The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-08-21

IN Jane anu EUCutHSI
She's no longer sour but Sweet;
And he's Lemon squccZer'
The Gospel of Gush.
The G50be,D em0crdt, in its capacity OF Il re-
ligious organ, heartily indorses the senti
ments expressed by the secular New YORK
T'rjbuDe upOn the subject of the Gospel oil
Gusb as developed in Brooklyn and illustrat
ed in the great scandal suit. The country mas
had n surteit OF the transcendental stun which
lleavened the whole loaf Ot piety in the circle
Of boobies and fanatics that ensnared the con
fidine nature of the great preacher, ana lured
him almost to utter overthrow. The expos
nre made in the memorable trial, of the hab.
lie of thought, modes of talk, and springs OF
action prevailing among the night. blooming
cereus propagatOrs of 1.-THE higher law IN SO.
ciety, morals and religion, has startled ana
disCusted healthy-m!n ded people everywhere
| T, z plain now though few suspected ii be
| fore. tAat the lush mouthings Of those ire
irresistible fathomcrs after the unfathomable
were but the screening that concealed emo
tions and practices of the widest and wick
eles, character They lived, those yirtuous
mystics, in an atmosphere of moral pestl,
Ience. which absorbed virtue and sense and
wholesomeness like eXhalations. Their doc
trines were firebrands, which they threw
about them as in sport; their ways were the
WAYS that sap and rob the best things of life
IN Short, they set before us, in rhetoric that
was rich in color and heavy with perfume,
what the Tribune fifty characterizes as ian
diotc uavesty of philosophy, and dress
ing up of lust in the robes of religion"
The Intelligent and conscientious people OF
the United States, we repeat, have had enough
of this pernicious stuff. Not professional
Christians alone, but good citizens OF all be.
lefs and in all honorable walks of life, are
nauseated with the nastiness OF feeling ana
conduct TO which this trial accustomed them,
and which they could not else have believing
to exist in any civilized, not to say religious,
community. If the legal investigation OF
this sad affair, unsavory as it has been in ev-
ery aspect of it, shall result in nothing more
than acQuainting the country with the true
meaning and tendency of the Gospel OF Gush,
it will rot be wholly without value "for re-
proof and for admonition." We doubtless
needed TO know just what this shocking epis-
ode has told us. 1t was of vital interest to us,
as individuals and as societies, TO be shown the
inner spirit and encroachlng danger OF that
alurng but essentially vicious system OF re-
ligious faith and practice which make chris
tanity dream instead OF battle, picnlcky
intercourse with bright and sweet essences,
rather than n stern and unceasing struggle
with daily tasks that have tests in them,
ahead of them the judgment We see this
now as we see the sun at the meridian, and
we shall not soon forget or grow blind TO it.
In such view, the great scandal, if not a
positive national blessing, is likely to be OF
sufficient advantage, as moral light ana
warning to considerably atone for the evil II
has done to good taste, clean thought and
common decency.
What we need in this country just Gow,
more than new revelations or new lnterpre,
tations, is the revival of the old-fashioned
earnestness and ightforwardness IN mat.
tiers of morals and religion. There was, after
all, saving grace in the clumsy teachings OF
those unlettered servants OF the Master VINO
went about doing good, in the era OF the
saddle.b bags and sermons that had Sinai ana
Hades IN them. They were men who FIRE
auently lost or tangled the nominatives to
their verbs, but they wrote no letters upon
which actions of adultery could be founded,
and their paroxysms were serious wrestlings
with angels, instead of blossomy dallian G
with foolish and perilous things. The pco'
pie who sat under the minIstraiions or tho.c
uncouh preachers were dumb to the prick
jngs of true inwardness, and they would
have laughed at the idea of little birds sing.
ing in their hearts, They slept through tie
Sunday service, many of them, like tired
children; but it was the sleep of the just, the
contented, the Godfearing, the commandment
keeping. The world in the abstract, Is no
worse now, perhaps, than 1t was then; In
many respects it is unquestionably better,
happier and more exalted. But we certainly
and solely lack much of the mastertul spirit
of inbred, homespun pieiy which regulated
the lives of those who deived and spun in the
forenoon Of our national history.
We do not need TO forfeit our rich gains IN
culture and material progress; but do need
to supplement those attachments with gen
eral renewal of the commonplace, every day
virtues of the period when the Bible was ac-
cepted in its literal reading from Genesis to
Revelations and scoiiers at sacred beliefs and
preindiccs were looked upon as vcritable
emssarlcs of an actual Satan. We have re-
fined away 10 great extent unconsclOusly
those rugged sentiments of honesty which lie
at the very base of both private and public
moral excellence We need TO infuse into
our moral and religious relations that sturdi-
ness Of thought which scorns falsehood and
hates trickery, and grasps plain things in a
plain way. Mr.. Beecher himself, Suiltless as
we believe him to be of the grave accusation
made against him by the fellow Tilton, is not
wholly blameless in the matter of slackenng
! lnt Olu IGStTdlllS, anu Inviting Wv ''N 'NNaiH
ards of social and moral superiority; and he
could address hlmsclfto no more serviceable
and creditable task, now that he knows by
bitter personal experience what misery turks
below the delusive attractions of a purely bot
ancal theory of life, than the revival ana up
building Of rigid and pervaslve faith IN the
soundncss and safety of the old-iashioned
methods of combating the sins of the world
and redeeming the unregenerate children ol
,men-.St. Louis Globe Democrat
! Adventure with "a Shark.
j Cnni. PAul Boyton relates an adventure Inc