THE Rev. Robert Paddock, of New York City, who at a recent, session of the Southern New York Baptist Association gave an address on the relation of the church to the people, said on that occasion that it is the duty of the church to educate young men in politics. “The failure of the church to do this, he said, was the cause of the elevation of unprincipled men into positions of political power. It is very natural for a certain class of clergymen to talk in this way, and this is not the first instance in which the idea of the church as the fountain head of politics has been advocated from the pulpit in this country. Indeed, powerful organizations exist for the purpose of making this idea a reality in State and national politics. But the idea is one of the delusions of these last days. The Christian church was instituted not to make men a power in politics, but to conserve their efficiency in the cause of the kingdom of God. The Christian is above the world, and the power of Christianity is manifested not where the Christian stands at the polls, on a par with the worst sinner, having one vote each at their command, but where one chases a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. For the Christian’s weapons of warfare are not those employed by the world, but are from the armory of heaven, and are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” Christians are the “salt of the earth,” but they do not save it by their votes. The sinners can always vastly outvote the saints. The churches cannot agree as to what is the true way of salvation—the question which they are especially commissioned to make plain. How then can they be accepted as a safe guide in politics, with which they have properly nothing to do?