Cheyenne record., 1914-11-05
THE POLITICAL
PREACHER
THE PULPIT WARNED AGAINST
THE YELLOW PERIL OF
POLITICS.
A Sonseerated Ministry Needed for
the Rural Churches.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union

BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union
The farmers Of this nation have o.
their payroll $4,000 preachers and this
number applying themselves dilisent'
ly and exclusively to the religious
work at hand is sadly inadequate tc
properly serve their respective com.
Elunities.
Those who put on ecclesiastical
robes are in a measure free to unlock
every door to the human heart and
enter the secret chambers OF reason
and every person should submit their
conduct to review and seek the coun-
sci of those divinely appointed mes
sengers OF life, but the moment the
minister closes the Bible and opens
the law book. he becomes a menace to
socity.
The difficulty of keeping the preach
er in the pulpit is as old as religion
Christ encountered 1t in the temple
when he drove the priests from the
bargain counter back to the pulpit
Our pilgrim fathers met - when
through the influence Of the clergy. a
witch court was established at Salem
Mass. in 1902. that-oreclpitated legal
holocaust threatening to reduce the
population to ashes and which was eX.
tinguished by the layr,en uniting and
forcing the preachers back to the pull
pit.
The greatest peril to the church to-
TO 10
ministry to throw down the cross OF
Christ and pick up the club Of the
policeman; to substitute the penalties
Of the law for the power of the alta-
and to legislate religion into human
hearts. never was greater.
The world never needed a religious
ministry more nor political preachers
less than 1t does today We need min.
listers to teach us how to live; VIC
know, how to vote.
The religious preacher is the most
capable servant and the political
preacher the sorriest master the world
has ever known. Wherever power Is
placed in the hands of the latter they
invariably become intolerant, bigoted
and vicious and resort to the whip and
the faggot to enforce their opinion.
Civilization has many times been
compelled to drive incorrlgible preach
ers back to the pulpit at the point OF
the bayonet.' Many OF the pages OF
history are wet with blood shed at the
hands of political preachers who wrote
laws on the statute books that com.
mitted arson upon mankind, manned
human beings with the hatchet and
sent helpless women to the torture
rack. all because they disagreed with
their views. When in control Of gov
ernment, the pulpit politicians invari.
ably undertake TO perform legislative
miracles such as casting out witches
with the flame Of q torch. subornin2
conscience with shackles and enforc
ing opinions with the guillotine.
Mixing Politics and Religion.
Politics and religion will not blend
No free government can long exist o,
the church perform its mission to
society when preachers and politicians
temporarily exchange callings. and q
civilization that will countenance
such conduct will soon decay. Such q
traffic in occupations is as unsound in
principle as the white slave trade Is
Immoral in practice.
The hand that passes the sacrament
should not collect slush funds for po.
litical purposes. The gentle voice that
comforts us In sorrow and pronounces
the last sad rites upon our departed
loved ones should not rave and rant on
the hustIngs. l do not believe d
preacher can manipulate political ma
chinery and be righteous any more
than he could become a burglar and
be honest. think 1t as immoral
for a preacher to seek to lobby while
he prays as 1t would be for him to
gamble while he breaches.
A preacher can no more preach 8
political sermon without converting his
pulpit into political rostrum than
he could sell Intoxicating liquor from
the altar without converting the
church into bar-room. He can nc
more purify politics by playing the
game than he can sanctify gambling
by running . lottery.