St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-29
MINNEAPOLIS,
A CAMPAIGN SERMON.
Rev. William Wilkinson on State
Needs and Church Duties.


The Rev. William Wilkinson yester-
day preached in ST. Paul's church, and
took the opportunity of speaking about
the needs OF the state and the duty of
the church at this hour. In regard to
them he said:
1t is a condition of things to be deep
ly regretted that most of the men who
are il the lead in all our municipal,
county and state affairs do not appear
to fully understand how many and
grave are the problems which are in our
path.
In studying the conditions under
which we live, and by which we are sur
rounded on every hand. it must be kept
clearly in mind that the generation of
men now in active life in the West have
emigrated or migrated, and this in the
hope Of gain in some form; that our
habits, education, training, likes, dis
likes, nationality, religion and the lack
of it are different and that all these
things give large opportunities for the
adventurer and the demagogue
and the charlatan of evefy kind.
Never has he had such a chance.
He can appeal to the superstition of the
ignorant, the race pride OF men who
have ingraiHed pride III the old, but do
not knew how much better the new is;
he can fire religious hate in the breasts
of unreasoniEg bigots, who have no
knowledge of what the spirit of Chris
tianity is. These men can easily raise
local interests TO the detrlment of larger
interests, and thus minister TO spirit
of division of power and action, when
all the energy we have is needed to deal
with evils we all confess to be real and
deplOre.
There is at this moment no duty more
imperative in the church of God than
this: TO set III clear, strong light the
fact that good citizenship demands from
every man a careful, wise, and hence
Just, exercise OF the responsibility the
state has placed upon him. There is no
worse enemy TO the truth, 10 the church,
the state, and to all the Modest heritage
we have in this great republic, than the
man WHO. on any line. seeks, Tor his
own or for party ends, 10 raise
false hopes or to gain advantages.
/ am not pleading for the sacrifice of
principle. Far from it. 1t is the duty
of every good man to stand fairly,
bravtly and actively for the right. God
never gave to the children of men
nobler task than that which is by him
in this state placed in the hands of his
church. 1t is nothing less than to con
Quer it for Him. We may talk abou
government reform and about the
burning questions which fill the
minds of practical politicians and
moralists. We shall do little
good till tie church becomes
worthy the vocation she is called to fill.
What a spectacle fof angels and men is
the man WHO with piOuS face mOurus
the degeneracy Of the press, the perfidy
and mercenary ways of politicians, who
never writes line to lift the one, or
does an act to purify the other. Do
you denounce connection OF church
wIth state? join with you. Let US
show what free church i'll a free state
can do. Do you denounce the OpprcS-
sion of the governments of the
old world? So do [. Let us
prove how glorious are the
results OF all Untrammeied republic. Do
you mourn the public loss OF prestige
the church has sustained in regard to
working people? Let us by sympathy
endeavor to improve all the relations of
labor to capital. Do YOU deplore the
spirit of hate in regard to the rich?
Turn again to the Sermon on the
Mount and practice its teachings and
in one measure we shall 60
that the Master has given us to do. For
one. repudiate the idea that the church
is an ornamental appendage to polite
society: a Sunday rest for the weary,
but with no high. aggressive, useful
mission for earnest men, who see the
iii. the wrong, on every hand. 1t is
justice, truth; to make right easy and
wrong hard; to make law reflect the
sentiment of a people.