St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-01-02

ton. becauSc the Court lacked the time
and authority to accumulate the evil
drncc of his guilt. At last the Sccreta-
" of Wan. unable to shield him any
longer. filings the. whole budget OF
charges and proofs into the hands of
Congress. and leaves that body to dis
post of the case us it shall see tit. So
the Christian soldier stands before
the country umma>ked.
The ease j. Il sad one. Coming after
the exposure of 81 many. "ChriStian
statesmen" last winter. II cannot fail to
have depressing effect on thousands
of hearts. and lead thousands to con-
cludc that religion is a deceit and the
Church an instituted lie. But we
should hesitate before rushing to such
rash conclusions. Rogues do not forge
the name of Il bankrupt. HypOcritcs
never steal the livery of ra>cIls. The
sheep is not fool enough to put on n
VOLTS skin. The conduct of Howard,
Patterson. Pumcroy, Coif;X, and their
comrades is more sincerely deplored i'll
religious circles than anywhere else.
They are unquestionably exceptional
cases. But, unfortunately. su,h cases
are 50 numerous lllil
begin to Ice alarmed. and ask, ''Who,
indeed. can we trust when so many
men eminent in the church for their pi-
ETY. prove hollow reeds? Perhaps if
they would stop and think Il minute
they would see that they are them
selves quite as much To blame as the
men they dcmounce The piety these
men protes>cd was very largely il mat
ter of mere feeling. Their religion
was almost solely thing of emotions
and npininns-a thing that naturally
huhhlcd into piouS professions and
broke forth in the championship of Il
cause 1t had no moral quality i'll it..
1t WAS not Il thing of the solid, simple,
everyday virtues. 1t did not sink
uoi>rlcsell as the rain to refresh the
roots of moral principle. and spring
forth III Il stalk of manly integrity and
blossom in bcncNolcncc and iipcn Ill Il
continuous harvest of good deeds, but
spoutcd in the conference and spurtcd
in the convention like the fountain
piali on the public square to he
looked at al ii admired. 1t WAS not Il
tire under he engine moving the train
steadily forward 10y its steady burning,
but flashing blaze, swaying this way
and that. attracting multitudcs by It's
brightness and warming those who
came near enough by its brightness and
warning those who came near enough
hy it, mlow. That sort of religion does
not make honest men, brave soldiers.
nobl.. citizens. great statesmen II turns
ont professionals. cantinT pretcndclS.
Ir;llntS. fanatics. These men are not
necessarily hyporriics. They are gen
orally tine To- the religion they believe
in. 1t would Ice Il crime 10 call one of
our well known timancicrS. VIII" is rs
distinguished for his >hIcwd operations
Is for his professions of picty, Il hypo-
critic There is no hypocrisy about 1t.
The pIetl he and thousands of others
profess has no moral quality in it, and
i entirely divorced from the great COM
mon virtues of life. They do not look
ON these a. essential to religion i'll this
world or salvation in the next. And
Just a. long as that kind of piety pre-
walls We shall have immoral professors.
lctalcating deacons, Credit Mohlllcr
Congressman. and Christian soldiers
with their pockets stuffed with plumber.
ii these recent exposures shall have the
effect of leading "ur churches to lay a
hundred times more stress upon neg
lcctcd molilitics than heretofore, and
refuse to accept rhulitiom> of feeling
is Il substitute fnr virtue, and insist
that right living i even more imp"r-
taut than loud PRAYING. we shall hc
spared many more such exposures. y.
J. Graphic.