Separation of Politics from Christianity

     One of the most notable illustrations possible of the separation of our politics from everything distinctively Christian, was found in the management of affairs in the house where the late President McKinley lay dying. During the week that he lay after being shot, the house was frequented by surgeons and officers of the government, as well as by friends of the family, but it appears from all one could learn from newspaper reports that no minister of the gospel was admitted until the very last. Prominent ministers of the Methodist Church in the neighborhood, and one who was a former pastor, came to the door and offered their services, but they were not wanted, and were turned away. The only man who gave utterance to any words of faith in the sick room was the dying President. If any prayer was offered at his bedside, it was not reported. Just who was responsible for this we do not know, but take for granted that the separation between our politics and Christianity governed the politicians, and that their greater care for the body than the soul governed the doctors.
     The contrast between this deathbed and that of the late Queen is striking. Prayer was offered every day at her bedside, and when it was seen that she was dying, a Bishop of great piety knelt and prayed audibly but quietly until her soul had passed from the worn house of clay into life eternal. When it was seen that Mr. William McKinley was dying, the doctors and friends stood around in a silence broken by no voice of prayer, to see how long his body would resist the power of death. What a difference!