St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-14
VERY PLAIN TALK.
DR.. Burrell breaches on "The
Church and the Public
Schools"
He Handles the Subject With
out Gloves From a Protest
ant Standpoint,
And Thinks the Catholic
Church Wants to Destroy
the System.
He Says a Man Cannot Be a
Good Catholic and a Loyal
Citizen.

was the subject OF Rev. Dr. ID. j. Bur
rell's sermon last evening. He chose
for his text the twenty-second chapter
of Matthew and twenty-frst verse
Render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesars. "@It was highly sensational
talk, and created considerable excite
ment among the congregation. Many
of his people thought it ill-advised, but
a majority were apparently satisfied
with the radical position their pastor
had taken. In his remarks, DR.. Burrell
said:
1.-THE people of the Christian churches
recognize the duty of rendering unto
God the tings that are Gods; do sthey
recognize as well the duty of paying
tribute to Caesar? As followers of
Christ we must needs deal fairly with
government, and do obeisance to the
powers that be. The question of up
permost concern TO Christian people
here and now is with reference to the
right attitude of the church toward our
national system of education. The con-
troversy Is not of our suggesting: it has
been precipitated by our Roman CathO-
lie friends, and we have no alternative
but to meet it.
''Our first proposition is this: The
public school system is an indispensable
safeguard of the republic. Ina govern
ment where every citizen yields the
scepter, it is obviously of the utmost
Importance that every child should be
fitted for coming responsibility. The
prince must be educated for his throne.
Spain and Italy and Austria may bear
up under their great burden OF litter
acy, because the government there is
not upon the shoulders of the people;
but in America we must educate our
children or ring the knell of universal
suffrage. We are nation of immi-
grants made up of the superfiux OF all
other lands. The product of this cross
ing of bl0ods is to be a conglomerate,
who, as Herbert Spencer predicts, will
be the best man the world ever saw.
But everything depends on the blend
ing If any foreign substance gets
into our American blood and refuses to
mix, it acts like a poison. Our public
schools are the solvent by which. these
bloods are mingled. The children who
graduate from our schools-no matter
what their fathers may have been-are
American to the core.
Our second proposition Is this: The
unsectarianism of our public school sys-
TEN is the secret of its whole power, SO
that to sectarianiZe it would be to utter
ly destroy it. 1t is all American axiom
that the perpetuity of our civil and re-
ligious freedom depends on complete
severance of church and state. No
loyal American who is acquainted with
the theory and history of our gov
eminent will question that postulate
for moment. The first amendment to
our national constitution is in these
words Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of re-
llgion." That settles the matter. Our
public schools must be carried on con-
sistently with that idea; there must be
no sectarianism there; there must be
no establishment of religion" in con-
nection with any of our national insti-
buttons, certainly not in the public
schools, where children are being
trained for citizenship at the public eX-
pense. | believe in parochial schools.
We have hundreds of Presbyterian
schools, and the Baptists have hun
dreds more, but these are not sustained
at the public expense. We expect
to go on teaching the Westminster
Confession of Faith in our denomina-
tional schools, but we have not the
brazen etfrontery to ask the common
wealth to foot the bills. If we choose
to have a Presbyterian dance we will
pay the piper with Presbyterian money.
And that, too, while Loyalty supporting
the non-sectarian public schools. There
is room for both. The public schools,
however, must always and everywhere
be of such character that parents may
send their children to them with a def
mite assurance that their rights OF. con-
science shall not be violated by the
propaganda of any sect. Only so can
our religious freedom be protected and
secured for coming days. Our third
proposition is this: There is only one
organization on American soil that dis
tinctly and avowedly antagOnizes our
non-sectarian system of public schools,
namely, the Roman Catholic church.
At this point the speaker introduced
festOes, and from the moStrecent encycli-
cal of Leo Kill, with statements of
other church dignitafies and councils all
going to show that the Catholic church
refuses to support the present Ameri-
can system of education. How could it
be otherwise? The Romish church is
every way at odds with the genius of
Americanism. 1t is foreign church ;
made up of foreign pope, foreign
college of cardinals, a foreign episco-
pate, and multitude of foreign priests.
Its increase is almost exclusively from
foreign immigration. Its great recruit
ing station is Castle Garden. In the
second generation it's children drift
away from it. When immigration
ceases the Roman Catholic church on
American soil must make its will. 1t
is, moreover, an alien church in its fun
damental principles. 1t holds dis
tinctively and avowedly to the I'M
American principle of union of church
and state. 1t cannot be loyal to this
government, because every one of its
prelates and faithful adherents is
required to yield supreme obedience
to secular sovereign In for
eign land: and as the papal syllabus
of 1864 States lin case of conflict between
former ought to prevail; and, lest this
should be understood as applying only
to religious matters, it is added in the
Papal Encyclical of Jan. 10, 1890, sit is
an impious deed to tranSgreSS the laws
of the church under the preteXt of Oh
serving civil law" If this means any
thing it means that Leo XIII. is the su
preme laWgiver and magistrate of all
the Roman Catholics in the United
States. How then can a loyal Roman
Catholic be loyal citizen of the United
States? The Romish church has, more
ever, bad political history. In all
great conflicts since the Reformation
It has chosen to array itself on the side
of tyranny as against civil and religious
freedom. The pope is represented as
saying, in recent interview with re-
porter of the New York Herald, that he
has "a special claim on the respect OF
Americans" 1t would be interesting to
note Oh what he bases that claim; GER
tainly not on the fact that during our
civil war, when this republic lay gasp
ing with the strong fingers of rebellion
at her throat, the pope of Rome alone,
of all the potentates Of the earth, recog-
nized the independence of the Southern
Confederacy and gave his paternal
blessing to the stranger. The loyal
people of this country are not likely tC
forget. No amount of "tender regard
for America can bIotout that abominable
| fact. How can the Romlsh church.
with such history and such ante
cedents, be expected to blend with oul
| American inStitutionS?lthas burned over
| and blasted with a curse every country