The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-02-02

have just specified. Sweeping vituper-
alton would be unwarranted and in ex-
cessively bad taste. Still, the profess
sional politician, understood In the sense
Just indicated, is the peoples enemy.
His watchword is diplomacy rather
than principle. He is made dizzy by
travelling a straight line. He values a
situation according to the number and
variety of interesting combinations into
which 1t can be developed, and has no
interest In municipal reform for the
reason that the farther it is carried
the more 1t will contract the area Of his
own versatility.
Appeal to Chicago Clergymen.
"And now. IL I may be permitted to
conclude with brief appeal to the
clergy Of this city. l would like to say
that civic conditions and duties are not
a field into which the modern prophets
of God have entered with an earnest
ness and effect that comport with their
wide opportunities and high endow-
ment Responsibility need not be taken
from the shoulders Of the laity, but
the relations proper to be occupied by
the clergy in a crisis like yours here
and ours in New York are unparalleled
and unique. A live preacher, If he only
gets far enough away from his study
and his Bible to know the world and
what Is going on in it, cannot watch
the footsteps of the prophet statesmen
who swung the destiny of the people
of Israel 5000 years ago without feeling
that the inspiration still vouchsafed to
the man of God Is never designed to be
employed exclusively in fitting men to
get out of this world respectfully and to
live beautifully in the world to come.
THE Lords prayer teaches us to
pray, Thy will be done on earth For
you that means, first Of all, Thy will be
done in Chicago And there is no
point from which such a keynote can
be sounded SO effectually as from your
pulpits. 1t ds encouraging to know
that the feeling is growing that Chris
tian fidelity means patriotism just as
much as 1t does piety; means being l.
good citizen Just as much as it does
being a good church member; and that
Nearer, My God, to Thee and Star
Spangled Banner are both Christian
hymns in the mouth Of an all-round
Christian.
I'VE are not saying that there are
not great many matters in municipal
administration upon which the pulpit
is never so eloquent as when 1t keeps
its mouth religiously shut, but those
are not the matters that have been en-
gaging US in New York or that need
Just now engage you here.
Battle Not Political but a Moral One.
Our battle has not been a political
but a moral one. The appeal has been
steadily to the conscience. 'Expedi-
ency' we have known nothing about
and cared nothing. Republicanism
and Democracy we have had no inter-
est in, no more interest than Republic
cans and Democrats had in US till they
found the movement was going to go
and might have something in 1t that
they could make capital of. The move
ment with us began In a church, and
the appeal all the way through has
been to that which the church and the
synagogue represent. The strength OF
the game throughout has been mans
responsiveness to the authority of the
ten commandments,
"One OF my most thrilling experiences
in the campaign of last autumn was
the enthusiastic response with which
an audience / was addressing greeted
my reference to Moses and the Deca-
logue. Perhaps you would not think
that Of New York, but it was symp-
tom of the municipal condition of
mind Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt
not commit adultery thou shalt not
steal are what you might be disposed
to call ethical 'chestnuts,' but they
We're what laid out Tammany.
"Of course that Is matter for the pull
pit. There is no event recorded in the
old Bible story that for sanctity would
rival the enterprise for regenerating
Chicago, and no situation in which
there was more occasion than here for
the ringing out of the voice of some
local Elijah, and the more of them the
better. The whole question that con-
fronts you just now is a question of
righteousness versus iniquity, honesty
versus knavery, purity versus filth;
and If the clergy cannot come out en-
masse and take direct hand in the
duel, what under heaven is the use OF
having clergy, anyway?
Moral Leadership Is Needed.
"There Is a moral leadership that It
belongs to the clergy to exercise, and
that it is wickedly delinquent If 1t fails
to exercise. An appreciation and
vision of the eternal realities that load
the instant makes out very large part
of the genius OF craftsmanship, and it
is that appreciation precisely that dis
tinguishes the preacher il so be he Is
pi ed with divine eulhpment
In the odd days of Israel the states
man was the prophet, and the prophet
was the statesman; and within certain
limits 1t even yet lies in the intention
OF nature and of God that the two
offices should coalesce and that the
man who knows the secrets of God
should shape the moral purposes and
inspire the moral counsels and actvi-
ties of his town and time. And l ven-
ture to say to my brethren In the
Christian ministry that l speak with
the assurance of definite knowledge
when | say that there is no influence
that will more immediately operate to
bring back the world to the church
than for the church and its modern
prophets to come back to the world
and fulfill to it their mission of gentle
authority and moral governance.
This Is a view of the case under
stand perfectly we'll that the politicians
will resent. No preacher ever puts the
pressure OF the authoritative office upon
the local moral current of municipal
events without hearing from one or am
other of his parishioners that the pull
pit would better confine itself to the
i,lt t.,e, nd niyip
to the arbitrament of the expert, the
district leader and the party boss
would see the entire center aisle of my
church swept clean of the whole breed
of them before would surrender aught
Of the dignity that God puts upon the
the pulpit or drop to a more indeter-