The Portland daily press., 1892-12-10

There was a fair sprnkhng or iff!les
in the audience during the evening ses
sion, which opened at O'Clock. Prs.
dent Baxter presided.
Father Rasie.
The paper by the Rev. E. G. Cnnl7
mjngs on Father Sebastien Rasle, the
Jesuit missionary whom the New Eng
land colonists killed in 1724, was judi
cial summing up of the controversy con
cerning his works and death, Catholic
in the broadcast sense of the word. Mr..
Cummings prefaced his dissertation on
the martyred missionary by a sliahs
chronological and historical sketch OF
the Company of Jesus and its part IN the
settlement of New France. Father Rasie
was the pioneer of Christianity in what
is now the State of Maine, but he was
also devoted French patriot, politi-
clan as we'll as a priest, and mnstbe
judged in both the parts he played SO
earnestly until the curtain fell upon him
and the blackened rains of his mission.
| AS aids to an understanding of the heroic
| priest extracts from two letters by him,
| translated from the French by Mr.. Cum
| minos. were read; from which we learn,
among other things, that Father Rasio
| was
The First Prohibitiomist
who ever came to America. Naturally
and with prophetic instinct, he took up
his residence in Maine, then, as now,
presenting broad field for laborers in
the temperance vineyard.
S These letters convey clear idea OF the
1nan and his missionary methods, ana
| show the devoutness and zeal with
which he entered upon his work Of pros
elvtizing among the Abenakis. From
them the reader left his audience to
! draw their own conclusions, contentlng
himself with indicating the more
notable points in the career OF one OF the
most remarkable of American missiona-
| TieS.
some scussion-comment more than
cussion-followed the reading of the
paper, opened by the Rev. DR.. Dalton,
who reviewed the powerful agencies
| which the French possessed for the es-
4 tablishment of their dominion on this
continent. and their failure to maintain
| themselves He dwelt upon the fact
that whenever and wherever French and
English have met in conflict the English
man has eventually triumphed. AS for
Rasle. his death was due to the active
part taken by him in fomentlng the en-
nifty of the Indians against the English,
and was but natural incident OF the
! conflict.
President Baxter was disposed to ques-
tion the great priests prohibitory recorf'
in lace of the fact that letter by him Is
extant in which he says he has wine
enough, but wants more brandy. Fer
haps, though Mr.. Baxter did not make
that suggestion. the good man desired
the liquor for
Medical and Mechanical Purposes
The Rev. DR.. Allen of Kennebunk
seemed to believe that the colonists did
about right in destroying the Norridge-
wock settlement. DR.. G. E. Banks
thought we should look at the French
and Indian as well as the English side OF
this controversy. at the Catholic as well
as the Protestant.
The Cochranite Delusion.
A modestly worded paper about an
immodest man, the notorious Jacob
Cochrane, by the late Rev. Amasa Lol-
ing, was read by his son, Nh. Lincoln
Loring. The Cochranite movement had
its chief field in York county and the
neighboring towns in Cumberland and
oxford. Cochrane came to Porter about
1915. where he developed fluent powers
as a fervent exhorter. He leaned at first
toward the Free Will Baptist sect, but
allied himself with none. Soon he gath
cred a considerable following in Porter,
Buxton. Saco and Scarborough. His
professcd aim was the restoration OF
primitive pietg and he soon made serious
inroads upon the OH churches. He es-
tablisha.; his headquarters at the Heath
meeting house in Saco, where, in great
revival, he boasted of his thousand con-
vertS.
Soon he began to develop that peculiar
system known as Cochranism. He re-
iected the eucharist and established
The Holy Dance,
which soon became an unseemly per
formance. From this he went on te
abolish matrimony, preached the doc
trine of free love and spiritual husbands
and wives, and plunged his followers in
to unbridled licentiousness. Though
many of them fell away when he reached
these lengths, many remained who gave
their property into his care. With this
money he established harem on the
road from Saco to Buxton, where he
kept bevy of women. Finally he was
arrested for adultery, and though he
. promised to free himself by working
miracles, in which he pro
fessed TO be an adept, was con
victed and sentenced to four years in the
Massachusetts penitentiary. With his
imprisonment his church and system
fell to pieces; though some of lis follow
ers still stood by, and gathering about
him on his release, settled with him in
Hollis on a farm where they continued
their practices unmolested. Later on he
, removed to New York, where he died
! penitent, it is said
The reading of this paper provoked
!. An Animated Discussion.
Mr.. S. P Mayberry said he had reat
the report of the trial and could fine
therein no evidence of adultery. That
} too, was the opinion of the celebrated
| John Holmes, Cochrane's counsel.
Dr.. Dalton jumped to his feet anc
wi4h much heat condemned the paper al
| ,.xG+ +o I,o ,aod opd vrotactod aUaipc