THE following is a copy of a letter which Elder Wm. Covert addressed to the members of the Wisconsin Legislature, protesting against the passage of the Sunday bill recently introduced and finally defeated in the Assembly of this legislative body:— “I respectfully but earnestly protest against the passage of the Bill No. 339 A, introduced Feb. 9, 1905, by Hon. Mr. McKenzie. The promoters of this bill claim that its purpose is to secure one day’s rest in seven for employees. But this one day upon which the rest is to be secured is the first day of the week,—a day recognized by the promoters of this bill as the Sabbath,—a day to be religiously observed. This is, therefore, asking for religious legislation. “This bill is one among a number of others which has been prepared through the counsel of the Sunday Rest Day Association of Wisconsin, with the design of giving that association a kind of paternal oversight in matters pertaining to both church and state in Wisconsin. You can find this bill printed in the Northwestern Mail, published at Madison, Feb. 3, 1905, six days before it was introduced to the honorable body of lawmakers in the State. “This federation of churches in Wisconsin is undoubtedly the outgrowth of the National Reform Party, which first took an organized form Feb. 3, 1863, at Xenia, Ohio. The purpose of this organization is expressed in its convention held in Mansfield, Ohio, in the year 1879, which says: ‘It seeks such an amendment to the national Constitution as will indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of the government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.’ “After twenty-nine years of ardent labor to secure such an amendment, they did at last secure, in 1892, a decision that this is a Christian nation. Since that time they have practically demanded that the lawmaking bodies of the States and of the nation shall be their servants to enact such laws as these associations may desire to have passed. It seems that their all-absorbing desire is to control, by civil enactment, the religious practises of the people of the whole country. This effort is being made in spite of the Declaration of Independence, and in spite of the plain declaration of individual rights in matters of religion in the Constitution of the United States, and also of the several States which compose our national Union. “It is fully believed by the writer that Christianity is just what the people need. But Christianity is not arbitrary nor dictatorial. When Christ was upon earth, he said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ The great principle of Christianity is well expressed in the golden rule, which says, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.’ No one can, in harmony with the religion of Christ, undertake to compel an individual to do some service contrary to his own conscience. But the bill 339 A does ask some to violate their own conscience. It does practically ask every employer of labor in the State of Wisconsin to have those whom he employs rest at least seven first-days in the year. This is asking for religious legislation. “Now there are at present one hundred churches of Seventh-day Adventists in the State of Wisconsin, and quite a number of Seventh-day Baptists, besides many other citizens who religiously observe the seventh day of the week. These people are good, law-abiding citizens. But if the bill under consideration should be enacted into law, then these people would be compelled to do a thing which is contrary to their sincere conviction of what is right, or else to live in constant violation of a law of the State. The bill is virtually seeking to compel by law some people to act contrary to their own convictions of right. It may not be so intended, but it would lead to religious persecution, and this is not a thing desired by the lawmaking power of the State of Wisconsin. “Having from sincere religious convictions sacredly observed the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord for a period of thirty-seven years, I have felt it my duty to respectfully offer this protest.”