Church and State

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 8, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 14.

Church and State.—At the laying of the corner-stone at an Episcopal Church in Boulder, Col., the Knight Templars, the Masons, and the Elks took prominent part. The stone was laid by the Governor of the State, Hon. James H. Peabody, who said: “In the name of the people of Colorado I proclaim this stone properly laid.” He further remarked, as reported by a Boulder paper, “Originally the prophet was the lawgiver; at the present what the Church demanded the State compelled.” “The bishop’s address was a plea that the world in general should come into closer relationship with the church. It was optimistic and broad-minded in tone, and dealt with the idea that all men were religious at heart.” It is a sad thought that while autocratic Russia has her face toward tolerance and religious freedom, and is breaking the grievous shackles of Church and State, democratic America has turned toward the past, Church and State union, the Dark Ages, the gyve, the rack, the auto da fé.