The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-04-13
A LITTLE LAY SERMON.


of the relations between the church
and the state in this country is the
steadfast cheerfulness with which the
church has accepted the potency OF
temporal authority. To be sure, there
can be but one supreme sovereignty,
and especially in a country where the
will of the people is the overriding
ard undisputed source of power. The
church flourishes in all its branches
under the protection of the civil law
and it is only the part of wisdom that
induces it to follow the. dictum OF
Christ Himself when He bade His fol-
lowers render unto Caesar the things
that are Caesars and unto God the
things that are Gods.
It comes therefore as a Earring
nc te in this peaceful harmony of re-
lations when the representative of any
ecclesiastical body proclaims oracu-
larly, regarding such a wise civil law
as that regulating the performance of
the marriage ceremony, that "of course
the church cannot adopt and recognize
every silly law enacted" The wisdom
of the law which requires ministers
to be citizens of the country, or at
of becoming such, before they perform
SO important a function as the solem-
nzation of marriage may possibly
be mooted, though there are surely
good reasons why the law should thus
provide. There is nothing Onerous IN
a provision which strengthens the arm
of civil authority and which affects all
alike, without the shadow of a dis
elimination. On general principles
there can be no reasonable denial OF
the propriety Of a minister who casts
his lot with the people of this country
and who sets up as a teacher of morals
and good citizenship, becoming citi-
zen of the country whose blessings and
protection he shares. If only for the
sake of example which goes back to
the great founder of Christianity, he
should be a citizen before he presumes
to instruct others in citizenship. The
only escape from the reasOnableness
of this contention is that instruction in
the duties appertaining to the various
relations toward the community and
the state is not part of the province
OF a minister, and there will be few
who will take this extreme position.
The church fares exceedingly well
in this country. Billions of dollars
worth of property are exempted from
taxation, because the church is recog
nized as mighty agency for good.
Railroads are permitted to extend half
fare courtesies to ministers, but not
to doctors and lawyers and newspaper
men, though it will hardly be doubted
that doctors and lawyers and even
or Of n
the community. Despite the domino
tion of politics for the most part by
influences which do not emanate from
the pulpit, the voice of the church as
an institution is becoming more and
more powerful. Religious liberty in its
widest sense is guaranteed by the laws
of the land, from the municipal ordi-
nances of the smallest city to the SUI
preme organic law of the republic. TIE
line of cleavage between church and
state is wisely sharp in letter aid
largely in spirit But in reality the
balance swings toward the pulpit and
the pew. The law assuring freedom
of conscience and worship is often
strained to the stretching point rather
than bring about even the suspicion
of persecution or the denial of the
smallest right. The civil law is the
splendid aegis beneath which the
church thrives and radiates its mag
nif1cently upward and onward tenden-
cies q
The least that the church can do
is to render unto Caesar all the things
that are Caesars. and if the civil law
says that only citizens of the United
States of America can join in mar
riage the people who are to enter into
the life and carry out the destiny and
comprise the fathers and mothers and
home builders and lawmakers and cit
liens of the United States of America.
1T does not lie in the mouth of the
representative of any religious body
to sweep such law aside with wave
of the hand md glory in the fact that
the church s'of course" cannot recog-
nize every silly law" enacted Laws