“A BURNING QUESTION. 
 
 99 
 
 W. T. HARRIS, PH. D., LL. D. 
 
 POLYGAMY AND CITIZENSHIP IN CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 By Dr. SAMUEL SPAHR LAWS. 
 
 227 Pages, Octavo. Price, $1.00, Postage Prepaid. 
 
 For Sale by Woodward & Lothrop, Washington, D. C., and by 
 the Presbyterian Committee of Publication, Richmond, Va. 
 
 NOTICES AND TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 1. The Baltimore American.— “The three main features 
 of the discussion in this volume are: (1) The relation of the 
 subject to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church; (2) 
 to the Bible and the primitive church; and (3) to the latest 
 evolutionary history of the family. The author claims that 
 the positive teaching of the Bible is that the conjugal relation 
 was originally ordained by God at man’s creation between 
 two—one man and one woman. Also that the Saviour did 
 not claim to institute a new ordinance, but reaffirmed the 
 original ordinance of monogamy as still in force, and as the 
 law of his kingdom.” 
 
 2. Dr. F. J. Brooke, Romney, W. Va.— “You have cer¬ 
 tainly done a good work for the Truth, the Church, the For- 
 
2 
 
 eign Mission cause of all churches, and for Humanity, and 
 God will surely bless it, whether we ever accomplish the im¬ 
 mediate purpose in hand or not, i. e. } extirpating the sin 
 [of polygamy] from our own missions.” 
 
 3. Dr. David Wills, Jr., Oswego, N. Y.—“In Polygamy 
 and Citizenship in Church and State you have written wisely 
 on a timely theme. Your vigorous defense of the Biblical 
 idea of personal and church purity cannot fail to be pro¬ 
 ductive of great good. All who love righteousness and truth 
 must be grateful to you for your devout and scholarly work.” 
 
 4. Dr. Robert P. Kerr, Baltimore, Md. — “I thank you 
 for sending me your exhaustive treatment of the subject of 
 Polygamy. Your argument is unanswerable. I do not see 
 how any man can advocate the reception of a polygamous 
 convert (?) into the Presbyterian Church. The laws of 
 Christ are for all races, all ages, all conditions, and admit of 
 no exceptions nor temporary suspension. It would be just 
 as logical to say that converts might be allowed for a while 
 to commit theft or murder. 
 
 “Surely this is no time to abate the rigor of the law of 
 marriage, when progressive polygamy has become so com¬ 
 mon in our country as to threaten the permanence of our 
 institutions. 
 
 “I hope the General Assembly will speak in no uncertain 
 way.” 
 
 5. Dr. Wallace Radcliffe, Washington, D. C. — “I have 
 read with great interest your Polygamy and Citizenship. It 
 is true. It is masterlv. It is unanswerable. A 7 ou have ren- 
 
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 dered a great service by such a clear and comprehensive 
 
3 
 
 statement of the subject and by your calm and irrefutable 
 argument. I can very well understand how a missionary 
 may be tempted to expediencies in some individual case, but 
 I cannot understand how a church court could hesitate or 
 evade when the case was so strongly presented. We northern 
 Presbyterians are supposed to be ‘worldly/ and ‘secular/ and 
 ‘purely ethical/* but we have a better record on this subject 
 than our spiritual brethren of the South. I congratulate 
 you upon a fine piece of work and a stalwart conscience.” 
 
 6. Dr. B. F. Bittinger, Washington, D. C.—“I grate¬ 
 fully acknowledge the receipt of your Polygamy and Citizen¬ 
 ship, and although I have not read it carefully, I have read 
 sufficient of it to convince me that your argument from the 
 
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 scriptures, by which you fortify your contention, seems to 
 be conclusive. IIow far expediency enters into the question 
 I am not prepared to say. The question itself is a difficult 
 and troublesome one, and for adjudication requires great tact, 
 tenderness, and wisdom. 
 
 “Your argument itself, however, is hard to refute.” 
 
 7. Dr. M. B. Riddle, professor in Allegheny Theological 
 Seminary and a member of the Bible Revision Committee. 
 His attention was called to this treatise by a mutual friend, 
 who is a Presbvterian, a Yale alumnus and LL.D., and a well 
 known government official, to whom Professor Riddle wrote: 
 “You can tell him [the author] from me, that he seems to 
 be right in his contention, and that the Presbyterian Church 
 (South) does not appear to advantage in the controversy and 
 in its deliverances.” 
 
 This mutual friend writes the author: “I have read nearly 
 all your book, and much of it out loud to Mrs. W. [a South- 
 
4 
 
 ern lady]. There is but one side to your question, and I am 
 ashamed of the Southern Presbyterian Church.” 
 
 A colonel in the regular army, a Kentuckian, says that he 
 and his wife have read it together with great interest. It is 
 profitable and novel reading for all in the conjugal relation, 
 as well as for the unmarried. 
 
 8. Dr. W. T. Harris, for nearly twenty years Commis¬ 
 sioner of the United States Bureau of Education.—“My dear 
 Dr. Laws, I beg to acknowledge a copy of the ‘Polygamy and 
 Citizenship in Church and State,’ which came duly from you, 
 and according to promise. I am always glad to have any 
 monograph from your hand. I am particularly glad to have 
 this discussion of a burning question.” 
 
 9. Rev. Dr. David Wills, Sr., now a retired chaplain of 
 the regular U. S. Army, but long a resident of the South 
 and minister of the Southern Presbyterian Church, a grad¬ 
 uate of Columbia Theological Seminary, South Carolina, co¬ 
 pastor of Dr. Smythe, of Charleston, S. C., and at one time 
 president of Oglethorpe University f Georgia. This devoted 
 friend of the Southern Presbyterian Church took such in¬ 
 terest, in this discussion that he read it in the proof whilst it 
 was going through the press, and encouraged the author with 
 his cordial and unqualified approval. No one was more sur¬ 
 prised than he at the disposition of the subject by the General 
 Assembly and the Synod of Virginia. One of the most 
 notable foreign missionary conventions of the year meets 
 annually at Clifton Springs, N. Y., in June, and enjoys the 
 generous hospitality of that Sanitarium. Dr. Wills was 
 present at that convention, June, 1906, and assisted Dr. Mai- 
 
5 
 
 colm in distributing among the missionaries a package of the 
 book which had been shipped there for that purpose. Dr. 
 Wills writes: “All were glad to receive them [the books], and 
 have unanimously agreed, so far as I could ascertain, that 
 polygamists cannot be admitted to church membership any¬ 
 where without abandoning all but one wife, and she the one 
 first married. 
 
 “Dr. Hunter Corbett, the (Missionary) Moderator of the 
 Northern General Assembly (1906) read your book. We 
 spent an hour on Sunday afternoon in discussing the subject 
 of polygamy in heathen lands. He says you are on the right 
 line, and that the church will come to your ground sooner or 
 later, and that, therefore, your valuable work will tell effect¬ 
 ively on the future missions of the church. 
 
 “I herewith inclose the testimonies I gathered from the 
 missionaries in India, China, Japan, and one from Bishop 
 Pennick, of the Diocese of Virginia, who has charge of his 
 church missions in Africa. You are powerfully supported 
 in your views by the leading missionaries from one end of 
 
 the heathen world to the other. 1 ’ Inclosed were five cards 
 
 « 
 
 with six names, concisely expressing decided views, and not 
 a discordant note was heard. It was regretted that more 
 books were not sent, as they were eagerly sought after. A 
 thousand copies were printed, but they are diminishing, and 
 persons w T rite the author, not knowing where they can be 
 obtained. 
 
 10. As illustrating the reformatory power of the truth, the 
 following incident may be given. It is contained in a letter 
 from Dr. Brooke to the author, in a letter dated June 29th, 
 1906: “Let me congratulate you upon the first fruit of the 
 
6 
 
 polygamy overture. The Kassai Herald, published by our 
 African Mission at Luebo, for April, 1906, has this: 
 
 At a meeting of the missionaries, March 1—6, 1906: “The re¬ 
 ports as rendered from the field were of the most encouraging 
 kind, yet there was a recognition on the part of all present 
 that the goal of our hopes had not been fully attained. No¬ 
 where was the truth of this assertion more fully seen than 
 in the earnest, prayerful consideration over the subjects of 
 
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 Polygamy and Self-support. Against the former the door of 
 church membership was closed, while the latter had plans 
 and methods set in operation looking toward a fuller realiza¬ 
 tion of that ideal.” 
 
 11. Rev. Dr. Thomas Chalmers Easton, pastor of East¬ 
 ern Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C.—“Rev. and 
 Beloved Brother: I have read over carefully your able con¬ 
 troversial pamphlet, entitled Holy gamy and Citizenship,’ and 
 must say your position is unassailable, scriptural, and will 
 stand the severest criticism. 
 
 “Years from now, not many, all churches and ministers 
 must stand upon the rock foundation where your able book 
 would have them placed. Divorce legislation, marriage laws, 
 and other matters pertaining to the family, need revision the 
 world over. 
 
 “Thanks for your noble contribution to the literature on 
 this most important and living question of the day.” 
 
 12. The Central Presbyterian. —This is one of our 
 Southern Presbyterian Church papers that has spoken out in 
 advocacy of the General Assembly making a deliverance on 
 the subject of polygamy in accordance with the constitution 
 of the church touching morals and personal righteousness. 
 
7 
 
 May 16, 1906: ‘‘A volume of more than two hundred 
 pages, entitled ‘Polygamy and Citizenship in Church and 
 State/ by Dr. Samuel Spahr Laws, is before us. It is prob¬ 
 ably the most complete discussion of the subject that has ever 
 been published. I)r. Laws’ extensive and varied learning, 
 and his familiarity with sources of information, eminently 
 qualify him for the task that he has accomplished. The 
 discussion bears upon an overture on this subject that goes 
 before the Assembly in session at Greenville. There seems 
 to be no substantial reason why the Assembly should not dis¬ 
 tinctly declare that in the reception of communicants into the 
 church in foreign fields the standards of the church upon all 
 questions of morals shall be respected and enforced; or else 
 refer the entire subject to an ad interim committee instructed 
 to prepare a formal paper for final consideration and adop¬ 
 tion.” 
 
Rev. Dr. E. M. Green, Danville, Ky., Moderator of the South¬ 
 ern General Assembly, 1898, and Chairman of Commission 
 on Polygamy, 1906: 
 
 “ * * Your vast labor in connection with this matter has 
 
 not been wasted. You have given us an exhaustive discussion 
 of the subject which is learned and valuable, and your end. 
 has. probably been accomplished, though the complaint was 
 not sustained. * * * Am thankful that you have been 
 
 spared to do such vigorous work for the church