p. 8 | State-Paid Chaplains

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 15, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 37.

State-Paid Chaplains

A writer in Living Issues most reasonably remarks: “Tracing the subject of government-paid chaplains to its source, we find it springs from the same corrupt fountain as Sunday legislation. Constantine, that wisest of politicians, and combiner of Paganism and Christianity, in the year A.D. 321 made Sunday a sacred holiday, and in 324 he appointed chaplains in the army. Says ‘Chambers’ Encyclopedia,’ vol. 2, page 375:—

“‘Chaplain was originally the title of the ecclesiastic who accompanied an army and carried the relics of the patron saint. An army chaplain is a clergyman whose services are retained especially by the government for the soldiers of the government, and the office was at one time regarded as a salable perquisite.’

“‘It is not to chaplains that I object, nor even to paid chaplains. But to chaplains paid by the government I object with all my might and main, and shall do all in my power to induce every true American to also object.’”