Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-04-26
1Earness and Unqualiied.n

The New York Methodist Episcopal Confer
ence have refused to admit O candidate to the
ministry, because. during bis probation, he pre-.
ferred the use Of the phrase "earnest loyalty"
to that Of unqualified loyalty" In certain res
olutions adopted by the members OF his church
Because OF this chronological bias, the confer
ence have decided that the candidate 10 not
loyal enough to preach the gospel. This 10
about the incest test of mans loyalty yet In :
vented. At this rate, Il will soon be an offense
for q ministeF--in the N. Y. M. u. Conference,
at lsast-to Insist upon the crossing OF neg
lected T, or the erasure Of an ink-blot, from
any resolutions which "Loyal League" In his
church may choose to pass. A pretty state OF
things It has come TO, surely, when man mutt
sacrifice his notions Of rhetoric and etymology
to the dictatlon of others, In order to buy bis
position In the pulpit. But this discarded can
didate might have taken lssue with the
New York Methodist Episcopal Conference,
IL he had been allowed, on the comparative
propriety and expresslveness of the two terms,
s'earnest, and unqualified" and beaten them
before any impartial jury Of dictionary makers
| in christendom. unqualified" is one of the
weakest words in the language. Az connected
with loyalty, Il expresses absolutely nothing
A man may be unquali6edly loyal, and sill 90
nothing but cit In his easy-chail oil day, or
st,nd up and talk to any stray audiences thas ne
may get together, which 10 equally proftless -
There may not be the least shadow Of qualid-
| catien In his loyalty-that is, he may approve,
unhesitatingly, everything that the government
does, aud yet he may never furnish soldier 10
the army, or o dollar TO the national treasurys
or give one penny to wounded SOLDIER
Earnest" loyalty Is quite another thing. 10
be "earnest," implies action, energy, going
ahead, doing something practical to help along
o cause. The man cannot be earnestly loyal
who sits at home twlrling his thumbs, and fully
asserting to all the Administration does, or
mounts q platform and beats the air with his
fists, and does nothing more. It seems to us
that ''eArnert" ia precisely tho best word that
could be chosen to precsde "loyalty."
| The N. Y. M. E, Conference are not the fret
body of men who have objected to "earnest
LOYALTY" Atthe meetings OF Loyal Leagues"
held here and elsewhere, an exceeding antipa.
thv is always shown to doing any thing in
"tayr sst." The men who preside, speak, and
look on at these meetings, do not enlist imme-
diately after the adjournment. They do not
raise any money to pay any body else Tor en-
listing. They take no meaiures to send back
the thousands Of deserters who are still hang
ing Ground the Northern States. Gen. Sckles,
in letter to the latest "Loyal League" meet
ling, begged of them to do something towards
returning those fugitives. But this would re-
quire "sarnesv' loyalty" and we do not lean
! that any thing more has been done With Gen.
Gen. Sickles's letter than to place 1t 90 file.
or the two varieties Of loyalty, We think that
the Government, as well az the army, would
agree with the rejected eandidst In preferring
the "earnest" kind.--JouTnal Of Commerce.