The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-02-23

particulars. in most fashioned way. Let him
Tor herr learn and inwardly digest that in the Church
of Clement VII. there is appreciable disturb
ancc, no 'yearning after something new, no dis
satisfied. restless spirit" if these unenviabe
qualities obtain las they undoubtedly do in that
other and more juvenile State Church founded
by the salacious and adulterous Henry VII. ana
bolstered up by act of Parliament. Your aver
age Methodist 20 spirit of wesleyD with his
lnaterialistic fire and birthstone hobby. may in
with his elemental water diosyncrasy 1--WE write in all
Christian love and charity may indeed yearn after
Beecher pthily dubbs Congregationalst as "a dry
Baptist. as we might have yclept GOOD Ienpiar
very dry topper Your conventional n;l tresGy
specially" of predestination. may truly feel DIS
satisfied" Your ordinary Tor extraordinarily Uni
vcrsalis with his unrcstrctive monopoly OF univer
sal salvation may indeed feel restless. Your
everyday Unitarian. with his platform rejecting
Christ and the Holy Ghost lis Christianity failureN
may of a verify feel disturbance" And with
the hundreds OF other sects extraordinary But the
one and indivisble Church OF Clement VII and the
and the parliaments and the other broods of
'ehurches') feels no disturbance, no ''yearning
spirit" and following. Judaism is full
OF disturbance because it looks for the
coming OF the Messiah who has already come.
And Judaism is splitting up into sects;
is Mohammedism; and so are all the other sects
tsave the Roman pagan and Christian and TINS is the
core of the disease. But see the end and the
remedy. Thus:--As with States so with sects. Be-
the building of Babel human nature could boast
of but State and one sect. Before Henry VIII.
tried his prentice hand at babel likeD church max
inr Christendom could boast of but one sect-the
Roman The end of all this will inevitably be that
the will keep splitting up and disntegratiIg
down to the point where disntcgration can no
further 60, whcreupon the centripetal forces Will set
in and the scattered scctarian atoms Will fly again to
the common centre tot Clement VII time). For
sect making has nearly run its evil course The new
faupled sects are one by one dying out and off, They
grow .smal by degrees and beautifully less. Thus.
Quakerism is on the decline. zone step toward
Rituaiism, is grayitating back to Ronanism Nor.
monism pardon such Juxtaposition) is on the de-
cline Oneida Communism Just declared by the
United States Supreme Court to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL
aud other like unlike free thought aoortions and
monstrosties are in a state OF declension; in
word, sectaranism is doomed-Christianity will not
be n failure. 1.-The mills of God grind slowly, but
they grind exceeding fine.
Then look at the states anu idioms. Where is poor
Poland? Where's Hungary? Where's Ireland?
Where's own secessia! States and scots are
dying Of and the end will give us one state one
sect church. faith one baptism, as 1t was at
the first. A consumation dcvouty to be wished!
And the ''remedy?
Well, Macaulay said. "as civilization advances
poetry recedes Substitute religion" for poetry"
and the surgeons scape is at the root of the terrible
modern cancer Ultra civilization ~ caused the de-
cline and fall Of the Roman Empire. Ultra "civiza
ton occasioned the decline andfallacy ~ OF the
Roman Church Ultra civilization is disintegrating
(many -hcaded) Professionalism. Ultra civilization
is undermining Christianity on Fifth avenue
and III the Five Points. 1t massacres the
Cheyennes 1t enslaves the African a;a l. cries
need apply" 1t set up the orange and the green.
and the green above the red 1t cried. ITO hell with
1t put Tweed in Ludlow Street Jail 1t 1--WE advocate
not aboriginal barbarism. but the golden meanl made
war. 1t uprears palatial God-temples (and yet the
house Of God should not howell BEL 1t made
religion" sensuous, sensual, senseess. 1t intro
duced humping salaries to humping dominies. 1t
closely related to SATAN allows its ministers to
their minisrations for editing, lecturing or mid
summer junketing 1t introduced sunlptuous pow
upholstering, operate music. unlicensed admission
fees, &c. Hence the decline OF the Church and the
temporary obscuraton of (so-called) Christianity
fhn dy a n a
going back to the old-fashoned Christianity lever
newt OF our plain. simple. unostcntatious fathers.
An avoidance Of modern free thought. How can
Dean Stanley and Cardinal Manning for example,
hope to doveail square their theological diff
reverence for the Deity. An observance of the
good, old fashioned Lords day. more ready rec
ogntion of parental land civic) authority. greater
regard tor the sacredness OF human life. The recog
milton of matrimony sacrament Matt. XVII g..
The rights Of property and things Blackstone. The
enormty of perjury and of lust An avoidance Of in
Temperance and gluttony, despair. final impentence.
The failure of Christian does not necessarily make
Christianity failure. And yet q tree is known by
its fruit Thus, IL we were asked. ..Can a minister
preach loud as to arouse the whole neghborhood
and be Christian We might reply. Yes. if he
does not make 1t impossible for his quiet loving
ncghbor to be q Christian also."
Finally the decline Of the drama docs not
stultify Shakespeare; as the (pestilentialN dime
novel does not belittle Dickens opera bouife
not dwarf Beethoven; Us the breach of law by an
outlaw does not ytiae nult staty or alter the
duty to God man is not necessarily the failure of
Christianity per but is his own individual failure.
tending las there is good III things evi to the ulti
of the system which Christ has left
JAMES OWEN o'CONNOR.
No. 492 vANDHRpur AVENUE BnooKLYN
RorTEN STRUCTURES OF CHRISTIANITY FILLED
WITH DEAD MEMS BONES sHRoUDED IN
HIDEoUs NIGHr-A GIGANTIC FABRIC OF
SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY
To THE EDITOR OF THE HEnaLp:-
In your issue of last Sunday appears triangular
discussion of the question. 'Is Christianity Fail
ureY The editorial and also the communication
from ''Old Fashioned Christian" briste with truth.
while the sardonic crrac writer Of the third article
although making no argument, advances several per-
tincnt and impertinent opinions relative to this
rightly termed tremendous subject He pro-
nounces Judaism failure Greek philosophy failure,
Brahminism and Buddhism failures. and asks els
Christianity Falure? and. which of the
ing sects is q success? l do not know with what
qualifications if any, he makes the broad statement
above mentioned. These religions not failures;
they have. indeed. been superseded. He may we'll
say the stage coach failure. the Heptarchy
of Hengst and Horsa failure. Reform or
progress is always present. Christianity is in
hnitely more grand manifestation of the Deity to q
more intelligent class of beings Heather idols
heather ideals The tenets of any of the creeds
he cites were such as to lead men up and away from
themselves to the Power which they conceived in
manner perfect limited light education and in
SEPARATION would permit. 1t is granted they most
frequently worshippcd material. tangible
expression Of that Power. beyond which many
looked nevertheless l would be slow
to state that these religions failures they have
elevated millions of people in the East and although
degcncracy general publication and purging
certain to follow. AS present example of this
consider the revolution of the Arya Saaj in India,
fully described in your issue of the I'd inst "a
religious structure. thcosophical and of higher
order. built upon the venerable foundation of
Brahrninism." Greece and Rome had prepared very
broad threshold for Christianity. Platos dream of
the Republic the fruit of mental progress such
only could comprehend Jesus Christ, and the
morals of Aurclus system of rational
psychology such could only accept His religion.
Indeed, so-callcd hcathenism not failure IL to
make path for Christianity its only service
There never has been people dcpraycd TO be
tirely without efficient. though somewhat obscure.