Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-01-22

! ~ uldH Haiueu w. JOnn Murray has
been arrested upon a charge OF prac.
ticing medicine without a license
! The facts are these:
Murray is pastor OF a group of per-
, sons calling themselves the Church OF
[ the Healing Christ.
He prays for the sick. He takes
fees for praying.
That is the testimony upon which
Murray has been arrested and will be
tried.
We hold no brief for Murray. He
may be an honest man or he may be
a confidence operator. We do not
know anything about him. But wo do
know that to arrest any man upon
such testimony Is a ridiculous and UNI
constitutional proceeding.
The information is ridiculous be-
cause 1t charges the man with practic-
Ing medicine by means of prayer.
1t would be interesting to learn
when prayer became drug or q To-
ton or plaster. What pharmacies
Keep 1t In stock? Is 1t a decoction, an
infusion or a distillation? Is II COM
pounded In liquid or dry form? Does
the druggist sell this medicine" In a
bottle or neatly done up as a tablet or
neatly done up as a tablet or a ptllr
IL prayer is not a medicine" how
can man practice medicine by pray
ing?
And since freedom of faith Is one of
the. fundamental guarantees of the
constitution itself. what power is there
in a statute of the state OF New York
to forbid the exercise of religious faith.
so long as there Is no infringement
upon private rights or public security
in that exercise?
Does the offense consist In taking
pay for praying?
wen, then, every clergyman in New
York state IL an offender. Twice an
offender, in fact. because they both
preach and pray for pay. And. they
not only pray for the living. but for
! the dead-and take pay for the pray
ers.
The man Murray is nothing to us
But he becomes of interest because he
happens to be the victim of an assault
under forms OF law, upon all that
| makes laws desirable and respectable
which is the guarantee OF orderly per
sonal. political and religious liberty
New York American.
Blessed Are the Peaeemakers.
/ Rev Jenkins in Sioux City Journal
II as our fathers warned US eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty 1t i!
+, still more true that constnt and con.
| scientlous self control is the price O
peace in the home, the community o.
! the state. Those of US who live in tn
! midst Of vast industrial enterprise
carried on by the use OF high ex
plosives are familiar with the warnin:
! placards tackled on so many car doors
-Infiammable; Keep Lights Away Il
a sign we all know. Don't Dunn
1 This Car is another warning witt
! which We are unhappily familiar. Tha
| car contains a consignment which
| needs not only to be kept far from fire
but safe from rough usage. But whei
| to these cautions is added a big. RET
card with big, red letters saying
| Danger; Keep Away: Only to BE I'm
loaded by Experts we feel that we d.
not care to be near the sidetrack w-hel
experts handle commodity SO sen
! sitive as that.
But 1t Is well to remember that w
shall never make peace in the home
the community or the state If we ar
careless of our relations to men an,
women, who are many Of them a
readily set on fire and as quick to "g,
up in the air. as these high explosives
Thomas Hood had learned this whel
he warned his readers how
| Evil is wrought by want Of thought
AS well as want of heart
Our right hand neighbor carrie
around chip on his shoulder, which
jostle from our elbow might easil!
knock of, and our neighbor on the lef
will give the wall" to no one nor per
NIT a passer-by to "bite his thumb
at him. States are unfortunately NOR
liable to explode than individuals, ant
our great republic Of 100,000,000 citi
zens came ridiculously near infiictini
battle. murder and sudden death" up
on a neighboring state because foo
president in Mexico City refused to fir
a salute when we chose to wave f1ag
And all Europe is today convulsed Fl
the most bloody and awful war in tn
history Of the world because two king
Icould not or would not) agree upol
the makeup of jury to investigate
crime. We shall never be without war
i II kings are SO quick to ''go of hal
cooked"
But God be thanked there's bette
time coming. A few years ago stoo
in the beautiful chapel at Westminste
and looked with serious eyes upon tn
multitude Of banners which hung fror
the ceiling OF the marvellous creation
OF England's Henry VII. No one coul
, fail to see that the sons whom Eng