The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1866-09-24
Matinual Arpnblitail.
MONDAY MISUNDERSTANDING "a, 1850.
M.eeuley's Descrfptien OF the Puri-

MONDAY RNINa::@;:sEPTEMBER "a. 1865.
M.eeuley's Description OF the Puri-
81 . tana.
They mistook their own indignant feelings
for emotions Of piety; encouraged in them
selves by reading and meditation, q DISPOSE
ton to brood over their wrongs, and when
they bad worked themselves into hating their
enemies, imagined they were only hating the
there was little, indeed, which, even when
perverted by tho most disiugenuous exposi-
ton, could seem to eountenance the indul-
gcnce OF malevolent passions.
" But the Old Testament contained the his
tory Of o race selected by God to be witnesses
Of His unity and ministers Of His vengeance,
and specially commanded by Him to do
many things which, IL done without His
special command, would have been atrocious.
In such q history it was not difficult for fierce
and gloomy spirits to find much that might
be stored to suit their wishes. The extreme
Puritans. therefore, began to feel for the
Old Testament preference which, perhaps
they did not distinctly avow even to them.
selves, but which showed itself in all their
sentiments and habits. They paid to the
Hebrew language respect which they re-
fused to that tongue in which the discourse
of Jesus and the epistles of Paul have come
down to US. They baptized their children
by the names, not Of Christian saints, but Of
Hebrew patriarchs and warriors.
In defiance Of the express and reiterated
declarations Of Luther and Calvin, they
turned the weekly festival by which the
church had, from the primitive times, COM
memorated the resurrection of her Lord into
Jewish Sabbath. They sought for principles
Of Jurisprudence in the Mosaic law, and for
precedents to guide their ordinary conduct
in the books Of Judges and Kings. Their
thoughts and discourses run much on acts
which were assuredly not recorded as exam
Piles for our imitation. The prophet who
hewed in pieces q captive king; the rebel
general who gave the blood Of a queen to the
dogs; the matron, who, in defiance OF
plighted faith and Of the laws Of eastern
Inequalities, drove the nail into the brain OF
board, who was sleeping under the shadow
of her tent, were proposed as models to
Christians suffering under the tyranny of
princes and prelates.
Morals and manners were subjected to q
code resembling that Of the synagogue when
the synagogue was in its worst state. The
dress, the language, the department, the
studies, the amusement Of the rigid sect were
regulated on principles resembling those OF
the Pharisees, who, proud of their washed
hands and broad phylacteries, tainted the
Redeemer as a Sabbath breaker and wine.
bibber. 1t was q sin to hang garlands on
May-pole, to drink friends health to fly a
hawk. to hunt a stag, to play at chess, to
wear love-locks, to put starch into a ruff, to
touch the virgins, to read the Fairy Queen
Rules such as these-rules which would have
appeared insupportable to the free and ioy-
Gus spirit of Luther, and contemplate to the
serene and philosophical intellect of Zuingle
threw over all life more than monastic
gloom.
The learning and eloquence by which the
great Reformers had been eminently distin-
guished. and to which they had been in no
small measure indebted for their success,
were regarded by the new school of Protcs.
tants with suspicion il not with aversion
Some precisians scrupled about teaching the
Latin grammar, because the names of Mars,
Bacchus and Apollo occurred in it. The
fine arts were all prescribed. The solemn
peal OF the organ was superstitious. The
music OF Ben. JohnsOn's Takes was absolute.
Half the fine paintings in England were idol
atrous and the other half indecent.
The Puritan was at once known from other
men by his gait, his garb, his lank hair, and
the sour solemnity of his face, the upturned
whites Of his eyes, the nasal twang with
which he spoke, and above all, his peculiar
dialect. He employed, on every occasion,
the imagery and style of scripture. Hebra-
ism violently introduced into the English
language, and metaphors borrowed from the
boldest lyric poetry of remote age and
country, and applied to the common CON
Germs Of English life, were the most striking
peculiarities Of this cant, which moved with.
out cause, the derision both Of prelates and
libertines.