Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-12-02


will fail to read it. Tn discourse was in 40
sense political. hut applied the teachings OF
the text to mans duty as a Christian, enforc-
ing the command to sthonor all men with
a felicity of thought and language ana a
richness and appositenefs OF ILLUSTRATION
characteristic Of all Mr. Lords utterances.
This massage in it, however, has a peculiar
s;rnficlncc, not because it teaches the politi-
cal duty of all men, so much as because it
teaches the Christian duty of all members of
the body polite:
Nor can I refrain from saving that in the
days that are coming upon Us, we shall find
this social spirit eminently Christian, and
ever binding as it is. nothing less than q
political necessity. If in the new distri-
button Of power in our country in years to
come, we arc t. escape the collisions of class
with class. of race with race, of religion
with r~e'igiun. Leading on it may be to revo-
Iutionary violence. it must be under God, it
must be b. an earnest effort TO cultivate and
practice Z deeper. more earnest respect for
human beings as such. Nothing that is
human must lie foreign TO any Of us. We
must drop the fatal distinction of class or
party which divide and embitter US, and
work together for the honor Of all men.
Mr.. Lord has been and is still a conserva-
tive and ~ look upon this declaration as
evidence that thoughtful and patriotic men,
who never agreed and may never agree with
what is called Radicalism in politics, yet see
that tho government of this country must
re made in the future republican in form,
IN order to secure stability and pernanence,
and to escape the evils inevitable upon any
attempt to permanently exclude any class of
the people from the ballot-box. There was
q great deal Of Democratic ciamor during
the late political campaign against 9 Niger
supremacy and in favor of a white
mans government" The object of such
clanor was not to influence any man s reason,
but to enlist all unchristian and inhuman
sympathies under the banner of Seymour
and Blair. 1t not only melted, but it actual
" occasioned - collisions of class with class,
OF race with race" and led in many places
in the Southern States to mobs and {" revo-
lutionarv violence" The Christianity that
taught the "onc blood" which Paul pro-
claimed to the exclusive and arrogant
Athenian,' was denounced by Democratic
presses and from Democratic rostrums as
inspired by the father of lies rather than by
the Father Of truth. The idea that a man
was { man IN spite of his color, that the
lowest and humblest person had the same
rights, as sacred as those which the highest
type Of humanity claimed for itself, was
secuted, ridiculed, caricatured, denied by
every utterance and every distinctive Demo-
cratic principle which made any assertion
respecting the rights of man or the origin
and form Of our government. The truth of
the Declaration of Independence that " all
men are created equal which is only the
political expression. " the re assertion of the
original sentence. : God created man in His
own image, after His likeness, was de-
clared to be. according 70 the new democratic
gospel, a selEevident lie. Congressional
reconstruction was condemned with every
possible variation of anathema, because the
fundamental principle upon which it pro-
ceeied was that a man should not be denied
participation in the government because of
his color. In short, the one great damning
stain upon the Republican party was, in
the language Of these Democrats, that it
believed in niger equality" while the one
great and crowning virtue of the modern
Democracy was that it believed that this
was a . white mans government"
1t is with a remembrance of this warfare
upon the Republican party-because that
party refused to allow, in its administration
Of the government, any " fatal distinctions Of
class,'-a warfare that has, happily for the
country, terminated in the magnificent vim
dicatioR Of the Republican party and q
grand assertion Of its distinctive principle,
the equality of al men-that we welcome
the teachings OF this sermon. 1t is radical
doctrine bat it comes from 4 source which
cannot be suspected OF political radicalism,
from a man who, certainly, has not been in
the habit Of preaching politics for popular
applause. The New Testament, and the
Christianity based upon it, know. and can
know no difference between Jew and Greek,
bond and free. white and black and the
politics that makes distinctions, and arrays
class against class and race against race, if
it escape Remuneration, ought never to find
succor or comfort from a Christian pulpit.
And while it is possible for ~clergymen to
avoid what is called political preaching, It is
hardly possible for them TO proclaim the
whole Gospel without teaching the truths
that affect the every day life and the every
day duties of the citizen as well as the man.
Such a truth Is taught in this Thanksgiving
sermon, and brought home, with all the
more emphasis. because it is not a political
doctrine but a Christian preeept.
1t is, perhaps, too much to hope, that thu
Democratic party will accept the verdict Of
the late election as final, and cease their
persecution of recently emancipated blacks
The history of that party for the last eight
years shows it to be quite incapable of adapt
ing itself to the new conditions and the new
wants of the country. 1t may not be I'M
reasonable, however, TO expect that tn.
wiser and more patriotic men Of the party
will be ready TO act upon such teachings as
that contained in the paragraph quoted al
the outset of this article, and give a cheer
ful support in the future to what ought now
10 be treated as the settled policy of tn.
republic, that all men are henceforth to hav'
equal civil and political rights,-an equalit.
that shall remove all acknowledgements alik'
from black and white, and perpetuate M
distinction in political disabiliti les growing
out OF color, race, or eyen participation il
treason Every contribution to the argu
ment that shall bring about the desirable