The news & observer., 1905-11-05

Mississippi home to take counsel with
| friends of moral reform in Tennessee.
| l make no apology for standing IN
| this or any presence as an advocate
of the ethics of the Man of Gallilee.
| / am here, both as an American citi-
zen and a minister of the gospel, dis
charging the solemn functions of the
one and the sacred duties of the other.
From the lips of Him who spake as
never man spake, l am commanded to
| render unto Caesar the things that
| are Caesars and unto God the things
| that are Gods" The one duty is just
| a simperative as the other and Meth
er can be neglected or relegated With
out hurt to the kingdom of righteous
ness. And there can be no conflict be-
| tween the duties of citizenship and
Christianity. No true fealty to God
1 can be disloyalty to country. Nor can
patriotic service 10 country be infidel-
| ity to God Religious obligation is not
| at war with good citizenship. On
the contrary, the better the Christian,
| the better the citizen.
Christian Science.
My purpose is to speak to you this
evening on the subject of a Chris
| tian conscience in public affairs.
Patriotism is at once a passion and
| a duty. 1t is a sacred passion, deep
as the human heart and intense as
| the energies of the soul. And it is
also a duty, whose sanctions and i'm
| peratives are as solemn as Sinai when
| God wrote down his law for men in
letters of tightening upon the solid
rock Our country is to be as faith
fully served as lit is ardently loved.
And our patriotism should be dis
| tinctly and positively religious. Love
of country is intensified and purified
| by the love of the Lord we worship
and the religion we embrace. The
| ethics of the Man of Gallilee ought to
| be our standard of political, as well
as personal and religious character.
| We should abolish and forever ban
! ish the false distinction between the
| sacred and the secular. The functions
/ of citizenship are as sacred as the
| songs of Zion.
! The ballot is as holy as the book
OF common prayer
| The same law of duty controls in
| the service of country as in the con-
venticles of the sanctuary-in the hall
of State and at the chancel of the
house of God. What "a magnificent il
lustration of a ChristiaD conscience in
| the field of politics the world had in
| the late William f. Gladstone, the
| unrivaled English statesman of the
nineteenth century. So imperative were
| the sanctions of a high morality in
| his life that it was said Of him, He
moralizes finance and commerce, and
| institutionaliZes ethics and faith He
espoused no cause that did not absO-
lutely command the homage of his
soul and the unreserved approval OF
his sanctified judgment.
| Prince Bismarck, the iron chancel-
l0r of the German empire, made this
! emphatic statement: eff / were no
longer a Christian, / would not re-
main an hour at my post. Or
| lers and titles have no charms for me.
I owe the firmness which | have shown
for ten years against all possible alb
surdities only to my decided faith
Take from NE this faith, and you take
from me my fatherland."
Morals and Politics.
From the depths of my soul, and in
behalf of American citizenship, do /
repudiate the doctrine of a distin
! guished politician, who said, 1.-The dec
alogue and the Golden Rule have no
place in a political campaign" over
against that blasphemous declaration,
which is nothing less than a Wanton
affrOnt to our national honor l rejoice
to place the eloquent words of the
immortal Washington in his farewell
address: Public prosperity has no
| foundation but morality and religion;
and religion is the only security of
| morality"
With every political campaign, when
great parties grapple like giants for
the mastery, there is a revival of jeal-
iousy and anxiety as to the true rela-
ton of religion to politics. We are
soemnly and ominously warned
against any admixture of the two.
There is no objection to religion, but it
must not project itself into the pa
| triotic duties of citizenship. And if
| perchance some clergyman has the te
merity to entertain a political senti-
ment or express an opinion on some
public policy, every irate partisan Con
| the other side) becomes d veritabl
Jupiter, and from his little laundering
Olympus, consigns him to the religions
prepared for naughty parsons and
their opinions. Over and over again
| the warning is re-echoed against mix
| ing politics and religion"
| Much of such writing, | submit, is
| without discrimination If acted upon
to it's fullest logical conclusion, it
| would bankrupt the morals of society
| and PROSTATE our grand republic IN
| the dust If politics is to be entirely
| and forever divorced from the relig
| ion-if piety and patriotism a1x two
incompatible sentiments, and cannot
| live in the same heart, occupying the
same throne-then farewell to the
prosperity and perpetuity of our gov
ernmental institutions. The true the
Dry and highest wisdom is the most
| perfect union of Christian conscience
with patriotic devotion to country. Be
tween the two there is no incompat-
bility, but the divnest harmony-no
necessary antagonism, but the closest
| possible alliance. The sublimest type
of patriotism is the beautiful blending
Of reverent devotion to God with chlV-
alrous love of country.
Religion and Politics.
Sectarianism should never enter
| politics, but religion everywhere and
always. The churches should nave no
| political creed. but individual Chris
| tians should not be without one. Clear
] " defined and conscientiousiy en-
braced. Every citizen q politician. and
! every citizen religious, God-fearing
man, would give us an ideal republic
/ of millinial and supernal strength To