Jasper Banner, Volume 2, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1855 — THE SPIRIT OF FANATICISM. [ARTICLE]

THE SPIRIT OF FANATICISM.

From the Kniisa* Herald.

The future historian of our country, in tracing the events of a few years past, will describe them as constituting the. era of American Fanaticism. Nor will he, if honest and candid, find any difficulty in ascribing that fanaticism to its origin.— That origin had its source in a mori hid and abnormal condition of mind, caused hy a diseased and excited state of religious feelings, and hy a false and misguided philanthropy; which, when matured, develop themselves in higher law notions that repudiate and disregard all laws, Divine and human, that stand in opposition to them. The higher law doctrine is no new thing. Every age and nation has !ha 1 its period of higher law man- | iTestations. —The numerous traditionsamong the Jews. ?md which were the cause of their final ru'n as a State, ! had their origin from the same cause. The inventors of these traditions, which in process of time set aside the laws of God—aflinned that besides the written laiv given to Mose -. |t!iere was an omJ—law also given, which they called “the Daughter of the Voice,” which was higher and ol greater authority'than the written law —that when the two came in conflict, the latter must give place to the former. And hence they made an unlimited use of the authority which their Daughter of the voice gave them; until, as the Redeemer told them, they made void—nulified—the the commands of God by their traditions. And when our Savior appeared among them, the religion that he taftghtoyAgyiot strict enough to suit their higher piety; nor was his Tern l perance stringent enough for them. Their higher law doctors and teachera denounced him as a “glutton and wine-bibber,” though aU their transcendental piety and religion were the most disgusting cant and hollow hypocrisy. Now, how far did the condition of things at that Aime in Israel .differ, from the existing state of things in our own country? In some portions of it the religion of the Gospel is not perfect nor strict enough to meet the present condition of the world and the circumstances of the times; nor is the benevolence of the Gospel cornprehensive enough to suit their philanthropy; nor is the temperance of the Gospel, as exhibited by the Bon of God, as taught and practised by his Apostles, stringent enough to satisfy the ultra propagandists of temqierahee in our day. And eouid the advocates of the Maine Liquor Law, in its obnoxious features, have wit-; jcieasfid the .mixacuioUA Con version of | water into winey could any of the elation of the deed and the Doer, than they would have been? And did the High Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees in our Savior’s day—the sell-styled conservators of all religion and piety, truth and morality on earth—go farther in nullifying the laws of Moses and of God, hy their higher law doctrines, than do some of the High Priests,Scribes and Pharisess in our own times, in their nuiitication of the laws of God and their country by their higher law doctrines? ! Let a comparison of facts in the two -cases answer the question. Another comparison in the two cases holds equally true, i There was a union, or fusion, among all the discordant elements ami factions in Judea; Scribes, Pharisees, Sadueces, Doctors and Lawyers, to accomplish a most wicked purpose—the death of the Baviar of the world; even Pilate and Herod 1 could, to gain the same end bury for awhile their enmity and shake hands, that they might wash them together ; in the blood of the Son of God. And thus we see in our day a similar union or fusion among the discordant elements and factions in our ! country —High Priests, Scribes and Pharisees, Doctors and Lawyers—TnlidcL of the boldest class, free think-, ers and no thinkers, with the most profligate outcasts of society, all combining together— to overthrow -• one of the institutions of our country, sustained though it be by the Constitution and laws of the country, and! sanctioned by the. Word of God. —, And all this they are attempting to, do by the authority of their higher law, their “Daughter of the Voice,” and, from the many privileges she gives her followers, she. is a liberal

daughter indeed. From her come all the isms of the day. We simply state the facts, we oni ly draw the comparison between the two analogous cases, which the facts fully sustain. Similar causes do not only produce similar results —but similar men under similar circumstances will act alike and regard i similar transactions in precisely the same light; ho«v remote so ever in ! point of space, or distant in point of time they may be. j And to argue and reason with the fanatics in our day is as much a waste of time and labor as it was in the days of our Savoir, when fanatical i lawlessness and impiety run riot in Judea. Then to every argument and every appeal made to thorn in defence of the Son of God, their i constant reply -was, “We have a law, and by that law he must die.’* ~ And TTIs so now. Every argument, every appeal made to these men; arguments and appeals drawn clearly, conclusively,and unanswerably from the Bible; arguments and appeals drawn from the Constitution and law’s of the country; arguments and appeals drawn from humanity,-patri- , otism love, of county, the preservation of our Union, the peaee, prosperity and happiness of a mighty and flourishing nation; all, all is met by the cry,"we have a law a-higher law’, and hy that law slavery must he abolished, or the Union dissolved.” ] To destroy such a confederacy as ours, such a nation as this v which God in his great wisdom and benevolence has allotted to us only, but for purposes of infinite mercy to the world; would be att act of impiety and Jolley without a parallel in the history of the world, save that one great crime, which stands, and will stand without a parallel in the histo- , ry of man. But there is nothing like th®/pirit of fanaticism, to unhinge the intellectual and moral organization of man, when it exercises complete and ; absolute sway and influence over the mind and heart; nothing so cf- | fectually dethrones reason,judgment, and conscience; and nothing like it' sto demoralize and vitiate the taste i and pervert the fyeiings from their ■ legitimate exercise and objects; facts I abundantly prove this. Take a case ,in point. A big negro of the unqual- ! itied species; reeking with the odor sos dirtmvperadde'dto Jusovvn odor, being seduced from his master and a i comfortable home by abolition promises and fraud, is received into one of the first families—seated on a rich sofa alongside of the Indies, and made a lion for a day. But let a decent and honest foreigner, who has fled . from reM^ppression and cruelty en- | ter to solicit arlittle Tirrefid lorni sTarnlsh ihg vvlTcanTclfil- ] dren; or let a poor but honest and .imunyrnwirwgiCTotwtwwwwnnnyaaM—unAyi 11 *"#— ii'wy>» I r nrtuouii native A-mettcan entef for the same purpose; or let one of I their own kith and kin, fallen by: , mkibrtune and., want into degrada- j lion, hut enter, while this repulsive ' negro is being commisserated feasted, and lionized; and from the threshhold of said benevolent, merciful and compassionate abode, they will be ex- | pelled with reproaches, scorn, and frowns. i Now look on the other side of the picture. When a poor slave, that lias been seduced from a happy and plentiful home, by false promises and . misrepresentations, discovers he has «been deceived; and when hunger, rags and cold make him realize his j condition; when the sw’eef memo- j ; ries of his “Old Virginia home” come . i over his mind as oft they will; when ; [he thinks of the kind mistress that j I tended him when sick; and the little masters and misses that would ; bring him nice things to eat’, and ! talk to him—-and such scenes I have ' seen in the South; then how be longs to go back again, but he finds it more difficult thaq it was to get away lie is prevented from returning to voluntary Southern negro slavery which he prefers to Northern negro liberty. And on the other hand, the honest and worthy foreigner who came to I our shores to enjoy the liberty which ■ in his own country he sought and , : sighed in vain to find, is scorned, despised, and would be driven back to oppression again by these same ! lovers of freedom and philanthropists, if he could. Truly the vagaries of ! fanatiara are wonderful, and its tastes no less extraordinary. Consistency ia a rare jewel, but. it is never found in the possession of fanatic#,

It is the same condition of taste and feeling, existing now, that proferred Harm bin, the murderer tof&& I innocent Jean* of Nazareth. But there ia a redeeming spirit in i the wisdom and intelligence, virtue and patriotism of the American peo* ' pie, which will say to this spirit of faj naticiam. “thus far shalt thou go and | no farther, and here shall thy waves of madness and folly be stayed.**— And this spirit of redemption and regeneration is rising in the North and East, where the heart of the people is still sound; where the sober seaond thought is seen and felt in a salutary reaction takin p'ace there; and the spirit of fanaticism will be driven to its dens of darkness and obsurity. —- ..As the lion, when roused from his slumbers by the footsteps of some inferior beast of prey, shakes the ~devTdrops from his iftan&, and fills the surrounding desert with his roar, the wild beasts fly in terror from him and hide themselves in their dens and caves; thus shall the spirit of truth and soberness, virtue and intelligence be heard in our land, to clear |it of its disturbers and spoilers; and our political horizon once more will I appear calm, bright, and smiting; and under the protection and care of Divine Providence, peace and harmony will return and dwell with us again. L. K. OCr’Horne Tooke was the son of a poulterer, which be alluded to when called upon by the proud striplings of Eton to describe himself—.‘l am,* said he, ‘the son of an eminent Turkey merchant.’ The citizens of Nevada, Califorc* ia, especially the female portion of ; them, are anoyed by the visits to that j city of neighboring Indians, who ara fentirely nude. , |— DCPA German writer says that the people of the United States can burst more steamboats, and chew more tobacco, than any other five .nations of the globe. This man must have traveled among us with his eyes open.