New-York tribune., 1881-03-27
REcoLLEcTToNs OF 4 READER.
BY CHARLES 7. coNGDoN.
XIX
A SUNDAY CHAPTER.

A SUNDAY CHAPTER.
FATE OF RELIGIOUS BooKs-sEcTARiAN 'l1 NA.'.
"A CHINESE EMPERoRs oPINloN-AhOhoioii'o -
wHArpLY's JEsT-THE ALExANDRIAN scHoob
AND IT'S ISFLURHcE-TBE ADAMIrEs AND OTHER
sKcrs-FALsE MEssIAHs-sABATAI sEVi-HiOh
ARD BRoTHERs--A NEw-YoRK PROPHET
Among the curiosities Of literature there are mono
more curious than religious books Perhaps 10
not TO the credit of human nature that of all COM
paratively rare volumes such ore the most easuy
obtainabie Investigate any heap OF miscellaneous
rpbhsb exhibited in front of an old book. dealers
shop and half OF the dusty, broken-backed stalned
| and dog's-eared specimens will be OF the pious
variety. These offered at fvepence apiece OF per-
haps of tenpence seem to be begging for buyers III
vain. Frequently they are in particularly s""e
order. rs il they had been bought from sense ol
duty and left unread from sense oil disgust
vovages and travels. romances histories have, IL
ia evident been assiduously perused, but the me-
moirs and journals of good men and women tne
confessions OF queer and unusual faiths the pep
perry polemcs the longwinded sermons na'e
about them o disreputable freshness and the new
ness which comes of having been handled atogetner
too respectfully some OF the scarcest OF these Voi-
umes arc written in defence or exposition of those
unspeaEably absurd notions which from the Degin-
ming has kept mp the multitudinous breed oil sens
MATES and sectares Nobody until he has looked
little into the matter can tell how numerous TINS
has been ; nor how mankind has, in the most I'M
nortant of human affairs, been beto0led, DEVIL
dered. cozened and misled; how, even among
those who have done the mischief, and have Deck
oned their felow-creatures into dltches' con
| science albeit unintelligent, has been tne gulue'
while lunatic sincerity stretched ont It's tremOhB
arms and eagerly prayed for martyrdom' tho
knaye who PLAYS upon the credulity of his victims
| while he despols them in the name of Heaven OF
| their tcmpoIaties, we can cheerullv senh 10
prison; it is not SO pleasant 10 lock up the regous
| lunatcs.
I am not sure that 1t would be worth while 10
write history Of the sects which have ar'sen anu
| disappeared through the eighteen Christian cen
turies, bnt about the labor involved in such an un-
dortating there can be no dispute. Schsm began
| early and has never ceased. ! encountered the
other day in Dr. Ewers treatise on The Operation
| of the Holy Spirit the following partial list OF
different professors General Baptists, Particular
Baptists Anti Mission Baptists, Free Will Baptists'
Seventh Day Baptists, Six Principle BapHsts'
| Scottish Baptists River Brethren, Campbeihtes
| Winnebrenarians Mennonites, huegletonlahs'
| Seekers, Hicksite Quakers, Gurneyite Quakers'
Wilberite Quakcrs, Moravians, Allentes, Lliters'
Anti-LIfters" with thiIty-four others. These now
| ever are modern sects or divisions. complete
| list from the beginning would fill volume Wnen
Boyle, the philosopher, died, no settled oy Will
| fund for preachers "whO should preach expressly
] against LibeIincs, Atheists Jews and Soclnlans,
| these being, I suppose, the relglonists OF anti-
relioionists for whom tho good devisor had the
greatest dislike Men suck in opinion" says
Jercmv Taylor. as the wild asses do the wind,
without DISTINGUISHING the wholesome from the
| corrupted air." The most astonishing and compre-
hensiye dissenter Of whom have read is mentioned
| bv Father Hue the missionary TO China. " Inc
| FmpeIor Tao Kow-Ang" he says, sometime De-
| fore his accession TO the throne, addressed 10 the
| people proclamation in which he passed IN reNle"
| all the religions known ia the Empire Chrstlahlty
| included-and cane at last to tho conclusion that
they were all false and that one would do well 70
despise them altogether" Perhaps This was not
| worse than the description of the Christian worlu
| at 0ue time. as set forth by Ammianus. who Is
| auotod by Gibbon. "The Christian religion" he
SAYS which itself is pure and simple, Constaatius
| COMPOUNDED by the dOtage Of superstition lnsteau
! Of reconcilng tho parties by the weight OF ms
| authority. he cherished and propagated by verbal
| disputes the differences which his vain curiosity
had excited The highways were covered Will
| troops OF bishops gall0png IRON every side TO th'
| assemblies, which they call synods; and while theJ
abored TO reduce the whole sect to their particular
opinions the public establishment OF tho posts wa
almost ruined by their hasty and repeated jour
nevsD Whoever will read the history OF thu
period will be surprised at the minuteness and in
signifcance of tho differences which set professor
CT the same faith by the ears. Perhaps may
quote here rs well as anywhere Archbishop
Whately's squib upor Religious Persecution:
"Old Father LonRegs
Wouldn't say his prayers;
Take him by the right leg,
4 Take Fim By the lett leg,
| Take him fast by both lega,
| And throw him down stara.
q Tbere.~ said the Archbishop; !" in that nursery
verse Won may see tho cpitOme OF tho history OF al
RELIGIOUS persecution. Father Longlegs refusing Il
say the prayers that were dictated and ordered BY
his little tyIants is regarded rs q heretic an'
| suffers martyrdom."
Il is rather curious that in the opinion Of man.
wise and good men, the first and most fatal OF al
events to the primitive religion was the settin
nm. AID 1S1, of Christian academy at Alexan
dria tho frat master of which, Pant@nus, ha'
abandoned first Stoicsm and thon Platonism, ant
| had been n Christian missionary in India. Moshen
savs that Ammonius adopted with such dexterit!
the doctrines Of tho Pagan philosophy as TO appea
| n Christian to the Christians and q Pagan to til
PoQans" Religion became so much matter o
learning that according to one writer, modes
Main people retired and kept at due distance,
having no relish for stoical and academcal die
tates." Tho long story OF heresy began nor IS
nrobable that it will ever be concluded. Yet it is
history which will often repeat itself in details, an
will rather revive old errors and notions than III
vent new ones. Sngularly enough, the first heretl
whom we encounter is Marcion, who had the IDEA
| of the Shakers about marriage. He did not adn'
. married persons to baptism. " considering 1t wron
IN nropagate a race subject to the cidel dominion Q
. tho CreatorD Maroion seems TO have been protc
ossi,-jst His disciples convinced that this worl
- nrev to evil. hailed death as freeing them tror
~ y LII Of Lcinn In nj Zel 1rl