AN OLD TEMPTATION by C. M. Snow

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 30, 1901

AN OLD TEMPTATION.

By C. M. Snow

At a recent “conference on religion” held in New York City, during which the “church in politics” was discussed and strongly advocated, much worldly counsel was given the church in regard to its duty. Perhaps the most unique piece of advice in this respect was contained in the following words:—

When the church enters politics, let it study the methods of the practical politicians and imitate that which is good and serviceable. . . . Let the church lift the masses up a little by the ladder of practical ways and material things, and when you have made them better citizens, they will save you from bad government, and you will find it much easier to save their souls.

Of course for the church to make a success in the politics of to-day, she must do as the successful politicians do. If she is to play the game successfully, she must learn it from the men who are masters in it. Men do not learn the intricacies of whist and poker by following the plow and harrow or by reading the Psalms and the Sermon on the Mount. If the Christian would overcome the worldly man in a worldly way for a worldly purpose, he must study the world and the ways of the world; but if he would bring the Gospel to that man with convicting and converting power, he must study the Gospel and connect with the Source of its power. Now which is the business of the church and the individual members of the church? Is it to learn and practise the wicked, selfish intrigues of politics, or is it to go forth and “teach all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things” that Christ had commanded His disciples? The successful work of the Christian is to be followed by the baptism of those for whom he labors, and the church holds no commission for any work in which baptism is out of place; but will the church baptize, in that holy name, the unregenerate politicians of every stripe whom it meets and overcomes in the game of politics?

Christ said, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” The creed of the church in politics is, this is political success, to know the methods of the practical politicians and imitate them. How far from the lessons of Nazareth, Calvary, and the mount of transfiguration, is this conception of the work of the church!

The excuse for such a dogma is that by first making the masses “better citizens” it will then be easier “to save their souls.” That is man’s revision of God’s plan. It is the repetition of Satan’s offer to Christ. The church is to have the world if only she will worship at the shrine of politics. Will the church yield to the tempter? or will she “imitate” her Master and spurn the dangerous bribe?

The plan of the political church is to make men better by law; to teach them first how to keep the law of the land as a preliminary step to teaching them how to keep God’s law, thereby teaching them that God’s law can be kept, as man’s law can be kept, by the unaided effort of man—that they learn how to keep God’s law by first keeping man’s. Having learned this deception, they are ready for that other one which teaches that personal, individual salvation must give way to social, state, and national salvation.

God’s plan is to cleanse the heart, give us the mind of Christ, and make us new creatures in Christ Jesus. Then we will be good citizens indeed, subject to the law of God and all the laws of men that are not contrary thereto. Which is the better plan? He whose heart is wholly submitted to the will of God will not be at a loss to answer.

C. M. Snow.