--The following letter from
the Rev. J. W. Moseley, of
Louisiana, who has recently visited
Washington city, will be interesting to many readers:
The religions condition of
Washington has sadly deteriorated since the commencement of the war. The political preachers have become more political in their prayers and sermons.
You could once hear the gospel in its purity, but he who attends the church of
Dr. Sunderland, or
Mr. Noble, (a chaplain in the Navy.) or
Mr. Brown, who now fills the place of
the Rev. Dr. Bocock, will hear tirades upon the wickedness of the
South, and harangues upon the glory and power of the pious
North.
An Elder in
Dr. G--'s church said to me--‘"religion is dead in the churches, our prayer meetings have been converted into Abolition conclaves, and the best class of attendants have ceased to come."’
Mr. Brown has disgusted his congregation, and the
Government was compelled to give him a chaplaincy to save him from suffering.
Dr. Gurley, up to this time, has continued to give his people the unadulterated gospel, unmixed with the hypocrisy and humanitarianism of Northern fanatics.
A lady remarked to me. ‘"it was awful to hear the prayers of blood and imprecation which were sometimes harried, in the name of God, at the
South!"’ To ‘ "crush,"’ ‘"confound"’ and ‘"destroy"’ were no unusual epithets.
Nevertheless, there are a few good and noble spirits who cry day and night for peace.
They are sick of the awful scenes of the wounded and dying which
Washington city has so often witnessed.
Dr. Sampson, a Baptist minister, on the day of one of our ‘"fasts,"’ called the attention of the union prayer meeting to it, and desired that God would bless the day to our everlasting good.
It met with the approbation of some, but
Dr. John C. Smith remarked, if this was to be converted into a ‘"secesh"’ meeting he would come no more, and his majesty has since kept at home to curse the
South and invoke blessings on the head of
President Lincoln.--Although I was once a teacher in his Sabbath school, and a member of his congregation, yet I was afraid to attend his church, lost he should recognise and report me to the
Provost Marshal, and have me imprisoned.
We do trust the prayers of the few righteous will be heard, and that He who is
Head over all things to the
Church will grant them and us the speedy blessings of peace.
Christ does not delight in bloodshed and the horrors of war, therefore they and we may humbly draw nigh and earnestly pray that this dreadful sacrifice of human life be stayed.
