Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1864-06-11
Decentralization of Religion.

Decentralization of Religion.
In what we shall say on this point we
wish il understood that we do not include
unless pefchance to very moderate ex-
teut--either our own Church in this land,
or the Church Of Rome. We reserve them
for separate consid Iteration in another con-
nection. The evils resulting from the un.
settling Of the whole business of the coun-
try, do indeed affect all in the same way,
to certain point. In all, the salaries of
clergymen generally so near the starva-
ton point to begin with-have been really
diminishing in value with the gradual rise
in the price of gold and the necessaries of
! life and now are worth but little more
than half what they we're when the war
began; and while aN clorgymen have suf-
fered severely from this cause, the number
of cases in which the laity have made up
the difference is an exceeding small por-
ton of the whole. This gradual pressure
q OF stdTVuIlOl HAS uiOWu
larger proportion ofparishes than usual,
and much larger number of clergymen
have been sent adriit, to hunt for new par
ishes, or for some sphere of labor however
humble, which may keep soul and body
together. Vacant parishes and wandering
clergy are not helps to devotion as gen.
era rule; and the increase in the number
Of both has had and Is having an unfavor-
able effect on the religion of large portions
of the country. Some few-would that
they were more have as chaplaips found
their way into the Army but the misera-
bly, inefficient organization Of the Chap
laincy department, necessarily arising from
the fact that there can he no organic con-
nection between Church and State with US,
has gone far to neutralize the benefit of
having Chpplaius, except in few choice
cases.
But the greatest and most significant
change has taken place in the general
tone and temper OF the preachiDgs and
prayings among the great bulk Of Protes.
tant Denominations. Being merely human
societies, living, moving, and having their
being only by the will Of an,-not hav-
ing been organized by our Lord Jesus
Christ and His Apostles, and having no
promise OF perpeiui'y, no guaranty of tho
presence of Christ with them, and no
pledge that the gates OF hell shall not pre-
vail against them,-what con they do
when they encounter storms and tempests
in the Questions of the Day! The Sect
organization is merely Of man. 1t does
Iot cIaim any higher origin. The ques-
iions of the day are of man also. No
stream can rise higher than its fountain
head. The Question of the Day is always
newer aud fresher, and is held by greater
multitudes, and with much more intensity
than that principle (whatever it may be
which once upon time formed the Sect
and has Oeen, ever since its origin, its life
, and strength. Therefore, whenever Q
, Sect of any Importance encounters the
Questions of the Day, the Question Of the
= Day is certain to prove itself the strong
man, which binds the Sect, and takes pos.
session Of it and all that belongs TO it,
Resistance may and will be made, pre-
. ciscly in proportion as the Sect holds in
solution more or lc of the Truth origin.
, ally confined to the Catholic Church.
s But, in spite Of this resistance, the Cues.
0 tion of the Day is certain to prevail at the
c last. When the same le gislatve power a
one time passed one Act, and at another
t time adopts one of a precisely contradc
tory tenor, the later of the two 10 point o.
y. time is held to be ''the law" The earlier
was passed by The same authority, in
deed; but as that authority is free t.
}. change its mind, the later utterance super
$. sedes the former. So as the Fundamental
Sect power is human, and the Question o
J. the Day is on the same level, and is tb
latest expression Of the popular will, it i