"DECEIVING AND BEING DECEIVED."
By Editor
IN a recent issue, referring to the efforts to secure a religious clause in the constitution of the proposed federal government of Australia, we stated that the advocates of such a clause do not hesitate to use deception regarding the provisions of the Constitution of the United States. On this point, and the attitude of the Pilgrim Fathers, we take the following from the Bible Echo, of Melbourne:— A Good Reply.—Seeking precedential support for the idea that the Federal Constitution should contain a formal recognition of God, a writer, signing himself "Elector," in the Launceston (Tas.) Examiner, of July 20, in addition to making the erroneous statement started by such men as Professor Harper and Dr. Rentoul of this city, that "a recognition of the divine Being is found in the American Constitution," says: "The Pilgrim Fathers commenced their colonial life with humble and hearty acknowledgments of the divine Being," to which another writer, "Liberty," in the same paper four days later makes the following pertinent reply:— "Yes, they did, and this is how they did it. Before leaving the ship they drew up a code of laws even more exacting than those from which they had escaped. No man could vote or hold office in the State unless he was a member of the church. All were forced to attend church service, and all heretics were banished. It was not long before they whipped the Baptists through the streets, and hung the Quakers on the common. Is this what 'Elector' calls a 'hearty acknowledgment of the divine Being?'" "Declarations of faith in a civil document may look very nice and seem very devout and quite harmless altogether on paper; but they are out of place, and, as all history shows, they are taken advantage of by religious bigotry, and made the foundation for religious legislation and the tools for the worst of tyrannies."