Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-08-24
/. AN IMAGINARY QUESTION.

I'd : d Z
! Apostles Senator Reed Smoot. DOES
| not that title of itself suggest to the
| young and progressive element +.
| the unrighteous interming1ing OF the
| affairs of church and state ?'---Irlbune
Yes, but there is no such title. 1t ex-
lists nowhere except in the diseased tn1-
! agination OF the Tribune scribe, and
consequently. the "unrighteous inter
nlingling' Is nowhere Ii not in that inl-s
agination. There is no more any apps
Ex-senator than there are LAWYER
senator's. tbanker-senators,R or rail
road nate-senators.'' So the ques-
ton is absurd.
But it implies that. in the opinion OF.
the Tribune. a citizen who holds a posi-
ton of trust in his church must not
perform the duties of citizenship to
which his fellow citizens may elect him;
1t implies that a man who is devoted
I'd church work is unfit for the United
States Senate According to that opin-.
Ion. a man may be interested in
! "stockades." he may be a gambler; he
may, even, perhaps. have committed
murder and yet be fit to hold a scat in
the United States Senate: but. IL he
holds an ecclesiastical position, though
he be capable, moral, and patriotic, he
is unfit for the halls of Congress. And
that Is the kind Of doctrine the Tribune
offers the young people of Utah.
II is "damnable heresy.'' Someone
has said that the best Christian Is Thu.
best soldier. This Is true. and it Is
equally true that he who is most de-
voted to his God is the best senator, the
best lawyer. the best politician, and tho
best in any position.
From the very time OF the revolu-s
tionary days preachers have taken a
prominent part in the country's polit-s
ical life And not only have they
preached the doctrines Of political Lbs
erty, but many of them have filled
offices. Rev. Jacob Green. D. D.. q
Presbyterian of New Jersey, WdaS
elected u member of the provincial
congress which set aside the royal gov,
Sernment Of that province, and was
chairman Of the committee which
drafted the original constitution Of the
state. Rev. John Nitherspron was one
of the signers Of the Declaration Of In
dependence. OF him someone has said:
8,1If the pulpit of America had given
ely this one man to the revolution It
would deserve to be held in everlasting
remembrance. He was for six years a
nelnber5of the colonial congress, where
he sat in full clerical dress. Another
distinguished minister who entered nol-S
#itics was Rev. Manasseh Cutler, one of
the most learned men this country has
ever produced. He was a member Of
Congress four years Rev. Robert j..
breckenridge, doctor of divinity,
presided over the Republican national
convention which nominated Lincoln.
for the second term, and vet no one
complained over the mixture Of church
and politics in: that nomination
The Constitution does not disqualify a
citizen for the position of senator be-
cause he Is an apostle, or a pastor, or
d Sunday school teacher. So, in attack
ling Senator Snoot because he fills an
|oftiee IN the Church, it really makes
an assault upon the Constitution. As
long as such assaults are permitted to
continue it will be necessary for tho
Latter-day Saints to stand UP for the
principle which agitators are seeking TO
overthrow Let 1t first be established
that a political clique can read into tho
Constitution what is not there, and
there is no longer any guarantee for
the continuation of the Constitution.
itself.