The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1863-02-08

| 1t used to be generally understood tnat INC
Christian religion was religion OF peace
Christ was called the Prince of Peace. Ills
birth was heralded by the angels Is the mar
binger of peace on earth and good will towards
men. He was the constant advocate OF peace,
and advised men to submit to be slapped on
both cheeks rather than fight about blow. In
His Sermon on the Mount He declared
"Blessed are the peacsmakers." His ancient
disciples were like himself, in favor of peace.
II was reserved for our modern Christians to set
Christ right, and make their religion synony-
nous with dissensons and contentious. Take
those wretched fanatics, the abolitiOnists, for
example, and nearly all of their leaders have
been or are now clergymen Of some denomina-
ton or other, or Independent parsons OF no
denomination at all. There are several fighting
ministers In our army, and bishop turned
general in the army of the Confederates. The
| religious press is proverbislly the most violent
and bloodthirsty. Altogether, modern Chris
tianity is decidedly warlike institution. The
church militant is now the rage. Our churches
have furnished us with almost Is many officers
as West Point Two or three regiments have
been raised by Christian associations through
out the country. Instead Of devoting
their best efforts to preserving peace,
many of our Christians have not only assisted
in bringing on this war, but are now decidedly
opposed to ending the war in any honorable and
peaceable manner. Either Christ or his present
followers are mistaken. Either the psacemakers
or the warmakers are the blessed ones. For
&. Jrhn
authority.
The religious papers do not agree with us in
regard to this matter. They are as full Of
threatenings and slaughters as Mount Sinai
Indeed it Is sorrowful to observe, from the COM
plexion Of thesoreligious weeklies, how Christi
anity has degenerated. Here Is q pious paper
called the Observer, which is half secular and
half religious-four pages Of worldly folly and
four Of Heavenly piety-twentyfour columns
Of profane news and twenty-four Of religious
| intelligence-as if to show clearly that Chris
tianity Is now half and half affair, and that God
and Satan have effected compromise. Here
are half Q dozen other religious prints which do
| not pretend to divide the kingdoms Of light and
darkness 80 accurately, but which mix them up
L
one paper at random, we ind Religious
Curiosity" side by side with the Money
Market" report biography of distinguished
divine next to puff Of Morgan for Senator, and
an cxhortation to be saved crowding
. first rate notice Of "Dry Goods" In
another church organ we discover one column
| Of sermonizing and four of war news. Why
not have theatrical criticisms and accounts Of
balls and soirees and reports Of prize fights and
dog fights in the religious papers? A very
high authority assures US that It is impossible to
| serve God and Mammon; but these papers con-
tradict all such authority by advertising prayer
meetings in one column and hair dye and pa
tent medicines in another. The World, we re-
member, started as religious daily, but has
been sold out to the politicians, body and soul.
The religious weeklies are fast following the
Worlds example, and just now they are serv-
ing both God and Mammon, as preliminary to
dropping God and going over to Mammon IN
toto. The question is whether or not the whole
religious world is gradually pursuing the same
downward course. If the religious press is a
fair representative Of the facts, we are afraid
that very little religion, pure and indebted, now
remains to US, and thatour best saints are our
greatest sinners
The Methodist, the Evangelist, the Observer
and the Independent all urge on the war. The
Independent is the only one Of them which talks
about peace; but the Independent only mentions
peace to pitch into the idea, and wonders "that
the people do not rise up as . Storm" to
put down peace projects. Does the Independent
think that psacemakers are blessedi On the
contrary, II insists upon 'thirty years war;"
and the Methodist backs up the Independent by
asserting that "ths prosecution Of the war il q
necessity" What the Rev. Henry Ward
Bescher writes In his Independent he enunolstes
a. emphatically from his pulpit Thus poor
| Greeley and Colorado Jcwett, and vallandig.
ham, and all the other true patriots who are
manGuvering and intriguing with Count Msrcier
and the Emperor Napoleon for peace, find their
efforts opposed by the religious presses aud the
religious pulpits, from which they would natu-
rally expect the greatest sympathy and assist
ancc. No one can consider these facts without
arriving at the conclusion that either the
founder OF Christianity was wrong In his
opinion that his religion was peace establish
ment or else that these professors of Chris.
tianity are humbugs. Evidently, II their prac.
tice is the true one, religion will never bring
peace to the world II has not succeeded very
well during the last eighteen hundred years;
for tho average amount of bloodshed and
broken noses remains about the same We
must urge our pcacemakers not to rely upon
religion as an ally, therefore. Modern religion
Is strange thing. 1t fights as we'll for the
South rs for the North, for the right az for tho
wrong, and Is generally hostile to anything like
pacifcation. If the peace patriots are to 40.
complish their mission they must prepare
themselves to encounter the opposition OF par.
sons and pious papers, and trust to poor lost