The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-10-25
properly but the instrument of the
church to execute the divine DEGREES.
Have Different Spheres.

several relationships Whlcn may eAlSC
between the church and the state;
and now, in the light of that eXper-
fence, let me consider the virtues and
vices OF each. For the purpose of IL
lustratiop J need go no further back
than the time when Constantine be-
came the patron of the Christian re-
liGfon and elevated the sect from the
condition of a prosecuted society to
the state religion of the great empire.
He invited the Christian ministers to
his court, gave them a seat at his
table in the palace, loaded them with
honors and riches, but was careful
himself to draw the line Of ecclesiasti-
cal policy and pattern the church or
ganization very much after the con-
stitution of the civil government of
Rome AS a reward for these faVors
the ministry Of the church stood in
humble attitude at the foot 'of the
throne. They overlooked the short
comings of their great patron, guilty
of putting to death without just cause
a wife, a son. and in violation of his
plighted faith, his brother-in-law.
There is another period in church
history where the state becomes the
patron of the church and dominated
it. That occurred during the great
reformation of the sixteenth century
when Henry VIII, displeased because
bond of marriage between himself and
the faithful Catherine of Anagon, took
affairs enthusiastically within his own
realm into his own hands and founded
u state church In this period of his
tory we find repeated Just what was
done in the case of Constantine. Not
withstanding the cruelties. the de-
baucheries and the murders of Henry
the ministers of Christ still awarded to
him the title, Defender of the
Faith
mention these circumstances be-
cause they exhibit the vice of the
state dominating a church. That vice
consists in this, that such a relation
ship brides the tongues of Gods min
( listers. who are commanded to reproTe
sin in high places and demand the
same moral standard of the prince that
is demanded Of the pauper. CAP
/ plause) Whenever the ministry of a
church stands in dread Of the temporal
power, when by it they may be I'M
frOcked. il will be a rare thing indeed
to find men of sufficient moral coura &c
to be true to the divine command
ment in preaching and executing the
word of God; hence the mischief Of
state domination of the church.
One of the wise men of the east
7 -1tSUD, ltllS luE SUI VI a IdinCl w iIO
in the midst of terrible storm on the
desert begged his Ara bian master to
allow him the privilege of putting his
head in the tent out Of the storm. The
indulgent master granted his request
but no sooner did the camel get his
head into the tent that he crowded in
his shoulders also, and then the whole
huge bulk of his body. and. turning
about, he kicked his master out of the
tent into the storm. SO did the Chris
tan ecclesiastical power with the civil
/ power in the Roman empire. Papal
/ Rome rose upon the ruins of pagan
/ Rome and for centuries ruled the ma
tons with a rod of iron. The evils
growing out of the church debating
the state are to be read in that period
of darkness which covered our earth
from the fifth to the sixteenth cen
To Weaken the Ministry.
/ It is not necessary for me in detail
TO point out those evils. 1t will be
sufficient if I can call your attention
I in a general way to the vice arising
from this relationship. That vice con-
sists in this-th2t such relationship
4 between church and state tends to
debase and weaken the ministry OF
Christ. All ministers of the gospel are
not equal to the virtue of their great
Master. When the evil prince of this
world stood before the Lamb Of God
and with a master hand, drew aside
the curtain which covered the glory of
the nations and pointed to them in all
their splendor and wealth, and said
''All these viii I give thee. only fall
down and worship me- the divine
man could look the tempter in the face
and say: Get thee hence. Satan: for
it is written thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
I serve" The ministers Of the church
today are not tempted to this extent
The arch-enemy Of mems souls knows
too well that it is not necessary. From
the back door of the parsonage our
ministers may see enough to seduce
them from the work of the Divine
/ Master: yea. so much of the yellow
gold of this earth as may be clutche6
thus in the hand may sometimes be
sufficient for their seduction.
Giamor of Temporal Power.
When you make 1t possible for the
state to dominate the church. such is
er that men are willing and do
Z forget the glories of eternity that they
/ may revel in the pleasures and powers
OF this world. ApplaUse) Hence i
! becomes necessary to preserve the in
/ tegrity of Gods ministry that you sep
! arate the church so fdr from the state
as to make the dictation of the latte,
by the former Impossible. and thus
\ lessen the temptation Of the ministry
to neglect the things Of heaven in or
der to dabble In the affairs of state
I have already stated that those who
contend for the separation of church
and state recognize separate sphere:
for those two powers to operate in
This idea I may say. had its second
birth in the great revolution Of tht
sixteenth century. sometimes called
the Reformation. john Calvin wa.
a leader in that doctrine in his day
John KNOX followed him. and there
was a hot contest in the old worlC
for the maintenance of this doctrine
not for the good Of the state so much
as for the good of the church-for these
champions held that in order for thu
4 ministers of God to perform we'll anG
faithfully their duties they must bt
removed from fear Of interference O.
kings and potentates.
But the most interesting period O.
the struggle for the separation O.
church and state is to be found in tn,
history of the founding of our owl
great nation. After the war of the
American revolution the statesmen OF
that period were confronted with the
work Of forming a government for our
country. There were men then who
conJended that God ought to be put in
the constitution, and an establishment
of religion instituted. But the revolu-
tionary fathers looked over the whole
land and found that the people were
divided beyond the hope Of union into