New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-12-08
PRESIDENT GRANT REAONTYATED.

meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Sabbath
school Union and Tract Society ut Boston on
Monday we are not fully informed. Ii Is shid
that the meeting was large, comprising nearly
900 ministers. and that Bishop Ravens " re-
"mark, were adopted by unanimous vote.
Not having understood that the Standardization
Union or the Tract Society had been called
together for the purpose of consultation upon
measures of public safety or for the nominal
ton Of a President of the United States; being
indeed quite unable to discover any reEI'Ioh
between the essentially political affair or eject
ing President and the purely religious ana
perhaps sectarian WORK of the Sabbath-schOoi
Union and Tract Society, we confess that the
intelligence of this action, sent to the country
by telegraph, Immediately upon its being taken
somewhat surprised us. We were not aware
that President Grant had shown any such spe-
cial interest in the Sabbath-sch0Ol enterprise
that Sabbath school Conventions should Tor
maly nominate him for reelection; or that he had
been so conspicuous an advocate of and contrlbu-
for TO the Tract Society that that organization
should rise up and demand in advance OF any
poltical convention that he he renominated.
We do not by any means question the right OF
any assembly comprising 200 ministers to
express q preference for Presidential candl-
date. If called together 10 discuss " measures
"of public safety it would seem proper
that they should agree upon this nomination
as such a measure, if that were the fact, ana
make public announcement OF 1t. But why
a Sabbath-sch0ol Union or a Tract Society
should break ont in this way with the nom-
nation of a Presidential candidate Us "A measure
Of public safety, we must confess, puzzles Us.
The fact that President Grant Is regular
attendant of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and that retired clergymen of that dcnomlna-
ton have been specially favored in the matter
of amendments in the several departments,
does not sufficiently explain his nomination by
these representative bodies OF that church.
For certainly gentlemen of intelligence anu
cnlturc. such as these 200 ministers doubt
less are, would not so easily fall into
the error which they have so zeaOusly
charged upon the Roman Catholic Church,
of carrying Sectarianism into politics.
Nor is this action accounted for by the fact
that President Grant gave to prominent
Methodist clergyman, his own pastor, the Rev.
DR.. Newman, the very lucrative and not at
all labOriOus appointment which sent HIM round
the world at Government expense For
surely 1t would be hardly worth while to COM
NIT whole religious denomination to his sup
port for third term in payment for purely
personal favor rendered one OF its learned
and influential ministers. The action OF
this representative body of Meth0dists
must have been taken with some larger
view. 1t must be that these dtep-eyed seer5
had actually some sense of impending danger
to the Republic, that they should take
step so unusual as that of resolving their Sab
bath school Convention and Tract Society into
a nominating convention, and having 80 done
should have recommended so unprecedented
thing in our history as thud Presidential
term. II seems unfortunate that the dangers
which make this nomination necessary as Il
measure of public safety should not have been
more fully described. Perhaps they were pOr-
trayed in Bishop Ravens remarks if 80 ii is
Il pity Il fuller report was not transmitted to
the country. For ourselves, We are free to say
that we do not, rs at present advised favor
President Grants denomination. And yet, ii
the country is in any such peril as to make it
necessary az q measure of public safety We
shall hasten To support IT,
We will not permit ourselves 10 believe for
a moment that this action has been taken
except under the most profound sense of
impending peril. For sectarian religious
organization To take such step az this in the
nomination of one of it, own adherents, would
I've so contrary to all orr notions of politics
and of government. so opposed to that general
sense of propriety which has always kept out
of politics the slightest faint or suspicion of
II
and the emergency immediate, no person of
common sense would advise, and certainly no
body of sensible Christians would adopt it.
Should any Roman Catholic representative
bodies have taken this action, no matter
what the emergency, the prOfoundest indig-
nation would have been excited among
all other denominations, among none
more than the earnest and Jealous
Christians represented at the Boston meeting
referred to. 1t will not be claimed We pre-
sumo that any denomination of Christians has
an exclusive right 10 bring sectarianism into
politics. Ii Is no worse for one to do IL than
another Public opinion has in various ways
settled it that it is very dangerous business,
and the good sense of the people has hereto
fore set upon it the seal of its condemnation.
Bishop Haven and his audience, of course,
knew all this, aud knew the risks they ran of
being misunderstood. II must have been then
some sense of real peril that led them to this
remarkable procedure.
Would it not be well for Bishop Haven to be
q little more explicit Else there may he dan
ger of having Baptist and Presbyterian and
Congrcgationalist and nobody knows how many
more sectaran candidates for President; which
would be very sad state of things for when
it comes TO that, who knows but that the Ro-
man Catholics may hold n Convention and
nnI.linatn the pnnri And lhcn-=l.rcaI HraN-