The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-08-27

pal Shurch Will stoop TO minister Co the
ambition of mere political party, as
such. Yet, by misdirected zeal, she
may assume a position which will so
identify her with a particular party, that
the world may not be able to discern the
difference or discriminate between her
and that party. And, while there are
souls to save in7eTeiy party, 1 humbly
t@9st and devoutly pray God she may
iqe1er commit that suicidal act. And l
ktjpe, through the blessing of God, she
may sit and rise from her present ses-
sion, and, in spite of political influences
and unguarded zeal, leave that Metho-
dist law book untouched and unchanged
upon the subject of slavery.
! l cannot better conclude this letter
than by a quotation from one which
| lately wrote for the Pittsburg Christian
! Advocate
There is much in the political papers
of the country calculated, if not intend
4 ed, to fan fame of intestine warfare,
which can result in no possible good to
any one; and it does seem to me that
whoever writes upon the subject of sla-
very, new agitating the church and the
| country, should temper their eommuni-
cations with the spirit of pure Christian
Charity. The church is the salt of the
earth, and. in her great effort to effect
one great political chang, or reform,
even she should be careful that she does
not drive the whole country into an an
\ anarchy more terrible and more destruc-
Live of true piety and civil liberty than
the evils of which she now complains.
l. Mofho11oy, . he 1a1o of
the American nation. The uubroken
Iof Methodism which threw the life-blood
of Christianity to the furtheSt extremi-
ties of the whole American continent /;
land, as an unmutilatel system. she had
a strength, and capacity, and vigor which
when brought into active service, has
done more for the spread ct vital godli-
ness than any other power or influence
brought to bear upon society since the
days of the Apostles. The genius
of Methodism, standing upon the
heights of the Alleghenies, could
look down over the low lands upon the
blue bosom of the ocean, aud, with the
fires of joy sparkling in her eyes, cry
out, These are my children Throw
lug O0G uSf lCtb manu- W IAO
herman of Maine, and stretching forth
her right arm to Georgia, she could tru-
lly exclaim, These are all brethren,
bound by the ties of Christianity and
love;' then, wheeling and casting her
eye to the setting sun, she could lift her
fvoice in ecstacies of Christian triumph
and say, 'Shall not thy kingdom, o
Father in Heaven, extend FROM the
ocean to the mountains, and from the
mountains to the rivers, and from the
rivers to the ends of the earth, and shall
not all these be thy children? But the
eagle wings of Methodism have been
broken. The Methodist Episcopal
Church South has conformed her church
policy to the institutions of the south
ern States, as the most efficient means
of diffusing the leayeu of Christianity
among her people, and the most success
full mode of teaching religious knowl-
edge to the slaves. The Methodist
Episcopal church still remains, covering
conservative ground, but before anoth-
er year l fear she too will be severed
again. The conclusion seems almost
foregone, the result seems almost ire
sistible. The conservative elements Of
the church will not submit to a change
of discipline, and the reformers, having
the power, are determined to make it.
But another element Of strength which
bound the States together was the great
national parties which covered the whole
country; which made the eloquence of
Clay, the logic of Webster, the arms of
Jackson, of Tennessee, and Harrison, of
Ohio, the common property of COM
mon property of q common county
Their differences were upon questions
of mere policy. The most fearful threat
ening which now hangs over the country
is that the phase of parties is not so
much political as it is sectional. And
men msed to speak of their party as en-
braciDg the politics of the whole nation;
where New Hampshire and Maine stood
side by side with Virginia and South
Carolina, and Massachusetts, and Yer
mont were found voting with North Car
olina and Kentucky. But mere party
men ,,oao speak of the great NORTH and
the great SOUTH, as though our language,
our religion, our hopes, our destiny
were not one, guided by the Almighty
God to prosper or to perish together.
Nothing now remains to hold the
Union together, SO far as mere section
al party men are concerned, but the
trade and commerce aud mnnied inter-
ests of the country. These divisions,
now threatened, are uncalled for and un-
natural, and against the clearest indica-
tions of the geography of the country.
One grand chain of mountains runs
from the north to the south. The great
rivers of the Union, the Mississippi and
Missouri, have their sources in the
northern extremity of the Union, and
sweep their waters for hundreds of miles
into the southern gulf; and, what is a
most rem markable fact, whilst the north
and the south are both of them now in
the decline of political power, each,
in their turn speak of the dissolu-
tion of the Union. There are no
disunion men iu the great, growing,
aud powerful vest, notwithstanding
these great natural divisions between
them. Nor will there ever be, though
the north and the south should divide.
There will be an undivided great west
ern republic. Our people will be united
forever.
| When the wild scream of the steamer
shall die away in the romantic bluffs of
the Mississippi, and the gathered waters
of the western empire shall murmur
their music in solemn grandeur as they
sweep down their passage to the ocean,
and the slow travel of the steamboat
shall give way to the lightning car, then