Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-06-12
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CHURCH AND STATE,

q. all the evils to be avoided in either establish
;ay or Continuing good government there are none
50 p.ipabs aud alarming az those arising from the
,.Aou or intimate association Of Church and State.
Politics and religion should be as wide apart IN ex-
ercise as they designed to be really in their re
spectivs obects The pertains to things OF sarth'
thu other points higher aud boiler mission Each
IS indispensable in its peculiar province to the eA
i,,enoe of civilized society and the welfare OF man
kind But they belong, not less by the laws OF you
than the requirements of all righ'iu ies'''''o"' ~
Separate spheres of usefulness. And, to contound
ta-m is at once to amalgamate homogeneous eemen's
I, degrade religion to the level Of secular concerns
and to impair the utility of legislative action, by OBJ
trpiing upon matters beyond its reach, and invest
Ing mortal man with an authority which belongs
alone to the Supreme Ruler of the universe. The
Caurch relate TO things eternal, the State to those
tia, are temporal. In monarchical or aristocratic
countries, il is not altogether inconsistent tor the
State to control the Church, or the Church
the State; for, there, freedom Of thought and
ection are in humble obedience to the Imperial
will of kings aud courts, or of adespot, who assumes
superiority and exercises authority, derived neither
directly nor indirectly from the peopls-the only
source of legitimate political power But under
republican government, that politics and religion
should be at all related is contradictory to reason and
right, sud suoversivs OF the institutions which are
thereby perverted from their purposes, and prostitu-
tel to tho base designs OF demagogues and hypo-
critics.
The most notorious instance In which disposition
has been indicated the part of the American PEG.
ps TO render religion element of political warfare
wa. in the introduction of Know Nothipgism, the
speedy downfall OF which affords evidence Of an ap.
probation Of the genius Of our government, aud tit
ress for constitutional liberty which will ever gor
ously illustrate the pages Of political history. But
while Know. Nothingsm presented proposition for
the union of Church and State, which would havein
vested it with all the formay of law and was cried
down by the popular voice 80 soon, 1t 10 not to be
presumed or inferred that politics and religion are in
capable of being brought together in action in this
country.
At the North, the sermons of men who are called
ministers of the gospel are not unequenty devoted
entirely 10 dsnuncaton Of the Southern people and
their Institutions the subject of slavery is preached
with warmth and passion, a rscklessnsss aud men,
d.c;ty ouly equaed by "freedon sns;eksrS" in the
Legislatures OF the nouslavehodng States sndin the
House Of Representatives. The happiness OF Heaven
IS altogether forgotten, in the hsrangues OF these mi
piou. dsmagogues; and the STAKEHOLDER OF the South
with all the soul narrowing sins that surround him,
j. portrayed in lying language as demon hateful
rs tbs devil himself, and the trus type OF
social system encouraging iniauities more hor
riS,s than the blacklist sins of those who have
beer damned to eternal perdition, for any
c.ner cs,ss AID i. is this same feature tending to-
warts an amsgauston politics and religion, which
has manifested itself 10 those divisions of Christian
denominations in this country, according to geo.
taken place and ara still multiplying and widening
me last instance Of this kind, au account Of which
wa published yesterday, is another i'll omen added to
those that have induced sad forbodngs o the fate OF
toe Union. The Presbyterian Church is now no longer
national in its organization. The Northern membersgo
on, way, aud the Southern members another. The
institution of s.aTery is the irreconcilabs subject be-
tween them. Aud 80 it would seam, that one by
the religious ties of brotherhood between the North
end South are breaking. This is most significant
symptom Of the ineclency OF free society for the ends
OF ssfsovernmsn In the South. religious denomina.
tous are divided only upon differences of opinion rela
tive to rites and sconacting faith in different FORMS.
There is disposition on the part Of our people to
contaminate the pulpit with politics.
Church and State cannot be combined in repub
lican country. 1t is inconsistent with civil and re
gous liberty, and incompatible with those institu
tions under which alone the mind of free and
sccisty secure.