The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-03-18
THE PREACHERS AND THE
r- DRAFT. gtS

As everybody anticipated, the preachers
don't like the oonscription law. 1t commends
the chalice which they have poisoned to their
own lips, which was more than they bargain
ed for; They little thought, during the thir-g
ty years they have been laboring, under a thin
guise of religion, to array one section of the
country in deadly strife against another, that
the time would come when they would be
quired to take an actual part in the strife
which their pcrnicious theories would pro-
duce. They did not dream that one day they
would be called upon to prove their doctrine
orthodox by something more practical than
stapostolic blows and knocks upon pulpit
cushions. To their fond imaginings, their
calling was only to foment the strife, not to
participate in the hard blows; to set other
people to cutting each others throats, not to
cut throats themselves or place themselves in
a position where their own pure and immacu-
late s'chokers'' would be In the least danger of
rough usage. But, contrary to all their lmi-
ted perceptions of the future, the time they
SO little expected has actually arrived they
are about to be afforded an opportunity to put
their teachings in practice in their OWL per-
sons. They ought 10 be filed with gratitude
for this, but somehow they don't seem to be.
We do not allude to all preachers, of course.
There are many, very many, high minded and
honorable exceptions men who have preach
ed only Christ and him crucifed, and who
have cschcwed the work of stirring up civil
strife as the usual and legitimate business of
Satan. To compel such men to bear a part in
the work of human butchery may be hard
ship but tho law could not be framed to ex-
empt one and include the other. The minds
of our law max ers there doubtless seemed to
be an eminent propriety in affording all polit-
ical preachers, whether in the pulpit or on
the stump, an opportunity of proving their
sincerity and their devotion to the doctrines
they have so long and so vehemently promul-
gated, which could not be overlooked. It
would also have been unjust to enact law
which should separate these good shepherds
from the focks they have SO long tended and
watched over. If the sheep must go to shoot
and shot at, why not the shepherds !? To
separate them would be to place the former In
situation where the lessons which tho latter
have labored SO zcalously to instill into their
minds, might be lost.
Drawn up in the front rank, before an ug-
ly row of huge muzzles, ready to belch forth
destruction, they nigh possibly begin to fal-
ter, and to ask themselves if, after all, the
doctrine of hatred, animosity, and ill-will
against their "Southern BRETHREN" was the
true doctrine of christianity They might
possibly, at that moment, feel some doubt up
on the subject. How essential, then, that
their spiritual teachers should be with them,
to encourage and siren gthen them by their
own example, in practicingf the doctrines they
have taught. Surely the latter should be
| grateful for the opportunity Congress has af-
forded them of thus watching over their con-
verts, and keeping them finn in the faith
And, so far as any danger of being shot is
concerned, they surely cannot overlook the
probability that Congress, in view of the
truth of the doctrines they have preached
took into consideration the fact that it was
only in the next world that they could be
placed in the full enjoyment of that truth and
all its attendant blessings. Surely the preach
ers ought to feel grateful for being included
in the CONSUMPTION. But it is manifest, new
erthcless, that they do not Chicago Posi-.