New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-03-12
THE BURIAL OF GEORGE HOLLAND.
March, 1871.

THE BURIAL OF GEORGE HOLLAND.
Tee Little Church Around the Corner,,
and its Nleaning-sermon by Elder
Brooks-He Defends the Church and
Condo mns sabine.
From the st. Louis Republican,
The excitement in relation to the burial
of George Holland, the actor, ives some
interest to the following sermon, delivered
by Elder Brooks, of the Christian church,
Seventeenth and Olive streets, yesterday.
on the subject. 1t furnishes some idea OF
the views taken of the matter by one class
of Protestant ministers.
Elder Brooks spoke substantially as FOL
lows:
We are opposed to what arc usually de
nominated sensational sermons, and we do
not advert to the now wonderful history of
the Little Church Round the Corner with
any sensational purpose whatever, but. II
possible, to comprehend the reasons that
underlie the wonderful excitement caused
by the refusal of Mr.. Sabine, the rector OF
large and fashionable New York church to
extend the usual funeral rites of his church
to George Holland, the actor. and his re-
ferring Mr.. Jefferson to the Little church
| round the corner, which was in the habit
OF doing such things
This foolish act OF the rector has brought
down upon his head the denunciatisns of
almos, the entire nation, religious and IRE
ligious; but not only that, it has furnished
an occasion to gentlemen of literary merit,
at least, to vent their spleen upon the TN
| offending Church of Christ Some of these,
| as Mr. Clemens, in the February number of
| the GALAXY, not content with heaping the
! concentrated filth of the English language
| upon the head Of Sabine, goes ont OF his
way to pour forth the long pent up wrath Of
| his heart upon the church in general.
| After exhausting his impotent rage-fOr
! suppose the church will survive it-he sums
| up the whole matter as follows: The thea
| ire teaches large audiences seven times a
interchangeable or thirty hours alto
gether. and the novels and newspapers plead
| and argue and illustrate, stir, move, thrill.
| thunder. urge, persuade and supplicate at
the feet of millions and millions Of people
every single day, and all day long. and tar
| into the night; and so these vast agencies
till nine-tenths OF the vineyard, and the pull
| pit tills the other tenth
But. if these things be true. why 60 to
the church at all for funeral rites Ii the
| theatre has accomplished quite all the moral
| good in the world. why not disband the
| church and devote the immense amount Of
| labor and money expenses upon the world
| TO the stage. 1t seems to me it would be
an easy matter to thus accomplish the re-
naming tenth OF good besides, we should
IL IL.
would not be saddened by caring for the
poor. the pagan. the sick and the dying.
But then, in the light of George Hollands
| history. what shall we do when we come
! to die,
Ii seems we can live in the theatre and Go
without the church when living, but we do
not want to die there, however illustriOus
| examples we have in that direction: and
then We want a priest. not an actor. TO pray
| over us when dead, else why did not Mr.
Jefferson attend to the matter himself. and
| not disturb the piOus conscience of the I'M
| fortunate Sabine?
Evidently. notwithstanding all this abuse
| OF the church. the true lesson is on the face
| OF the facts as now developed. The cry Of
horror going up from the nation is but the
, spontaneous expression of the national
| heart that a man must either go to heaven
through the church or be prayed into
| heaven by the church after death. Mark
| Twain in his insane rawlings against the
| church may bring himself down to a
| level with Sabine. but when death comes
| to him. even he will wish to breathe his last
amid the songs and prayers OF the saints
| But he should remember that as he lives he
| shall die. If the tree fall toward the
| north or toward the south. in the place
where the tree falleth there it shall be.
Fec XII, 3. He that is unjust let him be
! unjust still; and he that is filthy let him be
| filthy STILL and he that is righteous let him
| be righteous still; and he that is holy let
him be holy STILL Rev. xxi, =. Thus the
Savior, in his last vision of the resurrection
and the final destiny Of the human family,
| disposes of this question.
Sabine's was piece of heartless folly, to
! say the least. Why not pray for the com
| fort of the friends of the dead! Not in
| deed with the hope Of changing the cOndi-
ton of the departed, whatever that might
be, but to comfort the aching hearts Of
| those remaining upon the shores OF time.
Did he suppose that this lump of clay,
shrouded for its last long sleep. could pol
lutte the walls and altar of his church, or IN
any way tarnish his priestly robes. If so.
We say down with the pharisaical spirit
that prompted the thought, and the heart
less soul that could execute its diabOlical
| dictation.
| But while much that is personal has been
| said, and, perhaps. much that ought not to
have been said. the philosophy that under
lies the cOmmotion incident to the facts has
been entirely overlooked. Other men,
| in ages past have been refused what Is
called christian burial" by both Romish
and Protestant priests, and the Christian
world has looked on approvingly, while
other men silently submitted to the terror
| ism of ecclesiastical authority. What,
| then, has produced the furore of excite
! ment incident to this case :" 1t is but a
| preliminary manifestation of the storm of
| wrath soon to burst upon the human dog
| mas and practices of the false ecclesiasti-
cisms of the hour; the strugglings Of the
| enlightened conscience to be free and OF the
national heart signing for that true
| humanity and divinity which alone can
| s)ften, elevate and adorn the soul for the
habitatiOn of peace when the struggles OF
life are ended. This demand the false and
| stilted systems of the day fail to give
and hence the human will struggling tC
be free and the heart aspiring to some
thing more in harmony with it's own neces
sites, has rebounded to the opposite ex-
treme of rationalism and latitudinarianism
The struggle is upon us, and it remains to
be seen whether Professionalism will yield to
this just demand and correct it's faults. or
60 down before the storm of wrath gather
ing to its sure destruction. But let us now
kindly indicate some of the errors OF the re-
ligious world against which this solemn pro-
test has gone up from the nations heart.
One Of the incarnated ideas OF the age ls
opposition to human and authoritative
symbols of faith. Blind and foolish men
like Sabine may, in defense OF these dead
forms Of an age past and gone forever
it is only to gather about their heads a
storm of universal Indignation. Such a
one is but q man wrestling with a nation
half right and half wrong: do the masses
believe there is Divine influence in what is
| called a christian burial ~ The clergy
1 have helped to incHlcate the dogma, and
now shall they refuse this last boon
to the friends Of the dead, even though
he lived his life upon the stage