Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1854-10-04
The RI Religious Press and the iKnow-
Nothings.


ing their positions" in relation the new
political element, styled Know-Noth-
ingism." We have ready stated that the
fChurchman," published in New York,
had declared its opposition to all such
nication in the New York " Christian In
quirer,' styled /" letter to the Know
= Nothings," taking similar ground, from
vhich we make the following brief ex.
tracts
Ths,idea of ignoring mans individ-
uality, and7ef giving him badge in So
cisty according to the accident of his
birth, was one of the main results. as it
one of the chief props. Of arrogance in
man, and Of despotism in governments.
ga man is born Christian, and he
has all the characteristics of the Jew. A
man is born Jew, and he has all the
impulses Of the Christian. A man is born
Roman Catholic, who detests Pope and
Jesuitism. A man is born Protestant.
and his sensuous nature leads him to the
most sensuous religion. A man is born
in Europe with all the instincts of a re-
publican. A man is born in America
with prOclivities to exclusiveness and aris-
tocracies.
"Don't you see your short sightedness?
You cannot judge men by what they
profess to be-, or by what, from the infer
!ences of their birth, you suppose them to
be. You must judge them by what they
are. If you wage war against all who
are corrupt, whether born here or abroad,
whether Catholic or Protestant, you will
succeed, because there is justice and
common sense in your war. From the
4 r. Al.
hensive platform and single out one or 9TH
or accidents Of birth, as your special enemy,
you will not only fail in your endeavor
to reform, but you will destroy the repub-
lie which you wish to save, by destroying
the principles of religious liberty and po-
litical equality upon which it is founded"
"You argue the adopted citizens is too
marrow minded to comprehend our insti-
buttons. By crowding him out from your
political society, you rob him Of the only
chance which he has eleyating his mind.
you argue, fun Their. they cannot bear
allegiance to two powers-to the Pope Of
Rome and the Constitution of the United
States. The animal principle of Gavazzi
has materialized your Understandings
Your senses are fascinated by the guesti-
culations of the italian, and your reason
does not pay homage to the genius of the
American. Your reason does not pay
homage to the innumerable agencies Of
enlightenment which the pulpit, the
school-house, the press. the forum, tho
whole atmosphere of the American life,
provided for defeating the most tortuous
Vaccinations of the Jesuit, as we'll as the
most God-defying ravages of the In6del.
Like all that is divine, those influences are
silent, and you do see how they work
But, like ali that is ungodly, resentment
and intolerance are boisterous and noisy,
and thus have for champions all those
whose minds eyes are shut, who are
blind, and who do not hear unless they
hear a noise.
"The talk about the oath of allegiance
to the Pope is sheer nonsense. If the old
man himself had tho slightest notion of
the validity of that oath, the first thing
he would have done when he fed in 1849
would have been to call to his assistance
all his subjects, or. if they had cared a
straw about him, they would have rushed
en- D,dSSe to Rome to his rescue. You H.
bel your American intellectually by re-
peating the trash of Italian Quack-el
quence."
".Of course, popular passion is blind al
ways. Mobs follow those who are most
successful, Crowds Of needy politicians
who now declaim against you will soon
crouch at your feet. But there is God
in Heaven and as sure as He in His
goodness, never deviates from His divine
principles, and sends every day his sun
to illuminate this wicked world, lest dark
ness might make wickedness moro wick
ed, just as sure will those who have Christ
in their heart and Washington in their
mind never deviate from their divinely
inspired principles; and long thence,
when you and your effort are forgotten,
history will speak with emotion of the ma
tional men who, BY waging war against
all corrupting influences, and by shunn,
ing invidious distinction created by acci
dents of birth, brought the country back
to the practical Christianity of our Sa,
viour, and to the digni6ed and modest
virtues of the republican Washington"