Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, March 1, 1874, Page 8

N THE CHICAGO DAILY- TRIBUNE: SUNDAY. RCH 1, 1874, TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE TERE OF SUBSCRIPTION (PATAELE IN ADVANCR). af) 2,00 | Sunda; O cmappteiad 1 11 R Partsof asearatthe scmerate. . “To prevent delay end mistakes, be suro and give Post Off ce address fn full, inclnding State end County. Eemittances may 0o mado either by dratt, expross, Post Ofca order, or1n ragistered letters, at ourrisk. Datls, delivered, Sunday exceplad. 25 cents per week. Deily, delivered, Sunday incloded, 20 conts per week. Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madisen and Denrbo Chicago, T TO-MORROW'S AMUSEMENTS. MWVIOKER'S S’F‘FE.ATRE—)MM 'tr}‘n"‘:mhbmu’n Dearborn axd Engagement of Edwin B *‘Rienclica." ACADEIMY OF MUSIC_Halsted stroat, botweon Mad- Lt e oveon, Eisiement of Dhe Tiith Avenuo Theatre Companz. Divoreo.” F HOOLFY'S THFEATRE—Randolph street. botireon Clark aud leSalle. Bonelit of Georgo Glddogs, *The Writing o3 the WaIL" GLOBE THRATRE_Desplzines street, botween Mad. #om sud Washiasion. Engegemont of Jotcph K. Emmet. *¥Max, tho Merry Swiss Boy." avenae ADRLPHI THRATRE-—Corner of Wabash ‘Varicty eatertainment. ** The In- and Congrass stroot. ont dizn Box Trick.” MYERS' OPERA-HOUSR-Monroo street, botween Doarbora and Stato. Arlington, Cotlon, ernble's Miourels, Miinstrelry wod comicalitfes. ¢ Hamloty co of Bridgoport.” . DR. KAHN'S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM-No, 148 BT Gt sivest Seiomce st ket ® BUSINESS NOTICES. ‘NOTWITHSTAKDING TAE TALL BLOWING AND vy advertising by others, thers havo undoubiedly n mors cases of Catarrh permanontly curcd in this city by **Dr. #)kes' Buro Cere ' thaa by any other remedy or systom of trestment. The Chicany Tribune, . Sundey Morming, March I, 1874. PROF. SWIRG AND BRO. PATTON. Glancing at the caption of the Inferior (re- Ligious newspsper), we find that it is edited by Francis L. Patton. This pereon is a recont im- portation from Brooklyn, consigned to Cyrns £ McCormick, under duplicato bills of ladieg, in order to exterminate heresy in the Presbyterian Cburch hereabout. He won his spurs by valiant efforts to sappress Miss Smilie as & preacheress in Dr. Cuyler's pulpit, and is supposed to havo sittracted the notics of the Chicago Defender of tho Faich by that exploit. In the last number of . bispaper ho pours threo and a half columns of corrosive sublimste on the sermons of Prof. Swing. What we.admire most in this articlo is the self-satisfied nir of the writer. o has tho easy assurance of a coxcomb combined with the ‘weighty responsibility of a Pope. After reading 50 long an articlo we aro ot a loss to eay what appears Lo bo the gravest offenso of Swing, bub think, on the wholo, it must bo his notions of the Trinity, for Mlr. Patton (Francis L.) siys : ~-The only positive statement wo Lave kmown Prof. Bwisyg to have mado respecting the Trinity fully jus~ tifics the Goubt wa biave expresaed ; for, 17 it has any : meaning, it teachor the Sabellfan doctring of a modal Trinity. Now if thero Is anything that needs to be evis- cerated, dissocted, and oxposed in all its hideous @eformity to the public gazo, it is the doctrine of o modal Frinity; and Mr. McCormick has done wisely in sending to Brooklyn for 8o skillfal & demonstrator of anatomy as Dr. Patton. Dafors taking up the scalpel, howover, he invites Prof: Swing to define his position in ten lines, aad of- {e.rn him the columns of tha Infericr for that pur- pose. To speak more exactly (for the doctrine of 3 modal Trinity requires oxactness, of all things), he asks Prof. Swing to tell in ten lines whether he subscribes to the doctrines of the Presbyterian Charch, and offers him the columns of tho Inierior for thst purposo, unmindfal of the fact that Prof. Swing has both & newspaper and s pulpit to annouiice his own views from, and forgotful of tha fact that Eusebius was un- sbleto tell in ten lines whether he subscribed to the doctrines of the Council of Nice. ~Itwe wera in the habit of risking money at games of chanco, we would wager a'large sum that 3ir. Patton cannot tell in ten columns what Babeilianism is go that McCormick can under- stand - him. e wonld wager an oqual eum that o eannot tell, iz the samo space, what Sabol- Hianism is go that ‘an ordinary jury ean under- &tand him, or o that an ordinary congregation of church-members can uaderstand him. We will give him en anproved modern definition of Babellizniem, from Milman's History of Chris- tiznity, a8 o starter, and invite him to enlarge upon and expound i in his next attack on Prof. Bring : i Sabellias was an Africen of the Cyrenais Provinco, Acoording to his system it was the same Delty, under different forms, who existed in the' Father, Son, and the Hely Ghost. A more modest and mnoffending Sabellianiam might perhaps be imagined in sccordance with moders philosophy. The munifestations of the same Deity, or rather of his attributes,” through which the Godhead becomes comprehensibls o tho human mind, m3y’ have becn thus successively made In ccdescension to our weakness of intellect, It would bs thie same Deity assuming, 2 §t wore, an ob- Jectivo form 50 a8 {0 ccmo witkin the scopo of the hu- Tnan mitnd ; & resl difference as regards the conception of man, perfect unity in its subjective existence, This, ‘however, though some,of its terma mey sppear the samo with the Sabellianism of antiquity, wonld ‘bo tha TTrinitscisnfsm of a philesophy unknown at this poried. The language of the Sabellians mpliod, o the Jeslous ears of thelr opponents, that tho distinction be tween the persous of the Trinity was altogether unveal, While the SaLellian party charged thelr sdverssries with & Heatlisn Trithcistic’ wonstiip, they retorted by sc- cusing Sabollianism of anuibilating the scparate ex- istence of the Son and Holy Ghost. . . . It isbut 3udging on the common principles of human nature_ %o conclude that the grandour of the prizo [temporal dominion] sapported tho smbition and infiamod the passions of tho contending parties; that human motives of political power snd aggrandizement mingled with the moro sréritaal infuences of tho love of truth 2nd zeal for L parity of religion. Al thisexcept tho last sentence is hardenough to understand as o definition of Sabellianism 3 ‘bat, if we turn to Gibbon, whose fault is not ob- gcurity of language, we got no better satisfac- “tién. This luminous author, sfter stating what Sabellianism’ sppoared to be in the fourth cens tury, eays naitcly that “Tho incomprehensible mystery which excites our sadoration eludes our inquiry.” But, in proportion as thesa hair- breadth distinctions of things inscrutable were Liard to understand, the fury of the contending theologians waxed lotter and botter, until the civil power was fain to interfere and force them to decide the questions at issue somehow—in cne ce50 locking them up, like a modern Jury, on bread aud water, till they came to an agreo- ment. The Council of Rimiui (A.D. 363) con- sumed &even months in wrangling over the re- finements of the Trinity, **Taurus, tho Pre- torian Prefect,” saya Gibbon, * was' instructed not to dismiss the prelates till they should all be united in the eame opinion, and his efforts wero eupported by the power of banishing fifteen of the most refractory, and a promise of the Con- sulehip if he suoceeded in o cifficnlt an adven~ tare.” The Emperor- Constantius, who gave thesa orders (which were executod to the letter), slthough & proselyting Arisn, was a chip from' ~"the ‘same block as’ Patton. His ides was o bring oversbody fo the, same belief under pain of banishment. The thumbecrew and the boot had not been biought in vogue then Lo settle differences of opinion in theology, and they have gono out of ¥ogue Now. Consoquently, the parallel is perfect. What is wanted in the Inferior ofiico is to banish Swing; ifnot from tho city, at leaat from the Prosby- terian denomination. But supposing Prof. Bwing were & hardened and irroclaimable Sabellian,—supposing that he holds the doctrine of & modal Trinity, whatever that may bo,—what is that to Patton? Wo grant that the editor of the Inlerior is justified in criticising Prof. Swing's errors, or what ho conceives to bo such, but that is a different thing from calling on him repeatedly to make his explanations in the columns of the Inferior. 1 i8 perfectly woll known that Prof. Swing has & nowspaper of his own, =nd preaches in a pul- it of his own. Why should he b hauled up to the bull-ring of the fnlerior, week aftor week 2 The air of Bro. Patton is that of ono who says : “This is the place to kneel—~penance and Petor’s pence taken in hero—old Dr. Jacob Townsend's saraaparilla is the only sure curc—all othors are spurious, and will be prosecuted to tho full ex- tent of tholaw.” It is an observed fach that Prof. Swing does not ‘comeup to this bull-ring worth a cont, and thera is no resson to suppose that ho will como any fastor in tho future than in the past. Now, & word of advice to Bro, Patton. Heis probably not so mach to blamo a5 o seems to be. He ig the wctim of s dofective 2od one- sided oducation, Ho has come ont to Chicago with Lhe temerity of youth and the provincialism of Brooklsn to lead wiser men end o broader community into all trath. The narrowness of his education is his misfortune, but porsistence in his present conrso will bo blundor. By s decorons and modest endessor to ot forth what ho concolves to bo true—by admitling in his pruyors, if mot in his paper, that there may be some things which ho docsn't know regarding tbe Trinity—by putting his mind in a state of receptivity and his goul in a state of charicy—he may be able o time to acquire » standing in the West. If hocannot do theso things, however, it will be wisest for him to return to Brooklyn immodiately, and resumo his fight with Miss Smilie. BAFFERTY AND-G'MEARA, It is soid that the family of Christopher Rat- ferty, who waa ozocuted on Friday last, axo in destitute circumstances; that the father is aged, the mothor blind, tho sister insane, and the brother hss fled;; that the family were supportod by the labor of the two sous, and, deprived of this, aronos in distress, There can bo no reason why these poor people shogld be less the objects of charity and of 2id becanse of the crimo of the unforturato son. They aro in no wise guilty of the crime, and no part of its consequonces should weigh upon them. 'They are undoubtedly £it subjécts of éherity. But, while we commend thom io their serious affliction to tl:s kindnessof the pablic, wo beg Jeavo to suggost that there aro other victima totlis tragedy who should not b overlooked. Officer O"Menra was shot down by Christopher Rafferty; shot because hewas an ofiicer. Though not engaged directly in the arrest of Rafferty,he was, sccidentally, in company with Seanian whon tho Iatter encountered Rafferts in the saloon. O'Mears wns' on other business, aud waited near the door mntll Scanlan should arrest his prisoner, and was thore mur- dered without an instant’s waroing. The duties of & pelice officer are not inviting or agreeablo, nt tho best. The officer who does Lis duty fearlessly and conecientiously must of ne- cossity be an object of disliko to every ruffian snd scoundrel who crogses his path. There isin all the large citics a class of persons who enter- tain the opinion that all policemen ere tho cne- ries of popular liborty, and that, if not sctually lawfnl, it is always commendable to do them all tho harm posaible. Christopher Rafforty was ono of tho class who thought it a “big thing ™ %0 8hoot & “ pecler.” Thoso officers goupon the patrol every night conscious that at any mo- ment they mey bo nseaulted, stabbed, ehot, or murdered; that, if they intorfere with the law- Iess clngs, thoy risk their lives by 8o doing. Yet these policemon sre all..tho protection that stands between tho general pesce and safety of the community and tho murderous aets of the robber, footpad, and ruffian, Officer O'Mcara was located in & part of the city where he wns constantly exposed to the as- saults of thoso who hold that it-is no crimo to kill a policeman. He wes an honest, faithfal, and-couregeous offcer. Howas shot down, bratally, cowardly, malicionsly, snd shot ‘becanse he was an officer. The debt of socioty to a faithfal officer is not discharged by tho hanging of his murderer. 0'Meara loft o widow and five children. By his deaththey wero cut off from tho support he rondered them, and since then they have been dependent upon such scanty earninga s the mother of five emall children can obtain. - While we Tespect tho hand that extends its charitablo aid to the stricken parents and sister of Rafferty, wohold aleo that society shonld do something for the widow O'Meara und hier helpless brood of littlo ones. The least that can be done is to 1ift this dependent family of tho mardered offi- cer from poverty and destitution. They shoud be provided forin £omo substential msnner, so that officars, who earry their lives in their hands, may know that if they fallin the porformanco of their duty, socioty will not leavo the widow and orphans to starve sad perich, whilo its sym- pathy and charity are lavished on the relatives of the murderer. THE-BRELIGIOUS PRESS. Tho relations of tho religious papers to the general public, from the sdvertising pomt of view, and the responsibility of thesa papers for what appears in their sdvortising columns, can~ 1ot bo mezsured in any other way than by tho standard of the moral professions which they make. When a man becomes converted to ro- ligion, he is, or at least he onght to be, better than the world's people. He immediately takes & higher standpoint in life, where he is a bright and shining light to the ungodly, and where he must be an example to sinnersof & brand plucked from the burning. He must exhibit to the world a broken and & contrite spirit, and in his daily walk and in the general ordering of his life he should so comport himself that the world's people looking upon him may turn from the errors of their ways and live. The religious paper occupies s still higher position. It isnot only expected that its editors, being raligions men, shall fulfill individaally the conditions we bave mentioned, but the paper itsolf must bo withont moral blemish, because it is s spiritual teacher and guide. It is & superintendentin the Lord's vineyard, dirocting the work of msny lsborers. Its dutyis to chronicle the progrees of religion and aid in the conversion of the world ; 40 expound tho frue doctrines of religion and refate the sophistries of sin ; to instill prin- ciples of pnre morality into the community whero it is published ; to Leep itsclf free from the temptations snd ocontaminations of the world, and especially to warn the thoughtless of the danger of yielding to the alluroments of filthy lucre. Of course, the sccular papers cannot take g0 high a standurd. They have nothing to do with creed, sect, or dogms, 85 xight or wrong; noth:ng todo with arging sinners to repent. It would be unfair and unprofessional to do it, and thus take the bread out of the mouths of the re- ligious press. The secular pross has no otber end in view than to print newsand look after worldly interests. The religions press, on the ofber hand, bas no other end, or should have none, than the promulgstion of divine truth, looking for its reward in a brighter and a better world, where tho secular papers are not published, and roligious editors are mot tempted to sell out their consclence for 10-cent chromos, Northern Pacific bonds, vegetine, brass Jowelry, and quack modictnes. If it is important, then, that the secular press, which hes nothing to do with religions matters, should bo cleanly, and exercise 8 rigid censorship on the advertisements which come over its counters lato ot night for insertion tho next morning, how much more important is it that tho great religious teachers, who have very fow advertisements to tempt them, and have a wholo week to considor tham, should koep themselves cleanly and have their garments undeflod, and not allow themsolves to dissominato soeds of error, nastinoss, and imposture ! It bas bean our duty, and s painfal ono, to examine the columns of tho religious newspapera in.order to. seo how far their practice corresponds with their prenching. Of‘those which happen to bo on our table we havoe found threo or four whose col- ‘umbs aro substantially free from anything objec- tionablo. They are the Alliance, the Christian Union, the NewYork Observer, and tho Evangelist. ‘Torning to tho others, however, wo find them to be only whited sepulchres, fall of dead men's bones, and dead women's, too. Theso hypocriti- cal shoets, professing to preach the pure doc~ trines of religion, and setting themselves up a8 ‘moral censors, are tho following : The Advance, tho Interior, the Christian Advocale, and the In- dependent.” ‘Tho relative cleanlitices of these pa~ pers is in the order in which they are named, the Advance being the lenst objectionable of tho four, and the Independent tho worst. In' fact, the latter is go bad that an agent of Mr. Com- stock declared the other duy that certain ad- vertisements in one of its recont issues were filihy enough to warrant the exclusion of tho whole edition from the mails. Under such circumstances, our adviceto these four unclean papers is to clean themselves be- fore they preach to the sccnlar pross any longer. Until thay do 0, they are quacks and ‘public im- postors, wearing the livery of Heaven to serve the devil in. Tho way for them to do it is plain. e have indicated to them the spots whero thay aro unclean. Thoy have no excuse hereaftor for remninivg dirty and soilivg the rostrum from which they pretend to preach. : LIGHT AND DARENESS FROM THE BIX- TEENTE CENIURY. The Inferior, in its issue of Feb. 26, indig- nantly repels tho Independent's suggestion” that it has ““ weakened on the scientific accuracy of tho word ¢ day ' in tho first of Genesie.” It pro- tests tho contrary with a desporste energy such 28 could be cansod only by & four lest any weak- ening whatever in such a fecblo shoot ehould insuro its speedy demise. Itsaza: o think it is sclentifically accurate; wo aro m- prossed with tho fdea that tho scientific accuracy of tho first of Genesis demonstrates its inspiration by One who not only kuew moro than oses, but mors than Sir Charles Lyoll, Sir Roderick Murchison, or Prof. Aguesiz. We Like toturn to the firet of Genesls ond monnt that high towar, the word “day,” and look off into the magnificent vista which is presented by 1 to the mind. . The editor of this advertising medium for quack doctors end sharpers should be put on ox- bhibition. He is unique. Yearsafter theological and untheological study bave combined to show that the Mosaic record of the Creation is s series of symbolic figures intended to vividly impress a rude race, to give it somo hazy ides of that be- ginning of life which is shrouded in ss much mystery a8 its and, ho pratea of its *scientific accuracy.” The record is written in a langusge of almost uncxampled poverty, in which & word often has different and coutradictory meanings. The word which is translated to mean the whole carth in the first verse of Gencsis siguifies land aa distingnished from water in the tonth, and figures as the namo of a particular countryin the elevonth verse of the second chapter. A book ‘published by the Christian Evidence Committoo of the London Society for Promoting Christian Enowledge says: “The whole question of tho universality of tho deluge turns, in a great de- gree, upon the signification which is assigned to this same word.” The young man Patton, whois now battling Dr. $wing with tho wespons and idess of the sixteenth century, talksabout the * scien- tific accuracy " of such a record written in such alangusge!. Butwhat docs ho mean by besing his belief in the inspiration of this firat chapter of Genesis on its ecientific accuracy? Are wo || justified in inferring that, if inaccuracy were proved, the Interior would disbelieve in the inspiration ? Buppoee it considers these facts: Thoe record says the first appearance of animal lifo was -on the fifth day; the rocks show that there was animal life beforo thero was vogetable life. The récord eays all living creatures aro divided imto two classes, one created on the fifth, the other on the sixth doy, and each com- ing into existenco in "an instant; the rocks show that each clasa slowly came forward throagh ages of almost inconceivable duration. ' The record says that :death wae not until man fell ; fossils prove that thoro was death |. from the fiSt. These contradictions wo havo taken from the book already mentioned. Thoy do not militate against tho doctrincs of Christ. Bat they grind to powder the sixteenth-century bigotry of tho stripe of men who busy theme selves in . Fighting like devils for conciliation, And hating each other for the lova of God,— tle men who are responsible for the unscemly ‘broils of the Presbyterian Church here, the men who are now using the Inferior to advertise quacks and bespatter their bettors with holy blackguardism. In itslast iegue it rates Prof. Bwing for his failure to preach sbout hell. Iis beau-ideal of Christian eloquence isdoubtless that particular Father of the Church whom Lecky, in his ‘* History of Ratioualism,” mentions aa the author of the esssy that paints as one of the chief pleasurcs of heaven tho joyous sight of souls in the torments of hell-fire. The Inferior gets painfully astray in the “magnificent vista " that this word “day” pre- sents to his mind. After making all this ado about scientific accuracy,—which means, if it ‘means anything, that the day in question waa twenty-four hours long and no more,—it states that the first chapter of Genesis says: “God called : the lijil.day,” and that, .therofore, the day memvioned was a period of light, » sort of solf-luminous - period, for therc was then no..sun as yof, .and a period of indefinite ‘duration. Unfortunately for the Interior, its loop-hole of escapo is blocked up by the fact that, in the sdmo verze, God called the darkness night, 2nd .the Bible includes the pight or the darkness in this word “day” by ssying: © And the ‘ovening and the moming wore the first day.” The term cannot then eimply signify a period of light. So the Inferior contradicts itsclf flatly, and garbles the Biblo besides. : It is & curious sketch that the Inferior’s young an gives of himself in the last sentenca of ths extract wo have guoted. It is easy to imag- ine the scone. As he pens a lino sbout tho * Vegotine” nostrum for $1.20, his thoughta revert to Genesis,—protably because it tells about the fall of man, As he turns to the first chapter and exccutes the mysterious montal ‘maneavre he calls “ mounting that high tower, tho word ‘dasy,’” ho is recalled to sublanary ‘mattors by the receipt of an sdvertisement from s mock-jewelry firm, This gives him strength topena three-column editorial on the fearful heresy of one of Chicago’s bect clergymen in thinking that perhaps o few of the unorthodox will miss eternal damnation, or on the fearful imparity of an advertizoment that o silly lad would like to know a eilly girl. Such a person only harms tho religion ho protends to uphold. ¢ BLOOD-SEALED CURRENCY.” Senator Chandler, of Michigan, has beon and 8 now ono of the most forociously-loyal mon that over sat n tho United States Senate, and the ecouo botween him and Gen. Logan a fow dnys ago muet have been fivaly.. Chandler, in illustrating tho effccts of iesuing sn unlimited umount of irredeemsble curroncy, referred to that issued by the Southern Confedoracy. This was (00 much for Logan. Ho went for the man from Michigan, who had dared compare the greenbacks, ** sealed with tho best blood of tho nation,” with the currency fseucd by the traitors who had Leld conncil a¢ Richmond. As a sol- dier, . patriot, and n Republican, he re- sented tho comparison 28 an insult to the country. “Does the Semator from Bichigan,” exclaimed tho patriot inflator from Tihinois, ** suppoae he can palm o any such sophistry es that upon an infelligent peoplo? Groat heavens! if wo have comoto this . . that they must compare our Government, standing, 15 it does to-day, the pride of the world, against the notes of a confederate collapsed Govern- ment! Xam ashamed of my. country, if such stull ns this should o recolved by even & man that was deprecialed in inlellcel.” ‘This was tho way the Illinisan tomahawked tho Michigan Senator. Of courac, overy man in Illinois, even if *deprecinted in intellect,” is proud tnat tho State once reprosented by Doug- 1as and Trumbull now claims a Logan and sn Ogleeby to discuss questions of financo. Sena- tor’ Chandler, who, perhaps, 8aw in the ranting Ilinoisan something after his own styla in former days, did mot reply in his usual fashion. ‘Ho merely cited tho caso of the Con- tinantal currency, to tho paymont of which tho national faith wes pledged, and for which every mau's ferm snd other property was sacredly mortgaged by Congress, and by Washington and all the otnor fathers of the Republic, and which has never beon redesmed to this day. That Con- tinental currency was clio *sealed With the blood™ of thopatriota; it was legal-tender, and yet a bushel of 1t would not purchase o pair of slioos. Itsunk toaslow a valuo a3 did that of tho Confederate Government, and finally was to- pudisted. The Senator from Iilinoia took no oxception to the comparison of the greonbacks Fith the valuoless and repudiated currency of tho Rovolution ; ho was contont with having vin- dicatod it from s comparicon with tho valueless and repudisted currency of tho Confoderacy. And this was tho workof the representative of the commercial City of Chicag: OUR NATIONAL EOLIDAYS. Weshington's birthdsy has come and gone. 1t bas boen celebrated herc and thero throngh- out'the Union, after a fashion, but nowkere with ‘much enthusiasm, nowhoro with anything of the paseion with which in Earopean countries simi~ lar events are commemorated. We sometimea fenr expressions of regret thot we have mot ‘moro national holidays, and that wo do not sol- emnize with more ardor the fow wo bLave. This is made & causo of complaint against us. Some- timea we mako it of ourselves. It may, howev- er, bo doubted vory much whether wo are not just as_well off as it ie. As public fes- tivals and notional holidsys oro now cel- brated the world over, it wore about as “well that they were abolished. Like many other things; they hieve had their day as an institution. They bave played their port in the educstion of mankind, and we have now 80 much to take their place in home smusemonts that we caa very -woll dispenso with them. The manifestations of hero-worsbip in this century must partake of the character of tho worshipor. Americans, no ‘mattor how oxcitable and fond of sight-seeing, ‘aroan nndemonatrative people. , “In their institution in Greeco public festi- _vals or national bolidays bad = deep signifi- cance. They commemorated historical events, ‘and they helped bring Greek gonins inio notice. We have other mesns of commomorsting such evonts and other modes of calling forth tho yonng or the old 1den. Herodotus or Thucy- dides may have noeded Olympian games to procare -an sudience snd Lave it pass on thoir immortal works. The modern writer ob- tning hearers in & quister way. Tho press takes for many purposes the place, of such games. Tho public feativals of the Greks were meant for improvement, mental and physical, a3 well 88 for amusement. Wlen the custom, lioworer, was {ranslatod to Rome, it degoneraled. It was now amusement only that wes looked for ; and that not of tho highestcharacter. Tho principal uge of thess foativals was to entico the Iaborer from his work; and, a8 they becamo very numer. oas, this was o serions draught on tho industry of the country. = Christianity made no effort to sbolish the Roman festivals. It contented itselt with eliminating Paganiem, end engrafting Spir- itualism upon them. The offect was exceedingly benoficisl. Bat Christian fostivals also became at length too numerous. And 6o 1t hos always been. The cducational and moral elements in pational holidays tend to diesppear, leaving mere amuzement. Tho amusement also tends downward. We need not, thereforo, Tepine if our holidays do not excito much entbusinem. It may be very innoceat to witness & balloon-accension, a review of men in blue, or gray, or gold, or a display of fireworks, Itis hardly s thing to wesp over, however, it such displays do not occur more frequently, or if we cease to measure our patriotism by their number. " The" English bave their rural sports, which cannot be teo highly commended, conducs ing as they do to physical devclopment. In Frauce, as in sucient Rome, the Government has courted populerity by siding in the amse- ment of the people. Tha Euglish Governmont Lins never been guilty of such folly, and it is very soldom that the English- laborer is taken from bis day's work by & holidsy of suykind. Asa people, it might benofit Americans to indulge more than they do in rational amusements. National holidays nro not, however, tho best form of such amusements. o notice that there has been a petition sent to Congress to make Abrabam Lincoln's birthdsy s national holiday. We do not see why Congross should interfere to compel all men to be idle on a cer- tain day, because an eminent public servant hap- pened for the first time to seo the light upon it. Wo draw no bad inference from the quiet which marked the birthday of the Father of his Country-| this year. The peoplelove Washington none the 188, and there will probably be all the demon- strntiveness wo can wish for on the accasion of the Grzoa Centeunial in 1876. BURDAY-AFTERNGON LECTURES. Wo publish in snother patt of to-dsy's paper skotch of tho Sundsy-Lecture Bociety which has wrought such s good work in London. It will be cen that its management involves no great amount of work, and that its expenses aro comparatively small. Why caonot we have its duplicato in Chicago ? : Wo ask this question,not only of free-thinkers and unorthodox Christians, but of all men who have an honest aesiro to sco the **lower claases” led up higher. These lectures can bo deliv- ered at such an hour that they will not m< terfere with the regular ehurch services, 8o that tho argument based on such in- terference drops to tho ground. Whils the lecturers must havo abeclute froo speech, and will, thereforo, occasionally, per— Thaps, combat tho beliefs sacred to some persons, the Iaiter can slways reply, snd in this way rench an audience which they can never gather foto their churches. Thore are two answersto bomade to the alleged desecration of tho Sab- bath. In tho firet place, the day is supposed to bo sot apart to do good, and no better way of do- ing good could bo devised. Could the Disciples gather corn on Sundays to feed their bodies, and shall wo sin if wo gather food for our minds on that day? And, secondly, if the objector belioves that praying and preaching from Diblo texts are the- only allowablo means of doing good from miduight of Saturdsy to miduight of Sundsy, let him candid- Iy say whether it is uot beiter for s man £ go to o lecturo then to & rum-holo on Sunday after- noon. In England men of every shade of faith bave becomo members of the London society. Every ehado of faith has had s bearing in Bt. George's Hall. Tt is not ensy to exaggerato the importance of bringing tho working classes faco’ to face, weok aftor weok, with the ablest attaina- Dle thinkers. Wo cannot bring & Huxley, or a M0l or & Mrs. Faweett on the stage, but we can find mon and women enough to talk wisely and woll weak after week. If wo had hadsuch = meoting-placo, much of the bed feeling during and after the panic might kayo been preventod. A fow wiso words to the workingmen who wero hoodwinked by demagogues raving about Com-" ‘munism would have done much good ; but there wasnoway of soying tho needed words to tho right men. Wo can reinforco tho ranks of our lecturers with others from the East and from Europe. If suchaeociety were in existence now, it could probably secure tho sorvices of Mr. Practor for a lectnre next Sundsy afternoon. All cminent Englishmen lmow of the London society; all of thom would bo ready to help such an organization here. Onz of Mr. Proctor's lec-, tures would open a new world fo the hundreds: of workingmon: who would erowd to hear him. Ween it would bo 50 ‘casy to ' do good, will nobody put his hand to the work? The Philo- sophical Socioy has been toying with the ques- tiou for somo wecks, bat has apparently dono’ notbing. Arorthero mot half-a-dozen men who will meet, orgauizo, and appeal to'a ready pub- lic to sustain tho Chicago Suuday-Lecture So-' clty? ‘WAS STGART MILL AR ATHEIST P Hitherto Scriner's Monthly has had an onvis~ ble reputation for fairness. It hss been mo- boay’s organ. It might wall have borrowed tho North American Reviar’s motto, for it judged Trojan and Tyrisa alike. It should be a matter ‘of general regrot Ghat such o magazioe has pub- liched the roview of John Stuart Mill's autobi- ‘ography, which fills o dozen pages of the March nomber. This raview is disingonuous. Its hending, “ Tho Autvbiography of an Athelst,” involves an oquivocution, aud its body boldly asserts it. . John Stuart AHIl was not an Atheist. His” boliof was patierned afier that of his father. The- elder Mill's cresd is summed up Uy his son iny the statement that he “yialded to tho conviction that concerning the origin of things nothing~ whatover can.be kuown." In Dis eyes, dogmatic Atheism was sbeurd. e was 88 far from saying *Taero is no God" as ho was from dechring his. belief in -the Thirty-nine Articles. An Atheist is defined by Wobster to "resolving, by fire, the body iufo the elements of " and, however it may at a firsé glance appear re- knowlodge of a condition of the soul apart from ' the body, but on the other hand we have nothing to negative such an existence. *‘All is possi- bility,” he sdded. We maintain that nothing can be found in Mr. Mill's works inconsistent with this reporied conversation with Prof.; Cairnes. HOUNT SINAL 5 One of tho great questions of Biblical history ‘which haa been discussed elaborately in all coun- tries is the exact location of Mount Sinai. The rosult of this discnssion has been that no less than five, and perhaps more, distinct pesks have been claimed as the original Mount Sinai. At lenst two of these have been ropresented as hav- ing plateaus capable of affording room for the assemblags of many people. Thore has beon less controversy as to the general locationof the mountain, it being conceded to be one of a well- known.series of hills in s rugged and broken alstrict. i Bomo years ago, Dr. Charles Beke, an emi- nent English traveler and geographer, who had devoted years to the discovery of ‘the true Binai, published a book called “Monnt Sinai s Voleano.” In this work be established, or sought to establish, that the Israelites had crossed the Bed Sea at & point different from the one previously assumed by all writers, and that Mount Sinai was not, ashad been supposed, between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aksba. In this book Dr. Beko fraced the jouroy of tho Israclites, and pointed out that in thsir flight they were guided by tho pillar of firo by night and the cloud of smoke by day of Mount Sinai, then,a volcano in ective eruption. Pasging around this mountain, they placed the pillar of fire and clond of smoke botween thom snd their pursuers. This book called forth sharp criticiams, 8 containing an asssultnpon the ac- curacy of the Bible, and as a donial of God's per- sonal intervention in behalf of the Isrnelites. Though considerably advanced in years,—bsing now 78 years old,—Dr. Beke last year re- solved to make another effort to discover the exact location of tho Mount. He was aided by various persons in Europe. The Khedive of Egypt furnished him with s steamer- Within & few doys the news bas been recoived that he has discovered thelong-sought monntain In s book he had claimed that Sinai was & now- extinct voleano situated on the west side of the Arabian Desert, and east of the Gulf of Akaba and the Red Sca. Tha report is that the moun- tain has been identified, and that it is near the place Dr. Deke had indicated,—~* a day's jonrney northosst of the Villigo of Akabs, 5,000 feet above tho level of the sea.” The cable dispatch which makes this announcement doesmot say whether it is sn extinct volcano or not. How- ever that may be, Dr. Belo’s success will bo wel- comed by all students, and zo believer neod bavo his faith wenkened if the snbstantial facts of the natrotive in Exodus are shown to be suaceptible of proof from natural causes. CREMATION, OR BURIAL ? TTho disposition made of the human body after death Los varied inall times andcountries. It bas ‘been dependent upon the religions views or the sentimental natare of & people ; never upon the method of utility or upon any scientific reason. Ta whatever way the subject ia approschod with reference to any chango, thore is sn inheront feeling that looks apon any other moda than the provailing one with distrast and horror, which is o result of education and custom, notfo eay prejudice. Tho question of cremation, or the process of whicl it is composed, has lately been broached ; pugnant to the feelings, it cannot be dispated that the advocetes of the method present many reasons which at lenst merit sttention. ‘When tho spark of that flame “Which gleams, but Warms no moro its cherished carth, T has doparted, there is loft o certain combination of material elements which are at once subjectéd to the lows which govern inorganic and inani- mate matter. The instant the guiding and con- trolling principlo of lifo is wanting thero simply remains so much water, carbonic ‘acid, aad ammovnia, with some smsll portions of iron, limo, phosphorus, ete. The ceaseless activity of forces decrees that these shall bo separated, diffased, and broken up, to form now combina- tions. Naturs requires thoir presence in other forms, and sooner or later will have them. Itis no longer & question of eentimont, bat of stern and uncompromising utility, from which thero is no appeal. Tho question, therefore, is whether we will allow Nature to carry on this work in her own way, or whothef we will aid her by the’ mosns, and in & manner, which a better understanding of her lawa has rendered possible. That which it takes hor periods of time, varying (in pro- portion as our. efforts to proserve a dead body appose her ends) from moutlis to years, or con- tarics, to effect, canbe sccomplished in a fow hours—carefully, exactly, aund kindly, without any of that sense of horror which wonld b felt could the process of tho nataral decay of s body be realized by the survivors, and without any of the ill effects which too often follow her mothod. bo ** One who disbelioves or denies iho existence of a God or supremo intelligent being.”. James Mill did not deny or afirm. His position wes that of the astronomer-who repiies; whon asledif the nebular hypothosis is trus: T do not know.”. ‘Would it bo fair to set the men down a8 & dishe- liever in the hypothesis becsuse he returned such an angwer? In clearing tho fisther of this charge of Atheism the son is cleared also, for his. faith was, a8 wo have said, that of his teacher.’ His philosopby differed from his father's at & later period, wiren ho ceased to ignore the feel- ings, but his rcligion continued the eame. What possible right has the roviewer to say that “the posaible immortality of the departed whon ha loved he held to bo absurd,” or that he, afte:: his wife's death, *lelicves and knows that she is no~ where?” The italics are not ours. Such stato~ monts can bo supported only by garbling th'e dead philozopher’s words. Nowhere does her stigmatize immortality as absurd ; nowhero does ho assert o belief in or s knowledge of the ox-~ tinction of the wife he loved: 8o pasionately. There are minor faults in the article, such aa the sncers sbout Mill's not * condescanding ™ to acknowledge obligations to tho Bibla or to God, his * trimming compromises ” betweon his fath- er’s philosophy and his own, and his ** timid and tacertsin shuflling ” in his beliefs. 8uch criti- cism of guch & man is unworthy of such a mag- azine. Tho latest testimony ae to Mr. Mill's views re- specting immortality i8 ignored by the reviewer and flatly contradicts his position. We refer to the leiter of Moncure D. Conway, who reports, on the suthority of Prof. Cairnes, a conversation of the Iatter with 3fr. BIill shortly beforo his desth, According to this testimony, Afr. Mill ‘held that our experiencs can teach us nothing’ respecting & life boyond the graye. We haye no Modorn researches have shown that to a fright- fiil extent discases are occasioned by the preaence of organic germs in the water and air. How much of this arises from the éscape and dis~ " semiontion of thexo germs from our places of sepulture, it is dificalt to say; and indéed, in thinly-settled districts, tho danger may bo small. Bat, while in older countries tho question already assumes a shape which presses’ for solution, it must be borne in mind that our cities are rapidly increasing in size, and that what is to-day decmed a sufficient distance for afety may in & fow yeara be broughtinto s dangerous proximity. In matters of wealth, education, and social government we cssume o guardianehip over posterity ; shall we be less careful in the vital matter of lifs and leskth? Tha very plasces which wo now Iook upon twith ho sad yot pleasing sentiment of a final, silent city of rest, may in the fature become loathsome spots, -breeding dicense and death, full of all foulness ; and tho places* where wo are_wont o Jinger, which wo adorn with monumental tablets a1d lovingly wreathe with flowers, becoma ehunned and abhorred. Death hae a sting and the, grave s victory ; and tho thought that after Qeatl\ worms destroy this body is not wholy mitiguted or relieved by the vain illusions with which +¥we seek to veil the horror of the reality. At tv'e Vienna Exposition were exhibited samples of cremation of the human body, the proparatic 08 of a distinguished Italian Profes- sor of Anutomy. In the ghort time of three and a half hoars, st s minimum of expenditure for fuel, there was produced sbout 83 pounds of ashes and bone earth, of a delicate white, whtich were conteined in & glass box 12 inches long by 8 inches in width and depth. Modern scigrye may be trusted to elsborato s process, at.once simple and thorough, which ghall sat~ isty in evory respect of detail the requirements of the practical fact of cremation. Its adoption reats mainly upon a chango in thoe present viows of a community. This is, on any question, Gif- feult to accomplish, aud is not at present to te looked for. It simply remnins to afford a presentation of the arguments upon which the advocates of cremation urge its adoption, and to bring befare the publio o realizing senso of tho poseiblo dangers to which thoy are cxposad, and the manuer in which they can be avoided. With tho ancient process of cremation, preq- ticed with all the pomp and parade of barbarie splendor, we have nothing todos and no com- parisons of it with the proposed syster should be allowed to influenco the judgment. 7o hava sdvanced so greatly b our knowledge of Nature, our ideas of her processes hava becorae so refined and extended, that we can spprosch the subjoct with an underatanding which is sdequate to our wants. We no longer look npon disenses 28 the working of an evil spirit,—we know that the body which is 1aid awsy vanishes and is for- gotten. We lay down our dead, shronding them in a mantle of sorrow, follow them soon, and are soon ourselves forgotton. Tho geatle love, tho kindly, sympathy, tho generous ambition, that have 80 often been entwined with our indi- viduality which is left, linger, aud through them we hold communion with the memories of the desd. Focling, sympathy, and the omotions' of kinship keep paco with tha Iapse of time, as the thoughts run backward in an inverse proportion, till distinction is lost in obscurity, and our sncestry doscends into the mass of humanity. What matters it tons, then, “and to our individual dead,—novwing as wo da the final dispoaition of tho corporeal body—how we return to the elements? Itis o question which affects our descendanta, and the respon. sibility rests with us whother wo ehall, by op- posing & natarsl law, bequeath to then thoin. heritance of disease and suffering, or, by fol- lowing the plain showing of the facts and knowl- odga which we possess, briog our lifo and death intos closer correspondence with their surronnd- ings, thus preserving that perfect ordor which ia established, and which wo are bound to ooy fo the fall extout of our knowledgo snd ability. THE LIMITS OF CARICATURE, During the Iast Presidential campeizn, whea Nast was busy in shortening Senmator Schurz's body aud lengthening his legs, and in otherwiso distorting and pictorially vilifying prominent Liberals, and when Matt Morgan was doing the same tnkind office, to the best of his ability, for prominent Repablicans, tho press ou both sidés filled up the pauses between the discharges 6t heavy artillery with a rattling fire on the pro- pristy or impropristy of such caricatures. Everybody admitted that thore ought to be & limit somowhero, but it made sll the difference in tho world, in any particular cage, as to whoso ox had been gored. Wemay expect a-fairer jndgment in the czse of Charles Dickens, sincono party passion will interfaro, The third and last volumeof Forster's biography gives some curious facts, which scem to show that Dickens recognized no limits in earicature. Ho elotched Walter Savage Landor as Boythorn, in * Bleak Houso,” and mado Leigh Flunt mas- querado as Harold Skimpole, This caricature waa 80 exact that frionds persuaded Bim to softe en it, and to chango the first namo from Leander to Harold. Leigh Hunt was bitterly hurt by the sbuse of frisndehip. Mias Mowchor was copied from & lady-friend, who complained of the insult offered her. Tho world knows, and is sorry to know, that Mr. Dickens’' own father sorved s the model for Wilkins Micawber. 1r, Forster gives some Micawber-lilo sayings of tho elder Dickons: “I am shout to proceed to Paria to consolidate Augustus' French.” *The Su. preme Being must be a entirely different indi- vidual from what I have every reason to beliso Him, it Ho would care in the least for the socisty of sour relations.” Tho world has not hitherto - known that Dickens’ mother was used a3 a bait for popular lsughter snd spplause as Mre. Nickelby. Nothing could well be worse thau this. Those who heard tho great novelist read ~while he was in_this country, despito their en- joyment, have almoat regretted au evening Lhat .hos mado them thiok of Dickens as & man with & flowar-garden in his button-hole, and with tva glaring gold chaina looped scroes a purplo velvet waistcont. It is unfortunate that we shall here- aftor havo to Temomber him s the man who caricatured his owrmoth Mr. Bradinngh and otber wicked Englishmer, whose eyes-ara blinded to the divino right cf Kings, are sovere upon the Duke of Edinburgh for what they irreverently torm his stioginess. The Imperial parents of the Duke's young wife aro not infected with the thrift of English roy- alty. Wo learn that 8o oxtensive wero ths preparations for tho young lady’s tronssesu that tho most rockloss extravagance will not heip her £0 wesr ont all her clothing iu the coureo of het probable life. * If this wus a rebuke to the Dacal ‘bridegroom, whoso Australian performznces ore pretty widely knotm, it was & neat one. If itis a fashionablo ukese for all rich parents to fol- low, it is one which commends itself heartily io every young bachelor of moderato resonrces. - Gov. Kemper, of Virginia, has pardoned i W. Pago McCarty, of Richmond, who was im- prisoned for ° *involuntary manalsughies” This young man, it will bo remembered, dek- orately. killed his sntsgonist in a duel, sud b3 penalty was fixed at six months' imprisonmsnt suda fine of $300. The Governor urjes ths the penalties of the Anti-Dueling act be inde- bly enforced, and sets the example by parloziag McCarty on the ground that bis lifo would P2 fnperiled by further imprisonment, according to-the testimony of modical experts. Thezd - wondrously vigorous efforts to suppresa dueling among the chivelry must excite tho admiratica _of tho world. Dubufe’s supesb painting of Tan Prodizd Son” will be on cxhibition in the Expot Building Tuesday and Wednesday next, sad entire receipts for thoge two days will be dif\ded among the following clasitablo inelitations: Chicago ospital for Women and Chi.’dlcnal Ening Women’s Refuge ; Chicazo Foundlings’ Home ; Protestant Orphan Asylom 5 St Luied Free Hospital ; and the Catiiolic Orpban Asy- lum. Those who have neglected to ¥iew his .wark of art may contributo to ch: ca Toew dsy and Wednesdsy, a3 well as to their own es joyment. L Tho Beltimore & Ohio Rnilrosd Company, 37 ing finally secured the right of way into the g:x‘-}'. has nnited with tho Illingis Central, tbo Mich- gan Central, and the Chicazo, Durliagtos $ Quiney Railrosd Compauicsin the project o building » magnificent passenger depot to o€ over amillion of dollars, upon the lake fros= The Common Conncil have refused to sct & the subject, and tho work of providing the depet for these four largo rosds must vaik il Council decide to accapt the monsy and give 22 quit-claim deod. " We aro informed that Gov. Beveridzo hes & cided toremove Mr. W. H. Harper, the Grain Tospector. Whethor he reachod bls & clusion from the first report said to kawb;s submitted by the Warchouse Commissioners not made pablic, or becanso ho does not with the view taken of Ar. Harper’s tiong in the laat report, is immaterisl