, 1879-02-02
literature Is bad because he found certain gross
ac1ccts IN certain authors, VIC would laugh at

i II Is no won1er their thoughts BECAME bits r
aI'1 sour With long standiug. And Il these
| ungfy radcAlS dared to cnuncate their views a5
falnc did, what were the consequences? Pane's
name is reyiled III this American land, and
among the children OF those lor whom he
1oueht with rcn and sword. All because he
| stroVe to acquire for America spiritual indie
pendence as he helped to break its political
| chains.
me motto Of the angry radicals then may be
briefly expressed i'll three words. Blble hate,
priest hate, church hate"
Then came the SECOND stage, called RATIONAL
ism: It the angry radicals had declared reason
against the Bible, these rationalists meant to
compromise reason and tile bihlt. They said,
"Wcwlll reconcile the two." But, Of course,
their efforts proved aborLivc.
No scientist believes when he has explained
tile hypothesis Of matter and force as ruling the
entire world of mechanism that he has found the
key to unlock tile secret Of nature. But the
popular materialist believes this. He hctieyes
that when he has explained matter and force he
has explained everything. This is the result,
take 1t, OF that great democratic movement
which is going through the age: that move
mcnt which leads the common people to claim
that all things shall now be reduced to their
level; that there shall bc no aristocracy in
thought as there shall be none in politics; who
claim that the mystery of the universe shall be
reduced to the level oil their understanding; who
will not acknowledge that there is anght in the
world greater than themselves. Whether they
Investigate. Suffice to say that it has becu aud
is still ut the present day, one OF the prominent
types Of Radiealism> 1t has no religion; it de-
clares there is none.
The fourth class is Ec'ccticisrn. Eclecticists
are an inotfensive, mild class Of men, that do
no injury to any one, least Of all to themselves.
II you will listen to their sermons you will tinu
them delightful to the ear, cleaning with pleas
ant things. that remind you of the gentle sum-
mer BRONX which bubbles 1nurmllriny along,
full Of SUNSHINE; gentle pleasant brook, but
not deep. They use some words that are COM
mot, in the thcologicll vocabulary. They say
." GOd.'' but they donot tncan your God. They
say soul,' but they do not 1nean your soul.
They say. :" morality,'' but; they do not mean
morality. They even pray, but in every lcgiti-
mate sense Of the word they Ito not pray They
even call themselves Christians, but they arc
willing, not anxious. to 90 beyond the limits
izes the1n-thcir willingness to 90 beyond the
limits Of their faith: hence we call them Eclcc-
Tics. They hare 10 massive cornerstone Of any
convictions whcrcon to build. They have no
one great, vital, rcgencratiye principle around
which to group. they always wait. They arc
the religious Micawbcrs OF to-day, not the Eli
jams.
Now, in contradistinction to this, what does
tile Liberal movement Of to-day mean? What
arc the positive constructive objects Of free re-
1igion as We understand it? The Rationalists
had the dogma of reason: the Materiasts tic
dogma of ncgation; the Eclectics retained at
least the skeleton Of the Christian dogma. Right
here we rise and hold up our standard, on which
is written, No dogma. no creed at all, but deeds.
If you ure dew. good; il you are Il Chris
tian, good Believe what You like, disbcIicve
what you must; that is I matter OF choice. But
unite with us on that platform; unite with us
In tic religion OF doing good, for that is the pth
Of our protest against the existing religions,
that the good which they accomplish is not
strive to bcnetit suffering huimanity!" They do
goDd, but not good enough, and they do not do
it in the right way. lhavc lately read :: report
that the London Jewish Society expends annu
ally SlS6,UO3 upon the conversion OF the
Jews in London. NOW what good does
that do: The American missionary soeie- o
ties ties espend annually more than Than; s6ooo,;,
docs it dos I have been told that within the
last scyeuty-fvc years more than 1U5, ,000.000
Bibles nave been issued by the Bible societies.
Now, it you will just consider how much real
misery ayerted, how much sickness healed, if
the money that went into these 10S,U00, ,000
Bibles had been expended in that direction, YOU
will see what mean By saying that the religions
of the day detract from the humanity of the
times. Tlley Withdraw this money which would
be better applied elsewhere. Weprotest against
it IS being not only in any respect useless, but
injurng the morality OF tho times.
They say people need religion; we must support
it for the common people; that the common
That is u serious mistake. The morality |
Of the common people does not depend upon
the religion of the common people. On the
contrary, will undertake to say that the moral
ftY Of the common people is injured by the re-
1igions OF the day, in SO far as they are absorb
lug for their own uses What would elevate the
morality of mankind if thus applied. will
tell you what is injuring tic morality OF the
people, It is bad houses, bad food, overcrowd-
ing. I have here au extract from tile report
Of Mr.. Harris, our Sanitary Superintendent i'll
New. York, which shows that tnorc than 50
per cent of al! criminals in our penitentiary
which the population IS densely packed together.
"In these crowded places thleying springs al
most out Of the atmosphere" :" he says.
OVcrcrowdiug produces three different effects |
rapid spread of evil examples. Nuw, cleanli- |
ness is tile beginning of self-respect. Unless /
man can be clean nc loses the alpha OF morality, |
and begins to lose his human personality. |
When we die the dust grows over us. When |
the dust is allowed to grow over us while VIC are
alive we are beginning to feel as If we arc losing
our humanity. |
Privacy of the home Is essential. The mvs- |
tercs Of the home must be veilcd Us the nursery |
of every virtue, the seed "herefrom springs ai
In ovcrcrowded houses evil examples spread
rapidly. We have in some houses iii New York
twenty families. II there is one bad child in !
the family, dun't you fear for the Other children!
are gathered together? It is statistical fac:
that more than 50 per cent OF our criminals
come from such homes.
say il you tell me the morality Of the pco-
pic depends upon their religion, it is tle religion
IT the people that Injuries their morality It is
mat religion which spends its millions upon our
churches in our great cities that in
ures the morality Of the people. lApplause]
iive ne the million dollars which one prcacner
u Brooklyn has amassed during twenty years Of
,ic trinisfrv and | will C1frn half tht dEtrnSSeS ]