The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-02-27

-
The religious revival In this city and else
where is gaining ground every day. similar
movement commenced at about the same time
in Europe and on the shores of the Pacific, so
that we may reasonably conclude that all Chris
tendon is awakening to grace. In this city
there are twelve daily public prayer meetings
of all the evangelical denominations. We
give a report of yesterdays proceedings at
one of them in to-dsy's paper. There are
also daily services in all the Episcopal and
Roman Catholic churches These services are
attended by not less than ten or twelve thou
sand persons every day; the prayer meetings
are crowded, and the attendance at the Lenten
church services is greatly in excess over any
previous year. We read that in all the meet
ings "there seems to be desire to avoid de-
nominational bias, and to make all the women
who come perfectly easy in their minds on the
score of possible offence at their preconceived
ideas" The same zeal prevails throughout the
country and the sinners are Aocking in great
armies to taste the sweet waters of eternal life.
The philosophic mind will naturally seek for
the cause of this sudden religious excitement.
1t may be found chiefly in the historical veri6-
cation of the theory that in all ages the spirit
of God and the spirit of Satan have been at
war for the possession of the soul of every man,
woman and child on the face Of the earth. To
60 back no further than the Christian era, we
find that the Apostles and their immediate sue
cessors, "the noble army of martyrs" buckled
on their armor and fought with Satan night and
day, in season and out of season, overcoming
him at last. Then the spirit of God reigned
upon the earth. Then arose he Roman church,
with all its pomps, splendors, political power,
corruption, SINS lusts, and wickednesses The
church was rich, powerful, luxurious, licentious
and cruel. During many centuries Satan had
possession of the ROmish church, and therefore
full swing over all Christendom. What he did
history will tell. Then arose the fiery Luther,
the mild Melancthon, the ascetic Calvin, the
sturdy John Knox. They openly deied the
devil and all his works. They preached through
all Europe the plain, simple faith of the Fathers,
and worked out the reformation. How the Dis
senters in England and Scotland and the HUI
guenOts bled and suffered for the cause of Christ
the records of the times Of Queen Mary, the
blood stained sabres of Claverhouses dragons,
the massacre of ST. Bartholomew and the cruel
ties in La Vendee will tell us. Here was ano-
Their army of martyrs, and the spirit of God
again reigned. But time impaired the power
of the Roman church, and the Anglican organi
cation took the lead. The penalties against
Dissenters were relaxed. Even Quakers were
acknowledged to be human beings. The sue
cessors of the reformers fell into the old ways
Satan again possessed the kingdom. Then ap
peared the instruments of the devil in the shape
of Voltaire, Rousseau and other free thinkers,
whose infidel publications set all Europe in a
blaze, and brought about the horrors and the
terrors of the first French revolution. The effect
of that revolution was to disorganize society in
France and elsewhere, and to make it fashionable
to scott and sneer at holy things The teach
ings of these French philosophers inculcated
many dangerous heresies, and many weak
brethren, scduced by the glittering generalities
of the inGdel books, embraced the spirit Of
Satan with open arms.
In the early history of this country the Puri-
tans had hard fight with the old leaven of un-
never hanged Quaker, set an Episcopalian in
the stocks, hunted a Papist out Of the settle
ments, or shot an Indian without having prayers
before and afterward. But here also the church
grew rich and lazy. The spirit of Satan came
down upon us twenty-five or thirty years ago,
in the shape of Fanny wrightism, Owenism and
so on-all theories connected more or less init
mately with in6delity. Then came Fourierism,
spirtualism, agrarianism, socialism, and the
browning abomination. Mormonism. The reign
Of corruption, roguery, in6delity, licentiousness
and fanaticsm had commenced. Satan seemed
firmly fixed when this new, spontaneous re-
yival Of religion commenced. And now we are
told that the spirit of God is to descend upon
all Christendom, to drive out Satan and all bis
works, TO cleanse, renovate, and invigorate all
the regular churches-to crush Mormonism and
all the other isms-to make US all clean and
white "a little lambs seven times washed in the
silver Jordan.
This is the philosophical view Of the religious
revolution. The Christian religion is founded
upon certain plain, practical, radical moral
principles and truth. Men change-times
change; truths alone are immutable, unchange-
able, eternal At various periods since the
birth of our Saviour the reign of error has seem
ed to be permanent, but not so. The spirit Of
God has descended upon the churches, the
brethren have returned to first principles, and
Lucifer has been sent bowling to Hadcs. II Is
now the time for similar movement, and with
the time we have the movement. We are re-
turning to first principles. Already we see the
decadence of the political and the fighting par
sons Beecher breaches Sharp's rifles no more
The spirit of Satan which popped into the
Church of the Puritans, like the spirit of evil in
the shape of Jack Calhoun" in Congress, has
been routed out, and the church is coming