Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1860-11-30
The "Crisis ;, and the puypit.


The secession excitement has got into
the pulpit at the South as well as at the
North We see by the Clayton Gala J
Banner that on Sunday the 18th instant,
the Rev. Alexander McLennon, of the
Methodist persuasion, preached in the
Methodist church ofthat town, with i" the
tri-color rosettc conspicuous on his vest. +"
On Sunday the 18th instant, the Rev.
Mr.. Lafar, Of The Laurel Street Chapel,
III Charleston, preached sermon, in the
course of which he thus referred to the
impending crisis
when youth in your college, dear
classmato and myself spoke in reference
to that little speck rising above the ho-
rizon of our country's history. 1t was
thep no larger than a mans hand. We
dared then augur that that incipient re-
pugnancc to our favored institution,
which began to manifest itself in the
northern sections of the United States.
was to be the harbingcr of much trouble,
and that it would grow and strengthen
until it arrived at the formation of a thick,
dark cloud, that, spreading itself over the
whole country, would emit nought else
than pestllence and destruction. The
future has revealed to US the sad verif-
cation of our prophecy. Year after
year has rolled away since that time !;
each, in its turn, severing some fresh tie
that bound the confedcracy of the States
together, until now we appear no longer
as one people in Christ, but as those who
have different God TO serve, and dif-
ferent Saviour to glorify. Large denom-
inations Of Christians have already sew
cred the ties that bound them together
the North to the South, and the South to
the North; tie most bitter feelings have
been engendored aud cherished in tie
contest; brother has been arraycd against
brother; father against son, and son
against father peace and security have
been banished from the household hearth
until we have arrived at that point when
conservatism ceases to be virtue, and
when our people, in defense Of their mo-
raj, civil and religious responsibilities,
have TO say, as Abraham did to Lot,
Brethren, we must part
:" IL is my settled conviction that the
course this State is at present pursuing,
is the Christian one; the one that God
approves Of. Your pastor has cherished
this belief for the last nine years Whom
the ministry were called On in 1851 to
express their sentiments on this subject,
| gave it as my sincere belief, through
one Of the pulpits Of this city, that our
people had either to dissolve the present
compact, or be willing to sacrifice their
dearest rights-thosc rights which God
only has placed in our possession. So
the problem seems TO have finally solved
itself; aud on the ruins Of another gov
ornmenment may be poised, for the sUlu.
ton Of the world in future, the grave,
long-mootcd question, whether nations,
like individuals, have not ID themselves
the seeds Of their own dissolution God
alone can answer this great query. In
the archives Of Ills wisdom may be writ
ten a negative rcsponsc, and unborn &C.
nerations, os they drift along the shore
Of time, will either be enabled practically
10 recognize it, or sink in turn to folly.
=" For my own part, ] will only say, in
conclusion, my every sympathy IL with
the soil on which stand. have never
known any other mother than this; and
cling to her with the devotion Of o
child. My dear dead ones sleep in her
dust my children have been nurscd on
her bosom and here ] hope to roposo
this head when my cares are over If
Carolina falls, fall with her. If she
prospers, il will be the richest privilege
Of my life to ascribe 10 God the glory"