Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-03-31
Pa,rietlsm in ,l,e. Pulpi,.

an eloquent article in praise of the pat
riotism of the clergy. Referring to past
moral differences in the churches, it
touches upon some very suggestive
facts and arguments which every patri-
otto reader will recognize !: %
More than one happy congregation
has been divided by these Disputes
Among the first to set the example of
hostility to the country on the part of
the American clergyman was an AFRO
CANT and conceited popin jay, called
Rev. Henry A. Wise who ministered to
the spiritual wants of an Episcopal
parish in Philadelphia. One day while
ventilating his disatfection in barber
shop under the Girard House, he was
elected half shaved from the premises
by the indignant knight of soap and
razor. lr4 adf D. srst
another of the same school, hypo-
critic, called Wilmer, after long profess
ing loyalty in public and acting the spy
in private, was finally caught in an al
most overt act of treason The fate of
the now notorious Bishop Hopkins"
who attempted to elevate slavery almost
to the level of Bible philosophy, and
who at last became pamphleteer for
the worst oflthe copperheads, is an en-
phatic admonition to, all Others. His
admitted talents and services, in the
church, and the many proselytes he
made out of the ignorant and the dis
loyal, will not save him from the scorn
of history and the contempt of poster
ity."
Few will question the following es-
innate of the honesty Of the rebel
clergy
The clergy In the seeded States,
(not the brave Cromweilians, like
Brownlow, who stand, up and defy the
traitors, and demand the extinction of
slavery,) but that class of which Polk
and Longstreet are specimens, this class
has had a sorry trial of it. They have
not only had to preach but to fight for
Satan. 1t would be monstrous para
dox to say that these men do not know
they are wholly in the wrong. The fact
that within the last generation the
whole Southern church irrespective OF
creed or denomination, including every
thoughtful statesman save, possibly, Mr..
Calhoun and his few followers, was
against the institution of slavery, and
looked forward to it's ultimate extinc-
ton. is the. best evidence Of the utter
heartlessness and hypocrisy of adj pro
LESSONS on the other side of the same
question from the same persons in thu
present emergency.
The fippant objection to s politics in
the pulpit receives a sufficient answer
g 1t is o cool and complacent subter
fuge to say that for . clergyman to ad
yocate our country is to make party
speech. But the loyal people distinguish
the right from the wrong side with in
stinctive intelligence They know tn
| difference between the pastor who fear
| to speak the whole truth, and who hide
from his hearers the immortal principl
at stake in this war, and he who graz
pies with error, and proclaims his Low
n for liberty and religion as almostsynony
ymous terms. Go into one of the ten
. pies where one of those callous men
the presiding priest. Note how cal
tiously he avoids every patriotic topi
and with what cold indifference he bea
r out the thousand-time-thras stra
of his narrow dogmatism.
Let us enter one of those houses
: God where the clergyman speaks Il
truth without fear, favor, or affection
such q man, for instance, as W.
Charming or Byron Sunderland,
Washington Hutter or Krotel, Barnt
Brooks, or Furness, of Philadelphia
: Purcell, Of Cincinnati; Beecher or Tyn
), of New York; or any one of the eloque
. pulpit orators of New England and t
. Northwest. Such man never spea
2 to msympathetic pews or sleepy q
{ leries. From the first prayer to the la
$ from the earliest hymn to the final ber
: djction, from the sermon to the dyi
notes of the organ or the choir there
/ such a harmony Of religion and patri'
e ism as thrills every heart, and intensif
y the spirit of loyalty and Of self-sacrif
i in every bosom.
l. "But not to these alone who teach
G. our double duty to God and to liber
In meeting houses, and churches, a
is lofty cathedrals, is this cause indebt
ut The heroic chaplains who cxhort o