Litchfield enquirer., 1848-02-03
a- For Ehe Lifcldeid Enquirer. "THE CLERGY AND THE WAR"
 Again.


 i've are permitted to publish the following extract of a Sermon delivered in one of eHI neighboring churches on the occasion of the late Thanksgiving. The preacher asks. '' Is ihisPveaching politics, as some captiously af firm" We say, No; it is only canvassing. as every patriotic preacher and nearer ought to 1 do, public IT easure of our Government, the Government efthe people. Surely no epubii car will complain ot thls. But the extract shall speak for itself. --
 And new, with all due deference to the chief magistrate or the State of Maine, who has gratuitously profered his raternal counsel to the clergy, that they should not, on this day, call into notice the Peculiar institutions of any of the States, or attempt to canvass the public measures ofonr Government, shall ven- ture to name as our next element of na- tional weakness and ruin,
 4. The eristimg ,oar soiM .Merico, as a disgrace to our nation, a whitening curse to our prosperity, and cause that shal
 bring wrath upon us.
 That war in itself is an evil, a rare soil to nation, m expensive, cruel, demor .aIizing evil, none will question. and that an aggressiSe war is unnecessary. un- justifable, wicked, :here can be among all good people but one opinion. We are engaged in an expensive, bloody war, with neighboring republic. The great mass of our citizens, especially at the North. believe it to be an aggressive war, and, as such, uniustifiable and wick ed. They believe it to be war, essen~ ,ially, for'the extension and perpetuation of siGrery. Texas was annexed avoW- edly for this purpose; and the war came as a consequence-shail l say, a kno,cn and necessary consequence What is pres ciseiy the object of the war, our rulers do not vet set see fit to inform us whether to secure to the dominions of slavery the province of Texas, or to annex for this purpose the whole of Mexico or whether merely for glory and conquest, or for certain political considerations, we are not informed. Be it enough for the peo- pie to gran, supplies and pay for the war, and they shall know in due time what it is for,
 For whatever purpose waged and pros- ecuted, the melancholy fact is before us we ARE engaged in bloody, expensive war. We have broken the peace of the world. God had hushed the four winds, that they should not blow upon tho earth had hushed the world into peace, that the angel having the everlasting Gospel to preach to all nations, might fly nnim peded on bs glorious career. We have disturbed the quiet of the world by the din of battle obstructed the flight of the angel by the sight of garments rolled in blood. An hundred millions of eur treas ure has already been sunk in this boot> less enterprise Ca greater sum, if miss take not, than the whole expense of our revolutionary war; Thousands of lives many valuable lives - have been wretcheIly sacrificed; ard a world of want aud misery has been produced thro' our land, in the families and among the l friends of tao,c slain in battle. Oh, it is hearl-sickening 10 contemplate the family scenes of wretchedness that this war is producing, as they salute our ears from week to week. Let who can, exult in the glories of the battlefield. There ARE scenes on the battlefield which make the blood chill in your veins, and send the purple current back 10 the heart with sickening impulse.
 Nor is il always on the battle field thai you meet the most appalling features ol I A..lt sc n slaughtor>y ard-many a noble youth lies weltering m his blood-many a noble form is mangled and maimed, torn limb from limb, or q headless, mangled trunk deties all search for ownership. One mingled wall of anguish goes up from the field of death. But soon all js over. The roar of the cannon ceases the work of human butchery is done, The dying are dead the living exulling m victory 1; all seems over But this is in fact only the beginning of war. A thousand swift mes- sengers are carrying the mournful des patches to the homes of the wounded and Slain. One wife is made raving maniac, ano.her sinks into hopeless dependency a third, with a band of helpless children. is thrown penniless on the cold charities of the world. And so we might visit thou sands of families in our land. and if we l did not find pinching wact, we should find overwhelming woe, piercing enough to penetrate heart of stone
 Oh war. war! what hast thou done
 Thou art the scourge of man; thou ar, the curse of the nations-ihe battle axe in the hand of the Almighty by which to deal out his just judgments.
 And our beloved natien is being made 10 feel the power of this scourge. It is canker. worm gnawing voraciously at tho
 yitals of our strength consuming oul treasure, demoralizing our nation. fOsler
 ing the spirit of party, cherishing ih' war>spirit-a love of military glory, vic tory, conquest, so pernicious in a repub llican government. and diverting atten
 tion from the great objects of philanthro
 py aptfof mental and moral improvement which ought to be found in the heart . a great and magnanimous nation. Fror var, from carnage and bloodshed, fror i, wholesale murder. may the Lord dslive 5. Ishall name but one ether thin : which is as canker>worm devourin