he attention of the ministry from_ THE PEACEFUL PATHS OF
CHRISTIANITY TO THE ARENA OF POLITICAL TURMOIL--_it has pulled
down the banner of the Cross, and placed in its stead_ THE RED
FLAG OF INTOLERANCE AND PROSCRIPTION.'

"While Protestant ministers, in the enjoyment of the rights
secured to them by the Constitution, have, as before stated,
often engaged in controversies with each other as to their
differences in matters of Church government and speculative
faith, they have, with one accord, from the foundation of the
government, preached and published their views against the
Roman Catholic Church--which arrogates a superiority over them
all, and stigmatizes them as sects--long before the American
party ever had an existence. But because, in the course of
events, it has become necessary for politicians to inquire what
effect an acknowledgment of the temporal supremacy of the Pope
may have upon our free institutions, the Democratic party--if
it is to be judged of by its organ--would gag the Protestant
clergy, deny to them a right which they have always exercised,
and, if they dare to oppose the colossal strides of Rome,
denounce them as having converted the pulpit into a _political
rostrum_,' and as having raised '_the red flag of Intolerance
and Proscription_.'

"It is not for me to prescribe, nor do I desire to dictate the
duty of Protestant ministers; but if, in the combined efforts
which the Catholics have been making under the patronage of
European despots and noblemen, and the encouragement of
Democratic demagogues in our own country, they see that this
tremendous corporation has planted its footsteps in all our
large cities--is possessing itself of the North-West and the
Mississippi valley--and is encircling them, as it were, with a
wall of fire: if they see that the newspapers and periodicals
of that corporation have published doctrines in this free
country which they would scarcely avow in the Roman Catholic
countries of Europe: if, in one word, they believe that they
are to be persecuted and exterminated by Catholics, or take
care of themselves before it is too late--then Protestant
ministers, agreeing as they do in all great doctrines, and
differing only as to those which are not absolutely essential,
will cease to disa