The Constitution and Religion. detective's art may be fittingly closed with the statement that any impression of the marvelous and profound in his estimates becomes perceptibly weakened by their
THE
valuer bearing in mind that it is nowise difficult, where there is a preconceived solu tion of a tangle, to suit every development to its needs.
CONSTITUTION By Solomon Mendels. AND RELIGION.
IN two short provisions of the Constitution of the United States is embraced the ut most security ever afforded a free people in matters of religion. The one declares that " No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Art. 6, Sec. 3. This clause is perspicuous and re quires neither comment nor exposition. The other provides that " Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of re ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of." Amend. I. This provision is also very clear in terms and no hidden ambiguity can ever be translated into its meaning. Ambiguity is the scourge of good laws. Perverted meanings, strained constructions, and hard cases are its legitimate offspring. Not so in this case. Another phase of dif ficulty is here presented. Not what does this clause mean, but how far does it prac tically extend? The application begets and presents to the naked eye a maze of intri cacy which such an innocent sentence could scarcely be suspected of concealing. Let us consider for a moment its history. In the earliest colonization of America, i. e., in Virginia, we find among the first ex ercises of the law-making power an Act recognizing the Church of England as " the only true church." And its doctrines and principles were not only recognized, but strictly enforced. There would have been
no place in Virginia for the non-conformist, and a reign of religious persecution was soon in full sway, with its attendant evils, its clergy living in opulence on the tithes of the parishioner, its enforcement of parochial duties, and the consequent death of free thought and expression. Even in the North, the Plymouth colony, which had braved a new world in search of religious liberty, gave to the church most valuable privileges and favorable protection, and punished idolatry with death. The following extracts from the Connecticut Code of 1 650 will give a good idea of the laws prevailing at the time in nearly every colony. CAPITALL LAWES. 1 . If any man after legall conviction shall have or worship any other God but the Lord God, hee shall bee put to death. Page 28. 2. If any man or woman bee a witch, this is, hath or consulteth with a familliar spirritt, they shall bee put to death. 3. If any person shall blaspheme the name of God the ffather, Sonne or hoi)' Ghost, with direct, express, presumptuous, or high-handed blasphemy, or shall curse in the like manner, hee shall bee put to death. If any Christian, so called, within this jurisdiction, shall contemptuously beare himselfe towards the word preached or the messengers that are called to dispense the
