CHURCH AND STATE NOTES.
By John D. Bradley
ON the day of the convening of Congress, December 5, Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts of the "Reform Bureau" had a communication in the Washington Post calling attention to "numerous bills" which that bureau is interested in and is pushing, "that were introduced in the last session of Congress and are still pending." He stated that "it is anticipated that some of them will be earnestly contested in the short session." Among the things for the "repression" of which these "numerous bills" are designed he named "Sabbath-breaking," and stated that "the Sunday work that has been going on in the capitol in connection with the new depot and filtration plant will be used as an argument for pressing again for a District Sunday law." He also stated that "the movement for the expulsion of Smoot will be renewed." "A LESSON for Lawmakers," drawn from "The Example and Influence of Hezekiah," was proclaimed to a large congregation in the national capital on Sunday, December 4, the day before the convening of Congress, by Dr. Wallace Radcliffe, moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly and pastor of Washington's most prominent Presbyterian Church. He is reported to have declared in the course of his sermon that "the sacred must impress the secular," that "there is an immense difference between the union of church and state and the union of Christianity and the state," that "the successful life, individual and national, begins at Calvary," and "enthrone God's Word and day in the legislation of the nation and then all things else will come." It is evident that there is still opportunity for opposition to the theocratic idea of government. The notion that "there is an immense difference between the union of church and state and the union of Christianity and the state," as Christianity is conceived of and held by those who entertain this notion, is utterly false. There is no difference whatever between a union of Christianity and the state in which Christianity is recognized as such and the union of church and state. Christianity can legitimately become incorporated with the state only to the degree in which its principles lose their Christian character and become a part of the warp and woof of secular civilization, so that they stand not by virtue of any religious sanction or as having any religious character, but solely upon their own merits as principles of right and justice that appeal to men as men regardless of religion. This is not the sort of union of Christianity and the state that is contemplated by those representatives of official and dogmatic Christianity who talk about and advocate "the union of Christianity and the state." They are thinking not of that union in which Christianity sacrifices itself, as it were, in the process of becoming incorporated in the life of human society, and which is the only way in which it can properly become united with civil society, but of that union in which Christianity, if not as a religious organization, as a dogmatic religious system dominates or is connected with the state. ONE feature of the recent Roman Catholic celebration in Washington in which President Roosevelt and District Commissioner MacFarland participated was the presence of a large assignment of policemen. There were 120 on hand, a much larger number than were needed for the purpose of preserving order in such an assemblage, it would seem. This is a feature that almost invariably marks important Roman Catholic celebrations in the large cities, and is suggestive of the thought that the assignments of policemen for these occasions are made by the authorities not so much for the purpose of preserving order as for the purpose of adding to the show of the occasions and extending to them special recognition. Labor Items.—A current press item notes that girls are now employed in Newcastle, Ind., to operate nail-cutting machines. The large steel manufacturing company of that place, being unable to secure the services of boys, have filled vacancies with girls, and report much satisfaction with the experiment...... The Child-labor Law of Illinois went into effect on the 12th ult. Under its provisions boys under sixteen years of age are not permitted to work in mines...... At the late convention of the Federation of Labor in San Francisco, it was unanimously voted to petition Congress to exclude Japanese laborers from the United States, and also from the possessions acquired in recent years. It is claimed by some advocates of this measure that, as the Japanese are more enterprising and progressive than the Chinese, their unrestricted introduction into the industrial fields of this country is more of a menace than the influx of the Chinese would be. The subject is likely to provoke a lively discussion. It seems that the greater the expansion of our republican domain, the farther we depart from the whilom boast of its being the "home of the oppressed of all nations." Three questions are presented in this connection: (1) Was this boast based on a correct principle in the beginning? or (2) has it become impracticable through its weight of responsibility? (3) If it has become impracticable, what becomes of the claim that "This is a Christian nation?" A "Christian nation" must logically harbor all for whom Christ died. "If any man [or nation] have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Rom. 8:9. Either we must welcome all nationalities, as being of our blood (Acts 17:26), and love our neighbors as ourselves, or drop the "Christian nation" boast—which has no legitimate claim at best, because it has no practical demonstration to present as evidence.