The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1861-01-30
A Voice from the Pulpit-Ex-


The Rev. Mr.. Gaylord, of Brooklyn,
New York, lately preached "a sermon in
that city upon civil war, from which we
make the following extract:
From the day that American citizens
meet as hostile armies to decide by trial
of battle any question of political or
social nature, peace and tranquility, pub.
lie and private, have fed our borders for
ever. From the field, where the soldier
has done his murderous work, the deadly
spirit which animated that work will be
carried into oil the ways of civil life to
rankle there sn incurable poison evermore.
Let but one battle in war of this char
aeter be fought, and the die is cast-then
life in any part of this once happy land
would be O burden and curse TO all save
brigands, assassins, Garrisouians and
Southern fire. caters. The turbulent clas-
ses in the upper and lower strata Of so.
ciety might still live and riot here-them
to whom the devil has impaired his own
indomitable ambition. and imbued with
his conviction that to rule in hell is better
than to serve in heaven, would find this
distracted county more than profitable;
but honest men-mcn who lows peace
who love their freedom,-who know that
order is the first law of heaven, and that
society without law and orGer, and with
out :he respect due to enlightenment and
conservative public opinion, is worse than
the savage state wonld flee its shores
and take refuge in any, even the worst
desrotism of the old world. For consid-
er what must follow on the heels of these
dogs of civil war. The worst has not
been seen when the fields of the laborer
are ,rampled by the hoofs of the warhorse,
and bis cottage given to the flames, amid
which the bodies of his violated wife.
daughter or mother are consumed. The
worst has not been seen when the infuriated
soldier of one section shall meet his
tq1ally infuriated brother from different
section, aud, though ihey twinned ut n birth
to grapple 10 the Gsrce tug of war, and
yield net until one or both is with the
dead No, nor will the worst be seen
when, as necessary result of proiracted
civil strife, all the arts of peace decay;
when there is no sound of hamner in the
shop or wheel in the mill, when the fence
less fields are barren, when warehouses are
empty, and unladeued ships are rotting at
the wharves; when ruins incumber the
streets of once prosperous cities, and
when gaunt multituCes of famine. stricken
wretches wat.der up and down the lard,
clamoriug for bread and threatening
bloody work if they get it not. Worse,
worse, o .hoIsaad TINES worse than all
this. ale the moral tf, CTS lef. in nation S
mind and heart as the thrice accursed
legacics of civil wa; the social family
feuds that become hereditary. like disease;
hatreds that burn in The blood from geEs
Grafton to generation.
And depend upon it. our civil-strifes
viii furnish the chronicles of af er times
with materials as heroic and infinitely
more appalling, than anything found in
the experience Of the famed Houses of
York aud Lancaster When this great
contest shall have been decided, so far as
steel and shot can decide it, then will be-
gin the battle that must be handed down
cherished bequest from sire to son.
Then the scene OF strife will change. 1t
will be no longer the tented feld-no
longer the sayannas of the South-the
green hills of New England or the broad
prairies of the West-but that battle to
be fought with pen, and speech. and look,
Implements all of keener edge than any
tsword. blade, will be waged everywhere.
In the drawing room, in the counting.
house, Or the street, in crowded halls OF
debate, in the theater and on change, ia
car and boat, on land and sea, and, ''worse
than worst" around the private board,
and at the sacred hearth Of home.
And remember, pray you, that when
this civil war time comes, the strife will
not be between united North AID uni
ted South; fearful as such a war would
be, we might come out from it and have
some hope in the future But the mar is
fool who thinks it possible, in the event
of actual hostilities resulting IN bloodshed,
to unite the people Of either section in
hearty opposition to the other; that can
not be done, for the North will have its
allies in the South, and the South will
have its allies in the North You have
heard it already proclaimed abroad that
when the day to fight comes, the fields o!
battle will not be on the other side oil
Mason and Dixon's line, although there
will be fighting enough there too, but the
fercest, the most relentless, the most satan.
ical and brutal battles will be fought near,
er our homes; here in the streets of New
York and Brooklyn, there in Boston, and
at the base of the granite column on
Bunker Hill. In every hamlet and village
throughout the North must this demon o.
discord leave his bloody trail
Let me tell you what you may expec,
then. You will see on some holy Sabbath
evening an iufuriated mob su.ging ~
against the doors of some crowded church,
there will be in that mob not only the
dregs of the lawless classes, but well
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