The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-06-16
The Puritanism Of New England -


with limited demand.
The Puritanism Of New England ~. cbarac-
ter and Its Manifcsp, .,,.,.
A devou', plous' sarcase @ and rather witty
Jourhai' calieo tne o"'' ,stian Advocate, has for
sono weeAs pass cen pointing out with a
=, o'"o'. e"iouu of ability the shortcomings OF
."o e. s'oas nd the infdel characteristics of
'l.e secuus press Of. this country. The editor
' ana o",,ssn Advaadts is evlden~; read
.us,ei liking man, not Indifferent to the
are ofhis country and not unwilling to do
| good to the extent of his ability. Like many
other well meaning men, however, DR.. Curry
sees the evil which he deplores through dis
torting medium, and fails altogether to trace it
to its root. He knows it is there, but he
neither sees it clearly nor tells us whence it
| comes. He is one OF those men whom
Bacon would unscrupulously have put
in the "cave." In the "cave" he lives
and out of the cave" he looks. He sees
nothing but what is in the "cave" or what hap
pens to pass its mouth. His vision, therefore,
is limited His logic is faulty by defect With
some of the opinions advanced by the editor
Of the Christian Advocate we decidedly agree.
From some Of them, for the reasons just given,
we as decidedly differ. Some Of his statements
are singularly correct some Of them are
strikingly at fault We cannot agree with him,
for example, in the distinction which he draws
between secular and religious newspaper.
In our opinion no newspaper should be purely
secular or purely religious but every news
paper should be both secular and religious
great newspaper conducted ON purely
party principles, whether religious or secular,
is az impossible a. it is undesirable, and DR..
Curry's growing experience will yet convince
him that o newspaper must be both religious
and secular or nothing at all We agree with
him, however, in much which he says regard
ing certain literary journals and newspapers
of the day.
We should not have dwelt at such length on
DR.. Curry, were 1t not that in the columns Of
the Christian Advocate he unconsciously en-
has again and again given expression. 1t is
curious thing that the journals and the special
features Of journalism to which DR.. Curry takes
exception should have direct connection with
New England and should be Puritanic in their
origin. Such, however, is the fact A Christian
journal bewails the irreligion and infdelity of
the press. That portion Of the press chiefly
complained of either exist, in or derives its
inspiration from New England, the home of
the Pilgrim fathers and the still boosted centre
Of religious life and thought i'm the United
States. We do not say it was the object of the
Christian Advocate to give New England this
prominence. But, consciously or unconsciously,
the prominence is given, and it is only because
in our opinion the prominence is merited and
just we call attention to the fact We can
homologate all that the Doctor has said Of the
| North American Rerc,c, Of the Atlantic Monthly,
Of the Liberal Christian, Of the Ant-Slduery STAN
dard, and of the New York Tribune. We could
add other names, such as the Radical, Boston
| journal Of the extreme rationalistic school,
not excluding from our list the sage and once
sanity Independent, Of New York Not one OF
these journals but is stepped in New England
| sentiments In all of them--in some more, in
some less distinctly-we behold reflected, as in
glass, the religious as well as the intellectual
character Of New England. II Is q strange
character 1t appears all the more strange
when we remember its origin. The contrast
between the New England OF the present day
and the New England Of an earlier period the
New England Of every religion or Of no reli-
gion, and the New England Of unbending and
intolerant orthodoxy the New England that
can listen to parson avowing from Christian
| pulpit his unbelief in the Holy Scriptures, and
the New England that punished with merciless
severity every departure from the one in
violable standard-the contrast, we say, is very
great 1t would be difficult for the orthodox
fathers Of old to recognize the features Of their
pious descendants. And yet the children
are not SO unlike their fathers, after all. The
religion has been changed or abandoned, but
the spirit viii oh gave life and character to tina.
| religion still remains. New England has less
| religion or II has more "isms" than OF old /;
but 1t Is as selfish, as ambitious, as greedy Of
power, as impatient Of opposition, as preten-
sious, a. opinionative, as bigoted, as intolerant
| as ever.
These are the characteristics which mark
New England Of the present day, and which
have marked her at every previous period Of
her history. II Is necessary in all things to
yield her the supremacy. She Is never without
her wbims, and whatever is the within Of the mo-
ment-whether Il be . religious, philosophic,
phaanthropic or transcendental within, whether
II be negro rights or woman rights, whether It
be the extinction Of witchcraft or the extinction
] Of iutemnerance- IL equally imperious