The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-08-17
The Sai cay OF the Gath Of AIie-

The sai c.Iiy OF the Gath OF AIie.
glance.
The Rev, DR. WdHnMs, Of The Baptist
church 10 New York, has preached a ser.
mon Of great power on the present crisis
Of our national affairs and its results. We
make the following extracts:
The sanciity Of an oath is another
great truth now receiving significant H.
Illustrations. The Old World has had
polenta,es who, pledged by solemn and
repeated oaihs 20 freer institutions have
trampled peremptoriIy on the bond given
10 liberty, when the toys Of despotism
tempted them and they have suatched
at absolute power through sheer perjury.
at the bar Of man they found, aud il
may be that they feared 20 punishment
allliyfe be higher than tbey"-J" 'The
Higher than the highest reRasdeih." In
our own land this recklessness has been
shown respecting the oath of allegiance
TO the nation. Mcn-who sneered al the
North, as teaching a higher law 10 God,
which should be paramount TO all terrene
siatutes--have been among themselves
the first to hold the supreme law Of the
land, and their own oaths Of fcalty and
loyalty 10 that land, abrogated By the
lower law of State claims and State in
tcrest II could not be sin il The man Of
the North, IL God and his country
ever dashed, TO say that, we'll as be
loved his country, be loved his God
yet mOCe But what plea shall shield
the sin which claims to love ones own
petty State better than either country or
| God? They have virtually tunnelled and
honey combed into ruin the fundamental
obligations Of the citizen Jesuitsm has
! made itself a name Of Teproach by the
doctrine Of mental reservation, under
| which the Jesuit held himself absolved
from oaths of true witness bearing, which
he had at any time taken to the nation
and God, if the truth TO be told harmed
the interests Of his own order, whose in
terests he must shield by silent mental
reservation. The lesser class, the eccle-
siastical clique, thus was held paramount
TO the entire nation; and oaths OF fidelity
to the religious order, mere handful Of
| Gods creatures, rode over the rights of
the God whose name had been invoked to
witness truth-telling, and over the rights
Of Gods whole race Of mankind, to have
the truth told in their courts, by those
who had solemnly proclaimed and DELHI
erately sworn that they would tell, and
were telling it. The State loyalty, as be-
ing mental eservatiOn--evermore TO
abrogate the oath Of national loyalty
what is it but modern reproduction of
the old Jesuit portent? But perjury,
however palliated and whether in Old
World despots or in New World anar-
chists, involves, in the dread language
of Scripture, the being "clothed with
cursing as with garment" That terri
bic phrase Of inspiration describes, we
suppose, not merely profuse profanity,
but the earthly deception which attracts
the heavenly made dction; the reply
of Knocked God TO a defiant trans
gressor; vengeance invoked, and the in
vocation answered $50 HELP NE GoDr
is phrase so often heard in jury boxes,
in custom houses, beside the ballot box,
and in the assumption of each civil Office
that we do not at all times guage its dread
dept of meaning. It is not a mere PRAYER
of help TO tell the truth; but like the
kindred Hebrew words, " So do God tC
me, and more alsop il is an invocation
of his vengeance, and an abjuration o.
all his further favor if we palter witt
the truth. 1t means" Ii l speak moi
truly, and mean hot sincerely, so do
forswear and renounce, henceforth, al
help from God | hope not his help.iI
the cares of lire-I hope not his help fol-
the pardon Of sim ask not his grace
not hope from his smile in death-no
help at his hand into his eternal, holy
heavens. All the aid man needs {,
ask-all the aid " hich God has to th,
e asking heretofore lent distinctly sur
render, if he, truth seeing, sees me nov
truth wrestling" Now the risk of triain.
with such a thunderbolt is not small
The many noble, excellent, and Christian
men who have been heedlessly involved
in this rebellion in spite Of past oaths &,
the station, il is not our task TO Judge
But the act itself of disregarding sucl
sworn loyalty TO their whole country
the act in its general principles
apart from all personal partakers il
tive may and we must ponder. Now
in this respect, il these views of our ma
tiOnal oaths be just, our present rebellion
has been not merely reasonable, but ii.
cradle-wrappings its very swaddling
bands, have been manifold layers of per
jury-its infancy has been clad will
cursing as with a garment. The oatl
will come out OF this era a more angus
solemniiy, and better understood than i
went in.