Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-04-20
Highest Of all in Leavenine atest I q f;ovt
No Union Of Church and State.

No Union Of Church and State.
All free-born, iberty-loving Ameri-
can citizens heartily join with the Sey-
enth-Day Adventists in their fight
against Governments dictations in
matters pertaining to religious observ-
ances. At the General Conference OF
the Adventists, at Battle Creek, Mich,
they put forth an .sAppeal and Remon-
stranee'' against the recent declaration
of the U. S Supreme Court that this is
a Christian nation which ought to be
read by every citizen of the Union.
We regret that we have not space to
publish the Appeal in full, and must be
content with a few extracts. After
giving a condensed history Of the fight
for religious liberty in the early days
of this country. the following incontro-
vertible truths are set forth:
81. To illustrate and confirm these
assertions we beg leave to observe that
to Judge for ourselves and to engage in
the exercise of religion agreeably to
the dictates of our,own consciences, is
an inalienable right, which, upon the
principles on which the gospel was first
propagated and the reformation from
Peelacy carried on, can never be trans
ferred to another. We maistain, there
fore, that in matters OF religion, no
mans right is abridged by the institu-
ton of civil society, and that religion
is wholly exempt from its cognizance.
80. If religion be exempt from the
authority of society at large, much more
is it exempt from the authority of the
government. The latter is but the
creature and vicegerent of the former.
Its jurisdiction is both derivative and
limited. 1t is limited with regard to
the coordinate departments of the gov
ernment, and more necessarily is it linn
tied with regard to the whole people.
The preservation of free government
requires not merely that the metes and
bounds which separate each department
of the governmental power be invaria-
bly, maintained, but more especially
that neither of them be suffered to
overleap the great barrier which de-
fends the rights of the people. The
rulers who are guilty of such encroach-
ment exceed the commission from
which they derive their authority, and
are tyrants, The people who submit
to it are governed by laws made neith-
er by themselves nor by any authority
derived from them, and are slaves.
..3. It is proper to take alarm at the
first experiment upon our liberties.
We hold this prudent jealousy to be the
first duty of citizens and the noblest
characteristic of the American Revolu-
ton. The freemen of America did not
wait till usurped power had strength
ened itself by exercise and entangled
the question in precedents. They saw
all the consequences in the principle.
and avoided the consequences by deny
ing the principle. We revere this les
son too much soon to forget it. Who
does not see that the same authority
that can establish Christianity, to the
exclusion of all other religions, may
establish with the same ease any partic-
ular sect of Christians to the exclusion OF
all other sectsp And is impossible for
the magistrate to adjudge the right of
preference among the various sects that
profess the Christian faith without
erecting claim to infallibility, which
would lead us back to the Church OF
Rome Who does not see that the
same authority that can require assent
to Christianity as the national religion
may. with the same propriety, require
assent to each particular phase and
feature OF that religion? That the
same authority that can require the
observance of the christian Sabbath
may, by the same right, require the
observance of every other christian
practice, custom, or institution Nay,
more; that with the same propriety
and the same right, the authority which
may require assent to Christianity as
the national religion may require assent
to any other religion which the shifting
policy of government might seem to
demanda For it it is certain that there
is no argument in favor OF establishing
the Christian religion which may not
with equal propriety, be pleaded for
establishing the tenets of Mohammed
by those who believe the Koran; or
Buddhism or any other religion by
those who believe in such religion.
~. During almost sixteen centuries
has the legal establishment of .sChris-
tianity'' been on trial, under a.number
of different claims and phases. What
have been its fruits? More or less In
all places, pride, Incidence, and inso-
|lence in the favored clergy; ignorance
and seryility in the asserting laity; in
both superstition, bigotry and persecu-
tion. Inquire of the TEACHERS Of Chris
tianitv for the ages in which it appears
in its greatest power and 1uster; those
OF every sect will point TO the time
before its incorporation with the civil
power, whether it be viewed in it's
first propagation by the apostles or in
its revival in the great Reformation. q
..5 Or the other hand, what infiu-
ence, in fact, have established relig-
ions on civil society," In some instan-
Eces they have been seen to erect. d
spiritual tyranny of the ruins Of civil
authority; in many instances they have
been seen upholding the throwns Of
political tyranny; IN no instance have