New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-16
THE PROCEEDINGS.

I
both sessions.
THE PROCEEDINGS.
REMARKS or MR. FRoTHINGHAM.
The Rev. 0. Il. rockingham, before INTRO
duclng the frs essayist TO a comparatiycy small
audience In Cooper Union, yesterday morning oain'd
that all people should give attention % the pracucai
subjects considered by the Free Religious Association
" To say" said he, that these are not practical one
lions singular interpolation VI terms. -
the taxation OF church property practical questions
Is question of the ecclesiastical tolls Of religion
practical question: The question OF superstition -
vital the question Of skepticsm Il important; src-
tarianism costs hundreds OF thousands
dollars "a year 20 the common people TIC
question of denomnationalsm is OF great importance
the question Foreign Missions Is OF vital importance.
for this Report of Foreign Missions Is very heavy lax
upon the community. They certainly vital a. any
political questions as for instance who shall be-
President the United States Senator or eprsenia
tive from the Empire State. They to be- Of great
importance at the moment but somehow or other when
they decided they turn out TO be OF very little nm
porance one way or another In the United state 10
matters little whether the President Is elected for four
years compared with the question whether largo
portion OF real estate exempted from taxation, Ono
question incidental the other touches not their pockets
only which serious matter, but all their social reld
TONS their Iouche the question IN what drec
ton they are TO improve their moral affairs; In word,
concerns their whole social life. II is not therefore,
true that the Free Religious Association presents Itself
10 people who think about speculative themes We do
not think much about speculative themes ] doubt 10
there is here who would call himself by profession
theologian, philosopher man of mere ideas; bi'
we all who harnessed 10 some sort OF ehri,
and pulling that through the streets every day i"r
the benefit OF our felow-men in common, practical,
social affairs. But do not propose to make speech
and you want 70 listen the who have come FROM
abroad. shall introduce TO you william j. Potter
FOES IN THE CHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD
ADDRESS BY THE BEY. W. J. POTTER or NEw-bEi-
FORD.
Religion has had in its historical career many
ana bitter foes IL had 10 meet the spirit OF denial
aud skepucsm IL has been tormented by the hosts ot
iuddely 1t has contended against the cold criticisms
of philosophy 1t has been compelled to make war upon
the material and animal propenslties Of mankind-or,
in the old evangelical phrase fight the world the flesh.
and devil" 1t has had TO encounter m battle every
| form Of maevOlence, wrong, wlckedness, slD, ana
misery with which the human race has been burdened.
And yet, Notwithstanding this picture OF conflict win
its natural enemies beyond its own lines, religion has
had enemies more hostile. more bitter. more persist
eut in their antagonsm than the foes which has found
in it, citadel the Church. It's hardest foes, after all
have been they Of its own household as witness The
bloody prosecutions which mark hut too clearly the
trail OF advancing truth IN religious history mur
NethCTanders by pump OF spaln Tue ns-itit OF
HuucuOts Paris the reciprocal slaughter Of contend
ing factions IN earlier Christian history, az on" ar
the other had the temporal power, the mprsonincnt
and hanging ~ religious dissenters In later lines Nv
those VINO bad been disenters themselves the long
and houored roll OF martyrs TO their aith. put 10 DEAN
by the hgyed deyotres OF dhcent iatl; or OUTSIDE
Of Chriseudom, the fierce contests for power between
the crescent the cross the cruel expulsion of Bud
hsrn by the earlier religion Of Ihdi2 the wars WIN
weapons and with every form OF cruelty carndg
and misery OF faith against faith, which have every
nesses that show unmpeachably that religion has had
no severer foes than the enemies IN its household
none more persistent IN ther hosllty OF more niIcn
to conquer. surprising, however, as the fact may
.em that religion should have found some Of it, great
est enemies within its domain, yet we have not 10
look far for the cause Religious Institutions, which ia
cbnrcb are necessarily the result OF religious beliefs
and feelings that had their origin IN a pact
Inspiration or sentiment that has been aud ara
necessarily shaped by the mental and moral intelligence
within which that inspiration mad its limiting conditions.
They nodded by the exigencies, faith. Thought
emotions of necessarily gone by otherwise there
would have been opportunity for them 10 have grown
and hardened into consistency OF Institutions Hence.
naturally, religious institutions; or tse ennreh ~.
past out OF which they came On traditions tbey
stand, and to traditions they VIII cling Keglon must
ever affiliations II have with the past II must nave
forms OF human activity that mark the present era
Instead OF permitting itself TO be shaped wholly Dy ~.
limiting eXgences OF past epoch VIII ltsolt demand
shaping influence over the Institutions that to be-
far from submitting TO the dominion OF past beliefs
itself az the yitaizing spirit OF all religious history,
stitutious churches OF faith cresds Sacramento
worshps all fluid 10 be nodded, under the progres-
siye conditions of new thought and intelligence o
spiritual exigencies Of every new era
To-DAT's RELIGION AGAINST YESTERDAYS.
This civil conflict, therefore, Of religion with foes
it's domain is always the conflict between the open
ing and widening religious faith which at the present
time exsts-opening and widening under the Improved
conditions Of human intellicence-and the religious
faith that took shape and form under the narrower
ditlOns OF past intelligence. In word, IL Il conflict
between the church that has been and the chnreh that
is TO be. IL not, as IL IL sometimes expressed,
ct between faith and reason. between religion aud
science but IL is the more enlightened OF any
present battling against the less developed Of
the past 1t religion the light OF science against tho
religion when there little or science IL Is
davis thought against yesterdays thought; or since
there is no faith which Is not In way connected
aud dependent upon thought, Is the larger fnith
OF our generation contendng against fan
OF preceding generation But in such counct It would
II the strength would ell be on the SIDE OF lho
be the nature IT, how, It be asked can there DO
such vig0r aud persisency in the struggle nOuu boe
the less enlightened reason OF YESTERDAY hsse ' .a
last ceDtury's thought stand up 10 Date sssns. hs
centurys a narrower faith hold the Held sgAinst
broaderl Looking at the strength OF the contestants
alone we should have to answer, Impossible; thsro
can be no contest And ultimately Is true that TIE
Larger reason larger faith and In the end the We
tory must be there. But then It Is TO be remembered
t6t me old Thought faith always have the advan
tae of possession they hold the field which Is 10 bs
Won they have the seat OF government they NIL all the
,m They have the prestige OF authority, and Of being
the regular rulers. All the mechanism VI spiritual
Trial OF war, are theirs. Aud from all this
they derive an immense advantage, aud enter
tr maintaining long and vigorous struggle and even
for winning temporary victories The thought and
Of reformers revoutonsts They have no resour.
except OF their own extepporaneous proyison and
e me %ns sSmss the
their devotees-in these, and IN the law grounded