The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1902-06-27

his State or county. But he too saws
| You must excuse me. Icannot leave nv
VINE and cards which cheereth ME and
my companions, to soil my hands in the
mrc and filth of the political world. ="
Then up steps the bramble-the profess
sional politician and perpetual officehold-
er and says put the crown on me and
trust IN me" Thus bv the indifference
and preoccupation of righteous men the
bramble king is riding in the seat of
| power Ill many parts of our land Who
is responsible for this T.? The Christian
people Included in this answer is the
Christian pulpit. 1t is the plain duty of
the pulpit to speak out in no uncertain
tone concerning the principles and ends
OF government, the science and art of
ruling men: 1t is not within the province
OF the pulpit to advocate this or that
economic question i'll politics. the merits
or dement's OF rival candidates but it is
Its PLAIN duty to drive home to the con-
science OF its people the great Importance
OF one duties as a citizen. At times we
near That 1t is the business ofthe preacher
10 preach the simple gospel. The saloon
Keeper, the vlolator of Harford's Local
option law and his sympathisers say the
preacher ought to preach the simple
Sospei. by 1t they mean vague general
ltles and honeyed phrases concerning the
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood
OF man These themes ought to be
preached, but any preacher who spends
all his time on them while the fires ofhell
III the dive are burning at our doors, is
untrue to his God and his high calling
and coward to men. We hear it said
that Jesus did not speak concerning poll
teal duties. When we say this, we fail
to remember that the Jewish nation was
helpless beneath the feet of the Roman
tyrant. She had no civic duties. Itwa
a magazine just waiting and eager for a
word to have started an insurrection.
Christ could have spoken this word and
christianity would have been throttled
IN It's cradle. He was too wise for this.
Instead of the match he planted in this
oppressed soil few principles that have
unloosed the nailed hand that clutched
humanity by the throat and broken the
shackles OF Roman despotism. These
principles are having their position after
many years, in the western civilization
that is Towering in our America-a land
which IN the fullness of time CHRISTOPHER
Columbus picked up out of the seas be-
yond the pillars of Hercules. 1t was this
same Jesus who as a young man, being
IN Jerusalem to attend the Passover.
with his whip made of cords, drives from
the temple the money changers and the
other profaners of the sacred building,
" hle the pulpit has not always done its
duty III publishing these civic duties vet
the layman is none the less sinner, who
is not intense in his endeavor to bring his
state into subsection to the laws of
Christ. How many men uses their coun-
ty Tor commercial convenience! They
give as little as possible, they take all
they can get.
Shame on the man who ENJOYING the
OF our county yet counts too
much OF sacrifice any service he can
render. The special problem that con-
fronts US is the observance of law. The
spirit otlawlessnessis especially manifest
cd III the effort that is being made to nullify
our local optionlaw. In this county TWEEN
ty-seven(2O places are payingtheI nternal
Revenue tax. These 27 places are run by
lWenty-slX persons, twenty-five men and
Dne woman. The burning question of
The hour is shall these twenty-six persons
have the privileges of violating a law
that 1nterieres with their personal gain
while Others observe all our laws or shall
hey be compelled, by the stern hand of
law II necessary, to respect and keep every
law. 10 accomplish this it will not do
TO say that we elect certain people to en-
orce our laws. In our lands all persons
are responsible for the enforcement of
law. 1t will not do to whine that the
Jaw cannot be enforced. Believing this
some people lie down and cry, but the
OF our local option law cares
nothing tor the cries of men who act like
babies. Wherever christian citizen sees
a wrong it is divine call to follow the
night and refuse the wrong. At the same
lime he has divine call to rebuke and
oppose the wrong. Many excuse them
selves on the ground that it is none of
their business, they are not public officials
and so they confine their activities to
the public official. If good
men sit down, fold their hands and COM
PLAIN that things are going to the bad
then as a distinguished citizen used to
say: 1T Is not a government mastered
by ignorance, it is government BETRAYED
by intelligence. 1t is not victory of the
ilurns, it is the surrender of the schools.
1t is not that bad men are politically
Shrewd; it is that good men are political
nhdels and towards" 1t will not do to
deal only in denunciations. Jesus dashed
the Pharisees until his denunciation like
thunder bolts cleared the atmosphere.
Every now and then the church may need
to be dashed until she is aroused from her
sleep of indifference in the presence of the
liquor traffic. Cenunciation will not de-
throne the modern bramble King. Bal
ots and ballots alone will accomplish
this. The need of today is more of the
principles of Jesus Christ in our politics.
More sacrifice less criticism; more redemp-
live work, less scathing denunciation.
That this may be, Christian men must
90 into politics. 1t will not excuse to
say politics is dirty for the muddier the
river the more urgent the need for cleans
ing. To be sure it is disagreeable, to be
sure one will be misunderstood and hated
vet we are called to be men not towards.
No man can be good Christian unless
he is good citizen and no man can be
good citizen unless he does his duty at
the ballot box. The ballot has been won
by the martyrs of past centuries. He
who fails to use it is false to of one his
highest obligations. A ballot! Yes, it is
only piece of paper. Yet it hascost the
shed blood of some of earth's choicest
spirits. Hence it is sacred 1t is a sword
with which the upas tree of political
evils can be cut down. 1t is a lever by
means of which the great and eternal
principles of righteousness are so erected
in the nations of the earth that the
kingdoms of this earth have become the
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.
"a weapon that comes down as still
As snowtakes fall upon the sod;
But executes a freeman's will,
AS lightning does the will of Cod"
w. w. DAVIS,
West Hartford Circuit.