Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-01-22
TIe PuIDit Prostituted

in which pulpits were converted into po-
litical platforms, and prayer meetings
made party conYenticles. 1t is certain
ly a step in depravity of the public taste
and morals that u country has not
seen before. The act of the three thou
sand blasphemously protesting j n the
name of Almighty God against the ac-
ton of the Senate, has been followed by
a general CRUSADE of the clergy against
the democratic party We shall not
question the right of any clergyman to
act as he sees fit in politics; we only
claim the right to treat him and his con-
duct as we see fit; and the rest of man
kind will claim the same right with re-
spect to him that we do. Whilst the
office of the clergy is sacred, it confers
no sacredness upon the man; it gives
him neither piety nor wisdom. If he
he a fool with the office he will be a fool
without it; and if a rogue without it, he
viii be still worse with it. He can't
disgrace his calling with a right-minded
man, but he'may disgrace himself and
incur the contempt, instead of securing
the respect, of mankind. Upon the adj
vent of know nothingism, the weak
minded and ambitious of the Protestant
clergy were tempted into the lodges
There they swore to prescribe all Cath
olics and foreigners; end a pretty spec
tacle they presented before God and
man The Pharisee thanked God that
he was not as other men, and the know
nothing oath is a complete counterpart
of the Pharisee's prayer. The Phari-
sacial clergymen rolls up his eyes in the
lodge, and thanks God that he is not as
other men-is not as the poor Irishman
or that poor Catholic. His chosen Mas
ter, that he pretends to preach, spent
his life in a protest against the mean,
self-religious instincts of his people
He told them of the prodigal son, (the
Gentle.) He told them of the good Sa-
marian, whose race the Jews hated.
told them that many should come
from the East and from the West, &c.
He constantly rebuked the self right
eousuess of Israel; and finally commits
stoned his followers to go into all the
world and preach the Gospel to every
creature. He was himself a foreigner
to our people and country and we APP
prehend that the home to which He is
gone will remain a foreign country to
know nothing preachers generally. On
ly think of men pretending to follow
Christ and to teach others his humble,
s~elf-denying doctrines, taking an oath
in the midst of selfish politicians against
foreigners and Catholics! See the mis-
cradle Pharisee, protesting that by the
grace of God he is what he is, and at the
same time trusting in himself that he is
righteous, and despising others; learn
ing signs and grips and passwords to
over-reach other men, and to teach them
a better way! How must the unsus-
pecting man look at the preacher who,
on Sunday, exhorts to truthfulness and
sincerity with all men, when he finds
him at the polls with his signs, winks
and blinks, not to teach other men, but
to orerreach them?
Beautiful exemplifcation of the char
acter and doctrines of Christ the preten-
ded followers of his give the rest Of man
kindt No wonder the honest man
looks with disgust and contempt at such
a spectacle.
But there is another class of clergy
who have been greatly excited of late
with the condition of the African race
and the destiny of Kansas. Most of
them began with the Pharasaical devel-
opment in the know nothing lodges; but
in addition to that sin, they put this
world before the next; m~istrusting, pro-
badly, whether the next is to be Deepen
ded upon. Christ and his Apostles did
not consider the condition of men in
this world of any Importance. They did
not make it their business. They tho't
that the great object of life was to be
ready for eternity; that time was too
short a period of existence to be worth
very different ideas. 1t is their mission
to protest against political action, and
send Sharpe's rifles to Kansas to kill
and slay in the name of the Lord, and
curse the master to free the negro. 1t
does not occur to them that the road to
Heaven is just as straight through sla-
very as through freedom; and, as far as
their mission is concerned, it makes no
difference whether a man be a slave or
free, poor or rich. They seem to think
Free Kansas is Heaven, and that they
are especially entrusted with it, and at
the same time they won't let the negro
go if he be free. Temporal affairs must
be attended to; but it does really seem
to US that men who pretend to think so
much of Heaven on Sunday, and so lit
tie of earth, cut a most ridiculous and
inconsistent figure when they become so
exercised about the Pope, foreigners and
African slaves. They have been prea-
ching about Africa, praying over Afri-
ca, and sending missionaries to Area,
but the rude black man still worships
his idols in his native jungels. If they
believe, as they pretend, that a knowl-
edge of Christianity is necessary to eter-
nal salvation, then slavery has been the
occasion of saving more of the negro
race than all the missionaries that will
ever be SEM to Africa till the sound of
the last trumpet.
But the worst features of the story are
still untold. These pretended saints
appeal to the lowest level of political
tricksters. Self-righteousness, stained
with the darkest malignity, is belched
forth in vulgar rufian phraseology fit
for the coffee house or the gutter; and
when it does not reach SO low a depth,
its. insolence marks the Pharisee, and
shows the low instincts of the reverend