Year: 1868




Elective Amnity In Relision-Its Workings


as Cohesive Principle Of Religious


Societies.


We publish in another column to-day an In
teresting survey and criticism, moral and sta
tistical, of the present state and tendencies of
religious denominations in the United States,
which is instructive not only as exhibiting the
progress of religious thought and its tenden-
cies IN this country, but as illustrating the
workings of that principle In the formation of
religious societies which may be best termed
elective affinity. The religious history of
America has demonstrated that the utmost
freedom in religious thought is the correlative
of the utmost culture OF religious feeling
among the people, and that the curdling to-
gether into congregations is most homogeneous
affinity is exercised. The government Of the
United States may be, as foreign prelates are
fond Of terming it, a government without
Cod and somewhat less than Pagan but it is
quite certain that, as people, Americans have
not only greater breadth of religious culture
than Europeans, but greater depth as well.
The government may be government with
out God" (pretty godlessly administered),
but the people are certainly deeper and more
active in their religious emotions and convic-
tions than any other people on the globe, with
the possible exception of the Jewish race, his
torically remarkable for depth and supernatural
ism of religious life.


One secret Of this pervading intensity of
religious culture on the part of the American
people is found in the adaptation Of the elec-
tive affinity system to the wants of free peo-
pie. The man elects himself by natural afini-
ties of thought and feeling Methodist, or Bap-
tist, or an Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, or
an Unitarian; and thus the curdling of society
into denominations is natural and permanent
and not forced and unhomogeneous. The ten
denotes and religious life of these several de-
nominations are of sufficient breadth to cover
all shades of thought and feeling, and with one
or two exceptions of sufficient iberality and
scope to fuse all in one common sympathy of
religious feeling; and the religionist being
free to elect himself member or adherent of



mony among congregations is produced
than can possibly inhere to the English
or European system. In this respect,
therefore-viz., in the practical utility of
religious freedom-America has taught the
Old World lesson which, though it may be
slowly learned, will be learned and acted upon
finally: it is that elective affinity is an in
herent necessity of the highest and most
general culture of religious thought, and that
the idea of legal, national, State religion is
inconsistent with breadth of religious culture
relic of medieval Gothicism, for which the
freer, bolder and more logical thought Of the
present century has no affinity. The sooner
this lesson is learned the better will it be for
the progress of religious culture in the Old
World; and that England will soon practically
adopt it there can be no doubt. Anything
short of it, in fact, is even now inconsistent
with the present political freedom of England
and this inconsistency will be more and more
sensibly felt as popular freedom progresses
State religion is eminently at variance with
democracy and freedom of feeling, and must
in the course of time yield to the inevitable
conquest of popular progress.


In the United States, at the present survey,
the workings of the various denominational
tendencies are very curious and instructive.
Our Catholic population is mostly made up of
foreigners; nor have Catholic ideas been pro-
pagated with any success among native Ameri-
cans. The influence, in fact, has been in an
opposite direction; and the effect of native
American freedom of thought has to consid-
cradle degree compelled an abating of exclu-
sively saving pretensions on the part of the
Catholic clergy. Freedom of thought has, in
fact, permeated the Catholic body of creed and
observances and ritualism; and the day is
probably not far distant when evangelical
Catholics will be developed in large numbers,
as even now has been developeda sort of evan
gelical Cow phase Of Epscopacy. At present
there seems to be sort of natural affinity be-
tween Episcopacy and aristocracy Of feeling,
which is owing, no doubt, partially to the digni
fed propriety Of the Episcopal ritual and par
TALLY to the naturally dignifed exclusiveness
which forms an element of the Episcopal cul-
ture. The greater part of the logical thinkers
Of the country, on the other hand, have thus far
manifested a sort Of affinity for the greater
essential logicalty of the Presbyterians-th
difference between the Presbyterians and Epis-
copalians being that, while the latter are his
torically logical, the former base their system
logically upon the religious instincts and
neglect the consideration Of historical logic Of
development. This is a thoughtful, though
an unhistorical position, and hence its ten
dency to attract those minds whose breadth
and logicalness of intellectual culture are not to
be fettered or frightened by historical prece-
dents. There is, in fact, logical essentially
about Presbyterianism for which the cultured
American mind has natural affinity and this