St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-08-04
SOlferinO Sanctifed.

1t may be all right, but to the re-
fecting mind there is something re-
voting and inconsistent in chanting
re Dtums and offering up prayers OF
thanksgiving to the Father of Mercies,
as "thc Church" is now doing in Pa
ris. for victories achieved at an appal-
ling cost of human life, by the armies
of one protesting Christian nation ov-
er the armies of another. The events
which call forth these songs of praise
in the Cathedral of Fotrc dame are
replete with horror and blood, and sa-
vor more Of the internal regions than
of the Paradise of God.
The immolation of tens of thou
sands of men, created in the image OF
their maker-thc Enchanting of the
fiercest passions which can animate
the human hcart-thc unfathomable
misery, tho wide spread desolation,
and general Generalization which arc
the sure fruits of such a war as has
been raging in Europe, are surely not
things to thank God for,-tnt as 1t is
a fashion Of the world, and especially
a fashion of Paris, to think otherwise,
perhaps it is only ones's Puritan pref
udices which prevent his realizing that
the TIE Dcum in Notre Dame is watt
ed to Heaven by angels of peace as a
meet Offering to the Prince OF Peace.
We read, indeed, in the good book that
Moses and the children of Israel sung
unto the Lord, for having triumphed
gIoriously, and thrown the horse and
his rider into the sea-" But as one
cannot understand that France or its
emperor was oppressed or threatened
by the modern Egyptians, nor that
they were compelled to make bricks
without straw by the Pharaoh of Vi
emma, the TIE Deum in Paris for the
horrible carnage at Solferino, we fear
has none of the incense about it upon
which the song of Moses was borne
up to Heaven. The latter was prayer
full thanksgiving for dcliverance, anc
for a great mercy the former but
vainglorious and presumptuous if mo-
profane mockery of the Most High
The Parisians' chant was not an &C
acknowledgement of mighty deliver
ance," but a Qualification for having
sent to their final reckoning twice oil
thrice the number Of souls that thu
enemy was able to send from the ALI
ed ranks.
All, but did not the righteous Heze
kiah pray for deliverance from Sena
cherib? And did it not comc to pass
that, in answer to that prayer, tn
angel of the Lord went out and smot'
in the camp of the Assyrians an hun
red fourscore and five thousand ah'
when they arose early in the morning
behold they were all dead corpses
Oh, yes, but there was no sennacherl
at the gates Of Paris, no Assyria'
threatening the Boulevards, and tn
great organ and the thousand voice
in Notre Dame hence only utter, -" w
praise thee oh God, we acknowledg
thee to be the Lord" for the gratifica
ton of mere human ambition an
human pride.
If there were any real Christian
left in France, sackcloth and ashes
not songs of praise-fasting, humlll;
ton and prayer, not TIE Deums-a
least, so far as the Church and mini
tcrs of religion are concerned-woul
surely be more in accordance with I'll
proprieties of their profession, if III
the suggestions of decency and GOO
taste. Such battle-felds as Montebe
10, Magenta and Solferino are spect
cles to be mourned over by the mini
ters of God, the followers of Il
Prince of Peace, - but, alas Il
Church nowadays is come to be
much a part of the kingdom Of til
world, that it about as freely follow
this worlds as the world itself does.