The New York herald., 1870-01-02
D1oa.r. prosr..,-.so,suo. and Religion.

uau uay w taih auout prOgVoSs. Our years
and our days are Christian SO far as they have
any special meaning. OF the Christian year
1870 this is the first Sabbath. In millions Of
pulpits the word over the new year this
morning will be sung in, prayed in, preached
in, and millions of congregations will respond.
It is a landmark in the journey Of time which
times voyagers cannot afford to despise, which
We don't despise, and Of which we mean to
take advantage. We think of progress. We
have a right to think oft for If the world has
not made progress in these eighteen hundred
and sixty-nine years we had better give up or
cease to talk Of our Christianity. Progress
really is the question.
How is it then? Some eighteen hundred
odd years ago they crucfed-men crucifed-
the Christ, the Son of Man, the Son Of
God. He was the man OF the period. He
| thought and spoke for Himself; and because
He thought and spoke for Himself men laughed
at Him, sought to stone Him, called Him a
| blasphemer, spat upon Him and ultimately
killed Him, and killed Him cruelty. In those
| days in Jerusalem and among the Jews death
was the penalty of free thought and speech.
But free thought and speech had suffered often
before. 1t was not q new spectacle that
men and bold had suffered before; but If
history has voice Jesus was the greatest
His death was the grandest sacrifice in the
name and cause of religion liberty and man
hood which the world had known. But that
great sacrifice was not the last. Other victims
in other years followed. Stephen perished;
SO did Paul and Peter and since Peters time
who can tell the number of victims which
tyranny has claimed from freedom, prejudice
from truth These last eighteen hundred odd
years have been fruitful of effort, fruitful of
sacrifice, and all the effort and oil the sacrifice
has been inside of Christianity; but the world
has marched on and to-day liberal Christianity
can boast of victory. The fight has been long
aud severe, but on this first Sunday of the
year 1870 liberal Christianity can truthfully
say 81 am MASTER"
The world has made progress. We all share
the blessing. Where is the man who now
breads or thinks of death for conscience sakep
We seek for him, but we cannot find him. The
blood of the martyrs has proved the seed of
the Church. The victims Of free thought have
now ample vengeance, for men by the bun
dreds of millions stand up and are willing to
die for liberty as well as for righteousness and
truth. II is now some centuries since Galileo
made an important scientific discovery since
bo xloJ md cd hutth
moves on in far higher and nobler sense than
the wise Calico and his ghostly, priestly
friends believed was possible. Look at the
scientific striumphs of the day. Think of the
present and think of the past, and then mea-
sure the gAf. How we have been bounding
forward! Where is there chance now for
martyrdomp We can have no second Socra-
tes, no second Jesus Christ, no second
Stephen or Paul or Peter, or Huss or Wick
life, or Latimer or Ridley. We may have some
more Galileos for Galileo was kind of Henry
Ward Beecher of his day, and the Beechers
now flourish like green bay trees But the
steam engine, the printing PRESS the news
paper, the railroad, the telegraph-what shall
we say of them? What can we say of them
Do they not comprise the great distinctive
features of this glorious age2 The Church
grlmbled and cursed because Calico said
the earth moves round the sun. What would
the Church of that day have said to the great
facts of modern science? We have made time
disappear as barrier. We have annihilated
distance Time and space, in fact, have be-
come as very little things. We have raised a
power in the newspaper which makes the
churches, one and all, things of secondary
Importance. We can now boast of public
opinion-not wise always, but always strong
enough to put down tyranny or preten-
sion or humbug, whether these appear in
the Church or out Of it. We can have no
more cruci6xions, no more Smithfelds, no more
witch burnings, not even on Boston Common
Even Lord Byron, thanks to the honest and
outspoken press, is now likely to have justice
Fair play all around is the order of the day.
s'Many shall run to and fro and knowledge
shall be increased;" ''the crooked places shall
be made straight and the rough places plain"
Ancient time -honored words! But in these
late days of the world how literally true!
Science and religion! Are they friends or
foes? Do they differ? Are they one and
the same? A Council now sits in Rome and
it has gravely set itself to answer the question
whether philosophy is heterodox Is the cable
despatch joke? We don't think it is. Reli-
gion is philosophy. Philosophy is religion
They are not two but one The Church, how
ever, calls itself religious and the Church-we
ought to have said the churches-hates philoso-
ply. Philosophy, in the true sense, is
the love Of knowledge. If the love
of knowledge be heterodox in tho
eyes of the Church, and particularly in the
eyes Of the Ecumencal Council, we ought to
rejoice that the railroad, the telegraph, the
newspaper, and the public opinion which these
feed and maintain, render crncifxions and
inquisitions henceforward impossible. Science
and reliviOni No Ecumenical Council no