The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1863-04-18
interruption whatever"

the National ensign, accidentally left IN
the room where they assembled, thas
obliged the authorities, charged especial
by wi h the duty of upholding tina. flag
in a war now waged for its destruction,
to notice, in some appropriate way, the
insult it had .hus received. And herein
Is the obvious answer to all the COM
plants of an unfair discrimination against
your particular congregation in making
1t alone the suhjec: of the order in ques-
ton. 1t would have been obviously
unjust and inappropriate to pass any
order embracing all religious assem-
blagcs merely because Of the conduct of
one.
Is there anything in the order itself
which warrants the construction you
have put upon it, as " setting a uaught
the dearest and most sacred right that
man can enjoy-that of worshipping
God - or as being &c direct interference
with the right of public worship greater
than which was never exercised in any
country ~ How, [ would most respect
fully ask, does it prohibit or interfere
with your worship of the Almighty, under
any creed, or according to any form, you
may see fit to adopt! These are ri CHS
justly precious everywhere in the sight
Of sur people, and no where more priced
than here in Maryland.
But, in Gods name, does the sight of
our country's standard obstruct or i'm
pair the enjoyment of such rights 3
How is it, let me ask, that they have
been so amply provided for :! How is it
that here, above all the earth besides,
this religious liberty, this freedom of
conscience and title to equal protection,
which you seem to think have been so
on ragged by the presence Of the Amcri-
can ensign, have all been so carefully
secured TO US! How, but under the
auspices of the free Government sym
bolizcd by that very flag, aud which those
who have shared most abundantlv in its
blessings are now treacherously striving
to destroy.
If the order for its display in the room
where you assemble is an interference
with the rights of conscience, and Il vio-
Iation of the Bill of Rights securing to
every man his peculiar religious faith
without nolestation, then by a pari of
reasoning to order the remocui of any
ohcr emblem with which you might
choose to adorn your place of meeting
would be equally obnoxious to the same
objection. You might, therefore, hoist
the Rebel ensign Tomorrow, and defy
the military authorities to pull it down,
throwing yourselves upon. yourrigh of
conscience and the guarantees Of the
Cons tuition.
am aware that in your declara ion,
published simultaneously with your sep
aration from the Conference, as also in
your letter to Gen. SchencS, you dwelt
with some empasis upon the deermina-
ton of your congrega ion to exclude
every hing but the gospel to rcpudate
'sany in difference wi h matters of State"
to mcddle not "with questions of poll
teal ma urc,' and to hold " no connec-
ton with any ecclesiastical body that
does"
So far as this cvnces a purpose to
Danish politics, i'll the ordinary accepta-
tion of that term, from the domain of the
church-to exclude from the pulpit all
such topics as usually divide political
parties living under and recognizing the
same Goycrnment-no resolution could
be more commcndablc. And if this had
been some party banner, used merely to
garnish some par izan platform, could
well undcrs and the disgust it might
excite. But am unable, | confess, to
see how the two subjcc or the two flags
can be SO confounded ; and, with the
profoundest reverence for the teachings
Of religion in its most evangelical form,
| have never been able to perceive how
men of the purest religious faith, and
devo ed with the sircerest purpose TO the
solemn worship Of God, can find, in such
purpose, anything inconsistent with
the most ardent love of their country
How they can ,urn their back upon is
! flag, or refuse to offer up prayer n its
behalf, and call such an exhibition, or
such offerings, pont1cS
Such was not the faith nor the prac-
tice of our fathers. In our Revolutions
AIRY times, when making our first strug-
gle for civil and religious freedom, pa
triotism and religion went hand in hand
together. The men of those days chung
to their country with an instructive ador-
alton second only to that which they
rendered to God himself; and the minis
ter who would have refused or hestated
10 worship under the flag of the one
would not long have been tolerated at
the affairs Of the other.
Looking, therefore, to the conduct
which provoked the first order of the
military authorities, can see no reason
for the complaint that your congregation
has been causele$sly made the exception
to all others ; whilst in the requirements
of the order itself there is certainly
nothing to authorize the assumption that
it is an in difference with that Cons.itu-
tioual provision which declares that no
man, on account of his religious per-
suasion, ought I" to be moles ,ed in his
person or estate"
take occasion here to suggest that if
the order could be by any one regarded
as trenching in any degree upon that
religious liberty which it was the pur-
pose of our Constitution to secure, there
is nothing in that instrument which makes
that right so absolutely sacred and para