The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-02-20
,H3F IDAIIIY DISPATCH
757577 TofifFo; ff5f07fY 3. %:
ABOLITION CLRRGYMEN,

MONDAY M0kN1N0 FEBRUARY e. -.
ADOLTTION CIlRRGYMEN,
Thsre il - chAracter for which more gene
raj respect q fell BY mankind. than . sin.
ssrs and self.dsnying minister Of the Gospel
The difference between the true man and the
ptekender Ii lhis vocation, Is much more res-
Oily understood BY the world ct large than e
usually supposed. Men who make no pro-
LESSONS Of peculiar virtue, men who evenpro.
fsss, to have no faith whatever in the verities
of Christianity. inwsrdly and profoundly
r.pect . clergyman. whose life is in confor-
nifty with the precepts which he breaches.
Not that they demand perfection; not that
they expect human beings Of any vocation
to be angels; not that they are unwilling TO
make allowances for the unavoidable weak
nesses and in6rmities of humanity. But it
is expected, and the expectation is just and
reasonable, that the preachers of the Gospel
should exhibit in their daily lives an exem-
plifcation Of the virtues which they enforce
in the sacred desk. The clergyman who
shoulibe dishonest in his business transac-
tons. who should violate the laws OF chastity
or truth, would be universally stigmatized as
wolf in sleeps clothing. But there are
other virtues even more peculiar to Christi
anity than these, and they are Charity and
forgiveness. The Gospels -eminently q
Gospel Of Peace, and the clergyman who
acts in opposition to this spirit, who sows the
4, ~ Jssnn~1 and c&vsTa xrhn &c spfnloronf
and unforgiving, is more false and inconsis-
tent than clerical rogue or debauchee.
Wehave been led to these remarks by the
regular habit Of abolition preachers at the
North, of Decorating the pulpit for the pur-
pose of preaching up an antislavery crusade,
andexciting the worst passions of their hear
ers against the people of another section of
the country What claims havesuch men to
the name of clergymenl From whom did
they obtain their commission to appea; in
that capacity Can they pretend that they
were called by the Prince of Peace, when
their whole mission is one of strife and dis
cords. Or is slavery such colossal and
overwhelming SIN, that it deserves to be
made an exception to the tender and benig-
nant spirit in which the Divine Being seeks
to restorethe erring andfeclaim the lost?-
They cannot pretend that such is the fact,
notwithstanding to be wiser and better than
their Maker. In all the dispensations in which
God has revealed His will to men, not sim
gle mention is made of slavery as sin at all.
On the contrary, under the Patrlarchal dis
pensation, slaves were held by the chosen
servants of God, with the Divine approba-
ton; under the government OF Moses, the
holding of slaves was sanctioned by the Di-
vine Law; and under the Christian Revela
ton, they were recognized as property, and
the runaway slave was required to return to
his master. So that there is no excuse for
these abolition preachers, on the ground that
slavery is a great sin, or any sin at all. Be-
slider, if it were sin, it does not exist at the
North, and therefore preaching against it
does no good, especially the preaching of ha-
tired and revenge. These men have wicked
ness enough in their own vicinage, without
seeking subjects of denunciation abroad
The Apostles were accustomed to preach
against the prevailing wickedness of the
people before them, and when some monster
error, like Idolatry, stalked the earth, they
did not stand and curse it at a safe distance,
but went in pursuit of it, bearded the lion In
his den, and welcomed the dungeon, the stake
and, the cross, sealing their sincerity with
their blood Whenever the preachers of abo-
lition adopt this course, we shall have some
faithin their honesty, however little respect
we may have for their sense
But their whole conduct, their fierce, un-
forgiving, turbulent, war breathing, coward
ly spirit, proves that they are false apostles,
messengers of darkness, and are therefore en-
titled to none of the moral weight and influ-
ence which justly belongs to the true ambas-
sailors of Heaven. Their opinions of morals
or religion are entitled to no more respect
than those Of Isaiah Rynders or Yankee Sui
livan. To call such men as Parker and Bee
cher, Reverend is simply ridiculous. We
should as soon think of talking about the
Rev. Mr.. Robispiere, the Rev. Mr.. Danton,
the Rev. Mr.. Lucifer, or the Rev. Judas Is
CARROT, as of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
and the Rev. Theodore Parker.
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