Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-09-26
On "wednesday Evening, sept. IA, 1871

On ednesday Evening, sept. IA, 1870.
HEnRrws <: q, %, rs: "And having an high priest
over the house Of God let us draw near with true
heart, in full assurance Of faith, not for
saking the assembling Of ourselves together the
manner Of some is"
We live at q time when a considerable doubt
affects the old and long settled estimate Of
the stableness and indispcnsableness Of public
worship and the institution that maintains it,
Within the memory Of living men, all decent
people, excepting the sick and the very old
or very young, went regularly to church, or
rather to meeting as our puritan fathers
preferred to call it, The ministry was re
vered for its Office and the sacred cause it
represented. It's support was provided for
by general tax exacted as cOmpulsorily as
the taxes for highways or town expenses. No
more doubt or difference Of opinion existed
as to the being and providence of God. than
as to the place and Office Of the sun in the
planetary system. The Christian religion
had an authority and sanctty which it was
regarded as criminal and even blasphemous
to question. Systems Of divinity, with i'm
portant shades of difference, but with still
frmer and more fundamental forms Of like
ness and agreement, expressed certain dcfin-
lite and stable articles Of belief, around which
the churches were gathered as about the
priceless regalia of faith. The great symbols
of baptism and the Lords supper were cher
ished and maintained as sacred mysteries, on
the observance of which hung the final title
to admission to the joys of the heavenly par
IA disc. Towns Of seveul'thousauds of inhab-
itants, had often or usually, but one place
o + worship, very large and plain and lined
" it'll broad galleries, but on the Lords day
fl He'd with that greatest Of ornaments, a great
proportion Of the whole adult population.
whom winter cold, and snow, and storm, and
the sleeveless and comfortless house Of prayer
could not keep away from the public worship
of God and the blessings of the sanctuary.
Children were catechized uusoundness in
faith or Irregularities and lapses in Christian
conduct, were brought to trial and punished
with exclusion from the communion, or OK
pulson from the church. The indifference
or GOODNESS, which prevented the open nc
ceptance Of the conditions Of salvation, were
matters Of domestic. social and ecclesiastical
office and solicitude Scoifers, open offend
ers against the moral law. deists, iufdels
heretics, were dealt with in frank and cour-
ageous way, Family prayers ministerial or
pastoral visits, diaries of religious experience,
evidences of conversion. were all matters of
Acknowledged gravity aud common concern.
No man or woman died unconverted without
being bitterly mournod over as lost to the
mercy Of God and the hope of heaven. There
was an intimate practical connection between
family life and labits and the creed and pub
lie worship of the people. The State was re-
garded Us being under the protection of the
Head of the church, and the church as en-
titled above all things to the reverence and
protection of the State.
We all know what restraints Oh the liberty
of private Judgment and on the growth of
broad and genial views of Gods character,
mans prospects, and lifo's opportunities, this
era of implicit public faith in the settled
| truth Of Christian creeds and the efficacy of
| systems Of faith, and the dominance of the
ministry occasioned. But, i'll spite of these
evils, none can deny the priceless blessings
which flowed from the faith and piety that
made public worship so important and com
handing and public religion so venerable
and influential Ofcourse, more or less of by
pocrisy, righteousness, Formally, harsh
ness and superstition grew up in this fat soil
| Of implicit public faith and overawing rtlig-
| ious institutions But what a growth OF
sturdy self-respect self-denial seriousness
and purity Of life force Of will, discipline of
temper and elevation of soul marked the age
| when religion, constrained grim and fearful
as it was, yet had this strong, firm grasp on
the State, the several communities. the whole
| people When men were without doubt as
TO the existence and providence of a holy
| Sovereign and Judge OF all the earth when
the souls salvation had general precedence Of
| all other concerns: when the Sunday was O
day solcmnly consecrated to public worship,
and the best portion Of the community had
an acknowledged right to watch over and
even interpose for the warning and CONVEX
sion of the slack, the careless and the world
| ly-minded The errors of doctrine, the usurpa-
tons Of ecclesiastical power, the restraints Of
opinion involved in this state of things were
evils great enough to make certain the pro
test and the reaction, under which this old
system of public religion fell from its high
estate. But its blessings, if not separable
| from these evils were not due TO them, but to
what was true and good in q general sense of
the paramount Importance Of religion, of
| Christian faith, and their dependence OIL
| public worship and the maintenance of the
external institutes Of religion. We are well
rid of all the evils connected with the old
state of religion in New England and in most
other parts of the country with the cast-iron
inhexibleness of systems of doctrine the
| gloom of a terrible conception of the dire
embarrassment in Gods relations with his
| human offspring of clerical arrogance and
ecclesiastical interference with personal and
domestic rights of compulsory church rates
ofinquisitorial search into private consciences,
and the substitution of church standards of
| character for those raised by universal mo-
rality. We have escaped from subscription
to doubtful articles of faith and undeniably,
in all Protestant churches, have as much lib
erty of thinking as VIC like, and only as much
| anxiety about our souls as rational and general
| public sentiment commends TO our free ae-
ceptance. No man is socially injured by
mere ecclesiastical censuro, since the public
endorses no form of church persecution OF
even naTowness Of judgment. For all this
| let Ms be unfegnedly thankful. But there il
another side to the account, not often duly
recognized by those who We're most sensitive
10 the evils Of the old system, and most ac-
tive in breaking it up. The estimate of what
has been lost of real faith and godliness il
this work of general emancipation from church
and creed tyrannies, is what remains for our
| consideration.
Clearly, Whatever has been gained, some
thing, nay, much has been lost-perhaps for
the time inevitably lost-not wilfully, not
without much compensation, but lost to our
| generation, and l fear TO the next We have
lost much Of the habit Of church-going We
have conspicuously lost the leadership of the
more advanced and cultivated minds in our
| mai