The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-20
POLITICAL PARSONS
 IN GODS KINGDOM Rev. Eaves Continues Sermons on Church and Politics DUTIES OF THE PASTOR Says Gods Kingdom Can Never Be Successfully Extended By Force.
 Church and State Must Be
 Forever Separated.
DUTIES OF THE PASTOR


 church and politics. MT. Eaves treated In forceful and logical way the dire and immediate necessity of insuring the complete separation of church and state He called attention to the example and teaching of Christ and to the many evils which history shows to have been the re- suit of placing political power into the hands of the church.
 The text chosen was from Matthew 2e:52-'Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place. for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.'" The occasion for the speaking of these words was when Christ was seized by the multitude after his be- trayal by Judas, and when Peter drew his sword and wounded servant of the high priest. It was then that Jesus re- buked Peter, uttering the words of the text, and adding, 'How, then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?
 The Church and the State.
 MT. Eaves spoke in part as follows
 Tn order to fully understand the rela- tion of the political parson and the king dom of God, and to see in vivid and concrete form the issue that is concerned in the attitude of pastors to things politi- cal one must read the gospel. In that por- ton of the scriptures where the treatment of Christ by the multitude is described. when He was set upon while engaged in prayer in the garden, Peter is recorded to have drawn his sword and wounded one of the servants of the high priest. Peter was loyal and energetic and believed in the immediate triumph of right. When the mob set upon Jesus, Peter employed force for what he believed to be right. For his action he was given, not a word of commendaton from Christ, but re- buke.
 'Peter, as embodied in many of his present-day successors, is continually fall ing into the same error of taking the sword and using force for what he be- lieves to be the advancement of the king dom of God. He has been taking the sword and perishing with 1t for the last 1900 years. More especially Is this true of the past 1904 years, since the Roman Emperor, Constantine, was engaged in his deadly work of weaving Christianity into the texture of the state.
 Under our system of government there is still sword, the sword of state. Here in Alabama today we are asking how to use it for the repression of the vice that comes from the liquor traffic. Everyone has acknowledged that liquor is a curse, a cruel and abominable curse The ques- ;oI, to how to stay the curse. There Is but one loefcal answer that the curse must be met and combatted by the law, by the sword of justice. The modern sword of Peter is the might of the law: the exec utive officers of the state, the policemen and the jails are the edge and point; and the voters of the state are the handle. It is obvious that without the handle the sword Is absolutely useless. The voters. then, constitute the very foundation of the law; by them alone are the edge and point of the sword rendered of use.
 Shall Church Weld the Sword7
 "The question that now confronts us is, who has the right and responsibility of yielding the sword? The church? By all
 
 no part of the state. The church is not in the business of repression; the law is the one instrument for repression of crime and not the church. We learn with each lesson taught in the progress of his- tory the absolute necessity of separating the functions of the church and the state The law lies outside the hearts of men; 1t Is enforced by penalties and forces that are external and formal. The church does not represent society. She repre- sents the mercy and goodness of Jesus Christ. She depends for all her force on love and purity and holiness; she relies on power that will enter the hearts and wills of men, and that will mould them to the mind of Christ
 ''Whenever the church has gone into the business of governing she has caused cruel tyranny. The evils of the alliance of church and state are set forth in no more vivid form than in the black deeds of the wicked inqpisiton. Wherever she has sought to bring about her own ends by usurping the power of the state she has shriveed in the blast of her own in- dignation. She has perished with the sword she has sought to use.,
 The Preacher and Politics.
 'If the church has not the right and responsibility of the sword, who then shall we say? The pastors, the bishops. the preachers? thousand times no. This is hard saying, it may seem See ing the cruel wrongs wrought by the lquor traffic. ought not the pastors sweep it out with deadly hate? But the pas. tor, as a pastor, represents the church. not the law Just so Peter represented the church, and Peter made a mistake. I want to say to you that if any man thinks he can aid in bringing in the king dom of God by voting out liquor he is mistaken. If by any means<I should be- come mayor or police commissioner I should be like the shepherd who puts aside his crook and takes up six shooter If it should become my duty to fill one of these offices my pastoral duties would be absorbed and submerged in these political functions. Men talk of political parsons with sheer. I do not wonder at it. They know that you can't do the work of Christ with a club. "Who, then. shall bear the sword? Shall it be put into the hands of evil and am- bilious men, In a voice of thunder mol It is to be held and yielded by the citi- zens and good and Christian men are citizens. Not for one moment is it to be thought that pastors and bishops and