The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-08-30
TERRIFIC SERMON.
ON HlCH-ToNED CLERGY or
DENVER. COLO.

i BY Rev. f. +. Passmore OF the NJ. T..
Observation-Disclosures and Shepherds
Preaching Christ and Flirting with
Gamblers and Harlots at Ballot Box,
Rev. F. f. Passmore Of the Methodist
Episcopal church and member of the
Colorado conference, recently preached
a sermon which is attracting a wide
spread attention, owing to the pro-
nounced views, fearlessly expressed, re-
garding evils of the present time and
the apathy of the church in dealing
with wrong. We can only present a
few quotations from the sermon, which
was preached from the text:
Il have set thee a Waterman unto
the house of Israel."-Ezekiel 1877.
Feed my sheep."-John 21:15-17.
Mr.. Passmore said: "Watchmen are
men who are appointed to look out for
danger, and when they see it to give the
alarm and warn the people.
Shepherds are men who are to look
after sheep-all the sheep and all the
interests Of the sheep.
Studying the ministry of our church
from the standpoint of the above scrip
ture, [ am impressed with the fact that
the greatest failure of the age is the
ministry. | find the ministry in our
church, as a class, the most worldly,
unfaithful and cowardly that it has
ever been. The church is worldly,
formal and unspiritual, and has lost
her power for good; yet the church is
on as high a plane as her leaders.
When I look over the age [ see
crime of every description and violence
on the increase, murder, lynching,
suicide, adultery, drunkenness, gam
bling, defalcation, the oppression of the
poor, political corruption, the outrag-
ing OF Womanhood and girlhood; in a
word, the passions of men-the worst,
the most Internal and devilish-are
running riot. | am constrained to
stop md ask what our ministers, who
are supposed to be the opposers of all
sin, are doing? I am sorry to say that
nnd them, even to our bishops, throw
Ing their influence in favor of all these
sins and crimes. 1t is a sad state for
the church, and a gloomy condition
for the country, when the ministry and
the corrupt and criminal classes are
working hand in hand, and walking
side by side, as the preachers, saloon
men and other corrupt and vile classes
are doing.
Just as the preachers stood for the
divine right of kings in the days Of
Cromwell, and for the king and the
nobility in the days preceding the
French revolution, and upheld the
Shareholder in the a~nti-slavery strug-
gle; so our bishops, elders, editors,
college professors and the pastors of
our great churches are standing by the
rich and supporting them in outraging
the poor.
For men to pretend to preach Christ
and then go to the ballot box and sup
port the worst men, and the most devil
ish and Internal sins and crimes of
this age, is about the baldest and loud
est hypocrisy that has been made open
to the world for ages. How much more
staunch supporters of sin can our bish-
ops become than to favor licensing
saloons, and support a party that now
favors licensing the prostitution of
Womanhood? This is worshiping at
the shrine of the rich and the vile with
a vengeance. l am no longer surprised
at the inefficiency of the ministry; the
corruption in politics; the deafness of
the church; the development of trusts:
the growth of ~monopolies; the wealth
of the few; the poverty of the many;
the brutality of crime; the dissertation
of the Sabbath; the increase of inf
deity; the rapid growth of i'm
morality.
II am no longer surprised at the con-
dition of the church, the country and
the age, when l think that our bishops
and great preachers, with few excep-
tons, have Joined with corrupt poll
ticians, gamblers, saloon men, Sabbath
breakers, prostitutes, money-changers
and the opponents of the poor
and weak. Instead of driving
the money-changers from the
temple, they are invited in
and made welcome. Dare anyone think
for a moment that such preachers are
preaching Christ, living his spirit, and
representing his doctrines to the world?
Christ's doctrines, principles and spirit
would change all these things and
would bring about an era of well-being
to mankind. The trouble with our age
is that Christ is not being preached in
our great churches by our great
preachers.