The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1893-05-25
the magnificence aud permanency Of

the magnificence aud permanency OF
the government. The state has guar
anteed the church certain rights and
privileges. one of which is the unin-
terrupted enjoyment of the Christian
Sunday in their own way, and he who
disturbs that quiet enjoyment is called
before the courts of the country and
must suffer the penalty. The state
has also guaranteed to every man and
woman 10 the land the right to wor-
ship God according to the dictates OF
their own conscieuces. The state it.
self in all its sovereign power aud Dig
nifty dare Lot question any man on his
religious beliefs or silence him in
their open and free declaration. In
other words, the state has secured to
all men broadcast religious liberty ever
enjoyed by any people.
But the state says while we do all
this, We demand that the church does
not infringe upon the functions
Of the state. The colonies had suffer-
ed from puritanic persecution, and
When the ederal compact was entered
into experience gave wisdom to the
trainers OF the organic law, and our
fathers drew the line clear and dis
tinct between The state and the
church, and anticipating religious
fanaticism they said to the church,
You can come this far but no farther.
We will not interfere with the church,
we will guard it and protect it, but
the church must not interfere with
the functions of the state.'
While the tsir at Chicago is an out
growth of the civilization that had its
birth and nutriment in the church, it
is not a church fair, it is q great inter-
national exposition in which persons
of all nationalities, all nations and
creeds are invited to participate. and
the church has nothing to do with its
regulations as long as all things are
done according to Jaw and order. AS
long as the religious communities in
Chicago are not disturbed by its pres
ence or its Sunday openings for the
purpose of exposition alone, all it's
working machinery silent, and does
not drown tie voice of the neighbor.
ing preachers, or, we will go farther,
shock the religious sentiment of the
community, or, we may say, the re-
ligious sentiment of the world, then
the church has nothing TO
do with its openings or
its closings. To allow such
an interference would defeat its ends,
for even in this country one religious
sect keeps one day of the week as a
day of rest, and other sects another
day Of the week as day of rest. 1t
would produce confusion at once 70
yield to the clamor of fanaticism and
dogmatic bigotry. We do not pre-
tend to sit in judgment upon the alb
stract question of the morality or i'm.
morality of allowing the fair to be
opened on Sunday for exposition pur-
poses, but we do find great and good
men, ministers who lead largely the
religious thought of the country, ad-
vocating the Sunday openings, and
we do find that the church differs
upon this abstract question just as
widely as what may be termed the
"worldlings" differ from the strict
"Sabbatarians." We can only settle
the question in our own minds upon
broad and secular views and upon the
ideas that have always existed upon
separate functions of the church and
of the state. We are in favor of the
most eEacting protection to all the
rights of the Christian world and even
to general police supervision that
would characterize this as a Christian
nation, but we do most emphatcally
protest against the church assuming
functions and claiming a predomi-
nant influence in strictly secular
affairs.