The question of church federation seems to be breaking out everywhere. Word has just been received that in the Dominion of Canada the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational Churches are to agree on matters of doctrine, and unify the three bodies into one, to be called the “United Church of Canada.” The bill introduced into the House of Representatives by Mr. Stevens, of Texas, which shuts off absolutely the giving of Indian trust funds to the support of denominational schools, is being warmly opposed before the committee on Indian affairs. It is not surprising that such a bill should be opposed by those who are seeking for governmental funds for the support of sectarian institutions, and their opposition is but another effort to secure the union of church and state in this country. The following from the Minneapolis Journal of Jan. 12, 1906, is another illustration of the absurdity of the exemption-clause idea: “Section 6514 G. S., 1894, which provides: ‘It is a sufficient defense to a prosecution for servile labor on the first day of the week that the defendant uniformly keeps another day of the week as holy time and does not labor upon that day,’ has no application to a proprietor publicly selling groceries on Sunday.” It came about as the result of a Supreme Court decision of the State of Minnesota in the case of a Jew who kept his store open on Sunday. Elder C. H. Edwards, president of the Greater New York Conference, informed us that a religious liberty convention was to be held January 28 in his conference, in which the following list of subjects was to be considered: “Religious Liberty, Its Origin and History;” “Relation of the Church to the State;” “Difference Between a Republic and a Theocracy;” “Object and Outcome of Church Federation;” “Has a Christian a Moral Right to Hold an Office Under a Civil Government?” “How Shall We Meet the Many Issues Now Before Us as a People?” We hope to give a full report of this meeting. The Rochester Democrat of January 21 announces another meeting to be held in the interests of church union or federation, as follows: “One of the most important meetings of the present year, considered from the standpoint of present ecclesiastical tendencies, will be the first meeting of the General Council of the United Churches, by which name is known the organization provided for in the union plans of the Congregational, Methodist Protestant, and United Brethren Churches. The general council meeting is to be held at Dayton, Ohio, February 7-9. Rev. Dr. Washington Gladden will give an address on the ‘History of Church Union.’ One of the objects of this union is ‘to prevent unnecessary multiplication of churches, to unite weak churches, and to encourage affiliation with other Christian bodies.’” A brother who resides at Horton, Pa., a miner, was requested by a committee who waited upon him, to unite with the United Mine Workers’ Union. This he declined to do, giving as his reason that to do so would be contrary to what he understood to be the principles of liberty, and that the labor unions were being used as an instrument in the hands of the Roman power to accomplish certain ends. Unaccustomed to hearing such grounds assigned for refusing to unite with labor organizations, the committee requested him to meet the local miners’ union in their lodge room Sunday, December 31, and state to them more fully his reason why he thinks it wrong to unite with labor organizations.