In a much less degree have the benefits of freedom in religion been demonstrated in Europe, where the time-worn view of toleration, not liberty, is still the accepted theory. The English Puritans who came to this country three centuries ago, brought with them the ideas of medieval Europe. While it is true that their ambition was to establish "a church without a pope, and a state without a king," their ideal was liberty only for themselves. The dissenter was made to feel the heavy hand of persecution.

In those days but few really understood the true meaning of religious liberty. Puritan ideas led to intolerance, which was manifested in both the political and the spiritual realm. In colonial New England, at least ten offenses were punishable by death. Heading the list of these capital crimes stood "idolatry" and "witchcraft."

"Uncivilly walking in the streets and fields, traveling from town to town, going on shipboard," on Sunday, "or otherwise to misspend that precious time," were unlawful acts, and were severely punished.

A writer of that period tells that "Captain Kemble, of Boston, was in 1656 set for two hours in the public stocks for his 'lewd and unseemly behavior,' which consisted in his kissing his wife 'publicquely' on the Sabbath day, upon the doorstep of his house, when he had just returned from a voyage and absence of three years."

Roger Williams and the Baptists

In February, 1631, there landed in Massachusetts a young man Roger Williams by name - who was destined to play an important part in the civil and religious affairs of his time. Roger Williams has been called narrow and erratic; but a man who could win the esteem of Winthrop and Bradford, and number Vane, Milton, and Cromwell among his friends, must have had some strong elements of character. As he witnessed the punishment meted out to the Baptists and Quakers, his heart was greatly stirred. He saw, as did perhaps no other man of his day, the absolute necessity for a separation of church and state.

Roger Williams has been fitly called "the first American." Bancroft, the historian, says of him, "He was the first person in modern Christendom to assert in its plenitude the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions before the law."

The Baptists were opposed to infant baptism. This was regarded by the Puritans as rank heresy. All unbaptized children dying in infancy, were, the Puritans believed, sure to go to hell. It is true that one minister in his mercy consigned them "to the easiest room in hell," whatever that may be.

The Massachusetts Sunday law of 1671, provided that "whosoever shall frequently neglect the public worship of God on the Lord's day, that is approved by this government, shall forfeit for every such default convicted of, ten shillings, especially where it appears to arise from negligence, idleness, or prophaneness of spirit." (See "Book of the General Laws of New Plymouth," published by the General Court, June 6, 1671, chap. 3, sec. 10.)

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A civil officer known as the tithing-man" was appointed by the government that no young people walked abroad on the eve of the Sabbath." He also marked and reported" all those who lye at home," and others who prophanely behaved, lingered without doors at meeting time on the Lordes Daie," all the sons of Belial strutting about, sitting on fences, and otherwise desecrating the day." These offenders were first admonished by the tithing-man," then sett in stocks," then "cited before the court." They were also confined in the cage on the meetinghouse green, with the Lord's day sleepers." The tithing-man could arrest any who walked or rode too fast a pace to and from meeting," and he could arrest any who "walked or rode unnecessarily on the Sabbath." Great and small alike were under his control." (See "The Sabbath in Puritan New England," by Alice Morse Earle, p. 74.)

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John A. Fitch, expert in the New York Bureau of Statistics, made an exhaustive study of superior court decisions bearing on Sunday legislation. His investigations were published in the New York State Department of Labor Bulletin, September, 1910. Of colonial times, he says:

"The legislation of those times bore marked evidence of the extreme religious sentiments then prevailing, and Sunday laws were enacted, not to protect man, but to protect a religious institution.

Accordingly, these laws, religious in the beginning, have maintained their religious characteristics down to the present time. Forty-five States, besides Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, have Sunday laws on their statute books, and it needs but a brief examination to convince one that their spirit is still primarily religious. In many of them it is apparent in the reference to the day of rest as the Sabbath,' the Lord's day,' or the 'Lord's day, commonly called the Sabbath.'

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Whipped for Preaching the Gospel

The most noteworthy instance of persecution of Baptists is that of Holmes, Crandall, and Clark. They held a meeting in a private house in Swampscott, July 20, 1651. For this they were lodged in jail at Boston and fined thirty pounds each. Holmes refused to pay his fine, and was given thirty stripes. Some of his friends were given ten lashes for shaking hands with him on his way to the whipping post.

Williams himself was banished from Plymouth, and subsequently founded Providence Plantation, which grew into Rhode Island. The first charter of this colony declared for democracy and liberty of conscience. The charter of 1663 contained the following provision:

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That all and every person and persons may, from tyme to tyme, and at all tymes hereafter, freelye and fullye have and enjoye his and theire owne judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments.”— American Charters, Constitutions, and Organic Laws, 14921918," by Thorpe, Vol. VI, p. 3213.

The "Tithing-Man "

In Massachusetts, as late as 1783, "the tithing-man still arrested Sabbath breakers and shut them up in the town cage in the market place; he stopped all unnecessary riding or driving on Sunday, and haled people off to the meeting house, whether they would or not. The men of Boston strove hard to secure the repeal of these barbarous laws and the disestablishment of the Congregational Church, but they were outvoted by the delegates from the rural towns."-" The Critical Period of American History, 1783-1789," by John Fiske, pp. 76, 77.

The historian very properly speaks of these laws as barbarous. It is just such laws that some religious reformers are now endeavoring to foist upon the American people. History portrays the folly of attempting to make men religious by civil enactment. When the state invades the realm of conscience, it attempts to wield the scepter where God alone should rule. Separation of the state from the church is not opposition to Christianity, but it is recognizing the divine principle enunciated by the Master, "Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Matt.

22: 21.

Religious Freedom in Virginia

The struggle for soul freedom was waged in Virginia even more persistently than in New England; and in Virginia the lamp of liberty, when lighted, shone a little brighter than in any other American colony.

ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE NARRAGANSET INDIANS

It was Roger Williams who exclaimed, "What a monstrous paradox — God's children persecuting God's children!"

Commenting on the reason for the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution, the following statement by the Ralston (Pa.) Herald of April 28, 1910, is quite apropos:

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We wonder how many of our readers have read the history of New England's colonial times,- of the persecutions, the whipping of the Baptists and Quakers, and the banishing of Roger Williams, by the Puritans. The Puritan: were not worse than other people; in fact, they were honest, hard-working people. You ask, Then how could they persecute inoffensive people? Simply because they were following wrong principles in government. They failed to make any separation between the church and the state. They thought that the stability of the state depended on the people's observing certain religious forms; and as the Baptists and Quakers would not conform to the religio-political order of government, they were punished, or rather persecuted. It was to prevent a repetition of such persecutions that the First Amendment to the Constitution was added. Did our forefathers make a mistake in separating the church and the state? If not, let us keep them separate. Liberty, both religious and civil, is safe only so long as the people understand the principles on which it is based."

On April 12, 1631, a letter was written to Mr. Endicott, by order of the general court of Massachusetts, in which the court charged Williams with having declared his opinion that the magistrate might not punish a breach of the Sabbath, nor any other [religious] offense, as it was a breach of the first table.""Memoirs of Williams," by Knowles, p. 45.

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Williams saw at a glance that corruption and persecution must work out in America the same results as they had wrought in England. At once, therefore, he protested, as a sound-minded man, that the magistrate might not punish a breach of the first table of the law, comprised in the first four of the ten commandments." History of the Baptists," p. 628.

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Virginia's early settlers did not come to America to escape religious persecution, as did the Pilgrims, but to better themselves financially. They were members of the Anglican or state church in the old country, and very naturally made that the established church of the new colony. A century and a half later the people of Virginia saw a new light. Strong men arose who had courage to oppose the oppressions of the established church. With voice and pen these large-hearted statesmen advocated freedom of religion, and eloquently pleaded for equality of all before the law.

Freedom to worship God did not come without a determined struggle, nor until the colonists had learned in the school of bitter experience the dire consequences of religious statutes. Notwithstanding magnificent leadership, clear vision, and the liberal laws then enacted, there are still to be found, even in the Old Dominion, some relics of the colonial union of church and state.

Virginia First to Enact Sunday Laws

In Virginia were enacted America's first and second Sunday laws. Following is the text of the first of these enactments:

"Every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and the allowance for the whole week following; for the second, to lose the said allowance and also be whipped; and for the third, to suffer death."—" Articles, Laws, and Orders, Divine, Politique, and Martial, for the Colony in Virginia."

This law had one virtue,- it did not conceal its real purpose, which was to compel attendance at church. Traced to their source, that is the real object of all Sunday laws. No law compelling Sunday observance ever truly was, or ever can be civil. All are based on religion. Their promoters may endeavor to hide this by asserting that such legislation is civil, but this is not the fact. Sunday laws discriminate in favor of the sects which observe Sunday and against those which do not. "The enforced observance of a day held sacred by one of the sects, is a discrimination in favor of that sect, and a violation of the freedom of the others."-9 California, 502.

Sunday Laws Condemn Honest Toil

It may be said that this Virginia statute was extreme; but the same principle is in every Sunday law. The purpose of Sunday legislation is to punish one class for using that day in a way contrary to the ideas of another class. Sunday laws make men criminals for doing