In 1848 Baptist W. Noel (England), a writer of acknowledged ability, published a work on the subject of Church and State, in which, he reviewed some of the positions taken by those who advocated the removal of the separation between church and state. The following extract is from Mr. Noel's book, page 29:

"How many members of Parliament profess to trust wholly in Christ for their salvation from hell, and therefore make his word their exclu sive rule of conduct? If the majority are with out this faith, they are unchristian and ungodly; and the union between the church and the State, is the union between the churches of Christ and a body of unconverted men—it is the union of the church with the world. And since all who are not with Christ .are against him, it is the union of his friends with his enemies. The effect of the union does not depend upon what the State ought to be, but upon what it is; and to advocate the union because the State is bound to be evangelical, is the same thing as to say that a thief should be made the trustee of a property because he is bound to be honest; or that the Lord's supper should be administered to a drunken profligate because he is bound to be virtuous and sober. The advocates of the union constantly argue, not from what the State is, but from what it ought to be; and infer most erroneously the effect of the union of the churches with the actual State from what they suppose would be the effect of their union with the Utopian State. The actual State is irrelig ious, and the churches are bound to dissolve their union with it." (Emphasis supplied)

Extract first appeared in American Sentinel Vol. 1, No. 2, 1886.