p. 8 | DR. PARKHURST'S WORK by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jul 1, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 25.

DR. PARKHURST'S WORK.

By Editor

THE people of the country all know of the crusade begun four years ago, we believe, by C. H. Parkhurst, D.D., pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, of New York, against municipal corruption. The revelations following the investigations were fruitful in exposing many evils. An unbearable stench was raised, resulting in the use of a great quantity of political deodorizers and disinfectants. The crusade spread to other cities, and would-be Parkhursts sprang up in every municipality. Disreputable methods have been followed by the clergy and their agents in tracing out crime, and the church and ministry have lost influence. They are, perhaps, more feared by corrupt politicians, but they have lost power to help the low and fallen.

While we have never questioned Dr. Parkhurst's sincerity, we said at the time, and still say, that his methods of reforming society are not Christ's methods. The work he has been doing in politics is not the work of a minister of the Gospel of Christ. Now Dr. Parkhurst has retired from the field broken in health; and he promises his church that "so long as I sustain my present relation to this church, my one devotion will be to my pulpit, to the life and work of this church, and to the interests of its families and individual members." This is Gospel work, and this is the comment of the New York Observer, the leading and oldest Presbyterian paper in New York:

"We do not hesitate to commend and encourage such a decision. However brave the fight against Tammany Hall, it was an unnecessary contest for Dr. Parkhurst. We have never believed that any pastor settled over a church in New York was bound by moral or religious responsibility to enter into the political arena, nor to be a leader in party strife. The reform which Dr. Parkhurst championed so ably has been neither satisfactory nor lasting. Such a battle to be successful must be urged without ceasing for summer vacations or winter church duties. It requires not only courage and impulse, but also political training, a thorough knowledge of law and government, and a staying power which turns defeat into victory. The people who get up spasmodic revolutions in municipal affairs usually lack all of these latter requisites, and hence their good work is soon brought to naught by enemies who have made politics a business, who are never weary, and who have everything at stake. The experience of Dr. Parkhurst in public affairs seems to show that the pastor's best work for the public will be done when he devotes himself, with singleness of purpose, 'to his pulpit, to the life and work of his church, and to the interests of its families and individual members.'"

But how many of the clerical reformers will learn this lesson? The only true and lasting reform begins in the heart.