Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, April 27, 1874, Page 2

l | fHE CUICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE . MONDAY, N APRIL 9, 1874, THE PULPIT, Dr. Daniels on “The Ruin of & Great City.” Babylon undor Bolshazzar and *Chicago’ tinder tho Peoplo’s Party. The Rev H, Powers on Modern Un- belief. A Voice Raised Against th Drama. . The Rev. Mr. Frost Exposes Iis Abominations. Dr. Walton on ¢ Amusements in Religion.” The Rev. J. Munroe Gibson's First Sermon. THE RUIN OF A GREAT OITY. @crmon by the Rov. W. A. Danlels, of the Park Avenue M. E. Chnrel, Tho following sormon ‘Was rocently prosched by tho Rov. W. A. Danlels, of tho Patk Avenuo Mothodist Bpiscopal Church, and by roquest was twico. ropeatod. The toxt was from Isaiah xiv., 12, a8 follows : : ‘How art thou fallen from Heavon, the morning, This propheoy sgainst the King of Babylon wag dolivored in tho year 538 B. O. and its fulfillmont ‘began 174 yeoars aftorwards whon Oyrus tho @Graat captured that ity and slew its proud and infamous Kiug, Bomo people have supposed this toxt roforrod to tho fall ‘of' Satan from Heavon, an_event montioned by our’ Bavior .in the tonth chapter of Luke and worked up into high pootry by John Milton in * Paradiso Lost," and Lucifor has come to be one of the propor namos for the dovil, though it doos nos refer to the dovil at all, but to that distinguished friond of his, Bolshazzar, tho Isst and worst of the Babylonish Kings. Babylon was built to dofy the world and stand forover. It was the strongest; most magnificont, and wickodost city which pride, and wealth, an sin ever conspired to lmihg. It was tho Capital of an Empiro whose rosonrcos wore almost boundless, aud was at onco the torror and ad- miration of mankind. Ite luxuryand licentious- ness wora boyond doscription,—history and Ianguago bronk down undor such & lond. 'flm walls, which inclosed an ares of fiftoon miles equare, wero 800 foot high and thoir tops afforded o roadway wider than onr widost' ave- nues. Qutaide thoss was a vast ditok or maat ‘wheore the earth had boon takon out to make tho briok for tho walls; huge double towers com- manded the river where it ontered and loft " tho oity; its gatos woro of solid brass, and this hugn citadol was hoavily garrisoved and provisioned to atand o sioge of twenty years. It waa in tho zenith'of its glory. whon Isalah ronounced its doom. **Thou hast gaid in thy oart I will ascond unto heaven, I will oxalt my throne above tho stars of God, yot thou st bo brought down to Dell, to tho sides of tuo pit.” A fow yoarslator Joromiah took up his Eropuocy againatit, ** Floe out of tho midst of abylon, and doliver overy man his soul; ba not sut off in her iulqulty, {for this is tho timo of tho Lord's vengonco.” “ £ Not, how could euch prediotions bo recelved by the loading citizens of Babylon, especially ‘when their armios returned from tho capturo of Jorusalem, whoro old Joromiah himself hind been taken out of : & dungaon, and whence tha sncred vossols of the Templo of Jehoveh had boen brought to bo placed a8 trophios in the tomples of Baal and Ashteroth? * Lot these old follows prate,” thoy would say, * Whois this God of Isracl that cannot evon defend his tomplo, much le#s his people ?" * 8o, In spite of God and his prophots, this great povor wont on, breaking tho necks of Kings and tearing King- doma to pieces, till even srand old Egypt had faollon bofore its arms, = 3 But,In o hordaman's Lt In tho noighboring EKingdom of Medis, the grandson of a King was owing up to_manhood, & boy whom sn uncle - ad declarod should ono day unseat . the roign- ing monarch and como to be the master of all Asta. Scared by this oracle, his royal grand- fathor gave bim to & faithful sorvant, with ordors to kill him socrotly ; but ho, profossing to havoe dono 8o, gave the boy to & _poor shepherd, who brought him wup with his own gous. Tho spirit of young Cyrus, for soha had been noamed, #oon gave him u mastory over his rude companions, and whilo yot a youth lho had a littlo nrmy of his own with which he ralsed 'a rovoltagainst his would-ba murderor, seized his Kingdon, and commenced & carcer of conqnost. which soon mado him feol strong enough' to eapplo with old Babylon itsolf. i This Ozv’ruu was A man of destiny, & chogon agont of God for the destruction of that haughty Trinco of nationa whose exsistence wns ono monsirons nover-ceasiug sin. More than 100 yonrs bofore he was born, Taaish had prophesied of himbyname : *Thus saith the Lord to His amnoiuted, to Cyrus, whoso 'right hand I have boldon, to subdic nationa bofore him.” * I have surnnmed thee though thou hast not known me.” Dorsian swords were no shiarper than thoeo of Babylon, and thoy wero not Bo mnny.' bnt thoy wore in the hands of bettor men. ‘The simpla monotheistic religion of the Persians sayed them from tho vices of idol worsbip, and this, with & mission from God, was their only conceivablo advantage. That impious eoying of tho grent Napoleon, * Hoaven is nlwafu on the gido of the Topvicst battalions," is aa false to Liatory as it is rovolting to faith. It was the only cliance for Cyrus that God was on his sido. When his army sat down bofore that vast’intrenchment they must hove been tho objects of - derision and con~ tempt, From tho mountain heights ‘of those lugo battlements his mon and horses seemed of To more acoount than' s0 many grasshoppers. Hig ongines of war could not reach the walls, aud, 1f they could, u:;? might as well batter way at the Pyramids. - No arrow could plerca s mailed warrior ot the top of those towers, and no Judders could bolp the besiogors to olimb 800 feot into the sky, but down from those dizzy holghts child might drop a pebblo which wonld split o Porsian helmet and tho Peralan skull thiut wus In it. 1f it was proposod to starve the city into sur- rondor, Cyrus and hisarmy would grow gray and shaky with ago before tho twenty yoars' stook of provisions would bo oxhausted, and then the bra- kou gates could only open to pour out innumera- Dle hosta of armed mon togrind him and bis hosts to powdor. : : Two yoars of sloge Liad pasised, and tho groat eity had grown familiar with thesighta of the Porulan camps, looking down upon thom as an eaglo might look down from her mountain crag upon a pack of hung? wolves, and hovling after tho prog ho was fooding to hor coglots ; for Bub- ylon goomad safo from tho Porslans as long as eagles’ nests are safe from wolvos, i. 0., till wings grow out on them and they learn how to fly, But thero was ono work place in the city, not [n 1ta walls or gatos, or moat, or towers, but in its honthonism. On n cortain duy a graat fes- tival was hold in honor of some Babylonish 1dol, and tho ontiro population, soldlora snd, al, gav thomsolves up to revolry and shame, The fury of the dobauch shut out all thonght of Cyrus aud his army, sa the walls shut out all” sight of thom. This way the day for which tho Eront goldior had waited, Am tho night came down 100,000 mon, armed with spadoes, commenced to doopon tho old canals through which, n the timo of froshots, thesurplus waters of the rivor wore drained into a noighboring_lake, and boforomidnight thoy had lowered the Euphratos 80 g to leave & narrow utrlr of Iand botwoen tha river and the walls, only wide enough for haolf odozen men to pasa abreast, whoso cn- tranco a handful of lho(i;ulrd might have with- ptood till, from tho double towara on eithor pido, tho wslmplest _missilon daghiod tho sloudor lino in ploces. But the bonioged Wero heathens ; it wue part of their religlon to b drunk on that nrtfontar day and night, the four handfuls of ho guard wore not at hund, and so iu theso four narrow lines death and dostruotion marched into thocity, and King Nolshazzar was slnin in his own banquat-hall with the wine yet {n him whioh hi0 lind drunk to his {dol out of the goldon oups hig fatlior Lind ntolen from Johoval's tomplo. Then bogan tho oxcoution of God's sentonoce, 0, Lucifor, Light-Tearer, star of thomorning, $hion oity whoso glory uhione . resplendont ovor all cho cltios of "thio oarth aathe morning star outshines tho stars of night, how art thou fallon © Luclfor, son of might Lisvo browght down to the dust whioh natious down | . Weurs and revolutions from this time forward chiet city, spito of tho minor closest jmitation of Babylon which its working majority of bad men ‘oan produce. .You and 1 axa taxad and govarnad in_tho interests of the groatost crime in the world. Boer is our Mayor, whieky is' our Chiof of Polico, and 8o Tarag our Ohristian clvilization is .concerned, good men havo no: rights which thoso Dabsl feel bound to reapoct, ' ‘Tio Athowm of tho old world and the dovila of the under world ore in len&ue with our o called People'a pm}y to arug an ovorwholmed tha fatod city with succossivo wavos of doatruction, till, at lnat, tha vory place of its looation was lovt, atid only. by:tho oxplora-. tions of modern soholnrs haa its graye boon dls- coverod in & wlildorness whoro owls hoot and Jizznrds orawl and tho wolf and tho jaokal bur- row among the dust of Dabylonish tomples and the palacos of Dabylonish Kings. . . F 11 ow binth , the opprossor congod, the Golden Oty coancd 1" And now, in tho Valloy of tho En- hrates, 1;mx ‘may road thosolf-samo rocord whicl ho old Yrophot.wrota \{huo Lhe’ olty was in its pridos “And Babylon, tho glory of kingdoms, ehall . bo as_whon God overthréw Sodom an Gomorrah, It sball nover bo {nhabited, nofthor shall it bo dwelt in from gonoration to genora- tion, ;but the wild bonata of the desort shall lio thoro, the owls slinll diwoll thoro; the wild bonsts of the island shall ary in their desolato placos and'dragons in tholr plonsaut palaces.” ‘Bt thia prophocy doos nob stop with tho ru- tned Kivgdom and tho doad Xing. It follows hins: down into tho shados ond gives us & glimpee of tho royal gheatin holl surrounded by the viotima of his ambition aud oruelty, who taunt and jeor him aud guash tholr tooth upon him as tho moanor Loasts might toaso an old lion whoso jawe woro broken and whoso strangth waa gone. “Holl from bonoath is moved to moot thoo atthy coming ; it atirroth up the dead for theo,evens il the ohlofs of carth. It hath raieod up from thoir thrones all tho Kings of tho nations. All thoy phall sponk and sny unto thee, ‘Art thou bocoma -woak a8 Wo, art thou bocome liko unto ns ?'” You cnn almoit soo tho shuddoring ghost of old Bolehazzar as his doad viotims gathor round him, among whom aro Kings and Princes whom ho had robbed of thoir crowns, aud hear them mooking him with his lost magnificonco; for now thoy are all In holl togother, whore Kinge and Princes go for littlo moro than Dthor‘pwr e, boing 8o plouty, and where tho froquent fashion of this world is xoversed, and tho groatost sin- nore hava tho meanest place,. And this awful vision suggests tho question whother that be not. Tho;pordiifon of all ovil-doors wio havo in thls world spoilod the souls .and bodies of men and womon, to fool the full vongeance. of their vic- tims in holl, aud have all tho woos and cursca heaped upon thomsolves which they seatterod so frooly in tho days of their flosh. - ) But the judgmonts of Jehovah follow even tho doad body of thia royal wrotoh ; it {8 not to bo Inid i & Kingly tomb, but loft ta rot liko tho caronss of o dog, nons, romaining of atl his inill- ions of subjocts - who ‘cares enough for tho doad monareh to dig him a docont grave. * WANl tho Kings of tho nations lio in glory, -evely ono {n his .own houso; but thoun art casl out of thy gravo, 88 a oatcnss trodden undor foot. Thou shalt not bo joinoed with' them in burlal bocauso thou hast dostroyed thy laod and alain thy poople,” Z Btill one atop farther does tho wrath of God follow thia groat_sinnor; dond and dishonored, his soul in holl, the sport of his former victims, his body denied n docent burial, his children oven fool the blight of hia terriblo {niquitics. . “T will riso up against thoin; eaith tho Lord of Hoats, aud cut olf from Babylon the name and remnant, aud son, and nophow.” *'W'ho sood of ovil-doors shall nover be renowned.” It 18 not diffficult.to_ coma at tho moral of thia .story—thoy: are forodoomed who fight ngaiuat God.~ . Whatover Babylon ventures to sligut His commandmonts Ho hng a Oyrus in training somes whoro whoso hool shall tread upon ita nock. Twonty yoars 8go nothing in this country was 80 strong as. slavory, aud nothing go wonk as n slavo; but hera in our own Btate God trainod his Cyrus, a man with a groat conscienco, aud cour- ago enough to follow it, snd I have latol thoso vory alaves sitling in tho halls of logisla- tion making laws for thoir old masters, in a Stato" wnoso former statutes counted thoso black Senators and Assomblymon 88 cattle, and forbade to teach them to road. Ho who goos out to battle hath neod to know whothor God -fighta on tho other sido, soen . “Aud now that thia slaye Dabylon is fallen, the noxt atronghold :of lell- is strong - drink.., The Princes of tine heathen power nro rich, and strongs intrenched in distillorioy, and broweries, and saloons, and in. tho managomant of party politice, Thoy coin the souls and badios. roud, and of the wenk and ignorant into monoy; and gov- orn citios, and counties, and Btates, by moaus of the basost appetites of the basost poaplo,., Thoy laugh at tho thelr fats at hoavon, ible, fooff at the Church, shako and, enap -their fingers at hell. . § P Of this Kingdom of Drunkennoss Chicngo {8 a ho presont City Governmont, in Ry of good mon in it, It the oninng have govern and plundor our city. Tho; d tino- God’s Babbath out of its place of tion among the days of the week; thoy hidvo cast out honor and character and: native “citizenship 28 ngoless rubbish; thoir, police protect infa- mous occupations .and infamous man,. but our Godly women:over to the mob if thoy como to ‘thoir Counctl-Obamber; _strong hand of tho Stato.Government had not ivo end, if tho olioked them off, they would have voted.out still another of the commnndments and oreated 8omo more officos for thoir favoritos, whose high fanction would havo boen the sorting and grad- ing and Iabeling of prostitntes for the oator snfoty of thomsolves and their friends, ‘This is tho People’s party, those aro tho Babyloniauas who govorn Chicago. by 5 I cannot pretend to say by what means God will destroy the power of theea sinners, but this I do say, that, unlosa tho Eternal abdiontes Hig throne in favor of Batan, thege mon who defy Him must migorably and epocdily proish. Do you object that aver since the time of Noah at lont, this curse of strong drink hins withstood the efforts of God and man to drive'itout? I reply, drunkenness is, like othor gius, likely to romain. amongst mankind till the coming:of: tho Millonnium ; but, lile other sins, thosa Who ally thomaelves with it will certainly s by it. There 18 no ono vice on which Heaven liag rainod down 8o many ourses in our time, and the very. monstrous proportions to which it has grown, and tho vory intensity with whioh its servauts fight, will haston tho coming of the soven last plaguos upon them, and thoir utter and - otornal destruction. i i 1t thoso cuemics of God wero not as ignorunt 28 they aro besotied they would bo scared out of thoir strongbolds, and’ tho ofllces' which. they doiile, by the doom which has overtaken such a8 they, and whioh, unless thoy repent, is surely | waitlng for them. Thelr. career in Chicago boa | been short, sud. it never can b long! . God will nob stand {t ; bofore our gaod oldmon arp gone to Honven thoso new Bah{)anhuu, whose dogs bark atus, and bite us, will have sunk to the very bottom of society, prabably to the botton of dis- honorable gravos. Ho then, good friends, do not be impatlent, and ' eny that,God's mill rinds, slow, but when you cannot hold your sa and shame, then re ig fourteonth chap- tor_ of feaiah, ond the Aifth chaptor of Daniol, and then say your prayers aud wait tlll election-time, and then arise, every one of yon, and nt the primary meeting, where thase cockatrice’s oggs aro hatched, erush out theso sinnera who claim to rula us in the name of *“liborty " and the *people,” but whose ovil pagsions aud evil deods proye thom, like old Bel- Blikzzar, to bo- sony of Bolisl, and encmios of menkind. = Bhall not God avenge His own olooct who or unto Him day sud mght? I tell you Ho wi avengo them spoadily : aud thougll thoso mon aré editors, or distillors, or Aldormen, or party managors, . and thouglt' thoy have the wholo twalve hundred milllons of the beor sud whisky interast to back them; and though votes of drunken lonfors are choap and plonty, yot are thoy as cortain fo come to griof as thoy aro to como to thelr gravos, The genorationa ot bad mon are short ; eapecially in our times, thoydo nat liv out haif thoir days, thoroforo do nok bo discouraged, though tho good namo of ‘our oity i dishouored and hor marvelous history defiled 3 there is not aleohol enough in all the saloons of Chiongo to prescrve from spendy rottenncss thero mischiovous mon who havae lntely come into ower. It is wntton in unmistakablo charaoters in tho tine of curront avents ns well'as in the lat~ tors of firo upon Bolshnzzar's palaco walls— *“@od hiath numborod thy ki fi(]lnm and finighed it If tho Biblo is not authority with theso men, lot thom read history ; it Bolshozzar and Ahob aro out ofdnto, ot {hon” study Lisk and Twood, o Aud now T appeal to the momory of tho oldor part of my oougrogation, llow long Las this rum party oxistad in this country ns s political power? 1t inonly »fow yoars sinco the walls of thia citadol of 8in woro ‘built, and thoir foun- drtious rest ou tho rug or the stronghiold of alavery. 'Tho samo olass of men defend this whioli dofended thut—not the samo mon, for they are mnutl‘y in disgraco, but & frosh rolay of rudo follows of tho basor gort, who will bo snffored to flll tho qup of their .iniquitios and thon perish like those bofore them. 1If you look at the mon who have come into the Govornment of our city by tha will of the malkors and lovers of strang drink, you will find thiem all now mon, suddenly raised’ from duu?- hills to Aldormanio thronos, ' is not an ol from thy Hoavou-dofying mljou‘lfi'a how art thou [«and respectable oltizen amon, o thomj they are 8t bring other [ men without history, or family, or oulture, or :n}mhtlnn and Ldeio @a) that tho respoctable norisy who find themaolyes in eubli compsny in pationce for smarting, ad 5 fool mortified and dlsgusted ovory._timo Ao Uouneil bringa them togothor, But . whore ia .the man who hias -boon for any. longth of timo a aubjeot of this rum Babylon, olthior s & manufacttror or vondor, or as a pot="|i house politician, upon whom some mark of tho wrath of God doos not ltondy rost? Do you know s single houso ‘patnblished by rum whoso -olonots aro-not full of 'skoletonn ? "Ditt you aver 800 a fortuno of this sort ntay in one family for Awo full gonerationa? Whore i the groggory that is not, hanutod, or tho long-time ownor thoroof ‘who' lina not In hia' own soul and -body, aua in his;family, tho rocord of minery, and dog- radatlon, and crimo? Those poor wwrotclios who grind in those dovil's milla have neod of thoso supplications on tholr bolialf which thoy onll the . prayor-plague,” for there are 8o many of thoir sing Pnymg against tliom that it is only of God's groat moroy thoy aro not slready: im and domnod, " LT F e n i I havo somewhero hoard of .one of theso tn- botieving saloonlsts, who, being enragod at tho Church and the tomporance roform, composed o trontise agaiut thom, which Lo biasphomoualy ontitled: “'The Boven- Last Plaguen.” -, Thewo Sh ues, according to him, were Total-Abstinonse ocloties, Hons of Temporarico, Good Tomplars, Bands of Hope, Prohlbltory Laws, Young bon'a Olristlan Associations, and Bunday-sohoold. Putting up a staring placard, **Sovon Lust Plagucs for Salo Horo,” hoawalted tho arcival of his custorora. Prosontly a poor old wreck of & man camo in for hia morning bittors, and, seoing tho placaud, alowly road it to himsolf, then fn o kind of terfor, ho bogan to count off the ovon plagues upon his fingeraalond : Rum, gin, brandy, whisky, wino, ale, cidor,~nand, turning upon hia hool, hoatily loft the' place, Tho noxt man stopped to’ road tho sign, and thon bogan to count tho plaguos which ;wore kopt for salo thus: Hesdache, fover, nervousness, ltagguflng. drunkenooss, delirium tromons, in- snnity ; and ho, too, hastoned away,, Tno third man road andreckoned thus: Poverty, thirst, bungor, rags, friendlossnoss, tho alms-house, tho vottor’a flold. , Tho fourth man counted the plaguos : Liogs of charactoer, loss of crodit, lossof roporty, dobt; dosporation, & prison, the gal- owa, .o And thon the horror-stricken dram-geller ba- gan to rackon for timsolf ; ‘A disgraceful bus{- ness, & ruined homo, a son lying in & drunkard’s grave, -anothor in & lunatic asylum, s murdor committod in his hiouss, a torturing consolenco, aud hoell in imwediate progpoeot, *And the misora~ ble wroteli riishod out of his placo, and ran for Din lifo as i£ bis store wore Lsuntod, - Aund 80 it was. .Bo are all such places; and, 1 viow of tho foovitable pligues which their 8ins bring npon thom who put tho bottle to their neighbors' rs, or who put it to thoir own lips, it would seom that tho prayers of our sistors of tho temperance orusado ought to be a welcomo sound. to. thelr qsrs, -since nothing but spacdy ponitonco and Almighty graco oan_savo thom misory in this world, 8s woll as in the world to como. - . I am sometimea inclined to think 'that the Babylon mentioned in the Rovelation: ls nono othier thau the Kingdom of Drunkénuness whioh is now bocoming 8o portentous aud so hoaven- defying, and that it is upon this “(@eat ‘of ‘tho boaat " {hiat thoso awful viola full of tho wrath of Uod aro to bo pourced out; and if 16, be 8o, it agroos with the record of our prisons, poor~ housos, bodlams, idiot asylums, oriminal courts, oxouutfou!‘ and flinanelh\g-mnmu. Bo warnad In time; nvurly'unnéat you; go not in tho way of thoso siners_fost the plagues which in this world and tbs next aro poured out upon them'should also light on yon. . But thore is'anothor world under this one, ard my soul slirinks with horror at the perdition of thosemon who, in spite of the warnitiga of God'a FProvidence as woll as God's Word; for tho sako of llthy lucro, or a littls briof authority, beoome tho subjoots of this Rum Babylon ; for, if all the ovils which mon inflict -In this world como baok | upon their own~heads in tho world below, what ‘must bo the cataloguo of shamo, and torturo in storo for "thom when ‘! Holl from’ bonoath is ‘moved to moet thom ot their coming 1" . " I wont one night futo_tho domonstrat{ing-room of a Chicajyo madical collogo. A .crowd of rol- licking studonte wero maldog metry araund the ‘red-hot atove till called. by the entrance of : the Professor to thoir sonts which arose, cirole above cirale, around a long narrow table which was the fooua of obgorvation. _All boing rendy, the'doo- tor turned baok the white oloth from tlie 'naked, body of a man, took up his scalpel,‘and, dis-" ooursing learncdly, bogan the **demonstration 1. 0., shiowing tho boya how to cut » living body by cutting this doad omo. .The *‘subjoct". soomed to bo the wreok of what had “once been o strong .ovd stalwarl man; the dend faco boro marks of dissipation and il body of noglect, and I took him to bo sowme paupor whom drupkonnoss had driven tothe Alma-: House, and who, having no friends to 'claim his corpso, hnd beon sold to the dootora or stolen by some ‘ resurrectioniss,” to furnish- safo oxor- cige for snws and knives in the interest of the soionce of anatomy, At any rato, that is the history of mauy of tho subjocts which do come to those strange uses, and when thora is no Tongor any momber of that poorbody which can be cut any smalfer, tho mass &8 thrown into tho Bewet or #old to bo bolled into soap. *-These are facts.- 1 give them from modioal authority. ‘Thus the awful curse of Hoaven which spared not even tho corpso’ of the Babylonish Eing follows: the ‘subjecta’ of thia: modern Babylon, not only to a miscrable doath, but avon casting their bodiea like his out of thelr infamous gravos. 8o lot it be. - Whon thoso Babylonians have run their short race of -authority and mischiof, and have met the'stroke which their.impiety hos in- vited, it i3 but o ‘small return to Bociety which thelr lives have cursed, that their bodies should be made of soma littlo sorvice to the science and heanlth of the world,. Why should theso men send their sorvants and victims, paupors ond mur- dorors, to teach young doctora surgery, and not in their own turn lis on. the diesecting-table thomselvos ? o o Flnnll{, the wrathful prophecy concerning the fato of. this ahoiont sinner, doscends to his chil- drenaftor bim, h apoken it in this chap- tor of Isaiah; and written it amongst the branchos of every family troo, *‘ The soed: of evil-doers shall naver bo renowned.” In ourday, fortunea and 'honors ohango -hands with sstonishing ra~ pidity. ' Hands, both - dirty - and- bloody,. now 'hold the roins: of .civio govnmmancl But God is pledged to see that their carcer shall be short; and, in viow of tho facts, He scoms to Y terribly in earnest. Tho systom of sinwill cone tinue, but the names on the civic roll and on the sign-hoards of saloons will speedily:change, and - tho -6ons_of thoso. who- bare them- will .ba auhamed of thiom and want to changa the spoll- ing, af, indoed, thoy do not porish aitogather through the sins thoir fathors taught them, To. husasa: oxporieuce, na well as. In:Holy Beripturo, both doom and deliverance are writ- ton ; deliveranaa for the poor that ary unto God, and for every slanor that turnsthaway from bis smng, but doom. for all Ligh.things :that- exalt themselves 'againgr- Jehovab, : amon, stands forth with the boldest {mpioty the pros- ent City Governmont of Ohicago.: . o' « We_noed not wait for somo great.Oyrus to come ‘and crush out theso Babylonians, - A great many mon and o groat many women must huves hand in It,—men -with_votos, and women .with prayers, till thay have votes alko. ‘They are tho enemiey of mankiud, -their busincss is outlawed alroady by the Judga of all tho earth, and the time is coming—coming. speodily—when a longs sulering . Christian community. will hant as. criminaly, like any other -thiovea and murderers, . ;lm bonstful politicians of our boor and whisky ng. th(g' ropont,—there is no uso of praying if they do ‘not,—but as for those who can neither bo brought to féar God nor rogard good men, lot the rightoous wrath of all’good, citizons striko: thom down.. Bent aud burn them with tha:ham- mor and firs of God's Word, batter thelr sodden brains with faots snd argumonts; blind thom with :a’ sight of .tho .sorrows they mako ; geald them with toars; stab thom: with honest voten; bind them hand and foot with lawa, and, it thoy broak thom, put them in the prisons thoy have helped 8o 'long to flll Rripe them with ’rovurty by spending no money with them; and:.wrench® from thom, for the bouofit of soclety .and charity, thoir ill-goiten honors and gaing; shut all houses against their trattlo; turn them' out of all doors, and by {frowns, by fashion, by the intluonce of all tho good, 10t thom be mado outeasts, like Oain, from among all docont mankiud. . If thoy ard siok visit them ; whon thoy hecome boggars, pity au roliove them ; resoue.their wives .and sons and daughters from the ourse that hanga -over thelr, housoes ; and wheu they dio, let some. littlo use- fuluoss be oarved out of thom, aud then bu? o the fragmenta in the cocth, and raise this e taph above them: *+Tnoy fight ngainst God.” — MODERN UNBELIEF. are foredoomed w! Sermon by 'the Rlev, ¥onry Powors In the Clinrch of tho Monsluh, The Nov. Ionry Powers pronched yosterday morning m the Church of tho Mossioh, The toxt way found in Luko xvil, 53 lnfifld"“m Apostles ald unto the Lord, “ Increnso our Bir. Powors apoke ne. follows: One of tho grontest noodd, my friends,—porhaps I ought to aay the groatost nood,—of our time Is an intelll« gont and working faith In the renlity and tho practical valuo of epiritusl things, ™ Thore ls {faith onough, indood, in cortain Eu«run, but It is not suficiently iutelligont, aud so it ia not in hnrmmlfi with the spirit of the age and with its Lost schleyoments, Honco, Ite frult is su. sormons of hor .ministor : {nstesd, and so my cradulif matorial .mau, "visib) ‘which Lot the Church pray for their pardon if: poratition, and not the information, tn tho souls of ita possosuors, of n highor and botter life, doys—1 argor moasure of », por= hiapp, than “lag over ~ oxistod bos foro; ~ but " ‘momaliow ft docs mot apponr £o-ho In snch vital and governing connac- tion with tho life that now is ans ono could de- nlro, .and, theroforo, it doca not oier 8an racognized and bonnficont powar into the bst=. noas and plonsuro of tho world, It In tatked sbout in our churchos, it is mado wse of by wornou aud childion and the_so-enlled, religloun olnas, {t Inkopt on heud by a groat many por- Bous a4 o lst resort in cano of acoldont, or slok- nons, or death ; but 1t Is nok rocognized dircotly and'frankly in the study, . tho Iaboratory, the countlug-houso, or the doliborativo nssombly na ono'of tho osseutial olomonts of human life nud and progross., 'Tho modern practical world can senrcoly find lu{ plago amongst it notivo forcos for an fmminont and froquont God to dwoll, to inhabit, and to oporate, Moanwhile, tho holploss and sufforing peoplo aro distracted vory Iargoly with doubt and fenr, They have brokon away, Ivu roat numbers, from tho traditionnl bellofs of the Oburcl, snd nro fitled, if sufliclontly oultured, with admiration at tho victories of soieuco, aud aro_rendy to accopt, - without hositation, the last rosults of historical otitloism, oven to tho surrendor of eyery formu- lated concoptiou of the past; but, if ignovant sud unfortunato, thoir wouls nre ombittored and_mado 'dosporato, becauso tho holp of man hns failod thom, and thoro is no promise of greator joy to como, 0, the misery, my friouds, of a hopoloss Lifo,~to bo in doubt and troubls now, aud 800 10 Way of osonpo 1uto & lurger nud happior placo; to feol tho v m‘{ fouudations orumbling bousath _our feot, while nothing to oling to is proffared unto us, aa we aro forcod to fly out into, limitless space. 8aid » friond of mino tho! othor doy, in ‘New York, concorning the **They havo taken away from mo all trust in tho faith in whioh I wes frainod, bub they havo givon mo nothing oart i@ sad, DBotlor tho Es“ my childhood” than tho choorless m of my prosont lifo,” 18 thore, then, my frionds, no help for this state of things,—no way in which Soleucosnd Roligion can bo roconcilod to cnch other, and thoso Yroubles romoved ? Must thore’ be for~ ever o diserimination botweon tho . spiritunl and tho,practical life ; au irreconcilablo antagonism botivoon enrthly aud Loavonly thiugs ;. an ontiro and absolutd soparation of” tha 8 ) tho! future ,world? Must faith in Invis- iblo things—in immortality,. and. the poraistancy yoursolves as of immediato and practical value to all—deorsnge, step by stop, ay the Kingdoms of: the world. aro develonod and mon bocome onlightenod, or will it rathor grow conetantly stronger and fraitful of mors and entor blessings hereaftor than' it has boen E‘(’:mtntom? In short, shall'we {ulu with the Apogties in their prayer, * O Lord] incréase our. faith," or, a8 wisor aud better men than thoy,: ahall wo 'sny: ** Away with sl faith in ghostly things, and ‘let us pat our trust in tho forces alono of tho immatorial world.” If I mistake not, frionds, this is, in sume form or othior of it, tho groat and common question of the day—tlio problem which: must be solved in somoe fashion by onoh one of us, -whother wo will or 5o, if. we resent from would botrue to ourselyes and others. Aud, now" that wo oy bo alded, one and all, to tho'right aud happy solution of thia Jroplor allow mo to sugicost in tho'firet placo thab faih {8 the basis of all'things in this. lifo—of scionce ns woll ag roligion, of business oqually with devotion— faith in the ono spirit of life, by whatover name itmay bo called, whoso fullness filloth overy- thing thiatis. © - - D . 'I'lio univeras in wlich wo live is not nakilifally put togathor, piece of . mechanism Aimply—it is agrawth. . It iu tho groat ,troo of lif, ~whoso ranclios sro ataxios, and whose buds ind blor- Boms 616 Ktars,’ From the nniverso of ‘yostorday the universe of tu-dngliabom; ovolvad by the constant aotion of its. indwolling, bidden, and otornal forco, Dut how inoffably fuo s tho nction of that forco!.Only a still prasence smoug the atoms, ot .tho ‘worlds &ro made, und, the morning stars sing together; only a gontle, im- pmépzfiflu impuléa givon to organio life, yot ‘in obedienca- to that impulse life mounts tho mighty laddor of being, rouud after round, till fa ‘renched at tho top; only a atill small volco in man,: gently urging bim toward the botter, yot, moved b at silent . persuasion, man ofimbs slowly up itio bilts of God, il tho Tioavonly city opon its gatas to him at lnst. To- day there are somo 500,000,000 of mon's hoads in tha world; nono of thom withoat- soma capacity of thought, nud some of them that soem, a8 In o vost :dome, to comprchond ou image of tho iofinite.” To-day thore aro soma 500,000,000 women's hmm.ué' uono of them without some capnoity of loving, and somo of them. that soom. fo' hold in ono small broast s wholohoaven of love and tondernocss. They onmo out of tho invisible into the visible, did thoynat?. Aud, thereforo, must thero not Lie thought, and love, and holy devotion in that in- i:o world? Have we not faith to beliove thore i8? “Do we nob ask continually upon that foith ? and do we not of uocossity assume that in what we call the material world this God or life-forao; makos for rightcousness,” is nowhore conconled ? Truo, Horocedos as wo strive to search ITim, Novartheloss, Ho rocedos not into distance, but - deeper and deoper into the heart aud coro of things; rocedes as tho atmosphere recoden when we siriveto grasp it. Though our flugora aro empty, clutch a8 wo may, the airis alill, around our Lisud, Its subtle Dature Las oscapod 'the conrgo, tho immaterial grasp—tbat is all. Now, I miniutain that mon of thought, men of scionco, and mon of affairs are also mon of faith; bocause in all that they think and ‘do they take. for grantod the presont working forco of this #ll-poryading powor. Said Prof, Youmans: “I ia tho offica of acicuce to expliore tho works of God,” and thon ko goos on_to doclave that, in tho process of this oxplanation thera nood bo nothing whioli, rightly viewed, *¢ would lead to the suppresion of o higher falth” ¢ Lven if “the modern theory of evolution woro conclusivo- ly osteblished :even’ if it wero proved that 08 suroly .4s. the ‘germ coutains tho- full~ grown plant, tho wholo history of the im- ‘matorial universe, was potentinlly.coutained In tho first atom, or * cosmia vapor,’ and that not » singlo’ aat’ of what was orroneously desiguatod “supernatural . creative powor, hiad ever beon in- tercalatod into it, ®ofar from excluding, this would only be mord profoundly consistent with, the agenoy of an absolutoly personal intollgonco. Yor it would bo only more fully significaut of an intelligonce . in whicti tho ond'was ovon prosup- posad in tho ‘boginuing, sud the boginning Buraly prophetio ‘of “the ond;, and all thinga :vhcre l‘goven togothar by tho grand uocossities of ouglit & I 80, .100, by tho declaration of.all its chiof ministers,. ‘sofonce _Lns to do directly with tho modes and mothods. of "lifo, and nof with life iteolt.. Baid Prof, Tyndall “to a friend: I vigw,, naturg, existonco, tho. universo, like tho koy-board, of _ & . pisnoforto. What camo bofora the bass I don't know, and (scicutifically sponkiug) Tdou's curo, What comos aflor tho trable, I aqually little know and caro. ‘lho koy- bonrd, with it binok and whito Leys,—it is mine to study.” - Apd with what splendid and benefi- oont. rosults has ho aud his follows atudied that koy-bonrd. How the instrumont has boan mado lorious by them,—its keys incressod, its touo mproved, and its roalm enlarged ! Although'tho ‘musio of the sphores romains the same in quan- tity, yot how muoh moro munifest is its harmony now. than it ever was boforo ! Tt is not truo, of courso, and thoreforo I wonld Dot Bay it, that. all soiontifio mon are conscions- 1y and in their hoarts devout ; that the things of tho gpiritual world ave rogarded by thom as of equal pmoticnlhngortnuuo with tho things of the visblo creation. In fact, many of tloir numbor aro not sfoy . to oxpross Lheir contompt for what commonly passes for veligious truth in our ‘churobes. Aud with, good reavon I think—for, 105 uob thoology boon the . constant enomy of selonce at overy step of its progress 2 Was not Copornious compoellod to dofer, until after his denth, .the publication of 8 book on the rovolution of . tha plancts?’ And uob QGaliloo got into sorlons troublo with the occlosinstical powors of his day, for pub- lioly maintainjug tho samo "thoory?” And ean history fursish us with u ehiglo iwstanco, from tho stoning of Stephan, the proto-martyr, down to tho trial of Prof. Swing, where the’ popular topohiors of religlon Linve not put all sorts of ob- steoles in the way of thous resoarches which have led to our present knowledge of tho order, the havmonies, and the glorics of tho visible upivorse? No wondor, thon, that thero should bo s bigotry of solonce croated to match thin Digotry of religon ; no wonder that many a dis- coverer ahould como at Iast to boast of the name of ‘Athelst,” winch hirs boon'so fulsoly given him: no wondor that Mr, Huxloy should exuit- ingly oxolaim; whon contomplaling tho results of these succcesive contestst ‘¢ Bxtinguished thoologtans lio about the cradlo of avery scionce na tho stranglod snnkes boside that of Horoules and history records that whonever sclenco aut orthodoxy have been falrly Ollllmlafl. tho Intter has boon forcad to retiro from tha liats, blooding nand orushod, if not auniuilated,” And yob » true .ephitual faith fs pon- peenod by sl goulune kolontists nover- tholoss. 'No ono surely oan hayo beon o caroful roader of the works of thoir grost wmen, without poroeiving how steady and how con- stant {4 their trust fn tho power, the wiedom, and the goodness of the Iutinito One, as avi- denged in Iis works, Tho unucu}:unu they hnve of Hum way not sult ua ontiroly ; the expres- slons that drop from thoir lips and pons somo- timos may pain us by thoir untairuess or undos “this power not ourselves which ey ;- but thous aro minor faulte, Tho faith is thora 'atlll 3 dnd tho rovoronce, tho adoration, tho jubilant praise of God, that 1o . covatantly Dbronking fortli, ave oloquont with trus dovotion, X lioliove Mr.‘.f‘ semrtqmu s popularly boliev- od to 1 av 1 boan an Athoist and a disbolievor In vordonal immortallty, * Whiat; thon, shall wo sny of bin conduct durlng the-lnst four months of hils lito? When told by, bis phyalcian that ho must soon dleif ho continudd to'live in biy Liouse b Avignon, bocauso tho malarin of tho rogion iueronsed by the shadoe-trood which environed hiin Qwolllng, would causo Li# chronio dlsosso to becoma speodily fatal, Mr, Mill rofused to leave: it for hocould not forboar tho ploasura of visiling onohi day at evening the tombot his beloved wifa, - Botter ‘to ‘him- than longth of duyn, and the complation of his lito-work, was tho: mwoot communion he thon held with hor who, though doad, waa yot living to_hlm. Wna 1t tho moniory, simply, of what sho bad boon, thal prompted this dovotion?, Wna it woak non- timontalism on tho.part of the: world'n greatéat philosophor and metapliysloian 7 Was it not, rathor, n conviotion that deathi is but transition, aud that souls shall moeat sgain,~nny, do ool in blesaod communion within aa woll as with- out, nnd in spito of the flosh? I romark, in tho mocond place, my fricnds, that tho roasons for holloving in the oxistenco and value of.epiritual things aro ss subatantial and a8 numorous; to #ay tho lonat, ng the roa: wonss for bolwwving In_tho existonce and value of matorial things, What; nftcr all, do wo know about *“matior? Ioro is a pleco of rook, ‘A {lmhy subatantial thing, ‘wo say,—ospociatiy If t bo golten rocic. But’ what do_wo kuow about it? Bluply that it fs bard sod loavys thot " it han shapo and color, nd, poseibly, some odor,—that . ia all. Wo aro acquainted with fts “qualities. and uscs. only, and not at il with ita caasnco or .subatra- tum of oxistonce, iu-whioh, or around which, thoso qualitios cluster, and which in our ignor- anco we havo agrood to call *matter,” But what do we know of ‘tapirit,” orsoul; of its caronco? As in the cnss of rooks, nothing, Wo aro nv?unlutu(lvanly .with- its qualitios, -Wo know the fact simply that thore ia something in' un which we call our true selves, and which is & thhxuini. fooling, acting substance, or entity of lite, Tho naturo of that substanco is hid from our, knowlodgo, and probably will continue to be hid‘ao long 86 we aro.in the body,.bnt the ovi- denco of its axistonco {8 its manifeatations. fact that it—or wa rather—think; will feel, Teason, and remomuer, and Lopo, and'fear, and joy, aud sorrow ; auraly no one of s can for & ‘momont suppose’ that, knowing those quatition of sout, we theroforo know the soul itself—that slbateatum of real oxistonco in which those at- tributos ol lie and from which thoy spring. ~ - And yot the soul has thiaadvantage over mattor: itn existonce is tostified to directy by our own conwciousnocss, and 18 nat an influonce based on rensoning. ThatI am aninvisible, epiritunl, and conatantly oxpanding entity, whom no ons hag ovor soon, or oan #oo, with tho oya. of flush, and whono renl'bel? lind takon on, anly - for thd fimo," |- thoso outward habilimonts' of the'flesh, whioh only wo do behold, s solf-vidont trutl to tha inner conecionsness of. .my naturo, nud ono which no nrgument con sérongthion and no doubt dostroy. The faithi; however, in'tlio oxiatonce of othor things, not mynolt, ia indiract, and the te- sult of tho actlon of my facultios npon, them, | and o 1 sny - that faith fir tho oxisionco of spirik i moro reasonnblo, it anything, then falth’ in tho exiatonce of mattor. B s s And, if we chooso to carry this line of thought & step farthor, wo' shall percolve that faith-in tho existouce of ‘s God .of sufilcient power, windom, and gooduoss to bo, tho bo-all and ~_ end-all of ' “this . whold ~ univorse, ia olso tho most ronsonablo - conolusion that our intolleats oan come “to. **An “honest God,” says ono, ‘* is tho nobleat worliof man,” and thero is truth in tho sentimoent, if tho rofor- oncebo to tho conoeption of .God ' on our. part; and not to his, notual creation: For, studying oursclves wo study God, in whose image we. woro mado, whose children wo aro, and with whom, thorefors, wo hold diract communion.’ Bpirit can bo known to. spirit bottor than mattor to matter, or mattor to spirit.. Tho universo is tha houso in which God dwalls, juat; as the body Is the house for.tho: indwelling of oursslves. And go, nlso, that, it.we know oursolves, wa 80 far kuow God, in Wwhose imngé. wa: word mado, aud from whom ‘wo diffor only; in the limital: tiond and moral rectitude of. our being, -And now wo are propared, my friends, in_the third and 1nat place, itunl thing, notwithatandiug all tho tendoncles, often mnay be incressod, and mado more: of- flciont, all' the tinde, to roal and practical ends, And, firet, it may 'bo done by thouso of tho-| faith wo bhave. We believo that God.is,— do woe mot, in ‘some gonge ?—and :; that Hoisthe rowarder of all thoso that diligently reck Him, Vory well,if any man will do His willhe ahall know of the dootrine atill further, for ¢ Unto him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more zbnndantly.” ‘Phe knowledge of esrthly. things is obtained by investigation,. éxperimont, eud renson, and you shall know, is the sciontific mothod. . But . obedionco, on tho other hand, is tho orgen of spiritaal knowledge. Tho puro 1n hontt,” said Josus, “shall ace God;"—sco Him with tho ayo of tho soul, whero purity is. It matters not, therofore, how poor or how rich ».man may be;-how loarned or. how ignorant, haw frae ar how enslavod, a3 to hus outward life, he satill, in the degree of hia capacity and the necossity of his dnili; life, may_ be fillod with the blossed conviotion that hie shall triumph; at Inst ovorall ovil,tlmt,t\mnn?h fldelity to duty now, and ntiont waiting on this unsson power, he shall Ba Ropt from a1l hnrm, aud-made wizer and bot: tor continually as the years roll on. But, 08 tho rosult of this incronse of lite, and light, 'and joy, tha forms of bis faith must the * moxt placo” "bo changed °continunl! The new wino 'of spirifusl troth must b put into now bottlos—tho better knowl- edgo which'wo possess must bo glothed iu o bot- tor dress. What Josus and Hisdisciples thought to do by miraale wo must ever atrivo to accom- plish by scienco; the motntaing thoy would ro- move by prayer, and even ' tho:matonal world itmolf, wo muat_reduce by work, For to our mora enlightonad conception it hns bocome im- possibla to supposo, as they doubtioss supposed, that the spirit can dominato mattor direotly or at nl), eave through obodionco, into its spoainl laws. DPrayor can oparate directly upon’ epirit, and through spirit upon mattor ; but intolligence must presoribe-the mothod. The: way to make our oty bealthy-ia:to cloan the stregts, unpack \the tenoment housos, and. forco Its iubabitants toobserve all sanitary lnwe, We pray, therefors, that we may induce mon to do this; and our prayer is answered whon they lave beon pro- vallod upon to oxort themselves. . * Innsmuch, however, as spiritual things have the supromacy over material things, sud tho uni- vorsa ia at bottom,—mcral, and uot material,— tho victory slwll af Inst bo wilh the true, tho beautiful, and the goud, and the miracles of the spirit opernting througl Inw upon mattor sball, in tho future, be greator aud more glorious than thoso of.tho past, Aud. this ia our confidenco, whilo we conso not both to work and pray. And oue thing more is nece: y it we. would increaso_our faith, v we must brye tho lib- orty, and use it, of acting out-our. own best cou- victions,', Thore must ba absolutoly no restraint laid upon the individual soul. We musthold o the -convigtions we have, until we can: obtain othors that are bettor. 1tis nover wie to aban- don thoe old house until the new ono is ready for us, But lot us nevor refuse to move,into it just as 800n a# it ia roally finished. . Whatsoovor is not of faith s ein, . Ignorance is better than licouso, and . zoal that Is narrow than au fudif- fercuco that {s lenrnod. Lot overy man be fully porsunded in his own mind, and romember nl- ways, that love is the fullllling of the'lay, And thon shall there be faith on the earth, wlien waoll-doing is tho only tost of fellowshin; when tho Good Bamaritan is soen inevery Olristinu ; and when tho Ohuroh shall liave found a plage and & work for ail tho bonefactors of mankind, Then shall thore be roconailiation. botweon sci- ence and roligion ; for the rights of sach will bo acknowledgod and prized. 5 ‘Then will thoro bo a blossed conncotlon hotwoen tho mutorinl and epirdtual worlds,—tho lifo "that unow is, nnd llln lito which s to come; for ouo law of uaturnl and heavenly Jife will Lo found to per- vndo thom both, ~And the’ man of sclenco aud tho man. of rullFlou‘ the man of thought nud tho man of aftalrs, will tako thoir places side by side, as tho evangels of & now and a batter timo, I thank Thoo, O Lathor! that though Thou hast concealed thoso things from the wwo and pru- dent, as such; Thou hasc yot rovenled them unlo babes, Listén— : # Onmo North, und Sauth, and East, and Weat, Four suges, {o n mountuln croat Each pledged to searob the wide world round Unul tho wondrous well he found, - Defore a orag they took thelr seat— Tire bubbling waters at their feet, Bajd onos ¢ This well {s sruall and mean, Too protty for s village-groon, Ha snall and dumb, Y'rom earth's doep centro can i, come? ? “'he tnird : ¢ This wator {s not Tare, Not even hright, but pale us air,” Tiye fourtls s * Fhick crowds I thought to & ‘Whero tho true woll is these ust bo,” Thoy rono, and left thio mountain crost, Qua Rortlsy ono south, oue eat, oue wesk— O'cr many scas and desorts wide Choy wauderod, $irsting, Ul they died, . Tho slmplo shopherds by ths monntain dwall, And dip thelr pitchors In the wondrous well, —_— THE DRAMA, Sormon by the Itov A. J. Frost, of thoe Unie veraity Place Church, : Tho Rov. A, J, Frost prerahad st the Univore our ooni | conceptions, the wildess imporsonations, and the ‘tho andionco as wajl ng of the nctors: to show how & faith in apir- | i| inception by the Grooks, 2,001 I can undoratand. - sity Placo Baptist Ohurol, yostorday morning, on tho drams, ohoosing for hia toxt Tloannd Ia tho man tLat walkoth not {n the counsel of tho uugodiy, nor standath in the way of sinters, nor siLtoth in tho weat of the seornful, Tho following is & suminary of Lis romarks 1 Lant Babbath our subjnqt wan that of Ohristinn amusoment ; this morning wo will sponk of tho dramn, . Thore is aa aptitndo in our vary no~ turas for amuscment ; - all art {a based upon tho imiation quolity, . Tho study of mar is tho uu- dorlying prinoiplo of tho philosophy.of. tho drnlpn,-—-to study ¢onntorparts audso oursolvos, The' dram, like forbiddon fruit, is plonsant to tho oyos, and it is 8ald * tho day yo oat thoroot your oyes shall bo openod, and yo shall'be as gods, knowing.gaod from ovil.” Thus, undor protonso or the renl doesire of atudavln humnn charactor, mon go to this houso of donth.; Now, it s enfiroly propor to atudy | charnator, but the drama ia a pervorsion of.that. impulse, sinco it Is & gross pervorsion of charae. tor,. Dat '* by thelr fruilts yo shall know them," and wo proposie t0 judgo tho thoatro by its in. tluanco. HeL & K e In tho firatiplace thoroforo, considor {ts sffeots on aotors thomsalves : they lond lives of mimiory, glmylation, snd imlitation, . .Can n porson entor tho rolo of motor,’ avou though tho. suhjoct ia Y)um, without ite reacting ann his charnctor ? ocd he not booome a flotion himsolf? Is not tho intogrity of s own mind avd porsonality lost ? Espoclaily is this truoif he lmver!oun{ua vie-: 10u8 ,olintactera, Ho thus dnstro{u_hin own, or rather livos in uthor ‘charactors. 1t “he hins any charaolor loft it is false and ono-sided. . It in wrong to patronize men who are thus ondanger- lnfi tlhomsolvos. \ Purther, ita inflnoneo is avil, slnca it is & necos« sary and unavoldablo imporfection as a work,of arty If its chnractors aro unnatural and gro- topquo, it corrupts good tasto;-if they are not truo to life, It is acting n li, snd so distorting cuphau of buman palure. Niue-touths of the nating i8 not true to- hife, nor is it any ap- | pronoh to ft. It conuists of the grossest mis- highoat improbabilities, 0 “bost ‘nctors tho world over snw ‘cantiot “copy human life acon- ratoly’ encugh to givo o mmnglo lesson in human naturo. No man can folgn feol- ingy, .espocially “high and uoblo “feolings, ' succonnfully, Ho' is a hypoorite if be doos, Ho' who foigns & virtuo commita s vico, ' All artificial domonatrations of grief, and toars, aud © woo, of ouvy, malice, and revongo, aro_slmply infernal; and liow mrioh_bottor is_ho who sim- ulatos Joy and gladuess? Such sconos not only harden tho hoart, but aronss the p?]m‘mu of ut, sup- Poslug tho hiatory ta be perfectly true, noting Pn tsalf 18 contrary to naturo. - Ha who acts lika a virtuous man and {s not ono’ is doubly viclous, Then look at tho ufluonce of tho-thontro upon spootators., If acting. in tho vory naturo of ‘things is:unnatural, ~—a violation of overy right sentiment in tho aotor himself,—it {s alno trifiing with tho delicato machinoryof our God-liko fac- ultles, to allow oursolves to witness such sconos sod bointinenced by thom. It ia enid that tho thentra cultivatos taste, The theatro has doue far moro to vitinte good taste than to cultivate it. 1t oultivatos o morbid taste and rendors ono indifforent to roal charactor, and unaffocted by tho rosl wants and woos of lifo, 1f auy one thinks his artintia naturo will bo developed- by going to the thoatre, hio mnat have a monstrous conaoption of art.” Instoad of roflningtha man- nors and_improying the “tasts, thero 18 no vice that Lns hot, at ono timo or otfier, sprangfrom' tho theatro,. Its firat effoct is- fasciuntion, ita: sooond effect dissipation, It unfits for real life, sorious thought; or'virtnous ‘occupation. " It {s tn imboallo indulgence, an unhealthy excite: mont, a sonbdual prhtification. - History sottles tho question that -tho stage nover hay promoted tnutn,mr.yurihy of, hoart, or_ high moral gonti- ment, 1 (ou binve good taste in art, litoraturo, or morald, fet mo say: Avold the:thantra, b Tho great mnsa of dramatia -litoraturo onacted " on tho stago is contomptiblo tn tasto'and motaln, -If you wish to vitiato your morals, go to tho theatre. If © you -wish to buave “n morbid or false- tasfe, ‘go~ to the theatve, . In Pluca of oloquence, 1s mouthing and -ranting ; n place of vobtiment, is Sontimentalism; In laco of tho natural, the artificial. For a-play to 0 flpopn\nit must apposl to the grossor naturo, =nd go degrado and. not olovate. Addis that, curses “nnd improcations drew applause, whils' worda of, beauty and virtuo foll powsrless, Lot thentra toach morality and tho highest artistio tnsto, and it woald not be supported. It fa not pleasant to havoe one's tasto oriticisad; hange, it is not'done at the theatre. Wo ara not spoaking of tho writton dramu, but of. the dramn upon tho stago. 1t s only a seloct fow who ean appreciato or care to hoar the masterpicces. Other trappings have to bo used to enteh the popular ear, orolss the drama must be written to suit tho faste; 1t must be vulgarized by atage contaminetions. The theatre is not -n-place-of-wholesomo in~ struction, It is not a school-house but o play- house, ‘Acroas the otrtain of a Now York thea- trais tho motto, *‘We study to plesss,” not to foatruct, 'to_cultivate, to “purify, but to ploase, oven though -the tasto -dook "bocome vitiated. "This ju tho contral idoa of tho theatro, to ploas. 1t Is s, play-bouse,-4nd -play-biouses ‘are toya* for Qilldrén, mot for men. Henco, in mpenking of the house of plensnre, we- are’not spesking against oy abusa of the institution, but agrinat tho institution’ itself.” So loug na thisiastho gingle aud coatral poaitlon of- tho theatre, it is contomptible. It sooms to pleaso at tha_ox- pouse of virtue aud religlon; and so {8 destiot- ive to man and dishonoring to God, - - ‘Lho pastor here tracod tha gradual docny of tho moral foatures of tho theatrical. art from its J 0 years ago, until, ot this time, instend of-represonting intelligonco ar'religion, It it ta-doy, the roprosentation of popular ignoranco, flourishing best where supor-~ flefal knowledge and - artifloial ‘reflnement hold sway. Iis original intontion . was good, Ita prosont - purpose -is bad, Iu rogard. to the writton gmmm,’unzlitt,l Ghiarlos Lomb, and Dr. Johnson wora' quoted’ £0.provo 'that it was apprecinted mofo by boing road than by befog s0en onactod: Tla theatro ds seldom “or novor' dofended for what it Is, but fur what it might be. Somo maintain that'it could bo turned to good | _account, but it nover was; and ‘now such things are acted thero as malke ** dovils blusk, aud from the neighborhood sugels and . holy mon trem- Dling retire.” R o 1tis not the theatro ns it might bo that we dre considoring. Wo aro donling with tho drama of to-dny., Instedd of the ftheatra: being or be- coming o ,moral {ustitytion, it. is, aud, s to bo, oua of tho most immoral_inttitutiods that curse the land, © -+ - oo, In adaraful examination of- standard’ plays, DBadford fonnd 7,000 instancey of- impisty or ob- scenity. Evon‘flunkupeuo‘hus.m be purified for tho stage. In fact, thore is no systom of mornlf- ty;that the'stage s not ‘villed and’ bronght into publio coutamnt, - It profancs the relation of; tho soxos; itrviolates overy refined sentis ment of< womanhood; it porverts evory prin- oiplo of - mankood,: . Virtue .goos . unrowarded, . vico, unwhinped of justice, in its charactors ; robbors,: murdorers, plratos, assassing, liber-, tinos, soducern, knaves, ‘aud scoffera aro sot tp as’being fravk and genorous, and 80 aro allowed to pusa uncondemnod. Drumatized vivo bocomes svirtue, bl B0 : . Again, the moral foputation of actors ia lowor thon:-that of any ‘othor olass of, equal talents, Idonot dnn{ that noma actors aro respootablo; but tho groat clasa are” intolerable. No man would bo' willing. to marry an aotross if he wanted a virtuous wife. He would not wish an actor to visit his family, andnssociata with hla chlldmn‘ aud, -whilo somo rospectablo porsons attond the theatre, it is the common rasort of tho vicious. How o yirtuous womnn cango to a -place thronged by tho vils and abandonod of hor tox, and gAzo upon tho.faco of .a onco lovely. croaturo uttoring cavert obucouity, is mora than How a chaste woman can Iook at 8o muoch unohnstity ia to wmo o myatery. T'ho gragt danger of tha thoatro arises from tho fact that sin i3 wrapped - iu voluptuons drapory and-wreathod-in fasciuating smiles, I suppose Satan himself looked like an angol of lght. It i8 not half tho work to keop that it iu to got. Having.allurad to the theatro, it is no groat duli- oulty to lead to ruln. % Tho tollowing quotations wera given to sns- tain the foregolng poluta: Miss Fanuy Komblo pays “‘acting I8 tho very lowost of -the arty.” Mneready doclarod | *'nono of my ohildren' ghall with my consont ever ontor a theatro or havo any.visiting connaction with actors or sctresses.” Rosaeau tho Infidol says: “Inall conntries tho profession of a playeris dishonorable.” Pluto bays: ' Llays avouso the passions and preveut the'nse of “them, and, of courso, are dangor- ous’ to morality,” Avistotlo nays: "seumfi tho comedics ~ ought to' he prohibited. Ovid ndvised Augustus to. suppress ‘the theatre a8 & grand -sourco of uorruption, Arohbishop Tillotson pronounces the - thoptro the * Devil'achapel.” John Wesloy declarad iv the “‘Bink of profaness and dol)mlehur{," and Macaulay stylea It *n sominary of vice," T'he proschor rominded; his andionao that the dlscourse was long, but not aslou; a3 somu oporag, and thon summed up hiy romarks in & genoral applicatioh, aud coneluded with o briaf natice of opera, which Lo olitracterizod an hav- ing sowething [ 1t that might_inspivo and elo- vato, but, in conncotion with the thoatre, and a8 prosontod, n e bad, or evon worge, than the drama, Hut the opara as it is to-duy ia only a atop to tha thaatro. Many will not go to & theatra boonuso worldly, 0D 8aYS . they aro church mombers, but thoy will go to the overa, Dut do you kuow that the opqrais onlys atlil moro rosplondont thontro? Tho that It is o good makoa it ko bad, Ihl:g:ivynl&?: good by balng 8o good, Whoroas, if tho theatra and opora woroe 80 bad that 1o ono would attond thom, thoy would bo quite respootablo, Bags one I novor faw anything bad in an opera.” “Then Batan hng got you snre, if hae hns Ao gilded the house of ~death to you that you think 1t to bo .the ghte of. life. Tako several of tha popular oporas of the day. 1o you ot knoyw that the bioro of ** Norma "in & shunoless adulteror whoso unlawful passion {8 representod 8 bublimely horoie, cheorfully braviug donth ? Do'yon not know that tho heorlno of “ La Tavorlia ".ia & wrotchod oourtesan ; that **Don Gioyannt ” ia nlmrly Don Juan without the pootry, but not without tho lcontiousness ? And what~ shail wo say of " Lucrezls Borgia" or ** Ttobors tho Dovil 2" Tho aln of’ the opora ia rurfumnd ‘with ronos ‘and' orowned with gara auds, ' All opers .aro not oqually bad, but il tond downward, - ¢ ; 1 “ AMUSEMENTS IN RELIGION.” i ¢ ‘The Itov, Mr. Walton, of-Virginin, In the Now ! 1 Jerusalem Ohurch. = . . +Tho Rev. Mr, Walton, of Virginis, preached s sormon yosterdsy morning In tho New Jarusa. lom Temple, corner of Prairlo avenno and Eigh- teonth stroot, on tho subjact of ** Amusomonts in Roliglon,” Tl took his toxt from John x.,.9, “Hosballgo n. snd ot and find pasturo,” eto.! The proachor commenced .his discourso by & long explauntion -of the difforonco botwoen intorual, or apiritunl, lite, and oxternal, -or mas torlal, oxistenco. . In every good man's will thero was a'hidden principle of truth that awaite 6d : exprossion to bo -recognized and recoived, By -going’ into the oxter- nal; or soiontifia, .plane they found sonfo foots that ‘gavo - body,’ or shapo, or axproagion to thoso internal mattors, and thus thoy bocamo ead thiat the intornal pnsturo tnkes into ity soil, and from which tho intornal man obtaliied' hig future “nourfslimoent, *The' old Oburch kopt the ‘intornal man from socking ‘* pneturos now,” chained the soul within a nar- row limit, and made religion a morbid plnjnalca instead of & humanizing influonco. The new COhuroh rejooted the morbidness, and founded religion o a choorful spirit—founded on loyve of God snd enjoyment of IIia borutios aa ravealed - in art, sclonce, and nnture. All the light of tha world camo from abovo. God was tho inspiration of ol that was, useful, brilliant, attractive, upou the earth, It _came first— -all this good—through tho fntornal man, and he. had no noad to borrow light from the oxtornal world. *Tho light that illumines the intollact« ual world I truly light, and such light a8 oxoeods a thousand timos the midday light of the world: The man of scionce somotimes puts too high & valtie npon his knowladgo—rejeoting the intere ' nal light, and baginiz the triumph: of -his intol« lootunl facultios ontircly on oxtorlor clrouma stancos, whiol was'a griovous error, for a mg, left to oxterior influoncos slono, could but grope holplesaly in the dark—na'mole; in the ronlms of solence~—unlightod by tho spiritunl lamp whosa flamo wns kindled "in hoaven, from whenca all, thia * (nspiration camo. ° Theros foro shonld .we cultivate the oxternal plano of onr natures; tho arts, tho accomplish: monts, the pursuits aud plessuros now miscalled . Roligion must bocoms secular and social bes foro it8 spiritual supremncy could be. realized, To rosign any art, accomplishmoent, or’ innocont smusomaent to wicked mon' for. wickod: uses ‘would ba to squander the substance upon which. our extornal wolfaro should subsiat,’ W to rosign tho, **least things™ 'of thelr sgmtun! oxistotica to poople wero wholly material ‘Thé proacher then wont on to show how the - old churches—tho Romauists, and ospecially tha -Puritaus,—mndo roligion barsh and hatefud by: “compolling ‘s’ gloomy and fanatical _obdervation of tho Sunday. Ho illnatratod nis disconrao by quoting soveralof the ** Blue Laws," and o fow pagos from Buckln' * History of Oive ilization,” Ho bollevad that accomplishmentu— music, art—oould all be used for tha bonofit of religion. Whst could choer-tho morbid soul like - ‘molody? The mau snnk deop in the slough of despoud oonld bo raised to the heaven of hopa , onco mora by the ravishing struine of awoot mus #ic. Was it sinful, on Bunday or on any othar - dey, to-cheer that hangry soul with such food ? Did the God of Henven Ao intond the Sabbath— did ‘ho #o - forbid - smusomont? - Tha - -ages had advancod—the days of ** Bluo Laws " avd of morbid religion had passod forover away.. Ao complishmonta and amusoments should neither bo despised tior thtown away, but muda to sub~ sorve the lutercats of truo.religion by aproading chootfulnoss’ among God's croatures on this onrth. Blind projudice should give way ta oo~ lightened Ohristinmty; and the eating of mont and tho singing of a song on prohibitod dnys, or &t prohibitod timoes, could not give offonse whon the true principle of toleration, as taught by tho New: Cnurob, was undorstood,—when nien sRliould como to seo thatthe good or fll of any sction wns not in tho wet,' but' in the _spirit in which that not was intended, thon many ‘mations now called worldly would be so filled with the love of usefuluoss 28 to bring moro of Lenvan into the heart than all of the wo-called prayors of the punotilious Phariscon, The preacher continued to enlargo upon hia subject . for quite & long timo, aud took stron gronnd in favor of making the Lord’s Day nol ono of. gioom and Funancu‘ but a day of poace, subphine, and roligious jubils, - - —_— ! THE, END: AND THE IEANS. The Rov. J. Manroe' Gibson’s Tirat Sormon . in the Second Presbyterinn Churel. - The Rev. J. Munras Gibson, the newly-alocted pastor of the Second Presbyterian Ohurcli, cor~ ner ‘of Twentloth ‘atrect and Michigan. avenue, prenched au eloquont -and offective sormon, yos~ torday morning, to & ‘fargo, congregation: “The toxt.was as follows 7% ‘X am not ashamid of the Gospel of Chriat, for it tho powor of salvation to ovory, ono thut belioves,< TRomana §, 18, 144 p spoke subatantially as follows:. It.was his privitoge oni ‘that ocenelon to begin the sacred, blesgad, and responsible work of preaching to the’, congregation of “the ‘Second Prosbytorien Chiurch the Gospel of Christ. 'The pusition waa -one he should never have sought, but, since he hnd boan called to the pastorate, and had boen led to believe that the Lord favored the cnll, ha 'oro, thay .+ entered' upon tho work rosolved to prosecuta * it to the bost of his ability. Ha actopt. ed the rosponsibilifics of tho position with fopr znd trembling, bolug conscious of his woak« - nasaag, hut lie gainad strength: from the roflee- tion that God oftou choso: the weakeat. vessels through which to manifest His divine Ehm“m' Hé looked to the Ifeavenly Father for the necos- Bury support... As e waa .not . yot formaily ine stallad, and us-the installation day was not far .distant;. ho“would -defor #aylng some things wiich would otherise be appropriate to the oc- cngion, It was propor, however, since -ho bad- beon catled- to ‘{xmm'h tho Goapel fn & now field, that_ho should set forth his views of that Gospol., For that reason’ hohad solected the Euangn from Paul’s.’ epistle to the Romaus ag -his theme,...It -was his purpose to show why he was not aghamed of the Gospol, aud why no nan need bo. T - In oxplaining. the toxt quoted, commontators, 08 & goneral rulo, considored it as applying to ‘mattera at Romein the timoof Paul. 1¢ mightbo that tho now Ieligion was so recoived by tho philosophioia and kagos of * that day 88 ta place & beliover iu it under'disgraco and dotision, and, in order to assure _tha followors of Christ, Paul. wrote boldly, ‘and_gavo his rosson, Tha pasuago, however, should bo cousidored with roforence to. to-day and Obicago, The Gospel should be considored In its bearings on all men aud any_time;: to-soo if _thoro was® reason to be ashamed of it, . Thore worc two main things to ba.considered : The end in view, und tho meana by which it was, to be cbtained, = 1f tho oud’ bo_trifhny snd unimportant, orif the monns Lo insubiciont to sccumplish tlie, end, thon thore was onusa’to bo ashamed. = 1f, how- ovar, tho end was tho bighost kuown to Lumuais ty, and tho meaus not wlono fully adequato, but tho ouly means known, thon there iwas ovory ronson to be prond of the Cospol, . What was thoend? 1t wag'the power of God uuto salyas tion. " X Tho idos of salyation hold by many, nm«:}{ that It was ouly au escapo from holl, and sho d Do sseurad alone for that roaron, was weverely crlticlued and condownod, It gave ries to tho objeation frequontly urged by the advordarion of roliglon, that tho ‘Gospol Ehlyniion waon mero solflubuosy, sought for 88 an oacape from lell firo. Thero was good raeson to bo ashamed of guch & law vidw of the Gospol's futent und powar, o believad with tho adversarios, that a man who sought to live purely sud nobly, mud whoee hoart wus filled ‘with human symputh and compaaslon, might bo bottor heve, and more blessod horoaftor, than ono whoso gole aim in baing religious, and wole lope fu religion were . baned on'its powor to save himi from holl. The jdew of fature punishment wag often madeo too prominent, «nd besldes tho Borlpturos did nob uuthorize such & low view of ealvalion, It s not salvation from holl that way meant, but eal~ vation from ulu, here and horoafter, \Whoro the subjoct of future punishment was introduced i% (Soe ¥ilth Fage.)