Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-05-12
From The N. Y. Evening POst.l


The exercises Of anniversary week began
last evening, when the annual sermons OF
the CONGREGATIONAL Union, the Church
Auti-Slavery Society, the. American and
Foreign Christian Union were preached,
and the annual reports of the American
Female Guardian Society were read.
THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION.
The anniversaries the Congregational
Union was celebrated at Plymouth Church.
The annual report of the Society was read
by the Secretary, by which 1t appeared thaS
$4,000 had been subscribedduring the year,
and that balance of $4,000 still remained
uneXpended. Three new churches have
been organized in Philadelphia, one in
Canterbury, Delaware, and one in
Baltimore, Maryland. The Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher then preached an eloquent
sermon, taking for his text the 10Th, l2tn
and 18th verses of the 4th chapter OF Ephe-
SLAMS. After speaking OF the various forms
of church discipline,the speaker said that
for ages past there have been two antago-
nstic forms of church government; one in
which laws were enshrined and ennobled;
the other in which man was ennobled, and
taught to be law unto himself. The
churches which still remaihed under the
old form might be called Roman Catholic
churches. The latter is now crumbling
and mouldering away. In speaking OF the
Congregational church Mr.. Beecher said it
| tiourisled in New England, and that not q
Congregational church could be found
South. Ii was perhaps the greatest COM
pliment he could pay the church 10 say this,
Where there are few newspapers no trNe
schools no diSenSSion Of certain questions
allowed. Congregationalism did NOT Ileur-
ish. In conclusion he said that the Cougre-
gatioual church was peculiarly adapted 10
the American mind, Snd he appealed in the
name OF law, OF liberty, OF life itself in be-
half of the CHURCHES whose CRiou anuiver-
sSry they had met 10 celebrate.
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN CHRISTIAN UNION.
The Rev. c. 5. Robinson, of Brooklyn,
preached the annual sermon before the
American and Foreign Christian Union
fast evening, in the Thirteenth street Pres
byterian Church (Dr. Burchards).. The
speaker selected for his text the llth and
18th verses of the 2lst chapter of Isaiah.
After alluding to the close of the war, he
said that we are TO have new war, whlch
will be war against sin. lie sketched the
growth of the Roman Catholic Church In
this country, which in 1860 had forty-three
bishops, two thousand two hundred and
thirty-fiye priests, and four millions of ad-
herents. Some of the Christian churches
are numerically stronger, but the power OF
the Catholic Church lies in its cOmpactness,
each member being bound by all manner of
oaths to obey the will of one man. The
speaker then advocated the distribution OF
the Bible, which is antidote to priests, not
only i'm our own country, but in all Roman
Catholic couutries-thus giving the Pope
employment ut hofne.' ~fNS - ~.
CHURCH ANTI-sLAvERY SOCIETY.
The annual sermon before the Church
Anti-Slavery Society was preached last
night at the Church OF the Puritans by
Rev. DIR. Cheever. His text was fronrth
parable of the Good Samaritan, and his SER
mon was on the right of the colored race to
representative government. He said
though the era was near at hand when
church anti-slavery society would be no
longer needed, the society did not propose
to disband till its work had eliminated in
the complete emancipation and enfranchise-
ment OF the black race. Speaking OF the
rebellion and its leaders, he advocated the
policy of punishmentas the truest mercy;
and the idea of sending back the "haggards
of the South" these Judas Iscariots OF
society,"" as they have been termed by Judge
Holt, with all the privileges of citizenship,
while we deny these privileges TO the col-
ored soldiers who have -risked their lives
for the national safety, was preposterous.
Dr. Cheever criticised the conduct of Gen
eral Banks in excluding from the ballot-box
in Louisiana colored men who had fought
in the ranks. The Government was, the
speaker feared, dealing with this great sub
ject in too dilatorya q manner. III we DO not
yield the right of suffrage to the colOred /
people, we are slave republic still ); and
only by giving this right could the safety
of the Government be secured in the future.
He concluded by saying that the nation
should do one good and generous thing
without waiting to be driven to it-should
give equal rights to men without distinc-
tion of color. ..t