Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-03-20

ONE VI GAAC ACM LAAA anu a. CO
cieties has just issued a circular de-
nominated "A plea with ministers
for the cause of peace" They preach
peace, but dogmatize, overbear, reign
with the iron hand, and practice strife
among themselves and war upon
their ~neighbors. The Pharisees are
"holier " than other men, and there
fore are careful of the morals of 9TH
ers. Fully approaching their charac-
ter, the Rev. DR.. Converse, now at
Louisville, but for a third of a century
the editor of the Philadelphia O6ser-
Uer, a man of large talents, Of great
candor and of eminent worth, thus
responds to them in the present Chris
tan O6seTUer, which excellent religious
journal, with his son, he is now pub
fishing at Louisville:
We have received a communica-
ton from a superior order of intelli-
gences, from which we learn, that our
ministers are hereafter to have another
set OF instructors, wiser than Paul and
Peter and John; and that cur Eng
Iish Dictionaries are all wrong, and
that the Bible does not mean what it
says.
The communication comes from the
American Peace Society of Boston,
Massachusetts, of which Charles Sum-
ner is a shining light. They desire to
place in the hands of every minister in
the Southern States a copy Of their
s. Plea with Ministers for the Cause of
Peace, " and a copy of their AdUOcHte
Of Peace. They ask all ministers TO
do especially the following things: l.
To preach a sermon on peace at least
once a year.. =" We send u periOdi-
cal" they say, " to every one who
breaches and takes O collection" ,.
To train your people to pray for peace,
as for missions, and see that at least
one annual concert OF prayer is held
for universal peace. 3. To have a set
effort made every year to raise funds
for this cause. I. To encourage and
aid the circulation Of their publica-
tons on this subject.
We extract from their "PIea with
Ministers, " the following:
christianity showed itself from the
first to be a religion OF peace, its pa
ciic principles one Of its most marked
pecUliarities. For some three centu-
ries or more, Christians as body were
decided in their opposition to war.
Iren9us (l70} said they did not kHOU
h0oC 10 Gyht. Justin Martyr in the
same century considers GClT as UaLGU-
.fjH; Titan, his deciple, speaks Of Il IN
the sGDte terms; and Clemens, a cOtem-
pOrary of Tatian, Is equally decided
against the iGlgfHt3eSs Of q Tertul-
Ian (abOut 2O0l asks, Can one who
processes the peaceful doctrines of the
Gospel be a soldier? Jesus Christ, by
diSarming Peter, disarmed every sol
der atterWard; for custum can never
sanction a wrong act The early
Fathers generally condemn War as ut
terly unchristian, and speak Of the an
Gent prOphesies respecting the preva-
lence of peace under the Gospel as
actually fulfilled an the Christians Of
that age and il is certain that they
refused 10 become soldiers, and even
suffered maTtyrdOm for their refusal to
engage in war, saying, lam q Chris
tlGR5 / cannot Fght.'"
In 1861, in the fair CityO Brotherly
Love, we attempted, through the col
umns Of the Observer, to preach the
S%criptural doctrines of peace. We
said not a word to let loose the dog
hounds OF war. We refused to sane
ton the hanging out Of flags on the
churches, and shooting down our
brother Christians in the South. But
the Observer was suppressed by the
power Of the Federal Government!
For the first time IN the history Of The
Government the civil power had
invaded the sacred right of the
clergy to preach the gospel of peace.
EOr the fTSt time, a newspaper had
been seized-Seized without 1~OdTr0at,
seized ujthO1 pGTning-a paper, too,
that IN no way dealt with political
topics, but SIMPLY confined itself to
the work Of the gospel.
Here was a fair opportunity for the
Peace Society to manifest its zeal for
peace measures, and demand the re-
cission of the order" But, these self
styled peace men had no protest to
offer in defense of personal rights, or
the liberty of the press. No voice
from the Peace Society was then heard
in favor of peace. The American
L NGAC ROEALtN NAAhNA a AOlLN SUAlEI-
sault. A time had come for the trial
Of their princ~ip les-they were weighed
in the balance and found wanting.
The dictionary had to be remodeled.
The war between the States was not
q at all. 1t was putting down of a
rebellion! The whole country was at
peace. I'VE sanction this thing for it
IS not loGrj Il IS pe0ceW True, Presi-
dent Lincoln declared a blockade, but
that was a peace measured He sup
pressed with the bayonet the pa
pers that were in favor of a
pacific settlement of our trou-
bles by compromise, but this
was in result of peace principlesl He
shut up men in military prisons, but
that vas a peace measure. Two mil
lions of men were under arms, but the
. Peace Society" could not perceive in
this any omen of war. All the facto-
Ties and foundries in the country were
taxed to their utmost capacity to man
ufacture the Implements of war and
the paraphernalia OF death, but this
did not point to war; The land was
drenched in blood; half a million fam
lies wore the weeds of mourning;
still the 4dvOcate Of Peace was earl
nestly advocating the pacific (?) meas
ures that caused these horrors. For
four years the bloody conflict ragged
with a f~erceness that has seldom been
surpassed, but our Boston neighbOrs
dreamed that those four years
were years of blissful peace; that the
nation was merely engaged in the
pleasant pastime in Furnishing traitors
and rebelsi
For ten, twenty, thirty yeaTs-we
know not how long, the American
Society taught that war was an
unmitigated evil-that it was never
right-and always was the sum of all
evil The first time its principles
were put TO the test, it became one OF
the most blatant advocates Of war in
all New England.
The dictionaries were all wrong
the courts OF the United States were
all wrC1g-all the editors in the coun-
Wee in error, ia saying there was
a war;" or publishing news from the
9 seat Of war"
But herein lies the fallacy of
the thing: Without repentance for
the past they now come to the con-
that there has been a war, and
cite as the effects OF the baleiul evil
The annexed statistics.
The following table, WREN analysed,