Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1861-06-07

long as CHRISTIANS at Lne ooulh acknOWl
edged that they owed debt to God ant
, humanity in freeing their slaves, though
) they did not discharge it, yet, as they re
, newed the obligation from time to time
by reafIirming the old standards, we coult
, not be hard with them. But now tha
they have repudiated not only their pub
: lie and private debts, but every moral OBJ
legation, it is for God to levy an execution
on them. We cannot forget that seces
sion in the church preceded secession il
} the state. They broke all the Lords
bands, and cast His cords from them
They erected an altar, not like the memo
rial altar of which the tribes on the Other
side Jordan could say, "The Lord God
He knoweth, and Israel he shall know
if it be in rebellion or if in transgression
shat we have built US an altar" Like
priests, like people; and it would seem
as if only judgment was in store for them
They have put evil for good and good fol
evil. As the light that is in them is dark
ness, how great is that darkness The
salt has lost its SAVIOR and wherewith shall
/ it BE salted? 1t is henceforth good for moth.
ing but to be cast out and trodden under
/ foot of men. 1t would seem when We
hear learned divines baptising foul rebell-
ion by Christian names, and consecratng
with preaching and prayer an unholy
cause as if they were given up to believe
their own lie. This is the sadest and
darkest symptom. 1t was mournful when
the lying spirit was in the mouth of the
prophets of false religion 10 lead the
people up to battle to perish, it is more
mournful when it is in the mouth of the
ministers of the true.
When nations are to perish in their sins,
'Tis in the church the !eprosy begins"
If there are many antichrists, this, the
great heresy of our age, with its intoler-
ance, its inquisiton, and selling the bod
les and souls of men, is undoubtedly one
OF them.
Yet this new light they hail as the
dawnng of the millennium, when the lion
shall eat straw as the OK and they can
ensiave the working classes of the white
as well as-the black races, / am proud
to be a working man and to belong to the
work ing class. God has given me a
head, and heart, and hands. / am de-
scended from the mud-silIs OF society, for
my ancestors earned their bread by their
sweat and served their country with their
blood, And yet boast patent of no
bility older than that of those who came
in with the Conquerer. 1t was given to
man, making him lord over this lower
world so that be could yoke the winds
and send the lightning on his messages.
Labor is thus redeemed from the curse of
Adam and the drudgery of Moses, and
the laborer is made a co-worker with |
God to create, to command and bless
And if | have any authority over my !
fellow men, it is by addressing and deyel-
oping all that is noblest in their nature.
1t is not by sinking them to the level of
beasts and chattels, but raising them to
the dignity of men and Christians,
am one of those they would enslave, for
the question is not of freeing the blacks
but of enslaving the whites. For the
present they seek only to shackle our
souls. They would poison our free at
The vial is to be poured into
the air. They would merely gag the
pulpit, fetter the press, and take from US
the spirit of freedom. | would rather
fight amid the sitting heat of Sumter
than live at large under such a sense of
bondage. When duty calls | may show
that can shoulder musket. We peace
men and old men have some Of the fire
of former days in US yet And all of US
know how TO labor and know
how to die; but we know not, nor can
they teach us, how to be slaves. Do
they imagine that those whose free and
generous natures scorned the scepter of
kings would bow before the lash Of slave
drivers =?
As it was not for us to begin this war
with slavery, it will not be for to them
end it. Man knows the beginning Of
strife, but God only knows the end there
1f. But this much we may know, for all
history teaches it, that war when pro-
.racted passes beyond the designs, and
out of the power Of those first directing
t, and often assumes a new and unex- [
1ected nature. There need be no new :
of our army, but there may be (
If the object for which we contend. Let |
he south see to it, for it is not unlikely {
o become a war of emancipation.
Napoleon said in his time that the next {