
corporate rights which nature and provi-
dence have conferred upon us. Freedom
to corrupt others and debauch society
multiply crimes by creating an atmosphere
in which all crimes incubate- freedom to
the state, to lower the tone of personal re
sponsibility to God and to all law human
and devine-such freedom is not the nat
ural or acquired right of any human being
What is the state for but to protect al
all classes in the enjoyments of their civil
} rights-to protect the employer and the
employed For this purpose we choose
our. rulers, construct our courts to arbi
trate all differences between man and man
in all secular affairs. It is the intention
of the state to prevent all forms of oppres
! sion and tyanny.
That interstate commerce commission
} is charged with an important wori
of preventing discrimination in com
merce-that discrimination by which
the few should be favored ant
!, the many suffer accordingly. TX
, civil government alone belongs this re
{ sponsibility, and whenever any corpora
: / z--o-:ro+;o,, ooouynoa the RIGHT tf