The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-12-18
MINISTER'S AS LEoIsLAToRs.

MINISTER'S AS LEGISLATORS.
What Noted Divine Has to Say on the
Subject.
Some time since there appeared an ed
itorial in this paper on the subject of
what ministers had accomplished as
Legislators. Subsequently there was
some correspondence entered into with
Rev. W. E. Barton, Of Boston, Mass, and
below will be found his last reply:
O.
Ed. ENTERPRISE: No doubt ministers
have failed in politics and in business,
and so have other men. Any man is
likely to fail when he leaves what must
be his regular work, and takes as side
issue some other form of work which di-
vides his energy. Some Of the men who
fail in business and politics have already
failed in the ministry. But taking his
tory at large, the political foresight Of
the ministry has not been behind that of
the politicians. Let me instance a few
items:
First. The fall Of the Hebrew nation
came about because the politicians failed
to heed the advice Of the preacher, Isaiah,
on a purely political question, the wis
dom Of making a treaty with Egypt. He
declared that to make the treaty would
be to incur the hostility Of Assyria,
which would in time be stronger than
Egypt, and that when Assyria got done
subduing Egypt she would turn her at
tentiOn to the smaller kingdoms that had
aided Egypt. Exactly that happened, be-
cause the politicians were not as wise as
the preacher.
Second. The greatest political move
ment Of the middle ages was devised by
the clergy, and headed by Peter the Her
nit, whose preaching on a political
question stirred Europe up to move
ment, unsuccessful in itself, but inyolv-
ing consequences which have affected
the whole history Of the world.
Third. When King James and his
successors, of England, attempted to de-
prive their subjects of civil rights and
religious liberty, it was the preaching Of
the Puritan ministers that gave spirit to
the opposition. The sword Of Cromwell
was not keener than the sword of the
spirit in the hands Of the preachers OF
his day. John Milton was as powerful
as politician as religious poet. Out
of that political work on the part Of min
listers and other churchmen, came the
civil and religious liberty of America.
Fourth. When, just before the revo
luton, King George recalled Gov, Hutch
insOn to England, and on his arrival
sent for him in haste to ask about affairs
in America, one Of the things he in
quired about most carefully, and which
gave him greatest concern, as thu
conversation recorded in hutchinson
diary shows, is that the Congregations
ministers of Massachusetts, preached tt
their people on political questions, an(
thus stirred them up to revolution.
Fifth. In the civil war, it is hardl!
too much to say that ParsOn Brownlov
held east Tennessee in the union, ant
that Henry Ward Beecher kept England
from acknowledging the COnfederacy.
Now beside such facts as these, tn,
fact that one minister is in the senat'
and has simply appeared there on leye
with the great body Of tile senators
showing no more wisdom, (and let u
hope not much less) than tn
average; that minister in Obi
has entered politics and appears t
have been dishonest; that anothe
served in congress and did well, bu
never got rich, or was suspected of dis
y. honesty, but quietly represented his dis
" trict, and did his work in an incOnspiC
uous way, these three things which 20
. tell me, if there were three hundred lik
them, would show only that ministers bt
cause they are ministers are neither wise
nor less wise, better nor less gO0t
than other men. But on the Othe
hand it would appear, that where greo
Il moral issues have been at stake, affec1
! ing not only moral but political affail
for generations, ministers who We've
things frOma higher plane than mel
party success, who looked to the real goo
of the nation, and were willing to sa,
rifce immediates uccess for the sake {
y the accomplishment Of some truly gref
and good end, have been about as wis
and successful political leaders as histOr
, has shown.
Iagree with you that ministers an
Q teachers should attend to their own r,
o spective callings, and that the great bod
: of them do. But do not think they ca
l be shown to have less intelligent ideas {
d good citizenship than other men. Whe
a few years agoa man was nominate
s for congress in LOrain county who wa
t the attorney Of the liquor interests, VIII
! was known to be a man of ability, bu
q who was believed to be on the wrong sid
: Of moral questions, do not thin
many men preached about it. But tn
fact which came quietly to be know
that very few ministers intended to vot
for himhad its influence, and the resul