The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-25

represented in national convocaton Which il
the supreme ecclesiastical authority in each de-
nomination. The Union began to be dissolved
with the disruption of the great Christian deno-
limitations. This sundered the ties bv which tbe |
hearts of the two sections were knit together i'm |
cordial attachment. Until these ties can hc ro |
newed by the reunion of the Churches, the poli- |
tiCal Union will be II feeble and precarous bond |
The diversites of creed and church orranizo- |
ton which have always existed in this country |
have been political blessing. Each reIipious |
denomination being a minority of the whole |
people, we have been saved from all danger of |
the establishment of a State Church to donineer |
over the consciences OF dtssentcrs, or subject |
them to disabilities for the exercise of their |
faith. But there has been a still greater adynn-
tage The strong dislike and repugnance with |
which rival scCts regard each other have
strengthened the mutual attachment among !
members of the same denomination, and caused |
them to feel a warmer interest in persons of
their own communion in distant States than i'm
residents of the same neighborhood who pro- |
fess different creed In this manner the |
public affections of the religious part of our
people were expanded and enlarged and ties
coeXtensve with the Union were stronger and
more operative than the local sympathies which
bound the inhabitants of the same locality to-
gether. The Northern Methodist did not in
deed, feel a strong attachment to the whole
body of the Southern people, but only to the
Southern Methodists who were dearer To- him than
the Calvinistic neighbors whose church ediice
was located in the same village with his own
In the same manner the Northern Baptist took a
liveier interest in the Southern Baptists than in
his immediate neghbOrs who called sprnklinr
baptism, and administered the rite to infants
The Episcopalan felt his heart 90 out in warmer
regard for Southern churchmen than for
the neighboring sects who scorned the sur
plice of the clergyman, and disiked the affect
ing supplicatoHs of the liturgy. Thus, although
no sect of religionists cared anything for the
Southern people as such, each cherished a
rooted attachment to the Southern part of its
own denomination. Each religious sect being
thus bound together in strong fraternal bonds,
the joint result of these various ties was that
the whole body of religious people North was
united to the whole body of religious people
South: the separate sects being like the strands
of cable by whose joint strength Nhe Union
was bound together. When these strands were
strained till they parted, one after another, the
political Union became one of mere force and
codrse material interests, which easily gave way
in the fury Of excited passions.
The strength of religious ties as a bond of
common sympathy between the North and the
South is not easily appreciated by the inhabi-
tauts of cities The people of the South are
mostly devoted to agriculture: and religion enters
far more largely into the life of a rural than of
an urban population. The stir and hustle of
cities, their numerous public meetings, their
cial and festive gatherings, their clubs, their
theatres, their habit of dcyOuring fresh news in
the daily papers, render religion less important
as a social tie and bond of common sympathy.
In the country, people have few occasions of
meeting except at church on Sunday. The hour
between the morning and the afternoon service
affords the only regular opportunity Tor inter
changing opinions and learning the news of the
| locality. The church is almost the only place
| where women wear their best apparel and
! where young people of both sexes can enjoy
! the pleasure of looking into one anothers
! faces. Such motives assist in bringing people
out to church; and when there, they are subject
| to such impressions the intellect and feryor
| of the clergyman and participation in a common
worship are calculated to produce. The church
is the centre of social life to every rural popula
| ton. 1t is the chief agent in developing such
| affections expand beyond the narrow circle of
! family ties 1t is almost the only incentive and
prop of rural civilization. 1t draws people out
of the otherwise constant isolation OF their
| homes, subjects them to the wholesome influence
of mutual observation and criticism, gives them
II motive for cultiyating some refinement in dress
and manners, interests them in other topics than
their daily toll, cultivates their capacity for
| public sympathy, and enlargeS their affections
to take in, first the people and concerns OF their
parish and through it OF their religious denomt-
nation.
When, therefore, the ties were sundered be-
| tween the Northern and Southern wings of the
great Christian denominations, there was almost
| n total interruption Of a common life and
habitual common sympathies between the great
body of the people of the two sections. After
the division of the principal churches, the only
| remaining sympathetic tie was that which held
| together the great political parties. But the
| same causes which rent the former did not long
spare the latter. Before the slavery agitation,
party ties were great deal stronger than sec
| tlOnal Ties. NOftnefn WINGS IGlJ more interest
in Southern Wings, Northern Democrats were
nearer in feeling to Southern Democrats, than
members of these rival parties were TO each
other in their section. Even our tercest
party contests were, therefore, bonds OF union,
though inferior in strength to the religious at
tachment, inasmuch politics enter less con-
stantly into the daily life OF the people than
religion.
In recementing the Union we need to reverse
the process by which it was discovered. We
must reconstruct political parties coeXtensive
with the whole country; and above all, we must
reunite the divided Churches. Until these two
objects are accomplished, there can be but fee
bic common life in the two great sections; but
feeble circulation of those cordial sympathies
which alone can make us truly one people The
del ate in the General Assembly on Saturday
| gratifying in SO far as il indicates growing de-
sire for reunion; but the heat of the discussion
shows that there must be further cooling Of the
late mchristian animOsities before this great
result can be cOnsummated. What is true
of the Presbyterian denomination we sup
pose to be equally true OF the Mctho-
dist and the Baptist. The chief OBJ
stacle to reunion at present is the bitter
memory of the action of the representative
bodies of the several Churches during the war.
Religious men ought TO have toreseen that the
war would end; that after its close a reunion of
? Churches would be desirable; and they should
way of future cordiality Instead of this wise
and prudent course, they iutruded all the pas
siOnate and denmCiatOry asperitv of sectional
politics into the public action of the religious
\ bodies. 1t is the keen sense of these unchristan
denunciations which thwarts the early restora-
ton of the old bonds OF affection. We regret
that any of the speakers in the General Assem-
bly, thought it necessary to bring up so irritating
a topic: for the more it is kept out of sipht the
better will be the chances of restoring the lost