A clerical monster.
--The Rev. Dr. Tyng, of New York, and the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, of Brooklyn, must look to their laurels. We had given them the credit of bearing off the palm of malevolence and diabolism, but they are completely thrown in the shade by the Rev. R. J. Breckinridge, of Kentucky. Never, from any devilish Divine, nor depraved newspaper, not even the New York Tribune, have we seen a demand for the blood of women and children! Hear the wretch. In a late sermon he says:‘ "I have never believed in the doctrine of Purgatory, and have all my life fought against it; among other reasons, I have declared that in the whole grand sweep of God's moral government, I could find no place to locate it; and, if a place could be found, I saw no necessity for it, with the full provisions for redemption made in the Redeemer Christ. But if there ever was a time when such a place was needed, it is now, for a man occupying the stand point which I do, the conclusion forces itself, unbidden albeit, upon the mind, that there are many men who deserve not to be saved, and are not worth claiming. Such are that class of Kentuckians who would still wish to remain neutral, when our State has been invaded by a marauding soldiery from Tennessee. They refuse to offer their lives for the perpetuity of the country, and the putting down of the rebellion, and so show themselves unworthy of a nation's blessing. They take so feeble a part in the rebellion that they hardly deserve the public notice of a nation's mediation. But I hope there is not a soldier in this vast assemblage whose heart is not nerved to the same high purpose of my own — that this rebellion shall be put down, it matters not at what expenditure of money, or what sacrifice of the blood of rebels, or their wives or children --the Government is worth it all, and worthy of more."
’ We doubt whether any rebel of them all, even after such a diabolical threat, has the heart to wish that the blood of Breckinridge's wife and children, or of the wives and children of his party, or one drop of it, be sacrificed in this or any other war. Yet this is the language of a man professing to be a minister of the Gospel of peace and forgiveness, a meek and humble follower of Jesus Christ, who taught us to forgive our enemies, to pray for them that despitefully use us, and who declared that they that draw the sword shall perish by the sword! What a wolf in sheep's clothing! He says he has been all his life fighting against the doctrine of Purgatory. Did he ever read of any Inquisitor that breathed a more infernal spirit of persecution than glares like a sullen flame of hell in the deep caverns of a heart which cries out for the ‘"blood of wives and children?"’ Did he ever hear of any Roman Catholic, or Protestant, or Puritan, or even Pagan persecutor, who was not content with butchering men, but also insisted on having the blood of their wives and children? Did he ever hear of any one besides himself, except the North American Indians, and other horrible savages, who was as ferocious and bloody as Robert J. Breckinridge, Minister of the Gospel and Doctor of Divinity? Whether there be a Purgatory or not, is a question we are unable to decide; but if there be, we should not be embarrassed by Dr. Breckinridge's difficulty in fixing the place. We should ‘"locate it"’ without hesitation in his own neighborhood, where a minister of the Gospel, with the sacred name of the Redeemer upon his lips, flourishes the Devil's firebrands at every Kentuckian who dares even to remain neutral in a war upon the rights and freedom of the South. This is the crime for which he, a minister of the Gospel, says they ‘ "deserve not to be saved."’ In what chapter of the Gospel of Peace did this monster in Israel, the Rev. R. J. Breckinridge, D. D., learn that the conditions of salvation are faith and obedience to old Abe Lincoln?--Whether there be, or ought to be, a Purgatory (by which is meant a temporary place of fiery purification hereafter,) or not, is a question which we, who are no theologians, do not pretend to decide; but that there is, and ought to be, a Hell, no one can doubt who reads the above extract from Breckinridge's sermon.
