The Catholic World, Vol. 05, April 1867 to September 1867Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 05, April 1867 to September 1867
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
doctrines which we hold in common, and which are strongly attacked by many
popular preachers and writers in New-England. Also, to counteract the
tendency to indifferentism and apathy in regard to religion which is so
common.
{112}
Also, to take all possible means to bring the mass of the people under the
influence of the spiritual and moral truths of the Gospel. Also, to protect
the Christian ordinance of marriage from being to a great extent subverted
by the practice of divorce. Also, to suppress intemperance, licentiousness,
and immoralities destructive of the well-being of society. Also, to protect
the religious liberties and rights of all religious societies, and the
property, which is devoted to religious, charitable, and scientific
purposes. Also, to do all in our power to blend the various elements of the
population into one homogeneous body, and to educate them in an enlightened
and devoted attachment to the political principles of the founders of the
state.
We will not go any further with our enumeration, for fear of assuming too
much in respect to the sentiments of our respected friend, Dr. Bacon. We
speak for our individual self alone, in saying that we cannot but deplore
the obstacle which is put in the way of carrying out into practical results
our common desire for the spiritual, moral, and social well-being of the
people of our native and ancestral State, by the schism which exists among
those who profess in common so large a portion of the Christian faith. The
spectacle presented by a divided Christianity is to us extremely painful.
We think it ought to be, also, to a member of the church founded by the
Puritans. The forefathers of New-England undoubtedly intended to plant the
pure church and faith of Christ. They made the greatest sacrifices and the
most heroic exertions in order to do it. They expected their church to
flourish, to remain, and to include in its fold all their posterity. They
took somewhat stringent measures to secure the success of their plan, and
notwithstanding our difference of judgment from them as to the justice or
wisdom of their policy, we must allow that they were conscientious. Things
have turned out, however, quite otherwise than they sanguinely expected.
Not to speak of the more extreme change which has taken place at the
headquarters of Puritanism, Connecticut is divided up among
Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Baptists, to say nothing
of the small sects which exist there. Rival colleges and seminaries have
been established, and even rival schools of theology among the
Congregationalists dispute over their respective interpretations of the
ancient standards of doctrine. Dr. Bacon and his friends have had no little
to suffer during their public career as ministers and professors of
theology, from the imputation of heterodoxy, and they know well how
frequently and how deeply religious differences have interfered with the
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