The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-03-04
THE CHURCH AND STATE
R6Y. H I. Shepard'S Eloquent Sermon
On That Subtle.
DUTIES OF GOOD CITIZENS
There Is Need o. All the Religion
That Can Be Obtained In the
Management of the At
fairs o. the Nation.

delivered an interesting anu Ntlely wv
course at the Congregational church this
evening on the subject of "Church and
State" Mr.. Shepard did not believe in
joining sectarianism and the state, but he
took the position that religion and civil
government and the public schools should
work together in harmony on common
grounds without antagonism. Mr.. Shep-
ard spoke as follows:
There is one supreme and final power
in all human relations. This power is the
individual conscience. Each conscience
is accountable alone to God. Thus God
and conscience are all powerful in Heaven
and in earth; and church and state are
subject organisms which must obey their
will. Church and state are built upon "A
sound foundation only whom they are
made up of men whose consciences are
right in the eyes of God and who are made
by Him to stand.
As the present century nears its close
there are strong signs of larger power and
influence for the church. Ia a recent issue
of a leading religious weekly, Brumetlerc,
a member of the French academy, is re-
ported to have said that three periods may
be distinguished in the church's life since
the year 1900; that religion was despised
and ridiculed in the last century, that
leading men of state and science did not
think 1t worth their time to give attention
10 the church; that this period was sue
ceeded by disposition in the middle
years of the present century to respect re-
ligion and to carefully regard it's place in
history and to study it's claims and It's ma
ture; but still to believe that it's day had
past and that science had taken its place.
Brumetiere predicts that the next century
will see the claims of science very much
moderated and religion allowed a perna-
nent seat of honor. The article in the
weekly adds that many of the most intel
ligent and careful observers believe that
there will be great revival of religion in
the coming 100 years, when science Will
respect the church and be in sympathy
with its teachings. And an eminent
psychologist concludes that there will be
no atheists. because science will have
demonstrated the necessity of design In
the universe.
The church and state are joined already
in many most momentous common inter-
ests, and this union imperatively demands
our careful thought.
In the early part of the seventeenth CEN
fury the Independents" left their native
England for the desolate and stormy coast
of North America. Some strong iIapulse
was required to cause these brave and
hardy pilgrims to forsake their homes and
face the dangers of the sea and suffer I'M
told hardships on the inhospItable shores
of the Atlantic. This motive was religl-
Gus liberty. The Puritans sought escape
not only from the oppressive hand OF Eng
lands monarch, but also from her church
rule, which seemed to the Pilgrims to have
encroached upon their god-glvcn rights of
conscience. They refused submission TO
Episcopalian rule and denied the right of
Presbyterian courts to say what they
should believe and do. They felt that in
dividual conscience and each single
4. 4 Al 4. at -.
clesiastical affairs.
There was small charity on the soil of
England for such "false views" which the
king maintained would finally cause sep
arations and destroy both church and
kingdom. So the Puritans were not sue
cessful in securing liberation, and were
forced to leave their fatherland or submit
their conscIences to it's established
church and TO the king. Many of them
chose to leave, and sailed for Holland,
where John Robinson. at Leyden. in 1907
and 1908, laid strong foundation for
prosperous and happy worshlps accord
ing TO the conscience of the pilgrims. 1t
had not been impossible for time to
maintain an independent church at
home, but the warfare and the persecu-
ton which this course involved, meant
much bitterness and hardness which
largely destroyed true Christian feeling,
and now IN Holland there was perfect
peace and freedom for the dissenters TO
serve God as they wished.
The church at Leyden was the parent
of New England Professionalism; and
other Holland cities were friendly to this
faith.
In 1920 Brewster and Carver sailed from
DelfshaVen 10 the shores of the new world
and laid the foundation for all that New
England has since become in church and
government.
1t is very clear that men who would
"A
that these pilgrims met and bore, Tor con-
science's sake. must be of more than COM
mon blood. This was the stock that laid
the corner stone of the American nation,
and that has never ceased to take lead
ing part in all Its subsequent achieve
ments. Their sons have been the bone
and sinew of our national fame and lead
ers i'm all good works.
The independents went through blood
and fire before they gained the liberty
they sought. In 1883, two of their number
were executed for dissent from the estab-
lished faith. Ten years later Barrowe and
Greenwood met a similar fate, and many
soon had died in prison. Yet these brave
God-fcaring pilgrims pressed straight on
ward in the strength OF conscious recti-
tude and in a strong desire to found n
state whore freedom should be main
tanned.
The Puritans were very soon guilty of
faults which they themselves condemned
IN others. They had sought separation of
civil and ecclesiastical concerns, but they
at once built up both in closest union.
Massachusetts passed the law that a man
could not be a citizen OF the colony unless
he he member of the church. There was
a close union of civil and religious inter
| ests in all the colonies. But the pilgrims
took one long forward step. They vindi-
| Gated the authority of individual con-
| science and won "A victory for religious
Z IA. l. L. 4 81, L.. g