, 1877-07-07
oliver Wendell Holmes aiIat.
SERMON.

Dr. OlNDr wendell, Holmes WIS '"I''N
Do preside at the Unitarian festival in
Boston on the evening of May 3lst, in
Tie absence Of George William Curtis
II. began his remarks ny srying;
1t has occurred to me ladies and gen
tlcmcn that, as many cIergymen are cN-
ncctcd to make speeches on this occasion,
il would be a fair thing enough if one
hyman should take the opportunity 1t
afford, him of delivering sermon. |
have heard great many, and never yet
nroponnced one. Will you kindly listen
o nv virgin cliort2 My text is from
the Apocrypha, the book of Ecclesinsti'
Gus. Goth chapter, 18Th verse.
"An eloquent man is known far and
near. but man of understanding know
eth when lc .ippcth. Ecclcs. XX; 49,
Ia the course of this sermon DR.. Hol-
mes said
1t isa simple fact that the working
beliefs in New England have been stead
ily approaching the ground occupied by
what is known as liberal Christianity.
Old orthodoxy has been stripping
itself like circus rider who throws of
one garment after another, ms it has rid.
dcn around the ring of successive genera
tons First came off the scarlet hunting
suit of the witch finder, the Geneva cloak
Of the prcdestinarian, then the Jewish
.rlhardinc Ot the Snbbatarians, and |
know not how many more; and already
we see the fair outlines of our common
humanity, which has been more og less
obscurcd for long time by these dis
guises
When think of Increase Mathcr burn
ing Robert Colef's book. against the
wtchcraft delusiOn in the yard OF the
Harvard College, of which he was a
President, and imagine his successor of
to-day taking part in SIMILAR ceremony,
feel as if you might as well read the
Stamp Act to the great-grand' children
of the "sons of liberty" as the old New
England confessions of faith to the de-
scendants of the Pilgrims and the Puri-
tans.
When remember that the ancestor of
the little child, Ivy whose thread of life
alone | hold to the generation yet in the
tender bud, disposed of the infants ON
trial before their final Judge by making
him say that, although
In bliss
They may not hope to dwell,
Still unto them he will allow
The easiest room in hell.
when remember that Jonothan Ed
wards, the great champion ofa later New
England orthodoxy, spoke of children,
with certain rare exceptions, as young
yipers and infinitely more hateful than
vipcrs" in the sight of God-"exposed
every day to eternal hurnings'-and
think what universal cry of outraged
motherhood would silence this Herod OF
the pulpit in the Boston of to-day, l can
believe that almost any cherished
dogma that stands in the way OF true
Catholic union of all believers in the
eternal gospel of righteousness may fade
out ms obsolete if it is not blotted out rs
inhuman and therefore ungodly.
May /, without committing any one
but myself, mention few OF the stumb-
ling blocks which will stand in the way
of some who have many sympathies OF
what is called the liberal school OF think
crs? believe there are quite as much
anthropological as theological. Some OF
these doctrines might be at once repudl-
ated by those who hold other beliefs,
which in reality grew out of them. :.
The notion that man is responsible for
the fact of suffering and death, whereas
both existed long before his appearance.
on eur planet.
The notion that there can be such a
thing as natural moral evil, as if any one
but the god of nature could be response
ble for natures effect.
The notion Of sin as a. transferable oh,
ect. As philanthropy has ridded us of
chattel slavery, so philanthropy must rid
us of chattel sin and its logical consequen-