the town should be permitted "to sit on a porch or stand on a street on Tangier Island on Sunday, during church services - every one must either go to church or hide within the precinct of his own home.

Shot for Refusing to Go to Church

The American Colonies, under a union of church and state, passed laws expressly commanding all people, under penalty, "to attend divine services on Sunday." The town of Tangier, it appears, is still living under the old régime. The constable, Charles Connorton, came down the street during the hours of church service, spying out people's liberties, and observing young Parks sitting on the porch, commanded him to go to church or to hide himself within his father's house. Young Parks refused to do either, whereupon the constable seized him by the shoulder to compel him to go to church. The boy jerked away, when Connorton grabbed him again, bent him back over the iron fence, choked him, and drew his gun, threatening to shoot him if he refused to obey his orders. The boy refused, whereupon Connorton shoved the gun against the boy's stomach and fired. Young Parks fell to the ground as a 44-caliber bullet tore its way through his body. Fortunately. the boy was rushed by his relatives to the marine hospital in Crisfield, where by prompt medical and surgical aid he was saved from an untimely death. 1

A Lasting Lesson

This affair in the town of Tangier, Va., taking place in 1920, ought to teach Americans a lasting lesson concerning the baneful results of a practical though disavowed union of church and state. Church power centralized in the hands of a few men, coupled with civil jurisdiction, is always dangerous. The spirit of intolerance and religious bigotry is not yet dead.

We might continue this list of Sunday-law prosecutions almost indefinitely, but these few cases will suffice to show the real animus of such work, and will, we hope, serve as a warning and deterrent for the future.

1 The officer who shot young Parks was subsequently prosecuted for unjustifiable assault with a deadly weapon, and being found guilty, was sentenced to serve one year in the State penitentiary at Richmond, Va., to which institution he was committed Oct. 16, 1920, the supreme court having sustained the action of the trial court and the governor having refused a pardon.

SENATOR CROCKETT'S SPEECH AGAINST

SUNDAY LAWS IN ARKANSAS

Of interest to all lovers of liberty is the eloquent address of Senator Robert H. Crockett before the Arkansas Legislature in the spring of 1887. The heart of this patriot was stirred as he saw the intolerance of religious bigots, and eloquently he pleaded for freedom of conscience and that religious persecution might cease. The following is his speech as reported at the time:

"Mr. President: I had hoped, before saying anything myself in support of this bill [restoring religious freedom to Sabbatarians], to have heard the clarion tones of my friend Williams of Pulaski, and the silvery voice of Senator Byrne of Miller, in its favor, as I know their sentiments are in full accord with its provisions, and they are not wont to be backward in couching a lance to right a wrong. But, sir, before you put the question, I feel impelled to say a few words in its behalf, not only as the introducer, but because, for reasons which will develop as I proceed, the senate will realize that I am personally interested in its passage.

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Ashamed of Ill-Advised Legislation

Sir, I take shame to myself as a member of the general assembly of 1885, which repealed the act of religious protection [to Sabbatarians] which this bill is intended to restore. It was hasty and ill-advised legislation, and like all such, has been only productive of oppressive persecution upon many of our best citizens, and of shame to the fair fame of our young and glorious State. Wrong in conception, it has proved infamous in execution; and under it such ill deeds and foul oppressions have been perpetrated upon an inoffensive class of free American citizens in Arkansas, for conscience' sake, as should mantle the cheek of every lover of his State and country with indignant shame. "For nearly half a century, the laws of our State, constitutional and statutory, were in accord with our national Constitution, in guaranteeing to every citizen the right to worship God in the manner prescribed by his own conscience, and that alone. The noble patriots who framed our nation's fundamental law with the wisdom taught by the history of disastrous results in other nations from joining church and state, and fully alive to so great a danger to our republican institutions and their perpetuity, so wisely constructed that safeguard of our

"He_that_loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."- Jesus Christ. (See Matt. 10: 37.)

Thomas Jefferson said, in the Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom (passed in 1785):

"Almighty God hath created the mind free; . . . all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion, who, being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in His almighty power to do.'

American liberties that for forty years after its ratification there was no effort to interfere with its grand principle of equal protection to all, in the full enjoyment and exercise of their religious convictions. Then petitions began to pour in from the New England States upon the United States Senate 'to prevent the carrying and delivery of the mails upon Sunday,' which they declared was set aside by 'divine authority as a day to be kept holy.'

"The petitions were referred to the committee on postal matters, and the report was made by Hon. Richard M. Johnson, one of the fathers of the Democratic party. I quote the following from that report, which was adopted unanimously, and committee discharged: '

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Law of God Made an Excuse for Persecution

'Among all the religious persecutions with which almost every page of modern history is stained, no victim ever suffered but for violation of what government denominated the law of God. To prevent a similar train of evils in this country, the Constitution has withheld the power of defining the divine law. It is a right reserved to each citizen. And while he respects the rights of others, he cannot be held amenable to any human tribunal for his conclusions. . . . The obligation of the government is the same on both these classes [those who keep Saturday and those who keep Sunday]; and the committee can discover no principle on which the claims of one should be more respected than those of the other, unless it be admitted that the consciences of the minority are less sacred than those of the majority.'

"Listen to that last sentence- but again I quote:

"What other nations call religious toleration we call religious rights. They are not exercised in virtue of governmental indulgence, but as rights, of which government cannot deprive any portion of citizens, however small. Despotic power may invade these rights, but justice still confirms them.'

"And again:

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The Legitimate Bounds of Civil Law

"Let the national Legislature once perform an act which involves the decision of a religious controversy, and it will have passed its legitimate bounds. The precedent will then be established, and the foundation laid, for the usurpation of the divine prerogative in this country, which has been the desolating scourge to the fairest portions of the Old World. Our Constitution recognizes no other power than that of persuasion, for enforcing religious observances.'