Year: 1861

The ministers Of the Gospel are set az
watchmen on the walls of our spiritual Jeru.
salem. 1t is made their dnty to call the at
tcntion Of the people to any and all Of those
evils that threaten personal or national pros
pcrity. They are to cry aloud, spare not
and lift up their voices like a trumpet, ana
show the people their transgressions and the
house of Jacob their sins If they see the
sword coming they mnst give the people time
ly and faithful warning. If the dark cloud
of retribution lowers over the nations, char
ged with toe avenging thunders Of Jehovah,
it mnst be the duty of our spiritual watch.
man to point out the sins that are thus calling
tie just judgements Of heaven upon Us, and
urge upon the people that repentance and
prayer, that may avert the impending ruin.


What was the character Of the many SER
mons preached last week on the occasion OF
our national fast? Those that are re ported
mainly re!cr to Slavery as the great national


sin, and the cause of cur present national ca
lamities The sermon preached where we at
tended church, back in one Of our mountain
towns, was from Mark tx 30, And he
said unto them, This kind can come forth By
nothing but prayer and lasting


The speaker inferred from the text that
some devils were more powerful than others,


but none so powerful but that they might be


cast out by the use Of the right means. lie


then took occasion to show that slavery was


gigantic evil in our counry--a devil OF such


defiant strength, that we should appeal to


Heaven for ability to overcome him, and we


should not expect deliverance WITHOUT FAST


ING AND PRAYER 1t was shown that by


fasting and prayer national judgments had


been averted and national blessings secured.


The prayers Of the Church were compared to


the electric conductors, that might turn from


guilty nation the thunderbolts of ruin.


A recent number of the Tribune gi yes


numerous extracts from the sermons preached


on Thursday Of last week. They show


wonderful unanimity among the clergy OF dit


terent denominations upon the prominent evil


and sin of our country. If their voice is


to be needed, s'arery is our national crime


and has involved US in our present bloody


struggle and we may not hope for peace un-


til pure from this alarming evil. The 1ra-


5une in commenting upon these sermons says:


We are grat6ed by the tone of them but
we may be wrong, and all these religious men
may be wrong Only wesay that it would be
remarkable if speakers Of piety, thought, Gull


ture and conscience called to such work as
not once in hundred years is it given man


to do, summoned in the hearing Of God to dc


clare his word amid the horrors and humllla-
I tions Of internecine war, should one and all
5 sound the same keynote, and yet that note be
a false one We are still told by divers


croakinc folk that the war has nothing to do


with nigsers nor with emancipation, nor
with slavery as sin, nor with slavery as an
economical and political blunder. See how
all these ministers could not. for the lives of
. them. think so See how their pointed tin-
6 GERS all 90, with the unorring precision OF ln-
c stinot, directly TO the livia and s@oIlen
plaeue-spot, and how they all cry out by au-
thority and with their Bibles before them :
Heal tbisH Certainly, ifthcy are blunder-


ing. these physicians with divine diplomas,


how shall others rightly determine If the
pety and the morality and the Incorporated
virtue of the land is all wrong the heavens
= may we'll be hung with black, and day chan
god to night! The blind are leading the
: blind, and the ditch is just before US


And yet, let US not view with suspicion
e that intense patriotism which asks US, IN in
hese emergencies, to free ourselves from all
5 moral considerations This is not war
G with which Slavery has anything to do; anu
therefore let US never mention it This is a
war for the flag, for the Union, for the Paton.
Office, the Capitol, the Treasury, the Presl-
$ dents House, aud Pennsylvania avenue =
What a pity all these good clergymen should
: have been 50 much mistaken '-HeSSenye'.
y AN INSTITUTION FOR THE TIMEs--Ine