Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-20
PASTOR In POLITICS HIT
BY ENGLISH RELICIONIST
Church Does Best Service When Minis.
tiers Specialize in Spiritual Education,
Says Sir Henry Lunn

members of Parliament to support
His Legislative program?
II want to see the Church out OF
politics everywhere. ] want to see
the Church turning over to pubic
charities the work of succorlng the
material woes of the poor. | want
the Church to think more about IFS
| leaders than about its equipment In
buildings. / want to see a Church
staying within the domain OF per
suasion and spirituality. And | want
an end of those ministers who become
| parson politicians"
do you believe that minister mas
| the right to talk about practical pub
lie questions in his pulpit? Should
minister, for instance, talk about the
open or closed shop for Sunday
| sermon" / queried.
THE best answer to that. replled
| Sir Henry, lis the example of the
| Apostle Paul. who did his best to
| reconcile the slave and his master,
| but expressed no opinion on slavery
to the master. Suppose, for instance,
! big strike is on in certain city
and the issue involved is one OF living
wages for the strikers. The minister
does not have to find out which is in
the right. He could preach on the
sin of paying human beings starva-
| ton wages and show. on the other
| hand, the wrong of holding up an
employer for higher wages when the
employer has been square and fair
and interested in his men and is
paying them fair wage for their
services. The minister could show
| the issues involved and then let those
who know the facts apply the prin-
ciples governing those facts as the
| minister sees them. The preacher can
teach morality without getting Of
fensive and taking sides and subject
ing himself to the charge of parti-
| sanship. It is possible to handle
every public question in the pulpit in
an inoffensive way and yet focus the
minds of people on the moral issues
involved.
Stressing Moral Issues.
1.-The duty of the minister is to
show the moral issues involved in a
controversy and let the people find
out the facts for themselves. In this
way the minister keeps himself i'm
partial and his influence greatest
Then you think that the great dan
ger to the church today is the parson-
politician, Sir Henry?" I asked.
THAT is a very big one" answered
Sir Henry. However, don't forget
my conviction that the modern church
must retreat from it's marked tend
ency to devote it's energies so over
whelmingly to the social side and to
neglect helping the individual attain
ing spiritual restfulness.'
But, Sir Henry" | said, granted
the church should pay more attention
to what Is in the pulpit than to the
splendor of the pulpit itself, how are
we going to get ministers who are
really going to be reformers of the
life of the nation? ! have put this
question to many distinguished min
listers. After all, that is the nub of
the problem of the church. 1t is one
thing to point out that leaders are de-
caying in church pulpits--another to
tell how to start manufacturing
church leaders,"
II feel that the world will not be
saved by big religious drives raising
| 10000, 900 for this object or another, -
he replied. 1T Is going to be saved
by men who give themselves up to
Christ and his cross. That is how
Christianity began, by a man who had
a great future as a leader in the Jew
| ish Parliament, and a picked man
among his fellows, throwing up every
thing for the cross of Christ as he
went along the road to Damascus. He
then had a great political career be-
fore him and he gave it up. The
church will be built up only by the
sacrifice Of able men who could sue
coed in life, but who prefer to sue
coed in the pulpit as soldiers of Christ
Points to Assist.
I'm the middle ages the rich mer.
chants son, Francis of Assist, did the
Ii 3NNrr
who make religion strong. All the
magnificent buildings in the world
haven't added one jot or title to the
progress of enduring religion. One
man like St. Francis has done what
billions of dollars have failed to do"
But" concluded Sir Henry, my
religious nightmare is that I am
afraid of religious politicians and they
are growing in the modern church. !
am not afraid of prophets am
afraid of politicians. The prophet
teaches. The parson-politician tries to
use the collective power of the church
for political ends.
big business on either side of the
Atlantic is fascinating. High politics
is grand game. But religion re
mains the great adventure. The book
makers on the race course shout loud
ly their odds to the winner. The stock
brokers in Threadneedle street OF
Wall Street offer chances of gain OF
loss in time of boom or slump. But
Jesus offers certainty at hundred
to one here and eternity hereafter. A
priest in the pulpit of some cathedral
talking real religion to hearts hungry
for happiness is outbidding the stock
broker and the bookie. That is so
Paul found it to be true. So did st
Francis. So did John Wesley.
IF young Americans will take the
risk and throw up all for Christ they
will lead mad world back to- sanity
Copyright 1927
I