Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-09-22

nave come, we see that the United States Govern
msnt j. bound " to go and .smite' the Southern
people, "to utterly destroy all that they have and
to spare them not but slay both man and woman
infant and suokling or and sheep, camel and ass
In all the insurgent region And as this terrible
decree in the case Of sAmalsk came directly, from
Heaven and was supsrpaturally communicated to
the anointsd interpreters Of the Divine counssls
rs without this direct mandate from the Judge of all
the earth no such war Of utter cxtermination would
have been known as imperative duty---it follows
that the Foston Recorder must be supposed equslly
inspired with Samuel the prophet, before it pre-
spmes to utter its admonitions to the Governments
and people Of the United States against the great
sin and wickedness Of daring to !" take the divine
prerogstive Of forgiveness into our own hands, as
five were more meroiful than Cod We hope it
will condescond to inform us ct whose hands it re-
oeived the prophetic conservation in virtue of which
it thus assumes right to " deal damnation Ger
the land Without such divine authority its Ian
guage must sesm to- pious minds little better
than blasphemy. sii 'eogqs ia aaray q sFr
Ii the doom of Saul is to be held in terror over
the head Of President Lincoln, because the former
disobeyed God in not utterly destroying the
Amaekites," it is al-important that those who are
now stimulating the latter to war Of utter exter-
mination against tho peopleof the South should
DO able to show Hthus saith the Lord" for their
awful maledictions. Without it they must stand
convicted Of : presumption whose impiety is only
equalled by the bloody -mindedness which il be-
trays. Vengeance rightly belongs to the In=s
finite Mind, for that mind, knowing all the rela-
tions Of human conduct cannot err in its decrees.
But when the human creature, in his pride and
passion, assumes to ape the dialect of Omniscience
he only proves that he knows nothing As hc ought
TO know itogt g1u.9 stt 81 Fslgaiaa aaF ssstgt .sua
The example of Joash, cited BY our religious
contemporary, is equally unfortunate, except far
- it discloses the bloody minded caprice which
has guided the writer in his choice of Old
Testamtn Mt precedents for the instruction of the
American people at the present day. Joash had
repaired to the prophet Elisha with professions Of
faith in his Divine commission, but by his CON
duct, in the symboic,l test to which his faith was
subjected, it clearly appeared that he had no
genuine confidence in the "arrow Of the Lord's
deliveranoe" as sped BY the prophet through the
open window in the direction Of Syria For. this
distrust he justly forfeited the Divine favor. 1t
was done to him according to his faith, which was
weak and fuctuatiug. y,at as se os at 'sa
As the Recorder says this example of Joash is,
equally with the case of Saul, lesson which
American Christians should not negkc ct at such a
crisis as this" we beg respectfully to ask when
and where it received the spirit and power of
Elisha in virtue of which it assumes to pronounce
that this precedent is appropriate to our times and
land ? For we presume the editors of the Recorder
are sufficiently familiar with their Bibles to know
that another occasion, when the Syrans, while de-
vastatng Palestine, were completely delivered into
the hands of the King of Israel, and when the
King was anxious to smite them, the prophet An
swered, thou shalt not smte Them" and CON-
manded to stset bread and water before them,
that they may eat and drink, and 90 to their mas
ter" And it is written that the King of Israel
"prepared great provision for them; and when
they had eaten and drunk, he sent them, and they
went to their master" $50 the bands OF Syria, !"
adds the sacred chronioler came no more to the
land of Israel" Will the Recorder be good
enough to inform us by what superior illumination
it has come to know that this Old Testament pre-
cedent, Gin which the prophet, il would seem, lent
some countensnce to the divine attribute Of for
giveness" even when exercised by men, is not pro-
table for doctrine, for reproof for correction,
for instruction in righteousness at the presert
time
1t has commonly been supposed that there was
little necessity for warning against the imita
ton Of the Divine attributes of mercy and forgive
ness But it seems that, according to the latest
gospel in Boston, rs oxpouuded by the Recorder,
there is now such danger on this SCORE as to call
| for solemn adjuration, lest men should have the
audacious presumption to be "more merOiful than
| God" The Holy Book, we are aware speaks of
men whose throat is an open sepulchre who use
deceit with their tongues; who have the poison Of
asps under their lips whose feet are swift to shed
blood; who leave destruction and misery ia their
train and who have not known the way of peace !;
but we were not before aware that such men were
left as ensamples to American christians of the
present day, that we should follow in thoir steps.
| Our view Of the present war, and our theory Of
Christian duty in its prosecution, radically diff.
ferent from the view and theory of the Boston
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