Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1850-09-20

America, by discovery, Tor his sovereign, S,
has the church claimed under her sovreigl
to be the judge of every art, the expurgato
OF every science, the ameliator of ever
condition, the only recognized surveyor o
souls, and the only enfranchsed corporation
Of the highway to the kingdom of Heaven
and as the British sovereign found out tina
other Kings had better title 20 some o
this vast territory than he, so will the
Church that christianity has more than one
authorized agent on earth. The mistake
of the Church has been and is, in claiming
to he the only fundamentally of Christia
nifty, and in thinking there can be no mis-
on for her, except that final one, the in
Simultaneous conversion Of man. He who
asserts, however, that the Church has not
done much to better the condition of huma-
n.ty, is but little less mistaken than he who
s,rts that she is the only agent of Chris
tianity. Although the object of the Chris
tian economy is undoubtedly one, the hap
piness of humanity, yet her instrumental
ties are various, and the Church and Min
lstry are but one of many in the wise and
expansive system of Christianity. Nature
is one great apocalypse of instruction and
wise monitor of happiness to the sagacious
and attentive man. There is not cloud
that sails along the quiet sky, that 81 has
not God for its pilot" and that teacheth
not the watchful care of Providence. There
Is not an art or science, that in it's farther
development does not divulge some new
principle Of Divine wisdom adapted to the
delight and good of man. There is not one
OF the various moral and eleemosynary as
sociations that have sprung up within the
two last fruitful centuries, that has not
Christianity for its parent Let not the
Church, therefore, regulate the clouds and
stars by c-eeds and Mosaic astronomy, nor
dare measure the moral magnitude of asso-
Citations by their diminutive compressibility
to be pushed through her talsmanic ring.
Let not the Church by her rituals, cate
chlsms and sermons, prescribe and Stay all
that attempt to enter Gods moral vineyard,
though dressed in the modest attire of vir-
tuous woman, because their commission
from God has not been undersigned with
the han. -manual of some self-elected coun-
sci, convention, bishop, or divine, and seal
ed with their cabalistic O. X.
1t is doctrine of the Church that there
is no efficacy in gradual and rationalreform
that the highest and purest morality will
avail nothing in that day of final retrbu-
ton, will cool no pang of future wo; that
such morality even endangers the soul; that
there is saving efficacy in nothing but a
complete and instantaneous erasure of all
sins. Now, it is not to be expected that "a
community, or individuals, holding such
sentiments, be they true or false, will COM
promise their dignity, soil their purity, or
revoke their judgment, by searching in
houses of correction, prisons and cutters, to
reform the loathsome drunkard, especially
when by the exercise of his own free witt
he has made himself what he is. Nor is it
to be expected that such community can
present heaven and eternity to the gloomy
heart and benighted understanding of the
unfortunate drunkard, till some other agen-
cy, more modest in its pretensions, shall
have restored the inebriate to his reason,
and presented him at the porch of religion.
1t is not to be expected that an association
that for centuries labored for extended pow
err, and after the reformation busted itself
in driving stakes and kindling fires, and
that now has employment enough to repair
the breaches made in her walls, to keep her
own members from escaping, and the enc
my from coming in; it is not to be expect
ed, say, that such an organization can find
much time to labor for the reformation of
man.
Daughters, have l spoken plainly /
have done it honestly, after much observa-
ton and more reflection, from an unframed
ed position. Remember, the mistake of
the Church is that she claims to be the only
agent Of Christianity, while she is but one,
and a noble one. She claims to sit in iudg-
ment upon all associations, yet she will be
exempt from all inspection. She mistakes
in thinking Christianity and herself one
and the same, while she is but one pheno-
menon of Christianity. Give her, there
fore, proper consideration, but not blind
and fearful veneration. Are you sad +! Go
listen to her divine encourlgements. Are
you doubtful of an immortality! Go sit in
her inspiring quiet, and listen to her earnest,
confding prayers, and catch the inspiration
of her immortal hopes, as they come balmy
from Calvary's summit But let me assure
you that the Temperance cause demands
and must have some other agency than the
Church, which, though she watches and
records the rising and falling temperature
of the soul, and while she is busted in stu
dying pathologies for mans spiritual ma
ture, forgets or remisly discharges the du-
ties of social life, and, without designed de-
linquency, produces inattention to the sub
stant'al matters of common morality. Yield
her your spiritual esteem, but do not allow
her, Daughters of Temperance, by frowns
or threats to intimidate you in your bene-
VIOLENT intentions and Christian reformatory
labors. Remember that nature, reason,
the Bible, Christianity conscience, and God,
are all free to you as to her.
If the above remarks are true, our first
question is answered, viz F: that there scaS
necessity for a new organization of the
female friends of temperance.
The next question is should the Ladies
have organized as they have, as you havel
Now, it is admitted that if the principles Of
Christianity, if the genius of the gospel was
universally diffused through society, if eve