Will It Succeed? by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 12, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 15.

Will It Succeed?

By Editor

Will the public schools be used as an agency for imparting religious instruction, as Dr. McKim and his followers demand? The Washington Post seems to think not. It declares that there is no popular sentiment in its favor. And that is to be expected. The instincts of humanity are, on the first impulse, generally on the right side, and so it seems to be, as far as newspaper correspondence would indicate, in Washington, altho a majority of the ministers favor it. But the principles are farther reaching than this. Involved in them are the Gospel and man's duty to God. If men will yield to do their duty, never would they turn to the state for aid; but failing to do duty will grieve away the Spirit of God, will harden their hearts and blind their eyes to right principles. Then religious bigotry and prejudice come in to demand state aid. And so it will eventually, through political means, corrupt both church and state, and the machine religious teaching of the public schools, will only hasten the end of religious freedom and the decay and destruction of the republic. The constant attempts in various ways to unite church and state are alarming, and the people should be aroused and kept aroused. That "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" is as true now as when John Philpot Curran uttered it.