i;, The'cfollbwtngl papier W &e--abova subject was read by the Rev. A. M, Dairy rople M.A. at the meeting of the' Cfutha Presbytery Officebearers' As sociation last week : — r; The SfJßjectof consideration to-night Jin ' Politics/ is one of, great iujpqrtance'and interest but it covers so Jsrge a ; 4pace ; that it is clearly impos sible' to treat.it exhaustively in a "brief opening paper itnd I can only undertake to gl|Cn^'Ar^pidly; :r a|;ti : lew; of its leading aspects. ■ 0-. -I.- .."'•.• .■'.'''... : '••"' There are, Vsome religious people who strenuously qfcject to the 7 association of Religion with:; Politics. Onet sect goes; so :far as to maintain that a Ghristian ; has -nothing to do : with Politics,, that the world is so completely arid so. hopelessly bad as to render all jeffojrts'/oa^thjßV'part- of believers to \imjprpre- its:' condition by political •actions j a mere^ waste of timV and energy- and Ithat , .effort should be exclusively .directed to, the conversion of sinngrs and the, edification of saints, j This is a view which we n*»ed not, I think:, seriously consider. It is con demned at once and signally by the inconsistency of its advocates. While declining personally to bear the bur dens offcitiignship'j they dp riot hesitate to' avail themsfslv<es -to the utmost of the thought, the' vigilance and the labours l of others, and to claim their full share of the protection and free dom secured by laws in the making of which they maintain that it is their duty to, take no part. We may, I think, assume at the outset that the i members of our i Association have no sympathy for such views of religion, j We believe that our position as' naem- I bers and, officebearers. of, the Church,, instead of ; debarring it from political life carries with it the strongest obligation to act his own part in civic i affairs "wisely and well. Turning to the Scriptures, we find that under the Mosaic economy, State and Church were one, and that the political and social duties of the individual were invested with a religious character^ j The prophets, whose. 