RELIGION AND THE STATE.
By W. A. Colcord
[Extract from an address by Prof. W. A. Colcord, at Lewiston, Me.] THE state has no more right to say which day is the Sabbath than it has to say which church is the church, or which mode of baptism is baptism. It has no more right to compel men to keep a Sabbath than it has to compel them to join a church and attend church services. In the past Sunday laws have frequently required church attendance. They are religious, and their object is to compel men to worship on a particular day and in a particular way, or to suffer the pains and penalties of law. But all this is anti-Christian, anti-Protestant, and un-American. Christ compelled no one to accept Him or His teachings, and rebuked His disciples for desiring to wreak vengeance upon those who followed not them. The Protestants declared that 'in matters of conscience the majority has no power.' And George Washington, the 'Father of Our Country,' said that 'every man who conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God according to the dictates of his