New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-01-21

| IS certainly an Increased splFiU Oh CO-OpeTa
ton, at least for practical ends. The wid'
spread Of "young mems Christian associa
tions" is q striking instance of thie, ant
marks q great change from the time whel
Finney wrote that no doubt there was -,
Jubilee in hell every year about the time o
the meeting of the Presby teriaH Genera
Assembly" ("Finney on Revivala," ed
1885, p. 269.) Yet all this might exist, ant
might be only coalition against common
enemy, did not the relation of the member
of these sects to more radical bodies ant
men show something of the same genia
tendency.
To those who remember the manner il
which Evangelical believers habitually al
lowed themselves to speak of the Univer
salists twenty-five years ago, it will seem &
sufficient proof of this changed attitude tt
say that there are now many such men who
would gladly have received Universslistl
into the great Christian alliance meeting il
| New York, and would welcome their co
operation in the present revivals. 1t may
be said that The Universslist body has it
| self come half way, or more than half; &C
| that this concession does not count for much
| But the Unitarian body does not seem to me
to have greatly changed within that time
| 1t still holds in solution the same extremes
of theology, and it is noticeable that the
representative Unitarians, who are now most
and clergy, are not always the most
conservative, but quite as often the most
liberal men-liberal in their sympathies. at
least, if not radical in their theology. Con.
slider, for instance, the position of such men
as James Freeman Clarke and Edward
Everett Hale. The former is member OF
the Free Religious Association, and the
latter has presented himself as guest at
one of its social festivals and exchanged
cordial greetings. II, now, these men are
sufficiently evangelical for the informal fel
Owship of conservatives. on the one side,
and radical enough to strike hands with
heretics, on the other, where does the an.
tagOnism come in, and where shall the in
ternecine war commence
But, apart from such reconciling in flu
ences as these. it is plain that among Amer
lean Protestants radical men have ceased to
be. in any reasonable sense, the object of
persecution, though they may often be still
the subjects Of avoidance. They are rather
apt to complain Of deficiency of open at
tack. and certainly can not apply to them
laughing in one anOther's faces, like Cicero's
augurs. Perhaps my own testimony on this
subject would not have much weight, for as
an avOwed theist and believer in personal
immortality may not be an extreme test.
But MIR. b. F. Underwood, the most eminent
materialist lecturer in the United States, in
speaking at the dedication of the paine
Memorial Hail. last January, gave it as
his experience that man might now travel
through the country expressing stheistical
views and receive only courteous treatment
from the Christian clergy, so long as he
himself ehOwed o courteous and serious
spirit.
l was present, year ago, at marriage
ceremony conducted jointly by the presi-
dent of the Free Religious Association"
and by an Episcopal doctor OF divinity of
excellent standing. When l expressed to
the churchmsn some pleasure at his liber-
atty, he waived all thanks, saying that he
was glad to do it-glad 20 show Mr.. Froth-
inghsm that there was no real antsgonism
between their positions. There were i'm
portant differences, of course, he said; but
no antagonism. Now, can NO. think We
radicals are so in love with antagonism, $50
spelling for q fight" that we insist on
thrusting weapons into the hands of our
opponents and compelling them to contro-
versy, even against their wills.
But it may be said that it is the duty of
radicals thus to compel them, 80 long as
substantial points Of difference remain
Yet where are the substantia points of diff
ferences AS l read the religious news
papers find doctrines which l was once
accustomed to hold in horr0T-the very five
points of Calvinism, even-sO stated as to
deprive them of all that seriously repels the
liberal mind. Whether these modern state
ments are consistent with the original con-
fessions or not is no affair of mine, but it is
an affair that concerns me very much to
discover that l am less alenated from the
Christian people around NE than l had
supposed. What candid radical does not
now hear the doctrines OF the Trinity and the
of original sin, of depravity, of
future punishment, so stated that he can
either accept them, or can admit that but q
thin barrier now separates him from those
who hold them3 Even the question that,
in one sense, lies below all these-the ques
ton Of final authority-is more and more
frequently stated in such form as to leave
between radicals and conservatives no such
in the Episcopal Church Congress, disavows
for his whole denomination the theory of
the verbal infallibility of the Scriptures;
when Professor E. P. Gould, of Newton,
speaks in the Bibliotheca Sacra, of Jan.
uary last, of 1.-The probably allegori-
cal account of the fall of man."
these eminent theologisns immediately dis
arm me in disarming themselves. For they
have abandoned the position which which
The pious Neander regretfully attributed to
theologians in the preface to the
Christ" nearly thirty years ago, that of not
being accustomed ito distinguish what is
divine from what is human in the Gospel
record" As soon as this is abandoned the
Inference between these theologians and
he heretics becomes q merely subordinate
,ne-as my Episcopal friend said, differ
,nce, not an antagonism.
The Independent of January 81, 1875, con-
aimed these words:
THAT which to all Protestants is really |
he last resort is tie human reason, en- |
ightened by the word of God. 1t was
eas0n which first decided upon the canon
# the Scriptures. Nobody disputes that. |
And the reason which once sat in judgment |
N the Bible may do it again"
l remember that once, after hearing I
ermon from that able and excellent man,
he late Horace James, l alarmed HIM q |
title by telling him that could heartily in
lOrse every word of it. Reviewing men, |
'ause: "No matter! It was true, and will |
tand by it, even if you do agree with me-" |
the Independent will be equally |
ard to frighten. And if it represents, as / |
hink it does. vast body of evangelical |
1en, then l do not believe that Mr.. Abbot, |
f tho I,sdez, on the one side, or the "Chris-
ian Amendment Association" on the |
Their, can bring about another religious
'ar within the limits of Protestantism.-l
Independent.
A Philadelphia member Of the Pennsyl-
mia Legislature introduced bill reducing
i'd fixing the salaries of judges in Allegheny
unity. Reform, like charity, does not
ways begin at home.