St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-05
BLOW FROM THE PULPIT
At THE PRESENT INCOMPETENT MU-
NIcLPAL GOVERNMENT:
EXAMPLES SET By MOSES.

They Wanted for Rulers. Then
Appointed the Chosen Ones
He Outlined the Qualifica-
tions Necessary for Rulers.
Rev. William s. Cochrane. of Bates
Avenue M. E. church, preached last
evening upon the topic of selecting fit
men for the municipal government.
Without saying SO directly Mr.. Cochrane
considered the present government
unfit to be continued in office. His text
and remarks were as follows:
Exodus xviii, 20.-"Thou shalt pro-
vide out OF all the people able men,
such as fear God, men of truth, hating
covetouSness."
After histori cal eXordium Rev. w.
S. Cochrane said !: Let me now invite
you to consider with me some of the
features pertaining to the election Of
these subordinate officers or rulers,
which are, in measure, analogous to
our own form of government. Thou
shalt provide out of all the people,"
From the pllraseOlOgy of my text one
might infer that Moses went through
the camp of Israel and selected such men
(as he considered best qualified to rule.
This. however, was not the case; for it
was not Moses that made the selection,
but the people themselves. Moses
simply confirmed them. This I infer
from Deut. l., 10. where Moses, III re-
ferring back TO this event uses these
words: And l Spake unto you.at that
time, saying, am not able to bear you
myself alone. Take you wise men and
understanding men and known among
your tribes, and will make them rulers
over you. And We answered me and
said. tile thing which thou hast spoken
is good for US to do" By this we see
that the people elected their rulers, and
Moses simply ratified their choice and
installed them into office. Here, then,
was a government ''OI the people, by
the people, and for the people"
In Israel during the time under con-
sideration the people had the privilege
or selecting their rulers, and in this
particular our condition is similar, for
i'll America the people rule. Then, too,
II their laws were not properly admin
iStered the people were to blame for it,
Tor il improper persons were elected to
office. you will readily admit that the
disgrace was the peoples. In like man
ner, if the city OF st. Paul, the state of
Minnesota. or the United States of
America, in our coming elections, elect
men TO office, the disgrace will be that
of the city, state Or nation in which
such men are permitted 10 rule; for in
this country the responsibility of main
tanning good government lies in the
hands that deposit the ballots, and
hence, IL we are not governed as we
ought to be, then we, the people. the
voters of this country. are to blame
for IT.. In the case of the Israel
ties the people were splenGidly
governed, all things considered. and
The reason, or secret. whichever you
may term it, was to be found in the fact
that none but good men were eligible TO
office. just notice, If you please, the
qualifications that were demanded
of all candidates for Office in the days of
Moses. In those days none were eligible
TO office who could not measure up TO a
certain standard. In that standard
character and ability were the things
that were taken into consideration, and
further, let ME say. that those things
were demanded alike of him who ruled
over ten as we'll as of him who ruled
over Il thousand. Let us 90 back to the
text and read it once more. Thou
shalt provide out of all the people able
men. such as fear God, men of truth.
hating covetouSneSS, and place such
over them to be rulers of thousands and
rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifty and
rulers of tens" Here we See that
the first prerequisite was ability;
for they were first of all to be able
men. Now, you may think it little
strange that this quality should come
| first. but DO doubt Moses realized that
it took men of ability to fill responsible
positions. There are hundreds aud
thousands of men who are honest, up
Il -ntt INl.
be promoted to positions of responsible
ity. because they have no qualifications
whatever for public service. Ordinary
powers are not enough to qualify man
to properly represent his fellows in the
council chambers Of men: for unless a
public man bias ability, sagacity and
practical discernment he will be fail
ure as public officer. l want
to say now that ability, in itself
considered, is not sufficient guar
antee that a mans official life
will be what it ought to be.
There must be the fear of God linked
with ability before man can measure
up TO the Bible standard of ruler, even
over ten persons. If an upright, God
fearing, reliable, though incapable man
is unfit for public office, when he most
assuredly is, then let ME say with all
the emphasis that can give it that the
able, qualified skeptic is less qualified;
for unless God is reverenced by our
public men we can have 10 security
that justice will be done by men of the
greatest ability. l don't say that man
must needs be Christian, or even
member of the church to meet this
qualification. But do say that if there
is not sufficient reverence for God to
make mans oath of Office bind his
conscience, then the more ability he has,
the more capable he is to do harm, and
the more likely he will be to use it IN
that way. With Thomas Carlyle be-
lieve it to be great truth that Human
things cannot stand upon selfshnesS,
mechanical utilities, economics and law
urts;" for, IF there be not a religious
element i'll the relations of men, then
such relations are miserable and doomed
to ruin"
Passing by truth-loving men, which is
fully covered in the last quality named.
let US glance at the last item mentioned
in the text, "HaterS of unjust gain;"
for such is the revised rendering. Were
our congressman, senators and legiSla-
tors haterS OF unjuS gain. and sustained
by voters who were haters of unjust
gain.then ask where would legislation
favoring the moDopolist and the great
trust and combine come from? How
soon would the liquor traffic be crushed
out and millions of dollars be directed
into better channels? In the Providence
of God we are blessed with the right
system of government to rid US, as
people, of tyranny and injustice, and all
that is need is for the citizen to cour-
ageouSly and cOncientiously do his part.