LIBERTY A MAGAZINE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

THE SPIRIT OF 1776- RING IT AGAIN

READ " THE LIMIT OF CIVIL AUTHORITY " IN THIS NUMBER TWENTY CENTS A COPY WASHINGTON. D. C. 1.1M11.4 iRrtigions Eiturty Association DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES 1. We believe in God, in the Bible as the word of God, and in the separation of church and state as taught by Jesus Christ. 2. We believe that the ten commandments are the law of God, and that they comprehend man's whole duty to God and man. 3. We believe that the religion of Jesus Christ is founded in the law of love of God, and needs no human power to support or enforce it. Love cannot be forced. 4. We believe in civil government as divinely ordained to protect men in the enjoyment of their natural rights and to rule in civil things, and that in this realm it is entitled to the respectful obedience of all. 5. We believe it is the right, and should be the privilege, of every individual to worship or not to worship, according to the dictates of his own conscience, provided that in the exercise of this right he respects the equal rights of others. 6. We believe that all religious legislation tends to unite church and state, is subversive of human rights, persecuting in character, and opposed to the best inter- ests of both church and state. 7. We believe, therefore, that it is not within the province of civil government to legislate on religious questions. 8. We believe it to be our duty to use every lawful and honorable means to pre- vent religious legislation, and oppose all movements tending to unite church and state, that all may enjoy the inestimable blessings of civil and religious liberty. g. We believe in the inalienable and constitutional right of free speech, free press, peaceable assembly, and petition. ro. We also believe in temperance, and regard the liquor traffic as a curse to society. For further information regarding the principles of this association, address the Religious Liberty Association, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. (secretary, C. S. Longacre), or any of the affiliated organizations given below:

AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS

Atlantic Religious Liberty Association (affil- North Pacific Religious Liberty Association (af- iated organizations in Maine, Vermont, Massachu- filiated organizations in Oregon, Washington, setts, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska) : Office, College Place, and Rhode Island) : Office. South Lancaster. Mass. ; Wash. ; secretary, H. G. Thurston. secretary, A. J. Weaver . Eastern Canadian Religious Liberty Association Pacific Religious Liberty Association (affiliated (affiliated organizations in New Brunswick. Nova organizations in California, Nevada, Utah. and Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, and Newfoundland) : Of- Arizona) : Secretary. W F. Martin, 421 North Isa- fice, Oshawa, Ontario ; secretary, F. W. Stray. bel St., Glendale, Calif.

Central States Religious Liberty Association (af- Southeastern Religious Liberty Association (af- filiated organizations in Kansas, Nebraska, Mis- filiated organizations in Florida. Georgia, North souri, Colorado, and Wyoming) : Office, College Carolina, and South Carolina) : Office, 169 Bryan View, Nebr. ; secretary, S. E. Wight. St., Atlanta, Ga. ; secretary, W. H. Heckman.

Columbia Religious Liberty Association (affil- Southern Religious Liberty Association (affil- iated organizations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New iated organizations in Alabama, Kentucky, Ten- Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and nessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi) : Office, 2123 Maryland) : Office, Takoma Park, D. C. ; secretary, 24th Ave. N., Nashville, Tenn. ; secretary, J. L. F. H. Robbins. McElhany. Lake Religious Liberty Association (affiliated Southwestern Religious Liberty Association (af- organizations in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and filiated organizations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin) : Office, Berrien Springs, Mich. ; sec- Texas, and New Mexico) : Office, Keene, Tex.; retary, S. B. Horton, 812 Steger Bldg., Chicago, III secretary, Morris Lukens.

Northern Religious Liberty Association (affil- Western Canadian Religious Liberty Association iated organizations in Minnesota, Iowa, North (affiliated organizations in Alberta, British Co- Dakota, and South Dakota) : Office, 2713 Third lumbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan) : Office, 304 Ave., South, Minneapolis, Minn. ; secretary, L. 'I. I. 0. 0. F. Building, Calgary, Alberta ; secretary, Russell. A. C. Gilbert. 11.11 KKK 11111,11111.1111”1111111,.1. lllllll 1111{1.1l1 lllllllll lllllll .1,1111.1.11.1TILIA a I ll LH M • • Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.- Leviticus 25. 'o. d ‘rp In,

Published quarterly by the REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSN.. TAKOMA PARK, WASHINGTON, D. C. VOL. XVII THIRD QUARTER, 1922 NO. 3

CHARLES S. LONGACRE, Editor CALVIN P. BOLLMAN, Managing Editor WILLIAM F. MARTIN. Associate Editor

CONTENTS

Signing the Magna Charta of American Liberty Frontispiece The Limit of Civil Authority 83 Assaulting the Liberties of the People 86 Wanted (Poem) 87 Shall Christianity Adopt the Rule that " Might Makes Right "1 88 Senatorial Independence 89 " Is Christianity a Part of Our Common Law' " 90 That Drastic Sunday Bill Before Congress 91 Thomas Jefferson Versus Modern Reformers 92 President Harding on Religious Liberty and Religious Intolerance 93 Secretary of State Hughes on Religious Liberty 94 Is Sunday Observance Religious or Not? 95 Bird's-eye View of Lincoln Memorial 96 Marble Statue of Abraham Lincoln, in the Memorial Building 97 Attention! Newspaper Fraternity 98 The Lincoln Memorial 99 The Proper Relation of Church and State 100 Mayor and Clergymen in Conflict over Religion by Law 101 Civil-Law Religion Contravenes Individual Conscience 102 Absurdity of Sunday Laws and Court Difficulties 103 Sunday Blue Laws in Full Force Again 104 Religious Legislation Opposed to the Gospel of Christ 105 A Man-Made Theocracy 106 The Limitation of Majority Rule 106 Reformers Mixing Religion and Politics 107 Impossible to Enforce Sunday Laws 107 " A New Kind of Conscription " 109 The Dangers of Sunday Legislation 110 Editorial Brevities 111 Note and Comment 112

Entered as second-class matter May 1, 1906, at the Post Office at Washington, D. C., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Sec. 1103, Act of Oct. 3, 1917, authorized on June 22. 1918.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES. — One year, 35 cents ; three years (or 3 subscriptions, 1 year), $1.00 ; five or more copies, mailed by publishers to five addresses or to one address, postspaid. each, 9 cents. No subscrip- tion for less than one year received. Remit by Post Office Money Order (payable at Washington, D. C., post office). Express Order, or Draft on New York. Cash should be sent in Registered Letter. When a change of address is desired, both old and new addresses must be given. No extra charge to foreign countries. © Knapp Co., Inc., N. Y. SIGNING THE MAGNA CHARTA OF AMERICAN LIBERTY When our forefathers declared their independence from Great Britain, their first line of moral defense was the great, self-evident fact that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.' ' Proclaim libeity throughout all - the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Leviticus 21 to. i n,

VOL. XVII THIRD QUARTER, 1922 NO. 4 The Limit of Civil Authority By

HAT there is a C • P •B 111o man part of the truth. While limit to legitimate ours is a government of Tcivil authority, only law, we are protected a tyrant will deny. When also by Constitutional our forefathers declared guaranties which a r e their independence from based upon principles Great Britain, their first fundamentally sound and line of moral defense was just. As far as was hu- t h e great, self-evident manly possible, these fact that " all men are principles were, by the created equal ; that they fathers of the Republic, are endowed by their Cre- crystallized into Consti- ator with certain unalien- tutional provisions, great able rights." enabling acts, under The fathers of the Re- which statutes are framed public staked not only and by which they are their lives and fortunes, tested, while the Consti- but their sacred honor as Independence Hall tution itself is tested by well, upon that proposi- those inalienable rights tion, and upon it they fought the Revo- for the defense of which the signers of lutionary War, and won for themselves the immortal Declaration of Independ- and their posterity the freedom enjoyed ence risked every earthly thing held dear today wherever the flag of the Union by mankind. floats. And so today in this American Re- And it is at exactly this same line of public, in the last analysis, not men, nor inalienable rights that we find the limit laws, nor majorities, nor even the Con- of legitimate authority. It is here also stitution governs, but principles. Show that we learn the character of the gov- me today a man in the United States ernment to which we of today are born who stands for a natural right, and who and under which we live and achieve. has not forfeited by crime his right to protection, and I will show you a man A Government of Principles who in justice should win, no matter how It has been said that ours is not a great a majority may be against him. government of men, but of law. This No government has nor ever can have is true as far as it goes, but it is only a any moral right to invade the individual 83 84 LIBERTY

conscience, the citadel of the human soul. " We know," says the apostle, " that Man's first and highest allegiance in all what things soever the law saith, it saith things is due to his Creator ; therefore to them who are under the law : that the domain of conscience is one which every mouth may be stopped, and all the human governments, whether of one or world may become guilty before God." of many, have Rom. 3 :19. no right to in- While G o d vade. No man demands man's can surrender first and best his conscience SOUND AMERICAN PRINCIPLES affections, He to the keeping Every man who conducts himself as a throws the of another, and good citizen, is accountable alone to God safeguards for his religious faith, and should be pro- maintain h i s tected in worshiping God according to the of His 1 a w loyalty to God ; dictates of his own conscience.— George around His but as a re- Washington, in his reply to the Baptists of creatures, and Virginia. sponsible to each moral Religion is not in the purview of human moral being, he government. A connection between them being He says, must be true to is injurious to both. — James Madison. " Thou shalt his Creator at Almighty God hath created the mind love thy neigh- whatever cost, free; all attempts to influence it by tem- bor as thyself." even at the sac- poral punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits But at an rifice of life it- of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a de- early period in self. In such parture from the plan of the holy author the history of cases the word of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate the race, man of the Lord is : it by coercion on either, as was in His rebelled " Whosoever almighty power to do.—Thomas Jefferson. against the law will save his of his Creator. life shall lose The divine it : and whoso- injunction of ever will lose equal love for his life for My sake shall find it." Matt. fellow creatures no longer afforded 16-: 25. God's word is, " Thou shalt not 'the protection necessary, and so God follow a multitude to do evil." Ex. ordained that men should organize for 23 : 2. This places every man on his the protection and securing of their own responsibility, and shows that a own natural rights. Such organization question of conscience, a question of we call civil government. But this in duty toward God, is one with which no way supersedes the divine govern- majorities and minorities have nothing ment; it does not in any measure release to do. the individual from obligation to obey The Supreme Law the divine law. It simply provides a The first and great commandment in way whereby, even amid the cross-cur- the divine law is supreme love to God. rents of personal interest, men may se- cure that which is their due. The test of love is obedience : " If ye love Me," says the Saviour, " keep My God the Great Moral Governor commandments." And again we are told Notwithstanding the ordinance of civil in the divine word that " by this we government, God is still the great moral know that we love the children of God, Governor ; to Him every soul is responsi- when we love God, and keep His com- ble; to Him every free moral agent must mandments." 1 John 5: 2. Hence the give account. To permit any power commandment to love God is in effect a whatever to come between the individual command that we obey Him. And this and God, would destroy individual re- the divine law says alike to every man. sponsibility toward God. If it were the LIBERTY 85 province of the state to enforce the law Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to of God, the individual would naturally fall down and worship the great image seek to know, not the will of God, but set up by Nebuchadnezzar in the plain the will of the state. The effect would of Dura, and God would not have de- be to put the state in the place of livered them out of . the furnace into God. On the which they other hand, were cast. It had God not would likewise committed to have been Dan- man the con- LINCOLN'S WARNING iel's duty to servation of What constitutes the bulwark of our refrain from His own nat- own liberty and independence? It is not asking any pe- our frcwning battlements, our bristling ural rights, seacoasts, our army and our navy. These tition of any one of t w o are not our reliance against tyranny. All God or man things would of these may be turned against us without for thirty making us weaker for the struggle. Our have hap- reliance is in the love of liberty which days, save of pened,— either God has planted in us. Our defense is the king only, vengeance for in the spirit which prizes liberty as the when so com- heritage of all men, in all lands every- transgr e s s io n where. Destroy this spirit and you have manded by his against human planted the seeds of despotism at your earthly sover- rights would own doors. Familiarize yourself with eign ; and God the chains of bondage, and you prepare have been so your own limbs to wear them. Accus- would not have swift and cer- tomed to trample on the rights of others, sent an angel tain as to de- you have lost the genius of your own in- and closed the dependence and become the fit subjects feat the very of the first cunning tyrant who rises among mouths of the object of God you.— Abraham Lincoln. lions into in making and whose den he in leaving man was cast for free to choose his disregard or refuse His of civil author- service, or else punishment would have ity. But God did deliver Shadrach, been so long delayed as to afford no pro- Meshach, and Abednego, and He did tection , to those in need of it. Civil vindicate Daniel's course, thus declaring government as it exists is an absolute in unmistakable manner, and in thunder necessity for a race of social free moral tones, that He alone is Sovereign of the agents, in a state of alienation from their conscience, that to Him alone is unquali- Creator. fied allegiance due, and that He alone is The Reason of Conflict the moral Governor of the universe. It is evident from the principles stated Nor are these instances of faithful obe- that there never can be any conflict be- dience to God isolated cases. The Bible tween legitimate civil authority and the and the history of the Christian church claims of the divine law. And yet the are full of such instances. This princi- fact remains that there have been many ple was well understood and was fear- and serious conflicts. Civil governments lessly announced by the apostles, who have frequently required of their sub- had received it from the Lord Himself, jects that which the divine law forbids, couched in these matchless words : " Ren- and have forbidden that which the di- der unto CEesar the things which are vine law requires. Why is this ? The Cvesar's ; and unto God the things that answer is that those in power have either are God's." When commanded by the wilfully or ignorantly exceeded their civil rulers to refrain from doing some- legitimate authority. Were this not thing which Jesus had commanded, Peter true, it would have been the duty of (Continued on page 108) Our Constitution emphatically says. 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'

ECENTLY, G o d Almighty Dr. H. L. Assaulting has never yet made R Bowlby, a human being secretary of the the good enough to Lord's Day Alli- rule over the mind ance, came to of another, be he Denver advocating Liberties of the religious or athe- the enactment of ist. Give man the Puritanic Sunday power, and it is " blue laws." He People only a question of made a vicious at- time when he will tack upon those By tyrannize and lord who observe an- Charles M. Bice it over his fellows, other d a y than and this is a weak- Attorney at Law, Denver, Colo. Sunday for the ness peculiar to Sabbath, because men of religion, of their opposition to his Sunday blue as all history shows. law program to close up everything Our Constitution emphatically says, tight on Sundays. " Congress shall make no law respecting I regard the movement, or propa- an establishment of religion, or prohibit- ganda, to restore these almost forgotten ing the free exercise thereof." This fun- colonial laws, as a vicious assault upon damental principle, more than any other, the liberties of the people, and an at- has made the United States " the land of tempt to evade or overthrow the Federal the free," and has attracted to our shores Constitution, which unequivocally pro- the sturdy immigrant from church and hibits the union of church and state. It priest-ridden Europe. Here they have appears that these Sunday law advocates found freedom in both church and state. have never read ecclesiastical history, or The American idea is not toleration if they have, it was without intelligence simply, but liberty — toleration is a con- enough to comprehend the dangers of cession, liberty is a right. Until our gov- such a union. ernment was established, this difference 86 LIBERTY 87 had not been recognized, though it was ceeds in the enactment of Sunday laws, taught by Christ. No opportunity was those who observe another day than Sun- afforded in the long reach of history for day " will have to conform to the laws." the practical application of the Scrip- He proposed to make it easier for people tural rule,' that man is answerable to God to go to church. In an interview he gave alone for his sins. It remained for our to the newspapers some time since he government to be the first to divorce said : church and state. And this is for the " We believe that if we take away a man's best interests of both. Secular power motor car, his golf sticks, his Sunday newspaper, has ever proved a satanic gift to the his horses, his pleasure steamships, amusement houses, and parks, and prohibit him from play- church, and ecclesiastical power has ing outdoor games or witnessing field sports, he proved an engine of tyranny in the naturally will drift back to church." hands of the state. The doctor sits in judgment over a The Puritans brought to America the theological question, pronounces all who ideas of medieval Europe, or freedom for differ with him to be " fanatical," and themselves, and the dissenter was pun- makes of himself a second Torquemada ishable. But they never knew what true to pronounce the decrees of the Inqui- liberty was, and so their ideas led to in- sition. Do we need stronger proof of tolerance. In New England there were the wild fanaticism of these blue law thirteen offenses of this kind punishable advocates, and what they will do if only by death, at the head of which stood given the power? " idolatry " and " witchcraft," and prof- anation of " the Lord's day." Sunday is a purely religious institu- Wanted tion, and its observance was not recog- nized at common law, and therefore is Gon give us men! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and not within the rightful province of courts ready hands; or civil government. The legislature is Men whom the lust of office does not kill; not a proper tribunal to determine what Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; are the laws of God. Men who possess opinions and a will; Good citizens honestly differ in opinion Men who have honor,— men who will not lie; as to which day is the Sabbath. The Jews, Adventists, and some Baptists hold Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog Saturday to be the real Sabbath, and In public duty, and in private thinking: they observe that day. For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn But Mr. Bowlby says of these, they creeds, are all " fanatical." Aye — fanatical ! Their large professions and their little deeds,— Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps, and he proposes to ride roughshod over Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice all opposition to his views. Mr. Bowlby sleeps! said that if the Lord's Day Alliance sue- — J. G. Holland.

"The American idea is not toleration simply, but liberty—TOLERATION IS A CON- CESSION, LIBERTY IS A RIGHT." Shall Christianity Adopt the Rule That "Might Makes Right"?

By William Mayhew Healey

HAT is the true principle of all nations, for the weak as well as civil government ? What should the strong. The equal rights of na- W be its purpose and object? His- tions were sustained by the Great War, tory indicates that the common idea has but the rights of the individual were not been that government is an aggregation protected. This principle of equal rights of power to enforce the will of the sov- is the true principle of government, and ereign regardless of right or wrong. the one upon which the United States of When the late kaiser announced his America is founded. The Declaration of view of government to be that " might is Independence declares, " We hold these right " he gave no new theory to the truths to be self-evident, that all men are world, but indorsed a system of govern- created equal; that they are endowed by ment as old as the age of man, that the their Creator with certain unalienable power to get carries with it the right to rights; that among these are life, liberty, take. This has not always been accepted and the pursuit of happiness. That to in theory, but it has been quite univer- secure these rights, governments are in- sally indorsed in practice. stituted among men." When the world saw the kaiser's power No one is in possession of liberty who to get and his willingness to take, lead- does not have the free use of his own ing nations arose in alarm, poured out time. Any law compelling a man to their treasured wealth, mortgaged their work, or to refrain from labor, contrary future resources, drenched the earth in to his will, except that man is a criminal, human blood, and buried many fond or ward of the state, makes him a slave. hopes in shrouds of heartbroken sorrow, It is not the length of service that consti- to destroy the claim that " might is tutes one a slave, but the loss of liberty. right," and establish equal rights for To deprive a man of the use of his time 88 LIBERTY 89 one day in seven, makes him a slave for Virginia Senator's views on the two ques- more than one seventh of his time, as all tions upon which he declared himself, so arrangements for the six days must be frank an exposition of a Senator's higher made relevant to the other one. obligation is a distinctly encouraging The state may declare Sunday, or any sign. No lasting reputation can be made other day, a public holiday in which no by any man who sacrifices principle to public employee can be compelled to expediency. work. But to say that such persons shall The direct election of Senators has had not work in their own personal affairs an undoubted tendency to destroy some is to deprive them of their rights and of the conservatism and independence of liberty. The law of rest is inherent in opinion which formerly characterized animal nature, and in no case does it dis- the higher of the two legislative bodies. tinguish between days. Its time is the Senators have reflected the passing drift time of weariness, and from that rule of public prejudice and public passions. it never varies. There has been a temptation to yield the If all should cease from labor on Sun- individual conviction to the clamor of day because some religiously observe that organized opinion, which too often nay, then all should cease from labor on proves to be minority opinion. In any Saturday because some religiously ob- community mature opinion crystallizes serve that day; and Friday should be a slowly, and majorities are not always day of universal rest because the Mo- vocal. hammedan observes it. It may be said Senator Glass comes from a State that those who observe Saturday or Fri- whose people in the past have supported day are comparatively few in number, public men of independence of mind and besides they are not asking for such a spirit. A predecessor once resigned his law. True, but it is the duty of civil seat in the Senate because his mind did government to secure to all citizens their not go willingly along with organized rights without waiting for them to be opinion at home. When the Virginia demanded. Our government is organ- Legislature instructed John Tyler to vote ized to secure the rights of the indi- for the Benton resolution to expunge vidual, and the rights of every individ- from the journal of the Senate the pre- ual are the rights of all. One man is vious vote of censure upon President entitled to the same government protec- Jackson, Mr. Tyler, who had voted with tion and care that all the others are. Clay against the Administration on the issue of the United States bank, resigned his seat, and on Feb. 29, 1836, walked out of the Senate chamber rather than cast Senatorial Independence a vote against his convictions. It was an act of intellectual independence which N this age of political transition, when indirectly led to the elevation of Mr. the representative theory of govern- Tyler to the Vice-Presidency, and thus, I ment is undermined by the doctrine through an act of Providence, to the of direct democracy, it is refreshing to Presidency. In recent years the theory note in the attitude of a member of the that a Senator or a member of the House Congress the intellectual integrity dis- is a representative of the people with a closed in the speech in which Senator considerable degree of independence, has Glass frankly served notice to his con- been broken down. Today's tendency is stituents that he sat in the Senate, not toward the use of coercive propaganda to reflect every passing whim of opinion upon a representative to compel him to at home, but to vote according to the dic- subordinate his convictions to the de- tates of his reason and conscience. Quite mands of an organized clique.— Wash- without reference to the merits of the ington (D. C.) Post, March 24, 1922. OR years religion of every there h a s man would be en- F been dis- titled to equal cussed the ques- protection of the tion as to whether law; and nowhere or not Christian- is there a state- ity is a part of ment by any of our common law. these men that It seems that Christianity was some of our citi- to be a part of zens, in their de- the common law sire to promote "Is Christianity a of the land. religious legisla- That " Chris- tion in this coun- tianity is a part try, such as Sun- Part of Our of the law of the day laws, have land " is a much maintained that Common Law?" quoted phrase by Christianity is a men who wish to legalize religious part of our com- By mon law. The writer of legislation, such as statutes this article, as an attorney Walter E. Reese for the observance of Sun- at law, has given some Attorney at Law day and other religious time to the investigation of days. But we can find no that contention, and even though there authority for such a claim. In my study is a certain pride in speaking of a na- of this subject I have found that some tion as a " Christian nation," it can be courts have failed to discriminate, but seen that such an expre-sion does not on the whole the best authority and what convey a clear-cut and definite thought. seems to be the most logical, is that " in Our government is a civil government America Christianity is not a part of the dealing with civil affairs. The religion common law of the land." The Consti- of the Christian is given as much re- tution of the United States expressly pro- spect as any other religion, and the gov- hibits Congress from legislating in the ernment does not ask you to be a member matter of religion. So the only point of of any church to obtain its protection; argument left to the advocates of reli- while it is a government a large number gious legislation is that " Christianity is of whose citizens are Christians, that is, a part of the common law." On this a large number are members of the va- point the authorities are not agreed, but rious churches in the nation, the govern- law writers say that " Christianity is a ment itself is not Christian. It was the part of the common law only in a quali- purpose of the founders of our Republic fied sense," and further, " On the other that the church should be separate from hand it has been held that in America the state — such was the policy of Wash- there has never been any union of church ington, Madison, and Jefferson, the fa- and state, that legislative control lies ex- thers of true Americanism, and they clusively over things temporal, and that sought to make this a nation where reli- neither Christianity nor any other sys- gious legislation would be unknown. tem of religion constitutes a part' of our Knowing the price that men and women common law."—"Corpus furls," Vol. had paid for religious freedom, and the XII, p. 182. attempt of the early colonial legislative The above quotation was followed by assemblies to regulate the profession of a citation from the case of Andrew vs. religion, they endeavored to prevent any New York Bible Society, in which the recurrence of such experiences here by court said : " The maxim that Christian- founding a civil government where the ity is a part and parcel of the common 90 LIBERTY 91 law, has been frequently repeated by its citizens in the right to worship on judges and text writers, but few have any day and in any place they may chosen to examine its truth or attempt to see fit. explain its meaning." And farther Shelbyville, lad. along in the report of the case under con- sideration, the court said, " If Christian- ity is a municipal law in the proper sense of the term as it must be if a part That Drastic Sunday Bill Before of the common law, every person is liable Congress to be punished by the civil power who refuses to embrace it's doctrines and fol- IIE editor of the Lamar (Colo.) low its precepts ; and if it must be con- Sparks, in its issue of March 30, ceded that in this sense the maxim is Tmakes the following comments untrue, it ceases to be intelligible, since upon the present Sunday bill, H. R. a law without a sanction is an absurdity 9753, pending before Congress : in logic and a nullity in fact."— Id., 6 " A drastic Sunday blue law for the District N. Y., Super 156. of Columbia is now pending in Congress, and there is danger that it may pass unless the Another writer, taking up the subject advocates of Constitutional liberty protest of ecclesiastical laws, said as follows : strongly to their Senators and Representatives. " The true view seems to be that while Should this measure pass, it is only a question of time until its provisions are extended to in- those principles, ecclesiastical law based clude the whole United States. . . . The pro- on the union of church and state, have posed Sunday blue law is sponsored by those no place in our jurisprudence, some have eminent professional reformers, Messrs. Bowlby been adopted." and Crafts, whose pious souls writhe in anguish every time they see one of their fellow mortals Sunday laws are religious laws ; they manifesting any signs of enjoyment on the Sab- are based on religious principles, and bath day. The mistake of liberal-minded peo- tend to produce a union of church and ple in the past has been that they failed to take state, a thing which America should the efforts of the reformers seriously, remain- guard against. And yet those who ing silent and indifferent while the other fel- lows were organized and active. This tolerant proudly proclaim that Christianity is a attitude on the part of the majority led timid part of the common law must sustain a Congressmen and State legislators to enact distinct shock when they learn that, " At many restrictive laws during the past fifty common law all business other than ju- years. Although the majority of these laws are dicial proceedings could be lawfully never enforced because they run contrary to pub- lic opinion, the rabbits in our lawmaking transacted on Sunday."—" Cyclopedia branches are afraid to repeal them, lest they of Law," Vol. XXXVII, p. 545. That offend the self-constituted regulators of other Sunday laws came only as a matter of people's habits." enactment, and that such are religious We believe in upholding the dignity laws, must be conceded by every one who of the law and law enforcement, but we has given the subject any thought. also believe that we ought not to enact Blackstone aptly termed them such when laws which are devoid of all dignity and he said : " Profanation of the Lord's day, which the people are unable to reverence vulgarly (but improperly) called Sab- and respect. Unless a law is in harmony bath breaking, is a ninth offense against with the spirit of the people and the God and religion, punished by the mu- spirit of the guaranties of civil and reli- nicipal law of England." gious liberty as vouchsafed to the citi- Such laws are not laws which the men zens by our Federal Constitution, it who gave us the American form of gov- would be far better not to enact it. ernment, would approve, they smack too Enacted, as they are, in hostility to the much of the days when the church was Constitution, it were far better to repeal overlord of the state. This is a civil gov- all such un-American laws than to retain ernment, a government which protects them. NI • Thomas Jefferson versus Modern Reformers

would find a much different state of affairs existing. He would find that we have a class of people here, better known as professional reformers, who want to govern everything — a class who believe that man can be mad.: good by act of assembly and that righteousness should be beaten into him by a systematic code of ' blue laws.' He would find that the pro- fessional reformers look upon liberty, not as exemption from arbitrary in- terference with person, opinion, or property, on the part of the gov- ■ ernment under which one lives, but as an old time-worn slogan that should be consigned to the grave. RI'L'ING of Thomas Jefferson He would find that mental liberty means that a part of the people are to make the on the one hundred seventy- other part think as they think or not think at W ninth anniversary of his birth, all; that personal liberty is the freedom of one the editor of the Blue Grass Clipper, part of the people to make the other part do Midway, Ky., said of him : what they command them to do; that religious liberty is the freedom of but a part of the peo- " It was while a student at William and Mary ple to make the other part worship as they want College that he heard the famous speech of them to worship; that political liberty is the Patrick Henry, and those immortal words, liberty of a bludgeon wielded by these profes- ' Give me liberty, or give me death,' which kin- sional reformers at the door of legislative halls dled within him a patriotic spirit that grew to bulldoze legislators and force class legisla- until it burst forth in that noble statue to his tion through. memory, the Declaration of Independence, which " Can it be that when Jefferson wrote that was the work of his pen. all men are created equal; that they are en- " Jefferson's idea of government was, that dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable that government is best which governs the least. rights; that among these are life, liberty, and He was the real originator of the state sover- the pursuit of happiness,' into the Declaration eignty idea, and he opposed all measures which of Independence, it was only a joke? tended toward centralizing in one government, " Can it be that the ' religious liberty' which characterizing all such measures as leading to Jefferson wrote into the statutes of colonial monarchy. In this he disagreed with Alexander Virginia and which found its way into every Hamilton, who favored a strong central govern- State constitution, is only bedlam? ment patterned after England. Jefferson and " Can it be that the First Amendment to the Hamilton represented two great schools of polit- Federal Constitution, preventing Congress from ical thought which contended for mastery in making any law respecting an establishment of American politics, not only during Washington's religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, administration, but for sixty years thereafter, is a lie? and even down to the present day. In all his " Can it be that when the people in Jefferson's long and eventful career Jefferson always took day fought in the Revolutionary War to give us the side of the people against power, advocating liberty, we must now fight the Revolutionary the mental, personal, religious, and political War over again to prevent the people in our freedom of man, irrespective of clime, color, day from taking it away from us? creed, or condition. " Can it be that when God made the con- " But if Thomas Jefferson were to arise from science free in the realm of religion, man has his tomb at Monticello and come back here, he the right to enslave it? 92 LIBERTY 93

" Can it be that the civil laws and carnal be legislated into the human heart by man, weapons of man are to be employed to advance when Christ Himself, least of all, sought to the cause of religion instead of the gospel means do so I of Christi " Yet this is what the professional reform- " Can it be that religion and its tenets can ers tell us."

President Harding on Religious Liberty and Religious In- tolerance

VERY citizen most helpful which may he brought into our daily of the United lives. E States ought to " There is no relation- be interested in the ship here between church remarkable address and state. Religious lib- erty has its unalterable President Harding de- place, along with civil livered to the Bible and human liberty, in the class of the Calvary very foundation of the Baptist Church, on the Republic. Therein is shown the farseeing vision proper relations of the of the immortal founders, citizen to the state. and we are a better people The President has be- and a better Republic come alarmed by the because there is that free- growth of " religious dom. " I fear it is forgotten intolerance which ex- sometimes. In the ex- ists among many of periences of a year in our citizens," as well the Presidency there has as by the laxity of come to me no other © Edmonton such unwelcome impression morals. He holds as the manifest religious these tendencies " to President Harding intolerance which exists be a menace to the among many of our citi- very liberties we boast and cherish." zens. I hold it to be a menace to the very We are glad to let our readers have liberties we boast and cherish. " In spite of our complete divorcement of the benefit of the more striking portions, church and state, quite in harmony with our as printed in the Congressional Record religious freedom, there is an important rela- of March 25: tionship between church and nation, because no " Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the class, nation can prosper, no nation can survive, if it it is a very great pleasure to be associated with ever forgets Almighty God. I have believed you tonight, to utter greetings and commend that religious reverence has played a very influ- the great work your class is doing. . . . ential and helpful part in the matchless Amer- " Your class reveals a pursuit of religious ican achievement, and I wish it ever to abide. activity of inestimable value and interest, and If I were to utter a prayer for the Republic challenges the too prevalent impression that the tonight, it would be to reconsecrate us in re- pursuit of the Christian religion is always sol- ligious devotion and make us abidingly a God- emn and lacking in the charm which is so fearing, God-loving people. desirable in our social life. It is a very simple " I do not fail to recall that the religious discovery, but there are far too few discoverers, life makes for the simple life, and it would be that the Bible is the most fascinating study in like a divine benediction to restore the simpler all our literature, and the lessons taught are the life in this Republic." National PL,oto Secretary of Stale Hughes delivering address at the laying of the corner-stone to the National Baptists' Memorial to Roger Williams and Religious Liberty Secretary of State Hughes on Religious Liberty HE Washington Times of April 23 it is ever in danger of being made the instru- ment of the mistaken zeal of those who would gives a very illuminating account deny to others the right to think as they choose.' Tof the address of Secretary of " Secretary Hughes declared that the two State Hughes, which he delivered at the most precious heritages of the American people laying of the corner-stone to the National are civil and religious liberty, and that their Baptist Memorial to Roger Williams and continued existence, separate one from the other,' should be zealously guarded. If there Religious Liberty. The article bears the are any,' he said, who would pervert our insti- following double caption : " Hughes De- tutions to make them servants of religious nounces Sunday Blue Laws " and " Sees dogma, they should be regarded as enemies of Great Danger to Country in Tyrannical both religion and the state, as the success of Enforcement of Religious Views." their endeavors would undermine both.' " One of the dangers in this day of standard- In giving an epitome of Secretary ization is the destruction of individualism Hughes' position and his statements on even to the standardization of our manner of this subject, the Times says : thinking,' declared Dr. Emory W. Hunt, presi- " Attempts to enforce religious beliefs by dent of Bucknell University, in pleading for a civil law, including the Sunday pleasure and return to the spirit of individualism of Roger ' blue ' laws, were characterized by Secretary of Williams. State Hughes as one of the great dangers Amer- " We need to bring back some of that sturdy icans face today. . . . individualism that characterized Roger Wil- " ' The hardest lesson mankind has had to liams,' he urged. Let's not abolish the school learn,' said Secretary Hughes, ' is that the reli- of experience.' " gious truth which is held to be most precious The Washington Post of the same date, cannot prosper by attempts forcibly to impose it upon others. Strong convictions, especially published the following additional mat- religious convictions, are apt to develop tyran- ter relative to this admirable address of nical purpose, and no faith is so pure but that Secretary Hughes : 94 LIBERTY 95

" The principle of religious liberty is dis- The Puritans used to enforce baptism tinctively an American doctrine.' . . . For by civil law, and compel by civil author- here,' he continued, the principle first found effective expression in governmental institu- ity, the observance of the Lord's Supper, tions.' but that did not change baptism and the " Mr. Hughes said the proposed memorial was Lord's Supper into civil institutions. at once a ' tribute to the pioneer who, first in They were still religious, and the laws America, erected the standard of religious lib- erty,' and a pledge that this principle shall be making them obligatory were religious. held inviolate.' He quoted Lord Bryce as hav- This Virginia editor says: ing said that half the wars of Europe had arisen from rival claims of church and state. . . . " It is quite true that the Sunday law under " To the Anabaptists, the most scorned of Constantine was a religious law. It is equally sects, belongs the imperishable honor of declar- true that when Virginia was an English colony, ing and persistently urging the fundamental Sunday was made a religious observance by the doctrine that rulers of states should not inter- law of England, and men and women were re- vene in affairs of conscience, and that civil quired by law to go to church on Sunday. . • . disability should not be predicated upon reli- But that was English law." gious belief. " Others might pledge toleration or maintain What wonderful logic ! The Sunday a passive resistance to authority. The Anabap- laws were religious for nearly fifteen tists were not asking to be tolerated; they were hundred years, then all at once they be- not content with passivity; they were fighting for a cardinal principle of their faith. Their came civil laws because they are Amer- demand for absolute freedom of religion from ican laws, and America has declared in civil control was an essential part of their con- favor of religious liberty ! But the ception of religion. They went to the root of American declarations of religious lib- the matter — the relation of the individual soul to its Maker.' erty and freedom of conscience do not " Even in the New World,' Mr. Hughes change the character of these relics of said, the advance of the movement for religious the past. Calling the sun the moon freedom had awaited the coming of a leader would not change the sun into the moon. until Roger Williams " enlarged " out of Massa- Calling a sinner a saint would not make chusetts. " To him, who established the liberty of the him a saint. soul in the New World; who, not with indiffer- Sunday observance is a religious cus- ence to religious truths, but with profound re- tom which was made obligatory by the ligious conviction, demanded emancipation of church councils more than three centu- the spirit of man from the fetters of civil rule; who pointed the coming nation to the true path- ries after Christ, ostensibly in honor of way of a free people,— to Roger Williams, Ilk resurrection. At first, observance 1• reacher, prophet, and statesman, we erect this of this religious custom was optional. memorial of the lasting obligation of men and Later it was made obligatory under a women of all creeds and races. ' " union of the church with the state, for ex 01 os the purpose of maintaining a unity of belief and practice in the established Is Sunday Observance Religious church. All through the centuries until or Not? very recently Sunday laws were re- HE editor of the Daily Press of garded both by the church and by the Newport News, Va., in an editorial, state as religious laws enforcing a reli- Tclaims that a law that requires the gious obligation. Blackstone treats of observance of Sunday is not a religious Sunday statutes as laws prohibiting and law but a civil law. The civil law can punishing " offenses against God and re- deal only with a man's proper relation- ligion." Sunday observance can never ship with his fellow men, whereas a re- be anything else but religious, and any ligious law deals with a man's proper maneuvering to make these same identi- relationship with his God. The fact that cal laws suddenly civil is nothing but a religious institution is enforced by a political chicanery and religious dis- civil law, does not change a religious honesty. institution into a civil institution. C. S. L. National Photo The Lincoln Memorial on the Banks of the Potomac, Washington, D. C., from the Top of the Washington_ Monument, During the Dedication Exercises, May 30, 1922 iN THIS TEMPLE S IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

National Photo Marble Statue of Abraham Lincoln, Occupying the Central Space in the Memorial Building Attention! Newspaper Fraternity

By Sanford B. Horton

HE attention of the newspaper fra- is placed before the newspapers of the ternity is hereby called to an arti- land, and should serve as warning that Tcle appearing in the Christian the liberty of the press, which is guar- Statesman of December, 1921. It says: anteed by the First Amendment to the " One of the most pernicious forms of Sab- Constitution, is in jeopardy. To mini- bath desecration is the Sunday newspaper. It mize the importance of maintaining that is one of the most clever and most successful " eternal vigilance " which " is the price inventions that Satan ever devised for injuring of liberty," under the impression that the kingdom of God." there is no danger, would be most unfor- The Statesman advertises the fact that tunate. In this connection the following in 1914, 65,000,000 persons were reading from the Chicago Tribune is apropos : the Sunday paper, and then comments : " The reader who is inclined to smile at this " Well, what great harm is there in the Sun- as a futile fanaticism is not wise. . . . Respect day paper anyhow? Does it not contain useful for freedom of conscience has not marked our information? and is it not much better for a history at all times since the men and women man to sit quietly on his front porch on Sab- who left England in the seventeenth century bath morning and read his paper than conduct for the freedom to worship in their own way, his business? . . . It has been aptly remarked persecuted those within their gates who asked that the Sunday paper is much like the sheet no more than the same freedom. . . . One would which Peter in his vision saw let down from think that freedom of conscience needs no de- heaven. In it were all manner of four-footed fense in America in our day, but it does, and beasts and creeping things of the earth, and the Sabbatarian movement proves it. That de- birds of the heaven; but, unlike Peter's sheet, fense cannot be allowed to rest with the public the Sunday paper was never let down from intelligence. It needs as thorough organization heaven, and God has never cleansed it." and as active propaganda as Sabbatarianism is employing." We take it, of course, under the cir- cumstances, the Christian Statesman is The relative importance of the press in perfect accord with Dr. H. L. Bowlby, cannot be questioned nor minimized in secretary of the Lord's Day Alliance, the least. Thomas Jefferson said regard- that the publishing of the Sunday news- ing the value of the press, that if he had paper should be prohibited by law, for to choose between a government without he said in an interview much quoted in newspapers and newspapers without these columns, government, he would choose the latter " We believe that if we take away a man's alternative. motor ear, his golf sticks, his Sunday newspaper, The First Amendment contains a his horses, . . . he naturally will drift back to guaranty for the freedom of the press, church." and this should be encouraged in every Also with chairman N. W. Cooper, of way within the bounds of legitimate com- the Southern Methodist National Sunday mentary. Without doubt some Sunday Law Committee, who proposes a na- issues of the newspapers will compare tional Sunday law providing that " it very favorably with some of the things shall be unlawful for any newspaper or we get from some pulpits of the land. other paper or publication published or But if the press is wise, it will continue purporting to be published on Sunday to create and encourage propaganda de- to be received, carried, or delivered as signed to maintain the liberties vouch- mail," etc. safed the American people by the found- This anti-Sunday newspaper campaign ing fathers. 98 National Photo Chief Justice Taft, President Harding, and Robert Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln

The Lincoln Memorial

The Memorial to Abraham Lincoln, in Washing- meaning to the citizens of the United States and visi- ton, D. C., which was dedicated May 30, 1922, with tors from other countries than a portrayal of periods appropriate exercises, in which President Harding or events by means of decoration. and Chief Justice Taft took part, is a marble struc- " Surrounding the walls inclosing these memorials ture 84 feet wide and 156 feet long, built upon a of the man is a colonnade forming a symbol of the circular terrace 1.000 feet in diameter. It is so ar- Union, each column representing a State — thirty- ranged that the floor of the Memorial building is 45 six in all — one for each State existing at the time feet higher than grade. Henry Bacon, architect of of Lincoln's death, and on the walls appearing above the structure, says of it: the colonnade and supported at intervals by eagles " The most important object is the statue of Lin- are forty-eight memorial festoons, one for each State coln, which is placed in the center of the Memorial, existing at the present time." and by virtue of its imposing position in the place of The cost of the memorial is $2,939,720. The honor, the gentleness, power, and intelligence of the statue of Abraham Lincoln is by Daniel Chester man expressed as far as possible by the sculptor's art, French, dean of American sculptors. With its ped- predominate. This portion of the Memorial where estal and base it is thirty feet high. The statue itself, the statue is placed is unoccupied by any other ob- without the pedestal, is twenty-one feet high, and ject that might detract frcm its effectiveness, and weighs 150 tons. The figure of Lincoln is nineteen the visitor is alone with it. feet high from the top of his head to the sole of his " The smaller halls at each side of the central boot. The head measures three feet in height. The space each contains a memorial — one, of the second great armchair in which Lincoln is seated is twelve inaugural, and the other, of the Gettysburg address. and one-half feet high, over the back of which a flag " 'While these memorials can be seen from any part has been draped. The boot is three and one-half of the hall, they are partially screened from the feet long, and it is eight feet from the boot to the central portion, where the statue is placed, by means kneecap. The statue was cut by Piccirilli Brothers, of a row of Ionic columns, giving a certain isolation marble cutters, of New York City. The statue is of to the space they occupy and augmenting thereby Georgia marble, and the pedestal and base of Ten- their importance. I believe these two great speeches nessee marble. It took the sculptor four years to made by Lincoln will always have a far greater produce the statue. The Proper Relation of Church and State By J. I. Taylor The Church a matter of conscience over which you HE church is ordained of God to have no control " ? Have they not the evangelize the world for the sal- same right of liberty in matters religious Tvation of men's souls. It is to re- as we ? veal unto men the love of God for all Sunday Laws Religious mankind. It is to minister charity to the needy, thus relieving physical suffering. Sunday laws are religious laws. Sun- Its disciplinary authority extends over day has no precedence over other days, its own members only, and over them except for the religious significance at- only to the extent of censure and disfel- tached to it. Even Christians are not lowship. It is to be maintained in its agreed as to what day is the Sabbath ; program of work by the voluntary tithes some observe Sunday, others observe Sat- and offerings of its members and friends. urday. Being a religious matter, it is one that should be settled entirely by The State the individual conscience. The state (all civil government) is an Sabbath keeping is a duty that men association of men for the purpose of owe to God, not to men. Men must an- securing and maintaining to each indi- swer to God only for their treatment of vidual his God-given right to " life, lib- the Sabbath. The state has no right to erty, and the pursuit of happiness." It enact laws regulating Sabbath observ- is ordained of God to rule over the bod- ance, whether it be Saturday or Sunday. ies of men (Rom. 13: 4), not their souls. Has the church a right to invoke the It is to enact and execute equitable and aid of the state for enforcing' regard to just laws for the protection of man a purely religious institution Christ against man. It is to regard the rights said : " If any man hear My words, and of the minority as sacredly as the rights believe not, I judge him not : for I came of the majority. It is to protect the weak not to judge the world, but to save the against the strong. It is sacredly to world." John 12: 47. Has Christ dele- guard every citizen in the enjoyment of gated to the church greater authority in liberty in matters of religion. It is to lay such matters than He Himself exercised ? a restraining hand upon men only when, Is the servant greater than his Lord? in the exercise of their right of liberty, they invade the rights of their fellow Religious Liberty men. It is maintained by an assessed tax Religious liberty is a sacred heritage. upon its citizenry. Its authority ex- Baptists, Presbyterians, Seventh Day tends to execution of punishment unto Baptist's, Seventh-day Adventists, and imprisonment and death. others have in the past suffered persecu- Why should we Christians desire that tion upon American soil because of the the non-Christian be required by law to existence of religious laws. Christ said : observe our religious institutions ? Why " Whoso shall offend one of these little should we ask that the state punish of- ones which believe in Me, it were better fenders against our church institutions, for him that a millstone were hanged when God has withheld such authority about his neck, and that he were drowned from the church? Suppose the non- in the depth of the sea." Matt. 18: 6. Christians were in the majority, and Let us not take the first steps toward they should demand that we observe our violation of the rights of the " least " of Sabbath as they observe it ? Would we our brethren. To do so means to bring not at once cry, " Hands off ! This is Christ's condemnation upon us. 100 Mayor and Clergymen in Conflict over Religion by Law

HE Ministers' Association of effort to close the picture shows every Sunday in the year. This being true, I will dismiss the Mansfield, Ohio, petitioned Mayor petition in so far as it relates to Lent with this THenry G. Brunner to close the thea- thought: If the Ministers' Association really ters on Sundays during Lent. The wanted the picture shows closed during Lent mayor rejected the petition of the Min- only, I have every reason to believe that an isters' Association, which caused them agreement could have been reached if they had taken the matter up a short time at least before to retaliate with great fury, even threat- the Lenten period. Pictures are contracted for ening the mayor by implication with a a month and two months in advance; to close religious boycott at the polls. The fol- now would mean quite a loss to them. You lowing letter sent by the mayor to the may say that I have no right to consider the financial end, but you will agree that we must president of the Ministers' Association is be fair. of unusual interest : " Since this is the beginning of an effort to " MARCH 23, 1922. close the picture shows every Sunday, I have " Bev. Foster C. Anderson, President Ministers' considered the petition with that in mind. Association, Mansfield, Ohio. There are two reasons advanced for closing picture shows on Sunday, the one moral and the " MY DEAR REVEREND ANDERSON : other legal. In considering the petition from " When your committee called upon me with the moral standpoint, I find that two thirds of a petition to close the picture shows and thea- the signers ride in automobiles on Sunday for ters during Lent, I told you that I would give their own pleasure and comfort, others regu- this matter careful consideration. This I have larly attend Sunday picture shows, some go done with the thought in mind that a petition fishing on Sunday, others go to dances and play containing the names of 2,467 church people cards on Sunday — in fact, a large majority and representing nineteen different churches have their own forms of Sunday amusement. should have the most careful consideration. " Considering the legal reason, I am mindful " I have been mayor of Mansfield more than of the fact that there are many violations of four years, and have always had the best inter- the Sunday laws, such as the operation of street est of Mansfield at heart. I have tried to carry cars, the sale of gasoline, ice cream, cigars, out the will of the people of this city, not the newspapers, and candy. Servant girls are people of any one class. forced to violate the Sunday laws. I find that " When your petition was filed, the owners of the Sunday laws have been in effect many the picture shows offered to file a counterpeti- years, and have been constantly violated ever tion, which offer I took under advisement. since, not only in Mansfield but in every com- " I checked over the names on your petition, munity in the State. Now then, if it is a case and after conferring with some men and women of law enforcement,' let's go all the way — who signed your petition, and others who did let's make a real job of it. There are many not, I came to the conclusion that it would be other laws that are being violated, not only unwise to go any further with petitions. I Sunday laws. Why discriminate? There is a might have dodged the responsibility had I law in effect which says that each person of allowed the picture show men to file a petition full age shall list his personal property at its and then reached a conclusion based upon the true value in money. How many violate this larger number of names on either petition. I law, and how many commit perjury when they felt that this would be taking an unfair advan- file their return? tage and cause a division in the community, " Do the people of Mansfield want a law that it would divide the city into groups, caus- enforcement' crusade? If not, where shall we ing discrimination, business reprisals, and cre- draw the line, and who shall draw the line? ate a condition that would do much harm and " I believe in the enforcement of law, but set Mansfield back many years. I decided to not in oppression. I believe that men are not lock up your petition, and not show the names made good by legal declaration or by official to any one, and advised the picture show men action. They are good when they follow the not to do anything with petitions. best and highest impulses of their souls. Good- " Your petition plainly requested that the ness is developed from within, and there is no picture shows be closed during Lent. Several other way by which any one can become good. members of your committee gave me to under- " Until I get an expression from the people stand that this was only the beginning of an that will convince me that I am not carrying 101 102 LIBERTY their will into effect, there will be no radical an affidavit, which will receive prompt and change in conducting the affairs of the city; respectful attention. however, any one desiring to have any person " Very respectfully, arrested for the violation of any law, can file " H. G. BRUNNER, "Mayor of the City of Mansfield!' Civil-Law Religion Contravenes Individual Conscience By John Orr Corliss

ONSCIENCE is a positive, though Quakers were hanged, and others were still, small voice within, which denied residence within the pale of Puri- C approves that which is right and tan jurisdiction. condemns that which is wrong. For con- Even as late as 1785, a bill was intro- science' sake men have died in defiance duced in the Virginia Legislature to es- of the verdicts of society. Indeed, the tablish benefits specially for " teachers of sixteenth century Reformation was but the Christian religion," which was antag- the protest of conscience against a pre- onistic to freedom of conscience, but vailing religion. All this was because well designed to place religious usages conscience was recognized as an inward on a civil basis, to be directed by the power, higher and nobler than self, which voice of the church. This called forth ought to be obeyed. a strong remonstrance from James Madi- State religions of past ages were ever son, a portion of which is here inserted practised without relation to conscience, as sound doctrine applicable to any and simply because they were but human ar- every attempt to enforce religious cus- rangements. Being thus, they were not toms by civil statute. Thus Mr. Madi- reverenced as God-given, but only rec- son says: ognized as civil requirements, and fol- " We hold it for a fundamental and lowed for the sake of civil order. Even unalienable truth ' that religion, or the the later ceremonies of the Jewish church duty Which we owe to the Creator, and became mere formal observances, simply the manner of discharging it, can be di- because they had become mere national rected only by reason and conviction, customs. When Christ appeared, He not by force or violence.' The religion, protested against a burdensome ritual, then, of every man must be left to the and substituted a divine life in its stead. conviction and conscience of every man ; True, He suffered death in consequence, and it is the right of every man to exer- but in doing so, left an example for hu- cise it as these may dictate. This right man constancy that it is not safe to is, in its nature, an unalienable right. It ignore. is unalienable, because the opinions of The same spirit that operated to con- men depending only on the evidence con- demn Christ, has ever been alert to press templated by their own minds, cannot the iron of oppression into the souls of follow the dictates of other men. It is those who would follow the example of unalienable, also, because what is here a the Divine One. It was this same demon right towards man is a duty towards the of wickedness that drove the Pilgrim Creator. It is the duty of every man to Fathers to seek an asylum in the wilds render to the Creator such homage, and of America. But in that retreat intol- such only, as he believes to be acceptable erance soon pushed to the front in at- to Him. This duty is precedent, both in tempts to legalize a set form of religion. order of time and in degree of obligation, In consequence, Baptists were whipped, to the claims of civil society." LIBERTY .103

Having thus laid down these sound this would close up all distinction be- principles, Mr. Madison proceeded to tween the church and the world? - It draw therefrom some conclusions which would also destroy the force of all New must continue fundamental in every con- Testament invitations to come apart from troversy arising between conscience and the world, and unto Christ, to find rest the demands of civil society. Here are of soul. In every way one looks at the a few of them : religio-civil tendency of the present-day " If a member of civil society who en- church, it seems more and more neces- ters, into any subordinate association sary, in harmony with the sentiment must always do it with a reservation of of a great statesman, to " take alarm at his duty to the general authority, much the first experiment on our liberties." more must every man who becomes a member of any particular civil society 01. do it with a saving of his allegiance to Absurdity of Sunday Laws and the Universal Sovereign. We maintain, therefore, that in matters of religion, no Court Difficulties man's right is abridged by the institution HE Boston Post in its issue of of civil society, and that religion is February 22, says : wholly exempt from its cognizance. . . . T" That the old Sunday license laws should If religion be exempt from the authority either be wiped off the statutes or else revised, of the society at large, still less can it is the opinion of most every one who knows be subject to that of the legislative body. the laws and their absurdity. One official in the The latter are but the creatures and vice- licensing commission office declared yesterday that if strict enforcement of the laws were car- gerents of the former. Their jurisdic- ried out by the police, people living in tenement tion is both derivative and limited." districts would starve over Sunday.. . . The same line of reasoning should be " A study of the Sunday law proves that there are comparatively few real necessities of life permitted to settle the question now be- that may be bought legally on Sabbath [Sun- ing so earnestly advocated by religious day], while Chapter 136, Sections 7 and 8, sanc- leaders, of having a law which will re- tions the sale of ice cream, confectionery, soda quire every one to observe Sunday as a water, and fruit." weekly day of rest. This is undoubtedly If a man sells milk on Monday, he may a point of religious conduct, designed to sell on Sunday; otherwise he is fined for place in •the lead those who religiously selling on Sunday. It is unlawful to sell believe that day to be the proper one to a raw egg on Sunday, but lawful to sell observe as a weekly rest day. But all a cooked egg. In some municipalities it do not agree with the conclusion upon is lawful to sell liquid milk, but unlawful which it is desired to base such a law. to sell frozen milk, on Sunday. It is So if such a law were maintained as lawful to sell a newspaper on Sunday, legitimate legislation, not only would un- but unlaWful unless the same person sells fair discrimination exist, but God's au- newspapers on Monday. It is lawful to thority to appoint a weekly rest day sell a cooked potato, but unlawful to sell would he delegated to civil government, a raw potato, on Sunday. It is lawful and the way opened for the state to to sell a sandwich, but unlawful to sell decide, as in the Dark Ages, what reli- bread and meat, on Sunday. A delica- gious cult should be followed by all, and tessen shop can lawfully sell a roast that under civil penalty. chicken or boiled beef, but the grocery This, of course, would obviate the ne- man is fined if he sells a chicken or beef, cessity of guidance by conscience in any on Sunday. A baker may sell his bread matter. Every religious duty would on Sunday, but a grocer cannot. The then be performed as a perfunctory serv- baker may sell custard pies made from ice in conformity with the customs of real or imaginary eggs and sugar, but he society. Is it not therefore plain that is fined if he sells a spoonful of sugar on 104 LIBERTY

Sunday. A baker may sell oodles of western police court', on a charge of baked beans direct from his own ovens, pressing clothes on Sunday. He said he but if he should sell a can of beans from got a new machine and was trying it his shelf, he is violating the Sunday law. out." By the same freakish twist of the law, Albert Martin, 140 South Robinson the druggist or tobacconist may deal out St., was arraigned for " repairing loose numberless cigars or cigarettes, but if he tiles in the vestibule of his home," and sells so much as one match with which Jacob Greenberg, of 1619 Ashland Ave., to light the articles he sells on Sunday, " was fined $5 and costs by Justice Roh- he is liable to a fine. Coal men may sell leder at the Northeastern Station, on a coal in emergencies and deliver it, but charge of painting his front steps." they cannot sell matches with which to Another man was arrested and fined light the fire on Sunday without being for digging a post hole in his back yard subjected to a fine. The proprietor of a to enable his wife to put up her clothes- kosher market may sell meat to the mem- line, and another man was fined for pa- bers of his own faith, but is restricted by pering a room. Yet the Lord's Day Alli- the Sunday law from selling it to those ance tells us there never were any blue not of the Jewish faith. It is exceed- laws. We should like to know what they ingly difficult, says the Boston Post, for would call " blue laws." This is certainly a Jewish dealer " to determine the reli- enforcing religion with a vengeance. gion of a hungry man who visits the The Baltimore Sun of April 25, says : butcher shop with money enough to pay " Sunday laws like those of Maryland which for the purchase " on Sunday. are susceptible of gross discrimination, which No wonder our civil courts confess encourage contemptible meddling and persecu- tion, which deal with petty domestic acts as if their inability to find a sound legal prece- they were crimes, should not be permitted to dent and rule of law to determine what remain on the statute books of a sane and pro- course to follow in the cases that come gressive State. The police have no option in before them when the Sunday laws enter cases of alleged violation of the Sunday laws, but must make arrests, no matter how trivial the into these finespun, hairsplitting theolog- offense, and the magistrate is compelled to im- ical questions of what is and what is not pose fines, even if the breach of the law is proper on Sunday. It is about time that lurely technical and trifling. A man who digs Americans threw off these tyrannical a post hole in his back yard to enable his wife shackles and religious relics of a dead to put up a clothesline, is haled to a police station as if he had picked a rocket, and men past, and administered their laws and who are papering a room are pilloried and pun- courts in harmony with the ideals of the idled as if they had been defiling instead of American conception of civil government beautifying property. and common sense. C. S. L. " Talk of the small-town spirit, could there be anything smaller than this Baltimore Sunday spirit, which strains at moral gnats and swal- lows all manner of malice and uncharitableness? Sunday Blue Laws in Full If our Sunday laws beget neighborhood inform- ers and sneaks, if they produce hypocrites and Force Again Pharisees who make the outside of their own VERY now and then Baltimore, platters clean while harboring all kinds of mean- Md., is afflicted with a Sunday law ness and intolerance, they are worse than no laws at all. They ought not to be called Sun- E spasm, which is instituted at the day laws, but fool laws and devil laws, which request of some religious zealots who tend to promote individual hate and hostility tl have more zeal than knowledge. Accord- morality and religion. ing to the Baltimore Sun of April 11, " How much longer is Baltimore to present " three men were arraigned before mag- such an absurd spectacle as this? " istrates on April 10, charged with vio- While we believe that all ought to ob- lating the Sunday laws. Jules Esten- serve the Sabbath of Jehovah, we are op- berg, 130 South Eden St., was fined posed to the enforcement of any religious $1.45 by Justice Tormollan, in the south- obligations by the state. Religious Legislation Opposed to the Gospel of Christ

By C. Porter

Y religious legislation is not meant Civil legislation touching religious or ecclesiastical regulations en- spiritual things can serve only to inter- B forced only by ecclesiastical pen- pose the civil authority between the in- alties, but civil statutes affecting reli- dividual soul and God, thus lowering gious things enforced by civil penalties, the standard of obedience from the and also ecclesiastical laws enforced by spiritual to the common, civil, or fleshly. civil power. Having rendered the measure of obe- The legitimate sphere of civil law is dience required by the state in religious to conserve human rights — to protect things, the individual is much less likely life, person, reputation, property, etc. ; to seek to know what God requires. In in short, to secure to all men, " life, other words, the law of the state, instead liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." of the law of God, becomes the standard Civil government takes no cognizance of of righteousness. the inner life. An individual may be Who does not know that governmental corrupt in heart, may be unclean in support and patronage of religion tend thought, may be full of hatred and cov- to deadness and formality Who is etousness ; and yet if his evil heart, im- not aware that the highest degree of pure thought, and hateful, covetous piety found in any country is not in disposition never lead him to an overt state-supported churches and schools, act of lawlessness, he will be accounted but in the churches and schools of pro- a good citizen. scribed, or at best merely tolerated, dis- But not so in the domain of Chris- senters from the established religion ? tianity. The purpose of the gospel is The blighting spiritual influence of not to secure merely outward compli- religious legislation was scarcely more ance with even a perfect rule of action ; pronounced in Catholic Spain than in but to lead to heartfelt obedience to the Protestant Germany before the Great divine law, which takes cognizance not War. In the latter country, Bible study only of words and acts, but of the was a part of the public school curricu- thoughts and intents of the heart as lum ; but results only demonstrated the well. truth of the declaration of the apostle, To Nicodemus the Saviour said, " Ex- " The letter killeth." Only those whose cept a man be born again, he cannot see hearts and lives are being transformed the kingdom of God." John 3: 3. The day by day by the word and Spirit of reason is stated in verse 6: " That which God, are qualified to teach that word. is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that All other teaching or attempted teach- which is born of the Spirit is spirit." ing of the Bible tends only to formalism This is supplemented by the words of and unbelief. the apostle in Romans 8: 5-7: Another point at which religious leg- islation antagonizes the gospel is seen in " They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the our so-called Sabbath legislation. The Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be car- divine law says : " The seventh day is nally minded is death: but to be spiritually the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it minded is life and peace. Because the carnal thou shalt not do any work." Ex. 20: mind is enmity against God: for it is not sub- ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 10. But in many countries the statute So then they that are in the flesh cannot please says, The first day is the Sabbath of the God." state : in it thou shalt not do any work 105 106 LIBERTY

except the running of trains, selling of The only real theocracy ever known in fresh meats, confectionery, bakery goods, this world since the fall, ended with and similar articles. The influence of Zedekiah. Said the Lord through His such legislation is seen on every hand in prophet : the low standard of individual Sabbath " Thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, keeping maintained among the people. whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an Consciences are salved by the exceptions end, thus saith the Lord God: Remove the dia- dem, and take off the crown: this shall not be in the civil law, with the result that the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him human statutes, instead of the divine that is high. I will overturn, overturn, over- law, become the standard of Sabbath turn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come observance. whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Eze. In the new, or gospel, covenant the 21 : 25-27. Creator engages to write the divine law Christ is the one " whose right it is," upon the hearts of believers; religious but He does not take " the throne of His legislation presumptuously, yea, even father David " until He comes the sec- blasphemously, assumes to assist the di- ond time, for thus it is written in the vine Spirit in this work, by writing Scriptures of Truth : parts of God's law into human statute " When the Son of man shall come in His books, and then enforcing them by civil glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." penalties. Matt. 25: 31. The result is dead formalism on the Any so-called political rule of Jesus low plane of human enactments, instead Christ in any nation before that time, of spiritual life and power on the high can in the very nature of the case be plane of the exceeding broad command- only a sham and counterfeit. ment of Jehovah, written in the heart C. P. B. of the believer by the Spirit of God, and made manifest in his daily life by the abiding presence of Him of whom the The Limitation of Majority Rule apostle bore witness when he said : HERE are certain limitations set " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I by the Constitution of the United live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by TStates upon majority rule in civil the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and government. The right of the indi- gave Himself for me." Gal. 2: 20. vidual to the free exercise of his religion, so long as such exercise does not en- croach upon the rights of others, is a A Man-Made Theocracy right with which the civil government cannot justly interfere. The state has HE Christian Statesman, National no right to regulate a man's duty toward Reform organ, says : " Our Lord God. Trules the universe, and yet some The National Reformers say the Amer- Christians are afraid to let Him rule the ican Constitution is godless and pagan, United States of America." because it makes no allusion to the claims The Statesman has not stated the mat- of God and of Christianity upon the na- ter fairly. The Christians referred to tion as well as upon the citizen. But in are not afraid to let the Lord rule the this omission lies the strength and glory United States of America, but they are of our matchless Constitution, and the very much afraid to let the National greatness of our unrivaled Republic. It Reformers rule the United States as the has made our Federal Government the self-appointed vicAgerents of the Lord. dispenser of equal justice — the friend That which is to be feared is a man- of God and man — and the persecutor made theocracy, the very thing the Na- of none. As E. P. Hurlbut says, in his tional Reformers are trying to establish. " Essay on Human Rights : " LIBERTY 107

" In respect to matters purely of a religious churches in his district to elect him, as nature, the laws ought to he as silent as if there he was pledged to support their Sunday were no such thing as religion in the world. The law can have no religion, since it cannot have law program. The candidate himself all. If it select that of one sect, it offends and the Lord's Day Alliance officials, it against that of all other sects. If it take into is alleged, delivered political speeches favor the religion of the majority, it tyrannizes from the pulpits of many churches in over the minority; if it establish the religion behalf of his election and the rigid en- of the Christian, it offends the infidel, the Jew, and the heathen." forcement of Sunday laws. But according to reports published in So far as the civil government is con- the Baltimore papers, this candidate was cerned, it can deal by right only with refused, by order of the church board, purely civil matters. It must protect the the privilege of speaking in the First infidel in the free exercise of his belief, Baptist Church of that city, the Rev. and place him on the same footing with Dr. J. Emerson Hicks, pastor of the respect to the law that it does the Chris- church, stating that it had always been tian, since no man's religion is estab- " the practice of the Baptist Church to lished by law. So long as a man conducts keep the church and state separate." himself as a good citizen, the state should The Methodists, Presbyterians, United protect his rights, whether he makes a Brethren, and Episcopalians, it is said, profession of religion or whether he opened wide the doors of their houses does not. It is not the province of the of worship to this religio-political re- civil government to see that a man be- former. According to newspaper re- haves himself as a good Christian, but ports, the Methodists outnumbered the as a good citizen. The responsibility of ministers of other denominations who enforcing a church discipline of religious " carried politics into the pulpit in order customs and regulations should never be to carry religion into politics," and who shifted upon the civil magistrate. The held that it was " the duty of Christian functions of the church should not be people to carry their Christianity to the commingled with the functions of the polls," which in most cases means not state. The duties we owe to God and political honesty, but the use of civil the duties we owe to our fellow men are authority and power to enforce religious separate and distinct. The state can only observances and to foster religious regulate a man's proper relationship with dogmas. his fellow men, but never his duties and According to the Baltimore Sun, the relationships to God and religion. Ma- reformer was badly defeated in the elec- jorities do not rule in religious matters. tion, each of the six Democratic and the Religious obligations rest entirely upon six Republican candidates running far freewill service and the convictions of the ahead of him. conscience of the individual. L. te tv Impossible to Enforce Sunday Reformers Mixing Religion and Laws Politics HON. W. C. ZABEL, district attorney WELL-KNOWN religious re- of Milwaukee, Wis., says, " It would be former of Baltimore, whose name impossible to enforce all the Sunday blue A need not be mentioned, was an laws on the Wisconsin statute books, for independent legislative candidate for no jury would convict violators. An the House of Delegates of Maryland, on attempt was made five years ago to close a Sunday blue law platform, at the re- delicatessen stores on Sunday. Viola- cent election. The Lord's Day Alliance tors were brought into court, but no con- officials of Maryland urged his election, victions were obtained." A bad law is and a strong appeal was made to the better repealed than retained. 108 LIBERTY

The Limit of Civil Authority time to enable all to understand what (Continued from page 85) is involved in its practical application. and John answered, " Whether it be In Massachusetts, in 1644, a law was right in the sight of God to hearken unto promulgated requiring all parents to you more than unto God, judge ye. For have their children sprinkled. A Bap- we cannot but speak the things which we tist by the name of Painter refused to have seen and heard." Acts 4: 19, 20. obey the law, and was whipped, which And again : " Peter and the other apos- punishment he bore without flinching. tles answered and said, We ought to This is only one of many similar instances obey God rather than men." Acts 5 : 29. that occurred in that colony. The Bap- Such must be the Christian's answer tists not only held that immersion alone today to any and every demand that was baptism, and that persons old conscience be subordinated to civil au- enough to exercise faith for themselves thority. The Christian can go to prison were the only proper subjects of the or- or to death, but he cannot disobey God, dinance; but they regarded sprinkling even at the behest of the greatest of civil as a counterfeit baptism, and believed powers. His invariable answer must be, that to submit to it would be to commit " We ought to obey God rather than sin. Hence their refusal to present their men." children for christening. Even pedo- baptists now honor them for their fidel- The Principle Stated by President Fairchild ity to their faith. Nor is this the expression of religious In our own land today there are thou- fanaticism. The principle thus stated is sands of people who dissent from the pre- known and recognized by the best and vailing view of the Sabbath, and instead most enlightened thinkers everywhere. of observing Sunday, the first day of the In his work on moral philosophy, Presi- week, keep Saturday, the seventh day of dent Fairchild says : the week, in harmony with the express " It is too obvious to need discussion, that the provisions of the fourth commandment law of God, the great principle of benevolence, of the decalogue. These people are Sev- is supreme, and that we ought to obey God rather than men' in any case of conflict be- enth-day Adventists and Seventh Day tween human law and the divine. There are Baptists. The former, especially, look cases so clear that no one can question the duty upon the fourth commandment not only to refuse obedience. In all times and in all as enjoining rest upon the seventh day, lands such cases have arisen. In a case of this but as requiring that the other six days kind, either of two courses is possible; to dis- obey the law, and resist the government in its be spent habitually in a manner differ- attempt to execute it, or to disobey and quietly ent from the Sabbath day. suffer the penalty. The first is revolutionary, But as the law of Massachusetts re- and can be justified only when the case is flag- rant and affects such numbers that a revolution- quired all to have their children sprin- ary movement will be sustained. . . . The kled, so the laws of several of our Amer- second course will, in general, commend itself ican States require all to observe Sunday to considerate and conscientious men. It is a by refraining on that day from all secu- testimony against the law as unrighteous, and, lar labor and business, " works of neces- at the same time, a recognition of government as a grave interest." sity and charity only excepted." But as was the case with the Massachusetts Bap- The Principles Applied tists, to obey the Sunday laws is with The reader has doubtless assented thus the Adventists to violate conscience, and, far to the correctness of the position as they view it, to sin against God. taken in this paper, and to the princi- They therefore, as did the Baptists be- ple so succinctly stated by President fore them, violate the law and suffer the Fairchild ; it remains, therefore, only to penalty, as they have done repeatedly, illustrate this principle by citing one or notably in Tennessee and Maryland. two cases sufficiently near in point of Could they do otherwise and retain their LIBERTY 109

Christian integrity, or remain loyal sub- conscience' sake as was the whipping of jects of the King of kings ? And is not Baptists two hundred years ago for dis- fining and imprisoning Adventists in the regarding the law which required them twentieth century for disregard of the to have their children sprinkled ? If not, Sunday law, as truly persecution for why not ?

"A New Kind of Conscription"

HE Miami (Fla.) Herald makes who will fail to understand the real import of this type of legislation, and will seek to have it the following pertinent remarks adopted. The church as a whole will hardly Trelative to the compulsory church choose this method of fostering its growth, for. attendance bill recently placed before the it would lead to revolution and the probable Massachusetts Legislature : extinction of the church. " That it is possible to find any one willing " Military conscription worked so well in to sponsor a bill of this type, is significant of gathering an army for the United States that the extent to which some people are holding to a Massachusetts legislator proposes to try it out the idea that morality and piety can be created in getting together the army of the Lord. He by statute. It cannot be done. If every one has introduced a bill to make Sunday church were required by law to attend church, there attendance compulsory and universal. would probably be less real religion than there " This is a great scheme, but it does not go is at present. People cannot be made good by far enough. The bill should require also that passing a law about it." every one be required to drop a quarter into the collection plate, that each attendant join heart- We agree with the editor of the Herald ily in the singing of at least one hymn, and that that this proposed legislation would be he remark to the preacher as he goes out of humorous if it were not for the solemn the door, ' That was a powerful sermon you fact that there is a large class of citizens preached this morning, Dr. Blank' " There might be some difficulties in the way of a serious type in the churches today of putting the plan for universal church at- who believe that the interest of the tendance into operation. There would be re- church ought to be fostered by the state, quired considerably more seating capacity than and that religious obligations ought to the church buildings now possess. Presumably, however, at least down here in Miami, the peo- be placed upon a civil basis in law. ple could be accommodated in tents while new There is a large class of people who churches were being built. The matter of get- believe that it is proper for the state ting preachers would also offer some difficulties, to legislate upon every subject under there being at present a considerable shortage along this line. Possibly if the gate receipts heaven. They make no distinction be- were sufficient, this condition would be remedied. tween civil and religious obligations. " The author of the Massachusetts bill is in- They believe that it is proper to legis- clined to ask for something more than mere late upon all of the ten commandments, physical attendance at church. He proposes to those written upon the first table as well present other bills which shall provide for re- ligious education in the public schools and for as those on the second table. A failure making a belief in God a test of citizenship. He to make a distinction between the duties thinks that no one should be allowed to vote, we owe to God and the obligations we regardless of his other qualifications, who will owe to our fellow men, has been the pri- not assert such a belief. He has not yet gotten to the point where he would specify the denom- mary cause of all the religious persecu- ination to which a person must belong. That tions in the past. In America, the will probably come later. church and the state are entirely sepa- " Seriously speaking, this bill is in line with rate, and any proposal looking toward a a good deal of legislation which has been pro- union of religion with the state ought to posed, and some of which has been passed. " There is no probability that a measure such cause serious alarm, in view of the awful as has been proposed in Massachusetts will re- consequences involved in the ultimate ceive the support of any great number of reli- outcome of such an unholy alliance. gious leaders. There will be a few enthusiasts L. The Dangers of Sunday Legislation

HE editor of the El Paso (Tex.) laws, and enforced by national officers; and points out in its issue of further, that moving pictures be subjected to Herald national government censorship. Dec. 17, 1920, some of the dangers T " Of course any action taken along these and evil effects of Sunday legislation be lines would be only an entering wedge. There cause of the unenforceable absurdities would be no end to the regulations and pro- involved in nearly all Sunday laws. We hibitions that would be insisted on, if the peo- take the following excerpts from this ed- ple of this country yield an inch in this direc- tion. It really amounts to this: that a minority itorial upon religious legislation, which, is seeking, is determined, to impose its will though written two years ago, is still on the majority, and unless the majority takes timely : care, it will be done. . . . " To put on the books any law that cannot " Nearly every State has drastic ' blue laws,' or will not be enforced, or to allow such a law as they are commonly termed,— laws for the to remain unchanged on the books, is to en- most part a heritage from the distant past and courage a spirit of contempt for all law and a yet upheld by a considerable part of the people, tolerance of lawbreaking that inevitably re- or, to speak more precisely, by the people of flects in the conduct of people and brings about some communities. loose and even dangerous conditions in a com- " These blue laws are in large part disre- munity. A law that does not carry with it garded by the majority of citizens everywhere, substantially the support of law-abiding and with the open tolerance of officials, who, after right-thinking and well-intentioned folk is not all, cannot be expected to act vigorously in a only inoperative, it is a menace to good govern- way counter to the will of the majority. ment. . . . " There are communities in Texas where the " The law as it stands is full of absurdities, State blue laws are observed and enforced, but that are unknown to most people simply be- such communities are few, and they are not cause nobody tries to observe it literally or to populous. Practically all the larger centers of enforce it literally. . . . But if such laws were population have arrived at a sort of compromise once to be sanctioned by a national Constitu- under which certain State statutes are com- tional amendment and by national laws, and monly regarded as inoperative, and public offi- put into the hands of fanatics to enforce, then cials would quickly fall into disfavor and under everybody would find himself rasped contin- the political ban if they should attempt to en- ually, irritated and harassed to the point of force the blue laws literally. exasperation. " This is the fact. But it needs no argument " No good end is to be served by such move- to demonstrate that the condition is not a ments. For one thing, we have in this country healthy one. Laws are supposed to be put on tens of millions of persons of antecedents not the books because they represent the will of altogether Puritanic, and there is a limit be- the people, or at least of a majority. Laws on yond which it is not safe to go by way of ex- the books are supposed to be enforced impar- citing hatred and disgust. We speak usually tially and actively. When certain laws, or cer- of law and order in the same breath, but there tain classes of laws, are permitted to sleep, and are times when law makes for disorder, and to officials charged with enforcing the laws are attempt to control the people's disposition of subjected to punishment if they enforce them, their own time becomes dangerous the moment there is something wrong with the laws — un- it passes the bounds of protection of equal less we are willing to concede that the ma- rights and takes on the character of arbitrary jority ought to be subjected to the will of dictation. the minority, which is hardly in accord with " Reasonable Sunday freedom does not keep American doctrine. people away from church, and no sort of force " The question revolves chiefly around the applied is going to make people attend church laws for Sunday observance, and proposed laws if they don't want to. for censorship of amusements, especially mov- " The day is past, or ought to be, when the ing pictures. church can hope to enlist physical force, polit- " It is proposed — among other things — that ical power, military power — for that is what the most rigid Sunday laws existing anywhere it would amount to — in its efforts to enlarge in the United States be adopted as national its sway over men's hearts."

110 Editorial Brevities

AN old divine uttered a great truth SOME Christians want to make men when he said : " There is enough religion good en masse by state law, because they in the world to sink it, and I fear not think God's method of converting by gos- enough Christianity to save it." pel means is too slow. Do our " political preachers " who are substituting the THE church that makes an appeal to policeman's club for the cross of Christ, the force of law in place of the power realize that one sinner converted by the of love to lead people into the church, power of the gospel means one loyal sup- should write " Ichabod " above her door. porter for the cause of right, whereas LIBERTY, Truth, and Justice constitute ten thousand men who are coerced by a trinity of principles which are as eter- state law to conform to a church dogma nal as the Godhead, and will ultimately against their own convictions, are ten triumph over every tyranny of man over thousand enemies waiting for an oppor- the mind and conscience of man. tunity to destroy both the church and the law ? The church must win its ad- LIBERTY, which does not infringe upon herents by the power of love, not by the another person's rights, is the heritage force of law, if she hopes to succeed in of each individual, and no majority on the end. earth has a right to invade the possession of this heavenly gift to men. It is the ACCORDING to the Baltimore Sun, Jus- greatest of all our inalienable rights. tice Alonzo G. Hinkley, of Buffalo, N. Y., scored the defendant who signed a A SPIRITUAL reformation can never be contract with a football player to play effected by the employment of carnal football on Simday and then refused to means and methods. A religion that pay the contract price because the Sun- makes an appeal to force certainly can- day game rendered the contract illegal. not be called Christian. Christ did not " One could not conceive a more un- ordain policemen to promulgate the sportsmanlike act," remarked Justice gospel. Hinkley. " He took the benefits of the A STATE religion is well named. It is contract, then, after refusing to pay, not God's religion. The only religion plays the baby act by invoking the Sun- that God accepts is heart religion — a day statute. If he reflects the character religion that is dominated by the power of professional football players gener- of God's love in a heart that has been ally, then another favorite sport requires subdued by divine grace. All other a house cleaning." forms of religion are the veneerings of hypocrisy. THE mayor of Victoria, British Co- lumbia, recently closed up everything SOME people have an idea that the tight on Sundays. He prohibited the civil government has a right to legislate sale of Sunday newspapers, the sale of upon every subject under heaven. In cigars, of ice cream, and proposed that America, at least, the Federal Constitu- only one drug store in the city should tion has placed certain limits upon the remain open, solely for the sale of drugs. powers of Congress and upon our State The mayor said that ice cream itself is legislators, abridging their right to en- not a food, but if other food were served act religious tenets into civil law or to in restaurants, the serving of ice cream interfere with the free exercise of indi- could not be stopped. The mayor's pro- vidual conscience. Sunday laws are hos- hibition makes it a crime to sell ice cream tile to these Constitutional provisions, and in a drug store, but lawful in a res- when enforced, override the Constitution. taurant! 111 12 LIBERTY

THE editor of LIBERTY is in receipt of a newsy letter from C. R. Davisson, of NOTE AND COMMENT Orlando, Fla., relative to our protest -AI -1c111 W1 711 r711- 1f11 TA Tny against the passage of the drastic Sunday THE blue law is being rigidly enforced bill, H. R. 9753, now pending before at Newport News, Va. Eighty-six per- Congress. The letter reads as follows : sons were recently arrested there on a " DEAR Six: single Sunday for working or pleasuring " I will say Amen to law proposed to be on that day. passed at Washington, D. C. The world now 1.11 IV ME has settled on the seventh day commonly and THE grace of God transformed a fam- adopted it as Sunday, and in union there is ily scapegrace into a George Muller, a strength. I will say in all candor if after 1922 years you are not satisfied, get out of the coun- ruined opium fiend into a Pastor Hsi, try. You are compared to a small speck on a and a barroom wreck into a John B. pound of butter. You can't work on our Sab- Gough. The grace of God did what ten bath without annoying your neighbor. Get out thousand laws enacted by " professional and let's have peace. reformers " could not have done. A " Yours, etc., sinner needs the grace of God, not the " C. R. DAVISSON, a Christian." strong arm of civil law. When a Christian writes such a letter tV tV to another Christian, relative to the en- THE Asheville (N. C.) Ministerial As- actment of a drastic Sunday law, it is sociation recently took up the cudgel be- the best argument that can be presented cause of Sunday work performed upon why such a religious measure should not a hospital for ex-service men at Oteen. pass. It is reported that a threat was made to expel the secretary of .the Fanning- Quinn Building Company from the com- THE mayor of Duluth, Minn., at the munity for refusing to order the Sunday request of the executive secretary of the work stopped. The clergy are said to Interchurch Council of Duluth, issued have enlisted the aid of the Ku Klux an executive order calling upon all the Klan. citizens, business men, and theaters to tV tV suspend all business on Good Friday LINCOLN, Nebr., seems to be in the " for the solemn observance of the reli- throes of a Puritan campaign, even ama- gious holiday on April 14," to commemo- teur Sunday baseball being prohibited. rate " the suffering and sacrifice of The Lincoln Star of April 24 contains Christ." This may seem like an inno- an account of the threatened arrest of cent proceeding on the part of the mayor A. J. Dunlap •for playing baseball on a in conjunction with a high church official. vacant lot with his two small boys. He But it was just such a procedure as this was just getting ready, he says, to toss which led to a union of church and a " dewdrop " co one of the boys at bat, state in the Roman Empire. At first' when a policeman stepped up and said these religious observances were made to him, " I am sorry to interfere, but optional under civil proclamations, but three ministers have telephoned that you later they resolved themselves into man- are disturbing the peace and quiet of datory statutes under penalties. It was the Sabbath, so you will have to stop the exactly on this same plan that Sunday game." " The Dunlap home," says the observance first received civil recogni- Star, " is out away from town, and tion, and later became mandatory under the nearest neighbor lives about two r enalty of capital punishment. The time blocks away. Mr. Dunlap asserts that to take alarm is at the beginning of such he and the boys were not disturbing a procedure, and not wait until we are anybody with their play." bound hand and foot. Drifting Back to Church by Legal Assistance

By W. F. Martin

HIGH official of the Lord's Day risk of their lives they stole away to the Alliance is credited with saying, catacombs, and in those secret places A " We believe that if we take away they sang their songs and offered their a man's motor car, his golf sticks, his prayers while pagan Rome crowded into Sunday newspaper, his horses, his pleas- the theaters or madly cheered the gladi- ure steamships, amusement houses, and ators who butchered each other in the parks, and prohibit him from playing arena. This the early Christians did to outdoor games or witnessing field sports, satisfy the longing of their souls. These he naturally will drift back to church." ancient people felt that in so doing they When one reads such language, he is were drawing nearer to God. They were led to wonder what conception the author not drifters. They felt the impulse of of the above words has of the motives the divine invitation, and, confiding in which should inspire church attendance its Author, sought to partake of its prom- Not only this, but he is led to view with ised sweets. • a feeling little short of amazement the Ringing in their ears were these other methods by which it is sought to obtain words of the Master: " He that taketh such results. not his cross, and followeth after Me, is The writer of this article just now not worthy of Me." They did not drift opened a most revered book, and found into connection with God. It is written on a certain page words like these : of Matthew, the disciple, that " he arose, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor and and followed Him." The longings for are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. home and companionship wrung from Take My yoke upon you, and learn of the prodigal the cry, " I will arise and Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : go to my father." Before this he was a and ye shall find rest unto your souls. drifter. Drifting and boredom — ennui For My yoke is easy, and My burden is — go hand in hand. They are each and light." How sweet are the sentiments both a sign of deeay.-- rWliat is needed is here expressed ! What hope and courage vitality, life, strong= purpose. " I will have they brought to struggling souls 1 not let Thee go, except Thou bless me," Jesus, the young Galilean, appealed to is the language of one who prevails. the heart-longing of many men. No ves- It sometimes seems that the world is tige of force is used, but an appeal is ready, yes, waiting, for men with a mes- made to the soul. sage, men whose lips have been touched Then again, the blessings of the spirit- with fire from the altar; men who can ual life are not for the " drifters." Men stir the jaded imagination and awaken " drift " to destruction. Should the pro- a longing for things divine. All reli- gram of the Lord's Day Alliance be fol- gious enactments ever written or to be lowed to its conclusion, the world would written by any civil or ecclesiastical not drift to God or the church, but body or bodies or councils, cannot accom- toward the Inquisition, and into the plish the desired end. darkness of unbelief. Alen are not Let the Heaven-inspired apostles speak, brought to God by a process of elimina- and men may recognize in them the voice tion. The early Christians did not drift of the Galilean, and hearing, may cast to church because they had nothing else away the pleasures and allurements of to do and no other place to go. At the the world, and arise and come to Jesus. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison Stood Stanchly for the Principles of —

FREEDOM CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS

But do you know? Religio-political "reformers " have caused honest, upri;ht, Christian men to be WORKED IN THE CHAIN GANG FOR OBEYING THE BIBLE, even in our day and in our beloved country. Your liberties are in danger. Read Freedom, Civil and Religious," a bcck for the times; 128 pages, well illus- trated; heavy paper covers, 25 cents. Order it now. REVIEW & HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION TAKOMA PARK, WASHINGTON, D. C.