St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-15
POLITICS AND RELIGION.
They Are Vastly Different, Yet
Much the Same.


At Plymouth church yesterday morn
ing Rev. Charles f. Thwing preached
from the text Mark xiii, II:
"Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesars, and to God the things that are
Gods"
The ballot ballot box. said he, is the
Caesar of the United States. By it are
created the officers of states and of the
nation. Our text Interpreted for this
day and this country means that we
toward the ballot box, then toward the
president, the congress, the judge, the
governor, the representative, the post
master, the policeman, the clerk of
court, the sheriff, the assessor and the
treasurer. The Christian is citizen.
and Christ enjOins upon him the duties
of q citizen. Politics and religion are
vastly different, but they unite in the
being who is born citizen and reborn
a Christian. Church and state are as
distinct as the family worship and the
work shop, yet it is the same being who
prays here and who labOrs there, who
kneels to-day at the communion table
and who casts his ballot to morrow.
In some fashion or other Caesar
still is Caesar, but he is POntifex no
more. The crown and the mitre are no
more. Church and state are quite as
distinct as church and commerce.
Caesar may claim our votes, our taxes
and our good behavior; greater than
CRser has come to claim our worship.
While church aud state, while politics
and religion are distinct, they are yet
related, not because the spiritual may
lord it over the temporal, or the tenn
poral over the spiritual, but simply be-
cause the same man may be saint and
a citizen. These two institutions meet
in the man as man, and not in the man
as pope or king.
A bad citizen cannot be good saint,
and on the other hand a Christian is the
best style of man, find him in whatever
capacity you may. Jesus would recon-
struct the state through a redeemed
manhood. Politics cannot be cleansed
except as Christian people cast their
religious and moral convictions into the
ballot box and carry them into official
position. To dictate to the state would
make the church tyrant; to desert it
would leave Satan in the ascendant.
We go to church first of all to worship,
but also to learn to be trueSt, wiSest
men; in that character we may go about
our political duties in such way as to
create a state worthy of our allegiance.
Every Christian is a patriot, and every
patriot feels it his duty to vote, and
help to make, and execute, and obey
the laws. The Christian arises above
partyism. These were partiSans who
came to Jesus asking about C&sar's
tribute. Jesus removed their question
from their low plane to the supreme
one of duty and common honesty to-
ward both God and the government. No
man has right to bel Republican, or
Democrat, or Prohibitionist from
policy or prejudice; let him have
principles and convictions and
then let him vote not for
the party but for the nation. 1t is better
to elect holy principle than man or a
party. 1t is better to lose ones vote for
conscience sake than to lose ones con-
science for the sake of party. If your
conscience tells you to do it, cast a
brave vote with the minority. 1t is
thus that you rise above party. "Ren-
der to Caesar the things that are
Caesars" We owe him our honesty at
all hazards. This land can live with
out any of the parties that now grace or
disgrace it, but it cannot live with
Goddess constituency. We must do
duty at the same time, both to C3ser
and to God.
Does the state need the church? Does
politics need religion? Napoleon looked
upon the Reign of Terror, and gave it
as his conviction, that nation cannot
succeed without intelligence and re-
ligion. In this Lafayette agreed with
him, and these two great men saw the
ruin of the state as the fruit of ignor-
ance and irreligion.
Lastly-If Christianity is essential to
the national well-being, then it is the
duty of every citizen to examine its
claims upon himself, and if he finds
them true, to bravely acknowledge
them. 1, Christianity be true the
Christian is the only true patriot. He
who disclaims his duties toward God
will find it but one step more to dis
claim his duties toward the state. Lis
ten to a sentence from Washington's
farewell address: "Of all the dispo-
sitions and habits which lead to politi-
cal prosperity, religion and morality are
the indispensable supports. In vain
would that man claim the tribute of
patriotism who should labor to subvert
these great pillars of human happiness.
These furnish proofs of the duties of
men and of citizens"
A Pleasant Surprise.