Middletown transcript., 1896-05-23
THE PARTY CESAR

1890, BY Rey. Joseph Brown Tur-
ner, Pastor or the Presbytertian
Church. Dover, ana President Of
the Delaware Christian Endeavor
Society. q
MATHEW, %: 2l--n FENDER therefore
unto Caesar the things that are Cesas.'s
and unto God tie things that are Gods
| The political atmosphere Of Judea when
these words were spoken was heated. The
Jews chafed under the Roman jurisdiction
They never forgot their ancient indepen.
!. dence; they never ceased to hope for its re
! turn. Taking advantage of this feeling, the
Saddncees and Herodians laid aside for the
moment their bitter antagonisms- and not
J for any patriotic reasons, but simply to de-
D stroy his influence with the people, they
} united in scheme to trap the Lord. In a
: public place, and before crowd Of people,
they put to Him the crafty question, Is it
lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, or is it not?''
1t was very skillful artifce. It seemed to
put Jesus in a precarious position. If He
says Pay tribute the people will regard
Him as coward, arenegade, traitor t o
Isreal If He says do not pay,n his enc,
mics can charge Him with being traitor
to the Roman government, and say now, as
they said later to PLATE, sThis man is an
enemy to Cesar" Jesus knew what was in
| their minds, and. by way Of reply, He
asked for coin on which the image and
the name of the Emperor was stamped. 1t
was the undeniable evidence of Jewish SUBJ
lection; and looking his questioners full In
the face, He asks, Whose is this image and
superscription?" They admit that it is
Casars, and SO confess their political depen-
| dence Then, He says. that being the case,
| Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.n He met
their temptation by laying down an eternal
principle. Give Caesar his own. Give God
his own. Rights never conflict Duties
| never conflict Righteousness has no in
consistencies. Civil governme Mt imposes
obligations whose discharge God COM
mands. But God has rights which Caesar
must never be permitted to ursurp I wish
to make an application of this principle. It
may seem to you novel application. Per-
haps it is. Nevertheless, it is needed ap-
plication, and one that is legitimate and |
timely. There is in our political life, as it |
has developed in the United States of |
America, new power claiming precedence.
A comparatively new Caesar is claiming as |
his right things that belong to God alone.
The cry upon many lips is, 1.-The party |
right or wrong" Party is the new Cesar,
Party is the thing that is supreme; that is /
binding many eyes to righteousness, that
is preventing the study and solution of |
weighty problems upon which individual |
and national well-being depend Party
binds even good men hand and foot, and /
puts gags in their mouths, and makes them
believe that they are somehow recreant if
they do not uphold this Cesar in all, and
through all. Party and party influences
and manipulators have persuaded many
men of good judgment in matters outside
Of Casar's immediate domain, that their
party affliations-whch ought to be noth-
ing more than an easy alliance, 10 be cast
off on proper occasions as easily as man
pulls off his overcoat-are bonds of steel
which they cannot break without commit
ting treachery and disloyalty. So this
Cesar walks over the PROSTATE forms of
these men; or with their active aid, or
silent consent, pursues to course Of fraud
and decentralization. As to his composition,
this Cesar is practically combination of
a small number of men in the State or Ma
ton, forming sort of close corporation. |
These men have, most of them, one single
ulterior end in yiew-their own advantage
In order that they may get power, and
keep it, they must make some profession of
faith. So this or that question is taken up,
platform is constructed, and all the elab-
crate machinery which century of self
interest has invented is at once put into
operation to create or perpetuate an issue.
People are persuaded to believe that the c
OF the country depends upon the !
decision of this or that secondary question, G
or the election of this or that man. They il
are made to believe that that sublime pro-
duct OF reason and eternity, called history, G
Is created by party bosses, and State and p
National committees. Men are taught that | n
anything ispraise worthy which will build t.
up the one party and pull down the otner. t
With this Caesar truth and reason, honesty n
md patriotism and philanthropy are of n
40 account. Party success is the end to be n
attained by all, and any means. The petty 81
md justifies the base method of whatever q
lind it may be. And if false prophets in n
politics choose to set up q golden calf, as n
hey have done in Delaware. you must fall G
iown and worship the calf. or be counted "
! traitor to the party. 1t seems to be con x
idered matter ofno consequence that the ig
hief servants of the party Caesar are too W
frequently either men who push themselves y
onward into positions for which they are 81
y education and character unqualified, or ps
mere bubbles blown up ON the billows of | W
ublic life by the capricious breezes and Di
tides of prejudice, passion, or th
elfsh interest. which flicker for moment en-
n the crest of wave, and then burst and W
0 forever into the thin gas of an atten- an
ated oblivion. This does not matter, for it,
aesar has decreed that these so-called en-
,aders, ephemeral as they are, elevated to or
Ugh seats by low methods. surrounded as
icy are by hired sycophants, who swing
snsors: of bad incense under their nostrils, pa
lall be the great men Of the age; that they
lall be the observed OF all observers. and de
lus be cajoled and fattered into state of a
lind concerning themselves, at which M,
men laugh and weep by turns. ha
t the same time it is decreed that high bic
,tellectual achievement shall 90 for moth for
lg in this great procession of American off
fe. 1t is decreed that art shall be moth SO
'g, literature shall be nothing, science an
lall be nothing, social accomplishment en-,
lall be nothing, teaching the masses shall int
3 nothing-nothing shall be nothing ex en-,
ept the one dt greded business Of politics tar
e one. ridiculous work of determining pul
hat men shall be set. for brief season, to
authority over other men, by the cor ON
ipt and corrupting system of bribery, VIII