The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-04-25
A short sermon delivered in the city Of Peru,
april 1911, 1868.
Ry & IT n n
By G.. H.. D. ID.

every Sunday, the ministers of the gospel
were won't to take Che bible to the pulpit,
when they went there to preach. In those
good old times, our ministers used to
preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
But afew years ago, Abolition Aid Societies
we're started down in puritsnic Massachu.
sells and other New England states, at the
head Of which stood the reverend Henry
Ward Beecher. Well, this Eeecher an.
npunced to the less informed brotherhood
of priest craft, the startling fact, that the
revolver is a far better weapon for the
spread of the gospel than the bible. In
deed! said brother Beecher, one Colts re-
volver is worth a dozen bibles in fighting
the battles of the Lord Consequently,
since that time our pretended or SO called
4 preachers of the gospel have ceased to
take the bible into the pulpit, and have
substituted, the revolver; they have also
ceased to preach Christ and him crucified,
and in lieu thereofthey preach the 'nigger"
and him the equal of the white man.
/ Now my brethren, with these preliminary
remarks, we will proceed to name our
/. text You will find it in the Chicago
Evening Journal, OF the 9th inst. These
are the words. Peg away sir, peg away,
keep pfgging away The Journal gives the
4 Origin. of the text as follows: "a good
j story.is told of president Lincoln. Mr.
t1,incofh, do you really expect TO end this
war during your administration The
president, Gn reply Can say sir; can
say. The 4uerisL Well Mr. Lincoln,
| what do YOU mean to do2 President
Peg away sir, peg away keep pegging
a~ny- so you see, my brethren. our text
IS of very high authority: it is ia the
words of the President OF the Unit, &
! States; and | submit, its manliEess and
/ dieni.y are quite worthy Of that miserable
oldsloker. The teStaiso explicitly defines
/! the Presidents policy, III the past at the
4 present. and for the future. ] he policy is
! to peg away sir, peg away and keep peg
/ glng away and that too, without any
! suiaftIss, object, and with little regard 10
! the consequences. We'll, my brethren,
4, you know he bas kept wgeing away for
! two years. at our glorious old constitution,
! TIL 1t IS completely riddied with peg holes,
/ and Is rapidly sinking into de-potism He
! has pegged away at our boosted freedom
! or speech, and freedom Of the press, till
we have less Of the former than we had,
/ under the administration Of the elder
adams and his allen aud sedition laws
| and, less Of the latter, than the tyrant
| emperors Of France and Austria allow to
/. heir downtrodden serfs. He has pegged
away at the best boon in our Magma
. Charta. the privilege Of the writ Of habeas
: corpus, till it lies crushed and bruised and
/ bleeding by the side of our down trampted
constitution aud We have in lieu, a few
thousands of Mr.. Lincolns shoulder strap
ped minions denoninated deputy provost
/ narshais; but who are really, a mean
skulking, sneaking, smelling committee,
I po;vlng around your houses, and break
I lug into the private apartments of your
wives and daughters, TO see if they can't
smell out treason. against Abraham the
first, Again, he has kept regcing away at
our late prosperous and prosperIng com
merce, till you every week, hear of more
or les of our richly laden ships. falling
'iito the hands of pirates and privateers
which are the natural Legitimate children
of the imbeci iiy of the President. and the
corruption Of his late toad eating congress.
| You know ms brethren, that Mr Linco n
when he came into power, found the
nor united TO a man, and determined TO
stand 10y hIm, and sustain him IN all con-
stitutional measures, 10 crush rebellion,
! preserve the constitution, and restore the
, lsnion. lie also found one half, If N,
more of our brothers ot the South, In favor
of the old constitution, and the old Union.
and ready to Tight SIDE 10y side with the
( Soiti, for their preservation, whenever a
! fitting opportunity should occur. lie
! found also, that our Republic was compare
! lively free from debt. But he has KEEP.
! pegcing away with his one idea; with his
/ higher law and bis abolition enaucIpa-
/ ton proclamations, till the south now
/ a unit against the old Union. ard more
+ than one half OF the North are decidedly
/ opposed TO his imbecile peg away policv.
! lie has begged away at our finances. till
our national debt has run up from about
sixty to more than twenty four millions
of dollars. lie has kept pegcing away at
our yeomanry TIL more than five hundred
thousand of our brave and good men have
fallen upon our various battle fields died
in our numerous hospitals or are rotting
now. IN the malarial swamps OF the South,
and in the7valley of the river of death
where none out nj .gers can, or ought
10 live, and You know also, that from two
10 three hundred of this same class of men,
are dying from the same causes every day.
You know too. that our enormous debt of
twenty four hundred millions of dollars is
stilsipereaslng at the rate of two and 4
half millions of dollars per day; and that
all this sum must finally be wrung out of
the hard earnings of you; your children,
and children children, III taxes. Brethren
how do you like this presidential JokeO
+ Yet my brethren, the president seems TO
see in all this, nothing but a joke. lie
seems to think nobody is hurt - and is
determined to q Peg a,cay SIR peg oroy-
I Ktd1, yj{fg,ny qwiy!' But my brethren, we
believe the people are beginning to see
distinctly that the-sole aim aud object of
this peg away policy, is to elevate the negro,
and degrade the white man 10 a level of
equality. How long then, will this people
stand by and see this wholesale butchery
and wholesale sguan lering of treasure con-
tinued How long before further for
bearance will cease to be IA virtue? How
long before this great people ought to rise
in the dignity Of their manhood, and say
to the dlctator-Slr, the p.liey of this ad
ministration mast and shaN be changed /
this abolition crusade MUST be changed to .
a war to crush the rebellion, preserve the
constitution as it Is, and restore the Union, ,
"a God and our fathers gave it to us or
your last peg has been driven. We Ge-
nland this in the name of cur late happy
Republic. We ask itin the name Of popu
lar right and constitution government |
We ask it FOR the saAe Of our wives and
children. AMEN.
Mr. E.Gtor-There WAS Il convocation in
our littla city yesterday, of The ancient
anil. Honorable old Eclampus Vitus, ( |
was once a member Of that order.) But |
as had no notice OF the gathering, am |
~i."i'r i.norant of its object But as |
SAVIOUR worthy nrotncr, w in |
the crowd, ann a little arPre that
il. vas political move: and that there |
is "nigger' somewhere in the wood |
pile. -........,5 ..... ...s
Can you give us any light on the sub
jeca?