Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-02-17
In religion,

As who should say, Sir Oracle.
And when OPe my lips, let no dog bark
In religion,
What d-d error but some sober brow
Will bless IL, and approve it with text
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament!
We notice an attempt oa the part Of seve-
raj of the Fusion papers to create the i'm
preston that the Democratic members OF the
Legislature are disposed to reflect in their
conduct upon the sacred character of minis
tiers of the Gospel. This viii not do; the pit
is not we'll enough covered to catch any body
endowed with ordinary perception. The De-
mocracy wage no war with holy men whose
business is to preach Christianity, but they do
wage war with men who steal the livery Of
Heaven to serve the devil in, and particularly
with such political hacks as seek to hide their
vices behind pretended love of the clergy.
We yield to none in our respect for such
ministers as preach Christ and him cruc:ied,
but we will not be surpassed by any in our
detestation ofthose, who, planting themselves
behind the battlemeuts of ecclesiastical dog
mas, assume to teach us that a part of our
duty consists in branding with infamy the
memory of our noblest patriots, in instituting
religious test for office, and in declaring it
a crime to be seen on the public street with
out a long face on the Sabbath.
1t is very convenient to denominate men
"in6dels," who have the boldness to advo-
cate religious federation; it is very convenient
to arouse, if possible, the prejudices of secta-
rian bigots against Democracy. This is one
of the DEVILS own tricks, and was worn
threadbare ages ago. Thank God the Demo-
cratic patty has statesmen that know their
rights, and how to defesd then--statesmen who
have read the lessons Of history, aud know
where to turn for arguments against intoler-
ance and bigotry-statesmen who will not be
driven from their high and noble ground by
the mad-dog cry Of "infielity." Are there
men in our own day particularly born and
reared to hold rod above our heads, and teach
us how to speak, and when to move? Lave
we forfeited the individuality wnich we in
herited from the Maker? Were our fathers
freemen, and are we, their descendants, 10 be
only slaves ?
Who gave to the minister the power to
preach the sacred mysteries of Revelation?
The same hand that gave eyes, and ears, and
arms and feet to each member of his con-
gregation. Has the minister power to pro-
nounce the sentence Of damnation against his
nearer, and has the nearer no right even to
proUe his innocence Verify, we have sadly
refrigerated from the simple virtues OF our re-
publican ancestors We were once Stree and
independently men; now, We are to be the
serfs, not only of the civil, but of the eccle-
siastical powerl
The records of religious persecution are
fearful beyond description. Pagans were the
first transgressors, it is true, after the Chris
tian era: myriads of martyrs persisted under
the bloody administrations of the heather
emperors of Rome-Nero, Traian, Dioclesian,
Severus, and others-who disgraced hu-
mainly during the first four ages of the
Church; but as time rolled away, heather
crimes-enormous and revolving as they were
sunk into insgni6cance by the side of Chris
tian prosecutions instituted against each other.
Catholics prosecuted Protestants and Profess
tanis prosecuted the Catholics: Henry VIII.
and his bloody progeny refined upon ancient
cruelty, and incarnated the descriptions of the
monsters of the Apocalypse. The Dissenters
were hunted like dog; the Puritaus sought
refuge from British ecclesiastical malignity in
the wilds of America: but the little band of
the May Flower were no sooner installed
upon the rock Of Plymouth, than they began
to hang and burn the Quakers and Baptists.
Under the reign of Britain, we were cursed
until after the middle of the eighteenth GEN.
fury by occasional freaks of ecclesiastical fury.
The war of the Revolution set upon polit-
cal relgonsm the stamp Of unconditional
reprobation. That stamp remained untouched
until Know Nothingism, under the direction
of Ned Buntline, declared it a crime to pro-
fess the religion of Louis XIV and Michael
Angelo. Yesi it was left to the cold looded
assassin--the unhung william who figured in
the Astor Place riots, to reanimate on the
virgin soil Of America-hallowed by revolu-
tionary blood-in the Christian epoch of
1854. the ghost of religious persecution,
which had slept even in European grave of
hundred years
For daring to find fault with ministers who
oountenance these monstrous heresies-for
standing up as independent men, deserving to
live, and fashioned in the image of God-for
protesting against a union Of Church and
State-fur insisting that the pulpit is bad
theater for a discussion of the merits of the
Nebraska law--for maintaining that no man,
whether he wear white or black cravat has
the right to speak in the name of an invisi-
bic and unapproachable power against the
great principles and me lsures of the Demo
cratic party;-for these, and kindred offenses,
we are to be denounced as "infdelsh' o re-
lgien! what crimes have not been perpetra-
ted in thy name!
Temperance Bill.
This bill came 10 the hands of the Governor