The New York herald., 1870-10-23
Religion and Religious sects in che United

Religion and Religious sects in ehe United
states.
Father Hecker, the Superior OF the Com
munity of Paulists in this city, took up very
interesting subje ct in his lecture last Tuesday
at the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, on ''Phe
Religious Condition of the County" From
MS standpoint as Catholic it was teated in q
liberal and comprehensive manner. Hs
argued, with much truth, that religion among
the Protestant sects, and particularly in New
England, had lost its vitality and hal run into
rationalism and scepticism. While tiese sects
still maintain the forms and pretend hold ia
the crceds Of former times they yirtuallv
ignore the faith and repudate the dctrines
"Not one man or woman in ten, he remarked
sswould be willing to make active faitl on tbs
five points of Calvinism, which was te reli.
gion of the Puritan fathers-in wore thew
had turned clean round the circle, 50 tht ths
religion Of the people there to-day was a en-
tire subverson Of Christianity as held bytheir
forefathers." The truth Of these remarks
must be apparent to every observing an, in
quiring mind. Father Hecker quoted Or.
Bellows and other preachers Of che same stsnp
in support of his argument; but DR.. Bell0a
is hardly fair representative Of the rel.
gious belief, or rather unbelief Of Ne,
England. He Is Unitarian, and although
there are a great many Of that sect the create,
part Of the New Englanders prefer to belong
to the Independents and other so-called Trini.
tartan sects of the old Calvinist school. Henry
Ward Beecher is more the representative Of
the religious sentiment Of New England at the
present time. There is, however, little diff
ference between them. Neither, as we under
stand it, believe in the Godhead and sacrifcial
atonement of Christ or in His divinity, except
in some such poetic sense as Renan does.
They profess to preach the gospel and call
Christ the Saviour, but in moral and fgura-
tive sense only. The old Puritan belief Is, az
Mr.. Hecker remarked. utterly subverted in
New England, and through New England in
huence very much destroyed throughout the
United States. He summed up the religious
condition there in few graphic words =
''Unitaranism had got rid of Christ by deny
ing His divinity; Universaism had got rid OF
hell by denying its existence and Spiritual
something for it."
The two irresistible tendencies at work ia
the Christian world, this able lecturer oh
served, is to Catholicism on one hand and ia
rationalism on the other. These are more
apparent in this country, because here religion
has fair and free field, and because there is
nothing to obstruct it in it's natural and logical
consequence. And what is the consequence
Of the subverted faith Of the Puritan
fathers-of those men and women s'whO
loved religion above all things and
were ready to sacrifice everything for the
freedom Of carrying ont their religious ideas 2"
In the first place, we see the Catholic Church
becoming stronger and spreading further every
day. The piously inclined cannot feed upon
the husks Of mere formality and rationalsm.
They cannot endure the insincerity of preach
ers and congregations processing the old orth0-
dox Christianity of the Puritan fathers while
no more believing it than Renan or Strauss.
Faith to them is spiritual life and salvation,
and they fly to the Catholic Church to find il
there. Herein lies the secret of the growth oil
that Church in this free country, where all
churches and sects are on the same footing
and where there is an ample field for their
action
II is moi within the province of an independ-
bat de- ~
all to argue for or against one religious body or
another. We simply state facts and reflect al
in mirror the movements of the times IL
cannot be denied, however that since the New
England Churches and their offsprings in other
parts of the United States have cut loose from
the old faith and have run into rational
ism, Universalism and modern Spiritual
ism, the morals of the people have not
been improved. The marriage tie, for
example, as Father Hecker properly
remarked, has been loosened. In Connecticut
there is about one divorce for every eight Pro-
testant families, and it is not much better in
Massachusetts and other New England States.
The family is the foundation of the social
fabric; yet see how it is undermined through
the laxlty of morals and want of religious
influence over the people. Then, again, the
decrease of births is so great, from like
cause mainly, that there would be danger OF
the New Englanders dying out if the popula-
ton were not kept up by foreigners. True we
build gorgeous temples Of religion, and the
liberality and taste displayed by the American
people in this is really remarkable. 1t is
something we may well be proud of, and it
shows to the world how religious institutions
can be maintained and flourish without the
support of the State and by the voluntary
principle. Nor do we forget that our Churches,
however much they may have fallen from the
old faith and have become more lax in princi-