The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-05-19
Review or the Religious Press.

of affairs existing at the House OF Refuge on
Randall Island, and we are glad to see that
our efforts in the cause of humanity ana re-
ligious liberation are appreciated The Cath0-
lic Revieao says:-
No journalist alive to the credit OF his profession
can withhold his testimony of praise from the NEW
YORK HERALD for its notable enterprise In search
ing for and discovering DR.. Livingstone In the MD
die OF Africa but to us 1t seems that It's great ener
gies and wonderful resources are best employed IN
exploring the hidden mysteries OF some OF our
American institutions What 1t can accomplish In
that way was shown in last Sunday HERALD, which
thoroughly exposed the "unsectarian' working OF
the Randalls Island House OF Refuge, where SIX
hundred Catholics, OF a class peculiarly IN need OF
the moral influences OfregiOn are, In the hfst place.
deprived OF the instruction OF Catholic priest LOT
whom they might have respect ana, IN the next
place are led to detest all religion by the religious
persecution to which they are subjected.
The Tablet also thinks that our article
will open the eyes Of the drowsy and Indifferent
among New York Catholics, and will attract the
attention OF fair minded and rightthinkng people
OF all religious persuasons to the illegal and most
tyrannical conduct OF the officials OF the Refuge,
with the conniyance, or more probably, ny tue
direct authority, OF the managers
Good men of all denominations cheerfully
concur in the doctrine of "freedom OF wor-
ship and SO fragrant violation of it as is
now being perpetrated on Randals Island
deserves prompt and marked rebuke The
time has gone by for religious persecution, no
matter how specious the guise it may assume.
The question of ''open' and "close' COM
munion is agitating the Baptist press, and is
being discussed occasionally with excessive
warmth One published letter on the subject
by close communionist-that is, one who
disbelieves in admitting unimmersed Chris
tians to the Lords -stigmatized his OPP
ponents as guilty Of ''fraud," Hypocrisy"
and ''infamous conduct" and for this the
Baptist Union very properly takes him to task.
Such language would not be tolerated in a
social gathering Of gentlemen, and how sadly
improper, then, must it be when applied by
simple provocation of difference of doctrinal
opinion? We wonder that any religious
editor should have published such q commune
cation. The Union also protests against the
truth of some Of the facts Of the case as stated
by it's opponents. On the other hand, the
''strict'' communicates show no symptom of
retreating from their most extreme position.
For example, the Examiner and Chronicle says:-
This very eXclusiveness, with it's plain ntimation
u IL Vi
vital Importance to the future well being OF the
Church, is one Of our chief means of winning all
Christians to an acceptance OF the doctrine OF be-
LEVERS baptism To this the whole visible Church
will ultimately come.
Perhaps the Examiner is right; but we think
that it should never forget that the vast major
ity of sthose who profess and call themselves
Christians dissent from the practice-or doc
trine whichever word may be thought the bet
ter-of baptism by immersion. An error, if it
be an error, so tremendously important from
simply numerical point Of view should at least
be treated with respect.
Church and State has a somewhat respondent
article about Education for the Ministry"
and says:
The danger to the influence OF the clergy in our
day is twofod. II is to be found in the higher cul-
ture of the laty and in a tendency to a lower cu-
tare as preparation for the ministry it is not GER
ministry of His Church; but, however that may be-
it is clear as Robert South says, "that He has no
need OF human ignorance"
There have been very common complaints
of late on this subject in most of the religious
papers, and there must, therefore, be some
ground for the charged facts that the ministry
is not a popular profession with men of ability,
and that the clergy Of all denominations are
gradually losing the influence which they once
exercised over their congregations. But we
think that the Church to-day presents as splen-
did on array Of piety and genius as in most
other epochs of its recent history. The mass
of the clergy in oil ages have been necessarily
men Of a very common order of intellectual
ability. But among divines, as among actors
and lawyers, it is the fashion, apparently, to
exalt the past at the expense of the present.
The ,Je,cish Times, in an eloquent article on
ssReform at Home" attacks the materialism
of the age we live in, and especially with re-
gard to the change it has worked in the habits
of the Israelite Formerly, it says, that the
Jew was always student, whereas now 'the
young men prefer the billiard and card room of
the club to the seclusion of the study" Then
it asks -
Have we given up our venerable customs, our
soul-stirrng ceremonies, in exchange for debasing
profigacy' Have we given up the worship of God
that refinement OF heart, that elevation of mind,
that nobesse of thought which distinguished our
fathers, steeled them with courage to withstand
the tide Of corruption, superstition and persecu-
ton, and carried our people aloft, placing them
at the head Of European civilization Is the sun
OF nDerty plaStlnB our eneTeles sleau Vi lnVlsor-
ating them
The Independent denounces the resolution of
the Cincinnati Convention on the tariff ques-
ton as "a jugglery of words" and wants to
shear Mr. Greeley over his own signature on
this point as needed supplement to the time
serving, incoherent, ambiguous and palpably
dishonest muddle with which the Cincinnati
Convention has attempted to befool the
public" e.,. ,,.-
There is, however, comparatively but little
politics this week in the religious press, and
there is not much of anything else. Rarely
have we found our batch of papers such ter
ribly barren reading. And if the editors are
already lazy in May, what will they be in
August?