New Oregon plaindealer. (New Oregon, Iowa) 1859-1866, 1864-01-22
THE WAR CLERGY.

THE WAR CLERGY.
It is no uncommon thing for'tne war
clergy Of the United States to quote
the language of St. Paul in his epstle
to the Ron ans:
Let every soul be subject unto the
higher powers; the powers that are or
dainea of God; and they that resist
shall receive a greater damnation".
They argue from this text blind
obedience TO ruler, and with their
usual want of logical Inference deduce
that lawful resistance to the policy Of
Mr.. Lincoln, is Of necessity sinful.
There can be no difference Of opinion
upon the duty Of obedience to the laws
enacted under the Constitution, and
by virtue Of which the powers that be-,
arc ordained: not Of God, but Of the
law aud the Constitution. Such obedi-
ence is very different thing from an
unreasoning obedience to the will Of an
administrator that tramples upon and
subve, is to its own base ends the very
constitution that gave it an existence,
and which should be the supreme law
Of the land. If this unrea soning obo-
d,ence was ,nculcated by the Divine
Apostle, then the precepts ofths chris
ian religion are only indulgenoies to
unchecked, and uncomfortable arbitra-
~ power. What the Aoostle meant to
inculcate is simply the eternal truth
that public expe'liency being the
foundation. is also the true measure Of
obedience; or as Paley in his great
work on Moral Philosophy, ssya, in
discussing this very question:
"The Obligation Of subjects anil SOW
ereign is reciprocal; that the duty Of
allegiance, whether it is founded in
utility or compact, is neither unlimited
nor unconditional; that peace may be
purchased too dearly; that patience be-
comes cul pable pasillauimity when it
serves only to encourage our burden,
or to bind it the faster: that the sub
mission which surrenders the liberty
cf nation, and entails slavery upon
future generations, is enjoinea by no
law, human or divine
This sentence contains the whole
gist of the matter in question. With
out defining its limit Or extent, the
Apostle simply irculcat;s q gcnaral
duty. The same Apostle inculcates in
another place the duty Of servants to
their masters, of wives to their hus
bands, Of children to their parents: yet
no one of these clergy doubts but that
instances occur when this authority
being used for cruel. unlawful and
wicked purpose, could ard should be
defed, without mourning the displeas
ure of God. As it is with these cases,
so 1t is with governments, and those who
administer them. The bare fact of a
rebellion, does not invest agents, lin
tied in their authority by constitutions
and laws, with the right to transcend
any one of their clearly granted pow
ers under the constitution, or to inau-
gurate under any plea, however soe-
cious, oppression and injustice; and
resistance to such Tyranny 50 far from
being sinfulin Gods sight, is obedience
to mans nature, to natural rig hts and
Gods law.
In all ages the clergy have been
characterized for their submission. to
despotism. We arc unpropared to say
whether their system Of education and
habits oflife, or timidity AID want Of
energy are the super-inducing causes.
But the most potent influences that
have come within our own observation,
making them submissive, are the op-
portunitics thus afforded for lucrative
chaplaincies, with nothing to do, IN
stead Of moderate salaries and hard