Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1845-04-18
VOL. XVIII....No. az

Nothing but their cold and ~lifeless forms ascera
tains to you that they were once flies, snakes,
or mice. Through all this period they assume
no new qualities. They sleep and awake, live
and die, ltnmutable and unchanged in their ma.
lures. II the Christian warrior could take adj.
vantage OF a state analogous TO this condition;
the vital principle of religion might, perhaps, be-
perpciuatod in his heart through a long wiutef
Of suspended animation. But here is a difficult
defect of parity in the two cases. While train
'ng tor the profession of man-butcher, and en-.
gagged lis ferocious and half-cannibal duties, he ID
compelled to sweep his heart clean of any yes.
tIge OF humanity, aud "take unto himself seven
other SPIRITS" as unlike the spirit Of Christ--the
vine OF which he p%urports to be a branch--as
any that ever fell out of heaven and kindled The
iires Of The internal pit with the burning in,ens
sity of their malice.
In The first place, the oath that he takes I'd
violate every law of God. at the command of his
command ng officer, is all that Satan ever asked
of the rebel angels, with whom he assayed to
~dethfone the Almighty. And, in complying
with that OATH and the tiend ish service it involves,
history, in seeking the most expressive terms Of
eulogv of the conduct of Christian armies on the
field of battle, has described them as fighting not
only like tigers, hons and hyenas, but like der.
lis! This is a just d lscrimination. TO say that
Christians ever fought like tigers and lions, is a
libel upon those Carnivorous beasts. In the
most insane %fetoci'v Of those illuminated ami.
mails, they generally fight for food, as well as
~vuliures and Other birds of prey. 1t would nit
gate the bloody occupation of the Christinn
man-butcher, if he could prolfer the SAINT ex-
cuse, and say that he fought az a caniJal His
inhulnan work would then be slightly relieved
by the plea of necessity and his character as a
beast. In such a character only can the Chris
tian fight like a llon or tiger. But as an intel.
lectnal aud moral being, if he fights at all, he
must fight like a deoii. II he would destroy his
fellow beings with fire and sword if he could
take up little infants on the point of his bayonet
and roast them in the flames at the word Of
command :" il on his furious ste.d he could
ride down the new. widowed mother, as she fled
through the crimsoned snow with the babe on
her breast if he could chase old age and infar.
CT into the house Of God and FIRE it over their
heads /; if he could do all this--and to do it is in
the bond--with no worse appetites and passions
in his heart than those which stimulate the most
'%erocious beasts Of prey, he might still retain the
dignity of fighting like a lion or tiger. II he
could do il IN cold blood, without an angry emo.
ton s'irrjn in his bosom, the world, with united
voice, wIul! denOunce him as an irrational mon
s'er, below the lowest OF the brute creation--a
numbering a%u'omaton, a human butchering ma
chime, wound up and set a gong by a superior
officer" But if he must do it as an intellectual
and moral being, possessing a moral conscience,
and in face of all the avs, attributes, and reve-
iatlons Of God If he d. not do il as a %carnivo.
rnus beast, a Gambia, or A s~ou.less, cast iron
machine, then must he fgh, like a deril. invest
ed with the chiefest attributes of that character.
he must do il with those maglignant passions
burning in his heart, which make a DEVIL
which, set on fire in a mass, make he'll in AIRY
part Of The universe. {. Is.