Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-06-20
POLITICS AND RELIGION.

The LEADER gave last week signif-
cant utterance from the New Orleans
Christian Advocate Methodist } on
the moral and political responsibility
of Christian citizens. The following
wise and timely words are from a Bap-
fist source. The Baptist Teacher, pub
lished under the auspices of the Amer
lean Baptist Publication Society.
There arc some dcvout people sup
poSedly dovout who are dreadfully
afraid of any juXtaposition of the sub
jects we have named above. They dep
recatc it rs Charles Lamb did mix
ture of brandy and water. on the
ground that it spoiled two good
things" We find it hard to have pa
thence with such super sanity souls.
| Much. indeed. that passes for politics
and that relates to merely economic
questions, such as the currency and
the tariff. have indeed no moral ele-
ment. and religion may not therefore
concern itself about them. And that
religious teacher abuses his holy office
who uses it for the furtherance of his
party's views in connection with such
matters
But when moral issues are involved,
such "a relate to the oppressor of the
hireling in his wages. the widow, and
the fathcrless. and the turning aside
of the stranger from his right or to
giant evils like intemperance, which
are debauching the nations life and
threatening its very existence, then for
a religious teacher to be silent is to be
! Il Nf. 81
4 Christian dares to NEEDLE with
anything under heaven that isn't right,
even though the devil calls it politics.
For number of years now the great
political parties in America have scarce
ly dared to grapple with moral ques-
ton from the unworthy fear of losing
votes. as if the spoils of office were all
that parties lived for. Now that the
are effectually laid, it is to be hoped
that the Christian people, North and
South. will be brought into closer sym
pathy, and will address themselves de-
terminedly and unitedly to the settle
ment of some of the great sociological
and moral questions that have only
too long been ignored, and which must
be wisely and courageously met, and
that right speedily, or Church and
State will be overwhelmed in a com
mon ruin.
There is a widespread unrest among
the laboring classes, there are mutter-
ings of gathered wrath. and the begin
ming of ground swell that may over
turn the whole structure of modern
civilization. In the Bible. and in the
Bible alone. are to be found the basal
principles on which we can solidly
rest. We have trusted too much to
the politicians and given too little heed
to the apostles and prophets.
In the matter of naval architecture,
after a great many foolish and costly
experiments, it occurred to shipbuild-
ers to study Gods models of things
meant to navigate the water, and then
they began to fashion ships that could
swim like a fish with the swiftest mo-
ton and the least resistance.
Even so, after long and wretched and
bloody experience in Statecraft, the
world may come to learn at last that
God. who made man to live in civil So
ciety, knew just on what principles 1t
ought to be governed. and laid them
down in the book that he has given for
our guidance in every conceivable re-
lation of life. The Bible, the Bible
the religion of Protestants," was the
cry of the Reformation. And "the BIZ
bic. the Bible the handbook of states
men and the chart of our politics y
must be the cry of that wider, grander
reformation for which the grooming
world is waiting.