The New York herald., 1878-12-16
MASONIC TEMPLE.

THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD soLDIER-sERMoN BY
MR.. o. B. FRoTHINGHAM
In his discourse at Masonic Temple Mr.. o. B.
rockingham treated of the qualities that 60 to make
good soldier His sermon was directed to illustrate.
from military standpoint the moral attributes that
ought be possessed by the soldier Of liberal ideas
and the champion of social progress. The speaker
believed that good liberal soldier must be
combatant and hard fighter in the moral
work. The qualities Of the good soldier
are numerous and sometimes inconsistent with each
other. He must know when to fight and when to
stop; he must have courage and patience be bold
and gentle. pitilcss and pitiful must know how to
infict mortal blows and how to cure mortal wounds.
great deal has of late been said about the battle of
life. 1t is always the lips of sentmentalists and
dreamers who imagine themselves fighting when
they in reality doing nothing; for life is bat
tie at all to those who do not foe The difficulty
with many in the moral struggle is to find foe; to
the enemy when he is concealed; to have the
The fact must not be lost sight of that courage
is not only required by those who fight in arms but
also by those who fight in silks and satins. The
speaker made reference to the between ecclesi-
asticism and liberalism, saying that nearly all eccle-
sastca shot had been Intellectually directed against
opponents in opinion 1t was not too late, he
tended, TO speak of prosecutions for opinions sake
when it is remembered that in Massachu-
Ezra H. Heywood) may be convicted and
imprisoned for holding his opinion and that I'M
New ,s YORK another M o. A. ,Bennet can be indicted
Anal results were concerned it made difference
whether mans opinion were true or the reverse.
upon it win be absolutely vain and the attack will
recoil upon him who made it; and if, on the other
amount of advocacy. from whence it may.
erroneous ideas is ruined BY the click Of
his own gun. In Germany, France, Spain and Eng
land traces of odium against the Jews q people
may be perceived to-day. That deemed bad
because some fanatics belonging to it prosecuted
Jesus; now the world recovering its better sense
OF justice, does not believe that OF the
Jews is right in any way
MARCUS AURELIUs.
The Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus-
the head of the civilized world in his day-was a man
a man Of the kindest heart and sweetest sympathies
but also of indomtable will. Educated a stole,
he a woman in nature. and had in antici-
paed some OF the best precepts OF Christianity yet
he opponent OF the faith OF Christ. He had
respect for its supersttons and he lifted the mighty
hand of Roman emperor against it, whereby he has
for himself the stigma of prosecutor. Yet he
fully justified In his those jusi-
fed who to-day persecute atheism, materalism and
the like. All! what different sort OF Christianity we
might have had il Marcus Aureius had adopted the
Christian religion and infused into it the nobleness
rockingham endcavored to show that no man
knows wholly right in abstract ideas SO no one
OF mere difference OF opinion He asked IL atheism.
materalism. Nihilism were false, and IL the
in the affirmative how could the asserter OF their
falseness prove he was right?
REASON ONLY CAN w1N
He claimed that an idea was not serpent to be put
down and trodden upon; It tangible something
which ought to be put down by reason and thought
only. Those who assail doctrines in days do so
the ground that they unsafe and dangerous to
society and that only bad could entertain them.
How do you know this? asked the speaker. An in
fallibe judge is needed to pronounce sentence be-
tween fallible men. and where IL this nfallible
pire to come from? Who tell If materialism,
atheism Nhlism are injurious to society? The per-
secuor believes that the atheist must be rotten the
maeralist licentious. Let us suppose gambling and
prostitution to be what all the world say they
bad--how shall they be attacked. The one efficient
way to combat evil il to fight IL its own
ground MIR. rockingham sdvertcd to Congress
sonal enactment passed ut the instance of
certain society for the suppression Of crime, and he
claimed that this enactment wholly ino operative
and useless excepting for the purposes of persecu
ton by some few fanatics and monomaniacs. He be-
lievod that the social evil under the eyes of the
policemen, whose business it to deal with 1t; but
although the policeman could put his hand on the
against IL unless public opinion favored his action.
Therefore, such evils will cease only when
indignant ut their existence. The people who
suffer, who struck and crushed down
by the evil, are those who must do the fighting.
Those whose children exposed to it must rally
gcther and beat 1t of. This rally against evil like
every other step gained in the world OF progress,
must be accomplished by resolute battle waged not
by those who sit in easy chairs and theorize about
the issue, but by the who take their stand in
the front rank, using the weapons of and
common sense to gain the victory over social
and vice Of all kinds.