The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-09-28
POLITICAL PULPlTS.'
The Rev. /. w. Hathaway
Wants Ministers to
Preach More
Morals.
CHRISTIANITY THE ONLY REMEDY
DR.. Halleron Defends the President
and DR.. scudder Talks Of
Hard Times.
CHRISTIANITY THE ONLY REMEDY

minister Presbyterian Church., yesterday
morning, a polftical-seriptural sermon, in
which he criticized the actions Of certain
ministers for discussing out and out
politics in the pulpit.
His text was from Acts iii, 6: Then
Peter sad, Silver and gold have I none.
but such as / have give thee. In the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up
and walk
The preacher began by saying that last
Monday morning he was somewhat sur
prised to find that so many leading min
listers had been preaching on the subject
of Free Silver
While / am ever ready to defend the
right Of the pulpit to discuss public ques-
tons as they bear upon the moral and
religious life of the people, and while !
firmly believe that religion has to do with
every department of human fife. the
public no less than the private, and fur
Their, that the office of the church and its
ministry has not wholly to do with pre-
pairing men to die, but to live; and still
further, that in a government like this
Republic, a government of the people,
all questions become moral questions in
which the people are directly interested
as the sovereigns of the land, responsible
for its laws and order n the safety
of life and property. And furthermore,
tHGfS mas never Dten d great QUlitfCdi
question so directly involving a great
moral question as the one now before the
! American people. And there never was d
time when morals played SO large a part
in public questions or were more potent
in political issues than now. Notwith-
standing all this, and the reason and
excuse fer what may be termed political
preaching, / was surprised to find so
many briefs of such sermons reported last
Monday morning.
For the reason that these sermons
dealt, SO far as | noticed, not so much
with the moral questions. as they did
with the economic, the temporal and
business aspects. they were largely politi-
cal speeches. and the end of the argu-
1 pment was business interests and COM
mercial prosperity. Herein is the danger
of such subjects in the pulpit. When we
have plenty of daily papers discussing
every phase of this question, in fact to
such an extent as to be ad nausea1n, 1t
certainly makes such discussion in the
pulpit q. s~upererogation and offensive to
! the public mind.
zone thing I have noticed, that our
political speakers have this year much
more than of yore. chosen their meta
phors from the Scriptures and have
pointed their arguments by quotations
from the Word of God. and usually with
reverence and respectful acceptance of
their authority. Another fact is potent.
that our daily papers give much more
space to religious subjects associated with
politics than they did ten or five years
ago. Religion and morality are felt as
/ potent IOTCcS III lut pUlFtlCdl Aciu dS
never before; and the SCRIPTURES are be-
coming the text book of politics and
political economy as never before. Some
parts of the Pentateuch are devoted al
most wholly and directly to this subject
of political and social economy, in which
the ethics of public as well as private af-
fairs and relations are fully set forth,
The Ten Commandments and the Golden
Rule are prime factors in all political
Questions.
1T is a significant fact tina the United
- A-r no ID
that the Ten Commandments and the
Golden Rule had no place in politics, soon
found that he himself was no longer in
it. while these are in 1t, and that in an
increasing measure year by year.
There has been g. most marked change
in this regard within the past ten years,
to which fact we should be awakened.
Many important elections have been car
ried by the moral issues involved. Party
lines have been broken down and new
ones formed. not on questions of tariff
or finance, but wholly moral, and this
is one of the most hopeful signs of our
times and for the future of our country.
The only salvation of our cities and
country has been, and is, the moral forces
born in the public conscience that will
break from all partisanship and make the
issue to be clearly defined as between the
moral and immoral-the law abiding and
the law defying element.
$50 far as this campaign or any other
presents moral questions, so far the pulpit
has a right and a duty to deal with these
I IL a. u IloAh0 ~ 6ISaN &Oll
graduation to the people of America that
morality is more and more making itself
felt in politics-local and national. While
politicians may rightly argue over the
relative merits of silver and gold, it is
our duty to show that there Is another
currency more important than either.
While we accord to silver and gold its
value as current money of the merchants,
we must call attention to the fact that
its real value rests upon the presence of
another measure of value more important
1 Than aifhpr and that iS thp moral Ia w
az interpreted by the Lord Jesus Christ,
aThe value of a dollar depends upon
in which it circulates. Silver nor gold in
themselves are not the leaves for the
healing Of the nations. It is the con-
science OF the nation behind the dollars:
educated and leavened by the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this that
gives the value to money"
DIR. Hathaway then spoke of the evils
Of the saloon. and said that our dollar to-
day would be worth at least 25 per cent.
more to the laboring man if the gin mills
were. wiped out of existence. He said
civilization that had TO depend upon the
money taken in from saloon licenses to
educate its youth. Continuing, he said
"Ayarice, covetousness, love of money,
greed and injustice can never be cured
by tariffs, silver or gold coinage, or
political platforms, but by Righteousness
protection were the prescriptions advo-
Gated by political doctors to abolish pow
erty and secure universal happiness.
Today free silver ana gold are put for
when We listen to these doctors that
material prosperity is the sum of all good
and the nanacea of all ills"
He then dwelled upon the condition Of
the country, speaking of the strikes, lock-
outs, poverty and wretchedness of the
poor, which he said was caused by the
desire and love of money. which is the
root of all evil. And the remedies pro-