Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-04-25

No. of Series of six Articles Written by J.
ID. Smith, NJ. De- for the Tennessee Methodist
Now, my good brother, get ont your
pencil and paper. and as you read mark
sentences and make notes for reply.
for guarantee that the columns of the
Tennessee Methodist will be open to
you for thorough dissection of what
shall say on the subject; and you
should make the dissection publicly Or
else quit saying ilately that it can
be made. Yes. you have heep saying
that the question of politics or poiiti-
cal methods should never enter the
columns of religious paper. be dis
ct.ssad in the pulpit by the preacher,
in any way agitate the CA4fcb, nor de-
mand of the church member loyalty to
the principles of the Christianity he
processes.
But now AM going to ask for your
authority for such a position. and |
want you to give me the thus sayeth
the Lord" ON the subject right here in
the Tennessee Methodist. | say that a
mans politics should be part OF his
religion. and hence his politica! anA
religious creed should harmoniHe. You
say his politics should be no part of
his religion, and hence his political and
religious creeds may very properly be
Qntagonistic. Now, as an honest en-
qllirgr attef tlQit. ! want your author
ity for your position, and ii QEdeg 10
entitle myself to it I viii first give you
what I conceive to lie my authority for
my position. When God established
his Church in the family Of Abraham
and afterwards gave his descendants a
distinct nationality, he gave them as
complete political cIeed az, ho did a
religious creed and lac made the two
creeds to harmoniHe. lie has at no
time acknowledged his error in so do.
ing, nor authorized any man or set OF
men to destroy the beauty and harmo-
ny of his plan. Do you tell me Christ
discovered the error of the Father and
corrected it, fiy l~r2ther, God never
made any mistakes. But, you say
"Christ said, My kingdom is not of this
world" No, nor was the kingdom of
grace thai God set I'D in the hearts of
the fsraelites of thi5 Wosid but that
did not prevent him from giving tison,
a political creed to harmonize with
their professed spiritual relations to
him : nor did Christ ever authorize any
man or combination of men to destroy
that hapmoAy:
But, yoH say, "Did not Christ say,
render unto Caesar the things that be-
long to Caesar, and to God the things
that are God's?'" Yes, and if you were
under the protection of heather gov
eminent today, you would pay your
taSeS to that government just as Christ
said DO al.d then YOU would worship
your own recognized God instead of
the idols of that government just as
Christ said do; and just as Daniel and
many others had done in the past; but
that would have nothing to do with the
exercise Ok your political creed or guar
antee political rights: Of justly YQE IL
ignoring or destroying the beauty and
harmony that God had established be-
tween The political and religious creeds
of his specially recognized people.
What right has protesting Christian
to claim the benefits of any part of the
Old Testament Scriptures who rejects
the binding force of another part?
There are some things that have been
fulfilled but they have their e*aet
counterpart in newly instituted Chris
tian ordinances. and in these, are of
just as binding force as they ever were. /
Then | insist that, under existing cir
cumstances, in order that the religious
and political creeds of Methodists may
harmonize, we must have a political
party or Organization that makes the
abolition of the licensed beverage liQ-
or traffic one of the leading planks in
its platform.
Nov, my brother, don't sulk. Sulk- I
ers never did do any good, sither in re |
ligion or politics. If~you do not keep
the file of the Tennessee Methodist, /
cut this out and carefully paste it in |
your big scrap book, and leave plenty I
of room for other articles to follow. l /
am going right down to the core of this /
licensed liquor problem; and if there
are rotten spots in the core where they |
were least expected, you must stand |
the liberation AID diffusion of the nox- I
ious gases while | dissect the rotten .
spots. And now, if fail at any time /
to properly WELD the knife while maxi /
ing the dissection, claim it as Chris
tian duty you owe me that you come
back at me through the Tennessee
Methodist that | may have the benefit
of your council.
paduaob XIV