The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-11-09
THE POLITICAL |
PREACHE|
THE PULPIT WARNED AGAIN
POLITICS.
A conseerated Ministry Needed
the Rural Churches.
BY Peter Radford.

The farmers Of this nation have \
their payroll $4,000 preachers al
this number applying themselves
ligently and exclusively to the I'd
gious work at hand is sadly inad
quate to properly serve their resp
tive communities.
Those who put on ecclesiastid
robes are In a measure free to unlo
every door to the human heart al
enter the secret chambers Of reas1
and every person should submit thu.
conduct to review and seek the cod
sci Of those dlSinely appointed md
sengers Of life, but the moment d
minister closes the Bible and Opel
the law book, he becomes a mens
to society.
The difficulty of keeping the presd
er in the pulpit is as old as feligid
Christ encountered 10 In the tenn
when he drove the priests from u
bargain counter back to the pulp
Our pilgrim fathers met II whe
through the influence of the clergy,
witch court was established at Sale
Mass, In 1892, that precipitated a led
holocaust threatening to reduce d
population to ashes ana which vi
extinguished by the laymen unitl5
and forcing the preachers back
the pulpit.
The greatest peril to the church
day is politics. The temptation Of II
ministry to throw down the cross 5
Christ and pick up the club Of d
policeman, to substitute the penalt
Of the law for the power of the aid
and to legislate religion Into huns
hearts, never was greater.
The world never needed a religic
ministry more nor political preacht
less than 1t does today. We need mi
listers to teach us how to live; II
know how to vote.
The religious preacher Is the md
capable servant and the politldA
preacher the sorriest master the wof
has ever known. Wherever power \
placed In the hands of the lattY
they invariably become lntoleran
bigoted and vicious and resort to ii.
whip and the faggot to enforce the
opinion.
Civilization has many times bed
compelled to drive incorrigible pread
ers back to the pulpit at the point
the bayonet. Many of the pages 4
history are wet with blood shed at t
hands of political preachers who wrO
laws on the statute books that CON
mitted arson upon mankind, maine
human beings with the Ratchet az.
sent helpless women to the tortu'
rack, all because they disagreed vii.
their views. When In control Of 60.
eminent, the pulpit politicians lnvar
ably undertake to perform legislatij
miracles such as casting out witchs
with the flame of a torch, suborniI
conscience with shackIes and enfor'
ing opinions with the g~uillotine.
SACK 70 the Puiptt.
Politics and religion will not bleD,
No free government can long exist /
the church perform its mission
society when preachers and politician
temporarily exchange caIlings, and
civilization that will countenand
such conduct Will soon decay. Such
traffic In occupations is as unsound
principle as the white slave trade ,
immoral In practice.
The hand that passes the sacramel
should not collect siush funds for ri
litical purposes. The gentle voice th
comforts US m sorrow and pronounce
the last sad rites upon our departe
loved ones should not rave and rant
the musings. I do not believe
preacher can manipulate political md
chiiery and be righteous any mos
than he could become d burglar an.
be honest. i think 1t Is as immou
for a preacher to seek to lobby viii
he prays as II would be for him 4
gamble while he breaches.
"a preacher can no more preach
political sermon without conyertlH
hts pulpit into IA political rostrui
than he could sell intoxicating liqud
from the altar without converting th
church into a bar.room. He can D
more purify politics by playing tN
game than he car sanctify gamblir
by running a lottery.
join in the oft-repeated suggestia
that a preacher has as much right .
political brawls as a saloon keep
and we also admit that he has d
much right to get drunk as anyon
else,,.but we would rather he woui
not do so for the greater the sair
the greater the SIM" I think a poll
icaf bishop can turkey trot In ID
name Of Christianity as consistent
as he can enter into a mud.slingln
political contest to the disgrace .
his church.
It IL my opinion that when thl
world is saved Il will be through RI
ligious sermons and not through pol
teal speeches. Salvation must CON
to us from the Bible land not fror
the statute book it will come throug