Maryland free press., 1866-05-03
POLITICAL PREACHING.

T We arehos pscPparsl to say tl,at she propensity
bf Northern cergymen to expound their texts oy
political logic has been materially abated by
recent events. Preceding and during the war,
II il notorious that a large number Of these So
3 called ministers of the gospel if not large ma
jorty of them, preached, not Christ crucihed'
but the negro glori6ed. Spiritual things they
subordnated to temporal. The sword OF the
spirit with them was not the word Of God, but
the zeal of fanaticism Inanifesting itself in all
sorts ofclerica nterferences with secular affairs,
not for the purpose of promoting the interest of
the Redeemer's Kingdom, but for the purpose OF
exciting sectional strife, inlaming the worst
passions of the people, destroying the public
peace and Thereby plunging the country into
the bitterest dissensions and the most violent
convulsious.
These preachers are, most of them still as ac-
lively as ever engaged in making sacred texts
tic mediums f3r political idenpncations. They
nre used only for the promotion Of radical
schemes for gradually changing, or rather extin-
gushing all the original features of our govern
ment The ant-slavery amendment to the Con-
stitutien,, which has justabcen proclaimed to be
part of that instrument, has, by its success, in
spired the enemies of the national peace with u
furious desire to make further iuroads upon the
SUPREME law. 1t is always the case that pre-
ccdent once set will lead to endless attempts at
its repetition. 4
The knocking out of a single brick will be
followed by the knocking out of others, until
! th. whole wall will tumble down and become
pie of rubish ALREADY, inSfev Of the success Of
the amendment for expunging one of the pro-
visions of the Constitution, several propositions
have been Introduced into Congress for other
similar changes in it, and the radicals, who are
hostile to every principle Of good and stable
government will continue to multiply amend
ments until not solitary bulwark will be left
standing of the glorious old fabric of.l7ss, If
they have tlie power to carry out their will
Not only in Congress, in the press and on the
hustings docs this rage Of theirs for altering
the organic law to suit their nischievous aims
appear but in the pulpit it is beginning to exh
b itself also.
We have before us copy fthe Syracuse Daily
Journal the editorial space l., which is given up
wi o l., t. the publication of a political sermon
preached by one of the leaders of the abolition
ultras-I.ev. Samuel J. May-in the Unitarian
church of that city. The text is short one from
the second Psalm" Rejoice with trembling"
The context is nothing more nor less than dis
R4,,isi,ion upon the triumph and glories Of negro
emancipation.
Glancing at the difficulty of the passage by
Congress of II law giving the elective franchise to
the blacks, difficulty arising from the well
known aversion of the people of the north to
confer this right upon their sable-hued citizens
the Rev. Mr.. May, who has long been one of the
shining lights of the Abolition Church, says that
if ncct ssaryS this Prejadice must be disregardcd
by the Federal Government, on the ground tina;
+" whatever the highest good-ccrtainly whatever
the salvation Of our republic requires, that the
Legislators and executive officers of the republic,
(not # the States severally, to which the Consi-
tuition has left the regulation Of suffrage,
should attempt"
Here is an illmtahe. field opened blythe rev.
erned gentlemen for radical experiments. They
have but to declare that equality of the two races
in the enjoyment and rcise of Official rights
is required for "the salvation of our republic"
and then Congress and ,the Executive should
proceed at once with the "attcmpt' to equalize
them accordingly. But he sees q slight obstacle
in the way Of this sweeping method Of reform.
The barriers of the Constitution loom up be-
fore him, bat onlyho he overlcaped by his nimble
and agile feet. says he: "There is method
prescribed by which, if the people please, the
Constitution may be amended in all its articles
but one." THAT about the African slave trade,
I II l;,t n ef
then, Congress prop,s s, such am: nlments, enact
such laws, make such provisions, as will place
The colored men throughout the country upon
The common platform Of American citizens re-
-aaitlng Of them neither more nor less than cf
white men, rs the conditions on which they may
exercise all our perogatves." This will do ptet-
ty well for specimen .f the ma nner and spirit
In which some northern preachers elucidatc and
intcrpcrt their scriptural texts.
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