Chapter THREE: Political Peril

Sermon by Dr. E. L. Powell, on "The Need of Prophets in a Time
of Political Peril," delivered at the First Christian Church,
Louisville, Ky.

"And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear,
(for they are a rebellious house,) shall know that there hath
been a prophet among them."--Ezekiel 2:5.

He thought it would not be questioned by thinking persons that we are living in a time of political peril. He did not mean that revolution was at our door; he did not mean that we are threatened with a reign of terror; he did not mean that there was any prospect of immediate bloodshed.

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I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I
have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.

I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have
declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not
concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great
congregation.--Psalm 40:9, 10.
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Our perils spring from our state--the state of our own souls. They are lacking in moral sensibility--we are in danger. We are told on every hand our country was never more prosperous--that is unquestionably so. The same might be said of Rome when that colossal empire was tottering to its fall. There were persons then who paid from $200,000 to $400,000 for a single feast. It is recorded of one man that, after spending several millions of dollars in luxurious living, he committed suicide because he had only $400,000 between him and starvation. National bankruptcy does not stare us in the face. Fortunes grow up in a generation--the dollar smiles upon us as a beneficent sun. Yet our moral condition is such as to call forth from thinking men serious and earnest fear. We are as a man living in a luxuriously appointed house, and yet, on account of invalidism, unable to appreciate his splendid home and environments.

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Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me.
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He had called the attention of the congregation last Sunday night to what was the fundamental source of our political corruption--the unnatural separation of religion and politics. He did not mean separation of Church and State; that was right and proper; but he did mean that we need the reign of truth, purity and righteousness, because of the ills to which attention was called last Sunday night. His lecture tonight would be on "The Need of Prophets in a Time of Political Peril." He did not wish to call attention to the peculiarly inspired Bible prophet. So far as he was concerned he was a man apart, who could not be our example--he constituted an order of his own; but we mortals can to some extent, recognizing our limitations, reproduce the power of the prophets, and it is not limited by arbitrary metes and bounds, as God sends his teachers to every age and every clime. If there ever was a time when we stood in need of moral leadership it is now. We want men who come like the prophets of old, who shall come before us as genuine leaders to take us out of this wilderness in which we find ourselves. A fine moral leadership is the exception rather than the rule. Unless the standard be lifted up the hosts will not rally. Truth will not win its way on its own merits. Let the call come from the lips that speak not lies, but the truth, and there is that in the humblest of men that will give back an amen. And when our leaders come we shall recognize them. We are not likely to mistake the rumble of cart-wheels for thunder. The leader carries his credentials. When a community is visited by a prophet it is known by that community that a prophet has been among them. You do not mistake genuine fire. You are never deceived by a genuine voice. It has been true in all ages of the world that wisdom is recognized by its people. Deep down in the hearts of the people are the instincts of truth. When we find men willing to pay the price of leadership we shall have leaders. It is as true today as it was in the days of prophecy that such leaders as we have have taught us to err. We need men with political consciences--men who recognize that there are such things as truth, purity and righteousness in the world.

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What must I do to be saved?--Acts 16:30.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.--Acts
16:31.
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In speaking of moral leadership the all-inclusive qualification is inspiration. He did not mean the exceptional inspiration that applies to the Bible prophets. He meant that inspiration which kindles the powers we already have into life. When he spoke of inspiration he meant the enlivening, the stirring up of the powers we already have as opposed to the shallow indifference of one who draws about him the robes of his silken selfishness and says, "Let well enough alone"--a man whose inspiration glows and glows intensely. The inspired man feels the degradation of his country as a personal infliction. Those who dishonor her are his own foes, and insults flung in the face of political liberty are felt by him as an affront to himself. Our prophets must be men who feel the woes that they oppose, men who feel the humiliation before they can strike with the right arm clothed with power. Indifference to the public weal on the part of the average political leader is one of the most distressing features of our political situation. These people do not seem capable of feeling righteous indignation in the presence of the moral infamy by which they are confronted, and hence their words do not come forth as thunderbolts, but as spent balls. Beware of the man whose heart has not been pierced by the woes of his country. The sting is the needed spur to effort. The sleeping lion is not dangerous; but let him be wounded and his roar shall ring as the trumpet of doom in the ears of his enemies. We must seek our leaders among those who can feel the woes of humanity--men of profound feeling--as those are the best prophets.

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Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from
the hand of the enemy;

And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the
west, from the north and from the south.--Psalm 107:2, 3.
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He believed that we must strike at the evil of social indifferentism. Who does not feel profound shame that the law against carrying concealed and deadly weapons is not strictly enforced, which made possible tragedies such as that at Frankfort, which has disgraced the fair name and fame of our State. The leaders' voices should ring throughout our land until we are bowed to the earth in shame in view of the infamies which disgrace us.

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Lord, save us; we perish.--Matt. 8:25.

There shall not a hair of your head perish.--Lu. 21:18.
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Another element required for leadership was the power of vision. There must be a clear recognition of evils. The idealist is not a mere dreamer, but acquainted with the actual wants of the people. In fact our leaders must see something better. The man who is working in the slums must keep his eyes fixed on the stars. There can be no change for the better until the better is made to shine with the brightness of a beckoning angel.

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I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my
heart.

I am a companion of them that keep thy precepts.--Psalm 119:63.
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Here is the opportunity and duty of newspapers. James Russell Lowell says: "What a pulpit the editor mounts daily, sometimes with a congregation of fifty thousand within reach of his voice, and never so much as a nodder, even, among them! and from what a Bible can he choose his text--a Bible that needs no translation, and which no priestcraft can shut and clasp from the laity--the open volume of the world, upon which with a pen of sunshine or destroying fire the inspired Present is even now writing the annals of God!"

But has the editor no mission other than to tell us of partisan political measures? To be a simple annalist who shall bring before us the events of the day, but who creates no perspective along which we may tread to better customs, better men and better times? He never leaves us in doubt--"Let us do the best we can, and leave the rest alone." In God's name, is there not something better? "Let us go up and possess the land." Standing on the mountain height up there we shall all see fairer lands below. The inspired editor not only sees the battle from afar, but also the coming of the imperial guard of righteousness with victory. There is that in the heart of every man that responds to the ideal. No leader has ever succeeded in having an evil reformed who wanted an ideal. Napoleon, when he said, "Beyond the Alps lies Italy," was appealing to that sentiment--to something beyond--to something in the future. When Cortez drew an imaginary line before his men, who had become mutinous, and said "On this side lies danger, death, duty and glory; on that, safety, shame and infamy. Choose ye whether you will step this side of the line or remain where you are," he was appealing to something in their hearts--put there by the Almighty himself. Editors should not think it their only mission to mirror forth things as they occur, but say to their 50,000 readers, "Let us go up and possess the land" of truth, purity and righteousness. This is not weakness on their part but evidence of the profoundest philosophy. Fifty years ago we had senatorial utterances that would reach across the continent. The secret power of those utterances was that they were ideal. In the days when boys spoke pieces in school we declaimed them, and we feel their influence today.

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Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

When wilt thou comfort me?--Ps. 119:82.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.--Rom. 13:10.
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Another element of leadership is moral enthusiasm. The idealist in art is so for the love of art. He enters into the discussion of art subjects with enthusiasm. So with the moral enthusiast. Sin is hateful to him, and he seeks to crush it as he would a viper, and instinctively and spontaneously his denunciations come forth. Truth is his pole-star, and he will tell his best friend, "I will do anything but lie for you." Try to bribe him, and you will think that the central fires of the earth have been concentrated into his blistering rebuke. Suggest a compromise involving dishonor, and if you escape a blow you will be fortunate. Like Luther he says: "Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me." He would not go with the crowd to moral destruction. Moral enthusiasm has been the virtue of all epoch-making men. Men do not die for fancies; they do not die for offices. They die for what they believe is right. Give them something that appeals to their moral nature and they will die for it. The grand martyrs were men who laid down their lives for what they believed to be right. There came to them those lines of James Russell Lowell:

"Once to every man and Nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and falsehood
For the good or evil side;
Love's great cause, God's new Messiah,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand
And the sheep upon the right,
And the choice goes by forever
'Twixt the darkness and the light."

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As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.--Is.
66:13.

He who loveth God loveth his brother also.--1 John 4:21.
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We must have leaders who possess the elements of leadership for the great task of making the world better--who possess the elementary virtues of honesty and truth. He had indicated some of the elements of moral leadership that these times demand. He did not mean to say that the political stage had not such leaders. Certainly there were a few; but we can make it possible to have a thousand. When we can see one we are surprised. In the past, thank God, we have had such leaders, and in the future we shall have such leaders again.

It is slumbering in the hearts of men and women all around us. It needs only some one to sweep the harp strings. The trouble is with ourselves. How can we be leaders with sensual and selfish appetites and desires? Does God no longer speak to man? Burns there no fire upon the altar? He did not believe God had exhausted himself. God had not exhausted himself by casting out a few bright stars from his own luminous presence. There is power for him to bring to the front the men we are longing and praying for.

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He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea in seven there shall
no evil touch thee.--Job 5:19.
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In conclusion, he wished to say only these few words--that every leader is a man that must bring to us the message of hope. The prophets through all those weary years carried the torch of hope and handed it to their successors. Abraham believed with all his soul that he should have a posterity as numerous as the stars. He died leaving only one heir. Moses, the great law-giver, had a vision that a community of slaves should be made into a great nation. He went up into Pisgah and died, leaving them still slaves. Long ago a prophet looked over the sea at a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. Two thousand years have passed away and no new heaven or new earth has come--but as sure as truth is stronger than falsehood it will come--just so sure we shall one day see a new heaven and a new earth, where dwelleth no political corruption, but righteousness. Not in our time, perhaps, not in our children's time, shall the thing be; but it will come. Let us pray, then, that we may answer in the language of the great poet.

"Oh, well I know that to him who works, and knows he works,
This same glad year is ever at the door."

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.