The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1860-12-26

oeing diVided. is the Church OF uod DIVIDED
Let US look at the Methodist Church, tha
mighty combination of mind and heart, which
has made itself felt and known from the Allan
tic to the Western borders, end from the colo
frost Of a winter, which congeals even the wa
tets OF the sea, to the distant Southern region!
of sunny beauty-and IS not the Methodist
church divided?
Take the New School Presbyterian Church
a noble body Of intellect and heart and is il
not divided North and South?
Take the Baptist Church, that grand auxila-
ry in the empire Of morals and religion, and is
net it divided?
What divided the Methodist Church, and
what the New School Presbyterian, filled up
as it is, with men Of gigantic minds and far
reaching benevolence; and what the Baptists.
that indeatgable body of Christian spirits;
why are they divided and stand aloof even to
denying the elements Of the body Of Jesus,
the one to the other. The ground we take is,
If you can sever the bonds of fellowship, Of
Christian brotherhood, OF holy communion, and
if you can so sectionalize the Church that you
can leave those great bodies dvided-if you
have great bands of Christianity and patriotism,
bound, welded together, and all are broken
asunder why should not merely political social
bonds be broken asunder?
II, after all, the influence Of the spirit of God
which can change and eniighten the savage; If
after the action of this religion, and after man
has felt Its modifying influence, we find things
as they are, what is there to prevent the sever
ing of the political bands which unite these
States? The cause which does the one will do
the other, and the cause which has done II IS
this day severing these States. The question
then is, what can be done to avert so great a
calamity7 And the cry is coming up in the
morning, and it ceaseth not at night, Watch
man. what of the night?'' It is addressed to the
men of God as they look forth from the turrets
of the citadel Of salvation, coming up from the
North, the East and the West, and from the
centre, and the answer is, "The morning com.
eth, and also the night. If ye will inquire, in
quire ye. Return; come"
have already said that the dissolution ofthis
Union would be calamity. 1t would be
great one, because the dissolution would not
only be calamitous to ourselves, but to the
world of man. Is there philsnthropic heart
on earth that is not beating and looking for our
Union a5idirg? Is there down. trodden man
on earth who looks not for the day when the
light Of the American republic sh III fall on his
benighted path? How then ia this calamity to
be prevented? answer,
First. By rigid and universal adherence
to the letter and spirit of the Constitution OF
the United States. Let the principles thereof
be carried out to the death, if necessary Not
only on the part oil the civil authorities, but
equally on the part of each citizen; for one cit
izen is as equally bound to obey the laws as
another, and let this fact be impressed on the
public mind. Who can deny this fact? Why
have we this compact, why this agreement, why
those fathers bowling. at the advice Of Benja-
min Franklin, before the divine presence for
guidance? Was 1t not that each man was to
obey the compactP The Constitution is to you
and to me- in political light, what the Bible
is in religious light, and you and have no
more right to infringe on the Constitution
and laws, than to array ourselves against the
principles Of this reigiyh.
Iremark, secondly, let all those States which
have in any way. or to any extent, passed laws
nullfyIng the Constitution. repeal them and at
once. They owe it to the nation and to God.
II one State may legislate against the General
Government, another may do so likewise, and
we are in the midst Of anarchy and btoodshed
speedily. The question arises, have the States
q right to legislate against the General Gov
ernment? From whence do they derive this
right? and If they have it not, and the repeal
Of those laws will tend to calm the political
heart and be the pouring out of oil from the
great horn OF brotherhood on the troubled
surface and roll back the waves that threaten
us, why will they not do It? If you wrong
your brother is it not characteristic of the very
soul of the Christian and patriot to come for.
ward, confess the error und shake hands IN
love?
Thirdly--Let oil the States unite in the spir.
it of fra'ernal love, that each State as well as
each citizen OF each State, may have the full
enjoyment of their Constitutional and legal
rights no more, no less. You expect, and
rightmlly expect, that the rights guaranteed
you by the Constitution and laws, shall be re.
spccted by the citizens of all the other States
OF this Union. What then you demand from
others, you are bound to render to others. II
by the Constitution and laws certain things are
declared to be property, are you not bound to
recognize it as such? For illustratration, let us
suppose you go to one of the Virginia springs,
taking with you carriage and horses. and a
law had been passed in that State which would
justify your horses and carriage in being seized
as soon as you entered their borders--things
which, by the Constitution and law, have been
declared to be property. Would you not feel
that your legal rights had been violated. What,
ever, therefore, may be said to the contrary, so
long as the right Of the Southern States, to
hold slaves and consider their time and service
as property, is recogmzed by the Constitution
and laws, just so long are the free States bound
to consider it such. II they are bound to the
rendition Of what we legally claim as property
are we not bound TO like rendition OF what they
with equal justice, claim as theirs? Now am
addressing my countrymen and fellow. free.
men. | go for equa, rights, and will stand by
my determination, though am hswn down by
inches; and maintain that ws are bound to
yield to the sister States what we demand OF
them. am not lawyer. but common sense
teaches me that that which is my property |
can claim rs such at any time or in any place
! II I am mistaken in this; the mistake is OF the
i head and not Of the heart. Hence. taking it