Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-21

When handed you, NE nuas'
communicated which you published IN
the Dispotch Of the 18th instant nso
no idea Of entering into . newspaper
controversy. l wrote for the cCns,u-
Grafton Of thoughtful and discreet Chris.
tan men and women and ministers Of
the Gospel. had no reason to expect
: response addressed to the intelligence
Of babies and idiots. l did not appeal
to either Of those classes Of society.
I have all my life had the tenderest
sympathy for the one class, and my
heart has always revolted against any
amercement from their antics and per.
formances. From the other class l
baye had blessed experiences in life. |
have handled them upon my knees. Ny
beart-stripgs have been wrapped around
them, and. with all Of paternal interest
and hope. ! have provoked and en-
joyed their babbling. When passed
out to meet the emergent duties OF Life
I have carried with me the memory OF
the mornings parting and the hope OF
the evenings reunion but ! have
never before been asked to address q
serious argument to infantile intslli-
gence.
II your correspondent in his reply to
nv communication had been content to
assume any less honorable and vene-
rsble name than that Of :" A Presoyte'
rian PASTOR" / would have cheerfdliy
RENTED my own communication aud
his to the intelligent classes to which
he addressed himself.
But Mr.. Editor, the Southern Presoy.
terrain Church, of which both he and
myself are members, is not constituted
either in its ministry, its eldership, or
its membership of babies and idiots.
Its "historic protest." to which
alluded in my former communication
was originally made and is to this day
on the isolation Of our Church among
all the churches of America preserved
by men of high hearts, Of large brains,
Of full learning, and of faith, and OF
PRAYER. Among these men " A Presby-
terrain Pastor I" will find small follow
ing in his defence of Sunday political
meetings and Of ministerial political
controversies. =,
l have the highest veneratiou and
reverence for the Christian ministry,
and If could control the destiny Of an
only son l would consecrate him for
that holy Office. TWAS because Of that
vsneration and reverence, and because
of my knowledge Of sentiment preva-
lent in this whole community, not less
among the sympsthizers with the OBJ
iect of this Sunday meeting than among
those who did not sympathize with it,
that I wrote q temperate appeal to these
brethren to call q halt in their methods.
If these ministerial brethren could
hear-as intelligent laymen hear-the
censure which has been provoked if
thew could know-as intelligent laymen
know-how much injury has been done
to the moral power Of the ministry and
the cause Of our holy religion | think
they would halt.
i did have purpose in my allusion
to DR.. Hoge's services at Old-Market
Hall, but never thought that the in
decorum could be attributed to me of
dragging DR.. Hoge's opinions as a citi-
zen into this political canvass. / thought
nv purpose would be abundantly clear.
If any thoughtful or discreet Christian
man or woman of Richmond cannot I'M
derstand how DR.. Hoge's work at Old
Market Hall would be impeded by Sum-
day political meetings to consider the
question Of prohibiting the sale of liquor
it is impossible for me to enlighten them.
I can only say that in making the sug-
gestion it did not occur to me to specu-
late how DR.. Hoge as citizen would
vote on the Goth instant, but did know
and thought all this community knew
that no earthly power could have
dragged DR.. Hoge on that MozartHall
platform on Sunday evening or betrayed
him into the blunder of converting his
Old.Market Hall services at night into
q political mass-meeting.
l had also q purpose in alluding to
Henry Ward Beecher and Plymouth
church. The capacity for usefulness
of that man and that church has been
unequalled in America. If he could
only have accepted his great commits.
sion in the right spirit and "determined
not to know anything among his peo'
pie save Jesus Christ and Him cruel
fied," be might have rivalled in Ameri
ca the work of Spurgeon in England
When he took his first departure hi
proffered the same plea which my bro
Their proffers now. But thoughtful mer
of every denomination, like the Alex
anders, the Millers, and the Hodges o
our own Church, rejected it and sound
ed the note Of warning that it was thu
first step in that faeilis descensus which
has already reached the disastrous goa
SO graphically pictured by my brother
II slavery was, as he believed, ct tn
sum OF all villainies "-if the Constitu
ton of the United States because OF it
recognition Of slavery "a covenant will
death and league with hell "-wer
not be and all of his Abolition pulpit al
lies upon the logic of my brother right il
sowing upon Sundays snd week day
the seed which blossomed so soon int
bloody fruits upon hundred battle
fields in the South?
Aye, more If the ministers Of on
colored churches believed that tn
restoration Of the Democratic party t
power involved return of their peopl
into slavery, were they not right upo
the same logic in converting thei
churches into Republican headquarter
and preaching politics from their pulpit
instead of the Holy Gospel?
1t is one of the saddest features {
this new departure that this prostitr
ton of the colored churches and tn
colored ministry to the services Of
political party-against which the Chris
tan men of the North and the Sout
have been protesting ever since tt
warts now openly and boldly coul
tenancsd and encouraged by some
| their white ministerial brethren.