The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-03-10

TUE DAILY MSPAIOn
sAT0FDAY MORNING. MARcH 10 1855.
CIxxefnEN ArD PoLrrlcs--We cannot
agree with the sentiments expressed BY our
w.shipeton correspondent. in his letter pub
,l.hsd Yesterday, concerning clergymen ac-
c.ns,ue civil Office. We are most clearly OF
shs opinion that no minister Of any denomi'
nation should be eligible to ofliciai station
urder the Federal or State governments.-
We regard 1t as one Of the wisest provisions
of The Constitution of Virginia which az
cludes clergymen from her Legislative halls.
4 nd. what is more, we believe that every
.n;r;tuslly minded clergyman Of every re-
,;e;ous denomination in this country viii
most fervensiy and emphatically concur with
us in our opinion. 49,
If there was one point which, more than
any other, the Divine Founder of Christian
ity endeavored to impress upon the minds of
his apostles and disciples-upon which his
warnings were more abundant more solemn
and more emphatic than any other, it was on
the great point, that His kingdom is not of
this world. Expecting in the Messiah a tenn
poral Prince, and ambitious Of official station
for themselves in His kingdom, it was the
great aim of the teachings of the Saviour. and
it was the most difficult Of all the lessons
which he taught, to disabuse their minds OF
their inveterate prejudices upon this subject,
and make them understand that they could
not serve two masters that they must choose
between God and, the world, and that the
kingdom of Christ was a pure and unmixed
spiritual kingdom. When He had succeed.
ed in this object, and whilst His church was
established upon this pure and evangelical
basis, having no connection, either through
its ministers or in any way. with temporal at
fairs. the progress of Christianity was more
rapid, glorious and overwhelming than at any
subsequent period of history.
The union of church and state is the one
great drawback upon Incomplete and univer'
sal triumph of Christianity in the old world
It is this which in Italy, Scotland, England
France. Prussia, Austria, and other CONT
mental countries, has impaired the pith and
essence of religion, paralyzed its energies.
and nut weapons in the hands of its adverse
ries. 1t is an attempt to do what Christ has
forbidden-to unite spiritual and temporal
suthority-and the attempt has only corrupt
ed and degraded both the church and state.
In our cwn country, church and state have
been kept apart, and the result is seen in the
rapid and general evangelizing ofthe country.
But let ministers be made eligible to office !;
let it become the custom to send them, not
only to Congress. but to the State Legisla-
lures, and practically we shall have all the
evils of church and state, as they are felt in
Europe. The State will lose, for the educa-
ton of clergymen does not prepare them for
public affairs, and the Church will suffer by
being deprived of the services of those whom
she needs at her affairs and in her missionary
duties, and by the spirit of worldliness, am
hilton and love of power which will inevita-
bly, get possession Of her pulpits.
There is scarcely religious denomination
in the country which does not complain of a
lack of ministerial labor. The field, we are
told, is white for the harvest and the labor
- are few. Not only are great numbers of
domestic missionaries wanted, but vast myri-
ads of heather are wanting to be enlightened.
Here is sufficient call for ministerial ener-
gies without intruding into politics. Moreo-
yer, clergyInen have work enough already.
If they faithfully perform their duties, they
are among the most laborious men in the
world. Two or three diligently studied and
thoroughly digested sermons every Sunday,
one or two instructive lectures in the week,
marrying, burying, baptizing, making pasto-
raj calls on every member of the congrega-
ton, and watching anxiously and earnestly
for the souls of each and all, "as they that
must give account" will give clergyman
plenty Of occupation, we should think, with
out entering the field of politics. How can
any conscientious clergyman give up these
duties for political life? 1t is quite clear they
cannot be united. FtetH .rrsaz8
What too, must be the effect upon the
minds of the people at large. when they see
clergymen dahblpg in the miry political
hood with as much apparent zest and energy
as the merest workings? They now behold
them only in spiritual places, and associate
them only with spiritual things. But when
they come in daily contact with them in the
dusty and polluted thoroughfares of earthly
ambition and rivalry they will loose in a great
measure that respect for the clerical charac-
ter which they now entertain, and the pulpit
instructions of Sunday will be deprived of
their efficacy by the secular occupations of
the week. When the clergy give one day in
the week to God and six to politics, the inter.
ests Of religion cannot but suffer.
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. The
Southern Literary MesseEgermentions among
the Alumni of William and Mary College tht
following distinguished names Theodricl
Bland, Peyton Randolph, Carter Braxton
George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, Jno. Page
Edmund Randolph, James Monroe, JOIN
Marshall james Barbour, Philip. Barbour
Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Chapman j Johnson
John Randolph of Roanoke, Spencer Roane
Littleton w. Tazewell, VIM. G. Rives, j. J
Crittenden, w. s. Archer, John Nelson ane
Winfield Scott
The Southern Literary Messenger publishes