Show shall BE politicians oar democratic friends ia boast and loud of individual freedom and yet they are wild because apostle SMITH or others of our citizens prominent in attical affairs take part in politics the salt lake herald has the foolhardiness to remark in yesterdays issue that the people will not take their spiritual and political tiona from the same tongued ton guei for the of those holding similar views wa reproduce a portion of an article by kev WAED shall clergymen be politicians published in the north american review a few years ao thera are two orders of christian ministers the hierarchical and ke fraternal ahe fraternal influence simply by is in original endowment and by education like men in all other his influence Is abe legitimate influence of his personal character and professional skill all this the hierarchical arch ical clergy ave bat ovar and above all natural talent they receive by virtue of ordination an authority directly from god to announce trutha and to convey through ordinances graces and al gifts that come to men only through such channels such divine endowments left ithem their fellow men they constitute a spiritual nobility lu all matters of religion they are to men as tho voice of god now though it is quite possible po to imagine that in common affairs not within th sphere sf revealed religion they may have a place as citizens and may tak part and lot in the ordinary duties and privileges of citizens in a free country yec it is difficult to prevent the imagination of men from conceiving that a priest ia baill a priest while acting as a iti zen and that ho is unfair in that ho brings the authority of the religions achere to bear upon politics and civil administration and this impression is intensified from the fact that the church and the state in other lands have been and fitall are united it lias bean a prudent practice in amori ica that priests should not carry thir priestly influence r into politics abis has been tho prevailing practice among Catholic prieta aad among episcopal clergyman setting all these aside and not entering into the question whether in our day and under our institutions the priest may not profitably strip himself of his priestly character and like the nn citizen take a fall share of political action we wish te point out how utterly without any professional excuse are all cler aymen who renounce the sacramental theory and who regard themselves in no seafie as a class set apart from common ber than ia the lawyer the artist the engineer or the mechanic in theory protestant Prota stant clergymen ire moral teachers whose depends their original endowment their education their gorbun fluence and their wisdom they are dimply moo among men they men by no ordination thuy receive no of god their whole force lies in the wisdom and goodness afi their lives it was paul and barnabae Barna baa that aried also are like with you it was paul that declared of his moral power yva stave this treasure in earthen weasels teasels Te asels while the clergyman is a cone olera counselor a nurse to the guide to mor aliby he is before all lhing sand pro B to acher a moral teacher and it is in this view that his rights aad duties must be discussed thero are several things that must bs taken for granted in dis diseasing casing the right and duty of the american clergyman to take part in politics it 18 to bo assumed that he hascom has com man aenne each mantis at liberty to determine the boat method of employing bis influenza whether by private conversation or by preach i ing from the pulpit or by hia pan 00 by speech from the platform it is taken for granted that a clugy man know enough to discriminate between the aims of political action and the mare by those alias are sought to be acquin shod and that he has ahe ordinary prudence that cnidus man in the selection of baj piano an 1 other circumstance with these coin adriea 1 would aruo first that all procedure which puts clergymen into a class and pre i tends to elevate them above their fellow men suii by haason ut their holy function freed them from con tact mth the ordinary duties of haj na tsow tS ww AS mas m i r l issi I 1 inanity is most in its philosophy and its morality and nowhere so emphatically as ia america and conr government norman is to be known before the law in our and as a member of any class and hough in fact there are exceptions j they ars wrong and should be abrogated the clergyman in the eye of the law is simply f a citizen as is tb physician tha lawyer tha teacher the engineer public convenience may demand that doctors and teachers should not be subject to military service but it is not for any reason in them but because their functions involve the safety of largo portions of the community the law wisely regards simple oitis enship and not to the oc citizen of all ungracious pleas for exemption that is most pernicious that pleads the sanctity of tha clerical office a if there was a holiness hol ineis an fn it that relieved the clergyman from tha common duties of citizenship second with nl the more force will abse views apply to the clergyman in a land where the body of citizens hava laid upon them tha solemn of determining abo their execution af electing the magistrates and exeen tiva officers and of forming the whole policy of the state no man has A ight to be exempt no man has a right to put contempt upon aba political duties of th oi least of all ithe certainly there are abany disagree le things dema of a patriotic citizen he must act upon an equality arith his fellow men however plain or even low or vulgar they may be before th bal lot box as before the altar all men are equal the drunkard and the temperate the judge and the vagrant the coarse and the refined the edu i bated ami the ignorant to separate ones fellows may ba allowable in many bobial relations rel ationo in the sane fluary of home and in groups fathered by elective affinity but all tho more important is that all those which bring men to gether in common duty common citizenship and common humanity should bo vigorously maintained if by reason of superior endowments advantages of wealth attractions of refined leisure or ralisa of literary or philosophical pursuits men grow un r willing to mingle with their fellow men or to take up political tails and burdens refusing to perform amply and continuously ther political duties they do in fact remit to the less fit and to the positively unfit the whole care of the state its politics magis assi morality thus is tive treason When this long precession of selfish men the rich man in his self the arniat in his daintiness the scholar in bis literature tha fashionable and the indolent in their glittering selfishness are seen moving away from politics it will only need a robed and clergy ajan at their head to form a band of infamy trampling under foot tho very life of their country third is by profession a teacher the clergyman should be an example to bis flock of patient duty performed and from chiny they should receive both incitement and the man that preached only an abstract gospel is but a pulpit cypher it is tuo gospel applied that clergy should preach christian ethics is the verv soil out of which all graces of spirituality grow modern notions ofila dignity of the pulpit have well nigh diar obad the pulpit of its legitimate power the man in the pulpit should bo a man from among men in with his fellow men not ignorant of their trials and stumbling difficulties and able to fortify men against the temptations peculiar to every walk of life his are half so much danger of falling into false theology ha into false weights and measures into selfishness and all forms jf unjust would have been fewer christian j men in the penitentiary today if the pulpit had succeeded m establishing in mens minds a clear idea of what is safo and lawful ia business less dogma more morality the world to come must ba reached by a wise walking in the world that now ig manner a minister should instruct bis people in political duty and in their political dangers two laments are needed to exalt politics from the low level at which it now exists the influence of woman and of a faithful pulpit such themes as these at suitable times should be discussed a ing to christian ethics 1 the meaning of citizenship its responsibilities and duties 2 the sin of bribery what is bribery and what ar the kinds of shades of it 3 ane vote its meaning and value tle purchase of votes the throwing away of votes shadrach meshach and abednego types of christian men walking in the tierce fires of a political 5 aud slander in politics and all forms of revenue 6 the distinctions between principals and policies n the state 7 the sin of withdrawing from all participation in politics 8 clergymen are the guides of their people in the ethics of daily affairs 9 baad question the duty of to inferiors 10 the hindrance or the destruction of the weak by the strong ia odthe jory of a malignant infidelity a crucifying of the very heart of jesus if it bo said that clergymen are ordinarily unfitted to discuss such themes then in our age and in or aou thoy are bufi to preach th gospel fourth it would ba well of religion it they odthe life of more and theology leas was no dainty teacher in pro fess ional rotea born to poverty and labor ho betor forsook his mateal hav levad hmong them he ate i and drank with them he i preached to them of their bins and special ho th dignity of and to tha adl was adaa among men ha rc baked rulf rs be espos expos id hypocrites and in high h with the te caple the aa the thereof and in galil and iu andea like amonia fishermen laid aown tho great ethical lawa on which coald be built a sound ic morality little like him will li u professed preacher that taik oi o i aud loud of philosophy and the ili f but whisper softly iu of tho duties of moral ity of evory da lit aad think holy in proportion aa they aurist eza raple af life and teaching if eve ther was a stern and practical mo u it was john the baptist chri criticism critic iem of him is significant what a reed shaken in the biada pulpit marval a incessant quivering man clothed in B robed cushioned fashion loving priest teaching the respectabilities respect abilities of fah society no a prop beta of rio rons morality in all it phases and applications ea inore than a prophet atmaa ithak loed I 1 righteousness aad shames and elegant dishka tw |