We were prepared, says Mr. Brownlow, to see our Southern preachers so early as 1861 following the bad example of these false teachers by preaching Secession, profaning the Sabbath, and taking commissions in the army to aid in carrying on the most wicked and unholy war- seeking the overthrow of the best government the world has ever known. Every branch of the Christian Church is cursed with their labors. The result is that the Churches were speedily demoralized throughout the country, congregations were disbanded, confidence in the ministry destroyed, and whole communities given up to intemperance, gambling, and violence. This is the question, and where inducements are held out to fall in with the heresy, it is well to inquire of men morning, evening, and at noon where they stand uponthis great office and money question.
Men change in a night.
Men rise up and dress as Union men and turn secessionists before breakfast is over. The worst symptom is the morbid excitement of the organ of credulity. If a man is a Union mechanic and out of work, the furnishing him with a small job at once discloses the startling fact that Lincoln commenced this war, that it is a war of conquest, and that the sacred soil of the South is to be invaded and the negroes all set at liberty. He believes every lie he hears, and swears to the truth of every lie he tells. He drinks mean whisky, and associates with men whom the day before he would have scorned.