Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1864-03-17


sider the expedicncy Of organizing them !
selves into religious society. Many Of 1
these persons and ministers had been den- I
cd the right Of fellowship in their respect {
i've churches. What else could they do y
than organizc2 Must they be deprived Of /
the ordinances and fellowship of the. New )
TESTAMENT Many Of the ministers were
refused Stations and support merely be-
cause the dared to follow the instructive !
admonitions of right, the dictates Of their
own conscences, because they dared to
brook the destructive tide of arbitrary pow
er-uscd for the perpetuation of itself, and
suppression and tyrsnny--because they were
Democrats!
Alas alasl for religionl 1t is true, char
ges of disloyalty were preferred against
some. But the only proof, / believe, TO
substantiate the false charge, was that they
voted the Democratic ticket, and in voting
that ticket, made themselves traitors in the
eyes of the fanatical, 'loyal' disloyalists,
who fear that if men-honest men--such as
Vallandigham were once more placed in
Office that their despotic rule would be for
ever ended.
VIII American citizens, accustomed as
they have heretofore been, to the freedom
of thought speech and action, both relig-
iously and politically, submit to be tyran-
lied over, and Priest-riddon by clerical
hierarchy under the name of Conference
or Synod?
There is really no union among many OF
the church members. An extract from an
article written by the Rev. j. F. GIVEN,
editor of the Christian Witness, the organ
Of the Christian Union, published weekly,
at Columbus, Ohio, contains the following:
There seems to be, in various portions OF
\ the country, movements towards the form
alton of Religious Societies independent of
existing organizations This originates in
the fact that there are many thousands OF
! persons in all parts of the country, who
} through the political virulence of these un-
} happy times have been forced to- "a thorough
y alienation from the churches. Many have,
for no other reason than their honest po-
+ litical sentiment, been cast out of the
e churches many more have been so vilitied
and insulted that they have voluntarily, at
Il ter much forbearance, ralinqulshed then
place in them, under the solemn conviction
Il that their religious welfare could no longer
h be promoted by continuing in them; and fai
more, who were once adherents and liberia
Il supporters of the churches, but not mem
Il bers thereof, have resolved no longer tC
give their countenance or support to eccle
siastical organizations which have commit
e ted themselves to the frenzy Of an absurc
h ianaticsm, and to schemes of political rev
ID olutionrnd ruin; and have, without scrupl'
g or shame; denounced all who are not pre-
pared to run to the same mad extremes
who prefer peace to war, liberty to arbitra
ry rule, and the sacred provisions Of tn
, National Constitution, to the wishes OF me
-, frantic with passion, prejudice and hatre
AS TRAITORS to their country" unworth
tire support of good men, and ''untit to /
trusted with any office in Church OF State.
Along with these are few ministers wi
have been, in violation Of good faith,
nd insultngly treated as to have been compe
nd lied, out of a just respect to themselves,
withdraw from the ministry which they III
* entered, and in which they had toiled fl
years, without the suspicion that agre
ment in political opinion with majority
re- their brothers would some day he the si'
so qua non of their honorable standing amor
them, and of their acceptabiity as paste
in the church" These classes of persol
m constitute, as we judge, about one-half
the people throughout the country, and
25 many localities nearly the whole population
These people having been thus driven fro
the fold are as sheep without shepherd
zen What, then, is left for them, but to create
lot fold for themselves and employ shepherds
ar their own? Ruptures in churches are {
De ways to be stunned; and it is Il pity that
moral necessity should ever be created f
'ed further divisions in organic Christianity
res But who are responsible for the existil
ruptures? and who have created the pre-
ent necessity? "Selfpreservation is t
,,,, first law of nature, and he who hesitat
to to act thcrcupon is guilty of folly and criul
Some are superficial enough to imagine th
ing the present state of facts is but temporar
a. a. that the cause Of irritation will soon pa
mt away and the wounds will readily heal
rty Would to God that there were suficie
ent reason for this view Of the subject b
'eec what is the fact? These wounds are Il
no new ones to be healed by the first intentiv
ne, they have been fostering under the irrit
! OF ton of years. Recent events have but to
!! OF them open with fresh violence and put il
nno ,'a them an additional virus. They are inv
and crate; and besides what is, in all probabii
of Judging from the spirit that rules the tim
-ual to be state of things for years to con
.' tho There is little reason to hope that the C;
mai ses of irrition will ut all abate. Ey
ion, omen sadly indicates the reverse. The be
ect- of sympathy which is the true and o
2Lon Ia, ground of Christian union and fellowsL
# of has been utterly broken There has bee
ave total separation, so far as the possibility
hey scripturdl communion is concerned, betw
ald i.nd the churches, at least, the most Of tn,
that and a very large class Of people.
ne Membership in the church without
ONE fellowship of spirit is but Il decent
uin' pocrisy, How can two walk together
n 4