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Show THE DISPATCH SERMON. The DisrATCH sometimes preaches a sermon, sometimes a series of tbem,but itneyer sings a song. We don't know if we shall preach this one by rule or not. We believe it ia usual to select a text, the text euggesting the sermon. We shall reverse this order and let the sermon develop the text. The Dis-fatch Dis-fatch dosen't care how religious you are so you don't carry too much of that commodity into politics. Bloody Mary tras, perhaps, one of the most pious of soveriens, but she drenched jjjDgland with the best blood of the kingdom. It would have been far better for that day and time had she kept her religion and her politics separated; in separate boxes as it were. Church people are not all pious any more than politicians are all patriots, yet there is one thing they can all do, and that is, keep their hand off our common free schools, and our priests, holv men and teachers can keep out of politics.Indeei,if the ladies enter politics in squads, as now seems certain, there will be enough goodness in politics so that we can get on with' out the preachers. When men form the habit of following preachers as to the things pertaining to salyation, they are too apt to want to follow them in political matters. We have noticed that the greatest preachers of all epochs, at least biblical, the greatest devotees, the most successful soul-savers, soul-savers, were not found on the thrones, or leading senates, or ward meetings. A pretty broadly established religious religi-ous authority said on one occasion. "Render to Oseaar.the things which are Caesar's, to .God the things which are God's." lie didn't mean that God's men ehould do CtEsar's work, any more than he did that Cjesar'a men Ehould do God's work. The same illustrious authority au-thority said that "ye cannot serve God and Mammon" individually. Were one to undertake such a thing it would seem to us that there would be rather too much mixing ot things. The best preachers have no time to run for office or say who shall. The most patriotic pa-triotic people have too much to do for the temporal weal to haye time to direct di-rect the spiritual course of men and women, and when they undertake to do bo they make a botch of the business. This migkty Yankee nation hasn't a great deal of taste for a union of church and state; for the mixing of the prerogatives of the servants of the two powers. A great servant of God, Brother Burchard by name, on one occasion, went head oyer heels into a political campaign, and in three words procured the defeat of one of the most illustrious democrats whoever who-ever held the presidency of the United States by the votes of the republican party. Rum, Romanism and Rebellion, Rebel-lion, constituted the most forceful alliteration al-literation which baa ever been constructed, con-structed, but, while the work of a 2sTo. 1 genius it was truly the most destruc tive bolt ever launched in a political campaign. Had the Blessed Savior, instead of General Grant, been an as pirant for the nomination and election, he would have been defeated. A good many angelic beings have essayed to lead the church with one hand and the nation with the other, but they all came to grief just as Brother Burchard did. "Let the shoe-maker stick to his last," let women wo-men sell butter and eggs, the priest expound ex-pound the scriptures and the saints point the way to the realms of light beyond the grave, but let the men ot the world control the affairs of the world. God will handle His unfaithful unfaith-ful and incompetent servants and the people will refuse to vote again for theirs. This is about the most common eense, rational and just disposition of the question that we know anything about. Let the watchword from now on be for both church and state, "shinny on your own side" or get your shins pounded as other people do when they overstep the boundaries which belong to their provinces. |