Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, October 8, 1877, Page 2

-merfcal na conscience. It {s n bundlo of habits, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: MONDAY, OCIOBER 8, 1877. . RELIGIOUS. The Rev. Joseph Cook's Lecture on Conscience at Tremont Temple, Boston. Definition and Analysis of the Bubject..- The Part Played: by Judgment. Prof. Swing's Sermon on the Kingdom of Naturs. Harvest-Home Services at St. Faul's Beformed Episcopal, Hyde Park. Qonforring of Presbytor's Ordera by Bishop Ohenoy on tho Rev, Mr, Churoh, Laying the Corner-Stone of 8t. John's Now Oatholic Church, CONSCIENCE. LECTURE DY TIIR REV. JOSEPH COOK, The Rev. Josoph Cook openeil the course of thirty lectures, which he is to deliver during the fall and winter at Tremont Temple, Doston, a week azo to«day. The audfence was large and appreciative, and was comnosed of the brichtest fntellects for which Boston nud its suburbs aro famed. The lecturer chose na the themo for his opentuz widress * Consclence,” which he de- fined and analyzed nt great lengih, Asapre- Jude he gave o cursory history of the late rail- road strikes and their causcs. Following s the text of the tecture relative to the themo! When Samuel Taylor Colerlige, the poct, was @ poor boy and o charity schiolar in London, he wus one day walking along tho Strand at an aour when the place was crowded, and was throwing ont lus arms vigorously toward the “ight anyt the left. One of his hands came Into contact with n gentleman's walsteont pocket, oud the man immediately accused the Loy ol ihicvish futeutlons, **No," said Colerldge, *1 wn not Intemiing to plek your pocket. "1 am swimming the Hellespont. This morning in sehool 1 read the story of Hero and Leander, and [am now fmitating the latter as he swims from Asin to Europe.” The gentleman was so suneh fmoressed by the vividnesgof the fmaging. tion of the Ind that he subseribed for Colerldge's aumission to o public Nbrary, which bewan the poct's cducation. Now, the beginning of all clearness on the multiplex topie of Conacience 1a to make a distinction between picking a vocket and swimming tbe Hellespont. [Laugh- ter and applause.] The externul act may be pro- cisely the rame, slthough the Joner motives difler by celestial diameters. It is natural to man, however he obtalned the capacity, to make a distinctlon between meaning right and meanig wrong. Not only did this gentleman and the poct boy not stop ov the Strand to set- tle the question whother tha intuitivnal or the associational theory in ethics ls corract, but the urchin, consting down the long mall of Buston Commou, wonld not stop for that vurpose were he struck by soma carcicss coachiman with the lash, Ho would Jouk up amd iminediately ask: ¥ Did you mean todothat!” Andif he wsees it Is the result of accldent ho excusca the coachman; but i he finds the coachman meant milschief, e oceuses him accordingly, Just so tho babe that cannot speak, bullding its card- Tiousg on your parior carpet, will look up when you tramplo dowu fts castic and ask, mot Yerbally, but by actlo whether = you mcennt to do ‘that, and, 1f it ascer- tains thut you did you will not excued; but, 1f vou intended o destroy the work of the babe, that hunan constitution will renct ogainst you, This babe, butlinz {ta card- castle, has not been evulved very far in human expericnce. It has not had nlong thne In which to develop, by considering guestions of utllity, a tendency to notice the differenca be- tiveen meaning right and meaning wrong, nnd to wake n distinction between the outward nct and the inner motive. However, it urlics, whether according to the theory of. Herbert Bpencer, or Prof. Alexaander Bain, and othera of thelr seliool, whom 1 imagine sitting yonder on y left, or uccording to tho I.Imnr{ of Kaut and Rothe and their followers, whom 1 finagine sit- ting thers on my right, we have here and now, a8 hunmu beincs, o tendency to ask whether any one who injures us means to do 60, or dues soaceldentally; and, according to the motive, wo judge the external act, In oue case It I8 lxlckln ¢ the pocket, in the other it 1s swimming he Hellespont. [Applause.| There ure two schiools represented by theso stately auditora of oyrs, Invisible, but tangible heres and when I turn to 8peucer and Baln on my left, T ind conscloneo called faljlble, cduca- ble, vaclllating. John Foster, ina colebratea csany, suys that there I8 not anong human spire tual ‘poascssions anything so absurd und chi- Pascal aflirma that * consclence {8 ouy thing worth of the Pyrenecs, and ouother south.” Wo have a fifth Hstener here, Dean Maoacl, o pupll of 8ir Willlam Hamilton, and who bullt on the only boggy acro of Lis master’s generafly sound territories, Even lie asks fucredulously how conscicniee obtaina the right to rule the other facultles. i)hu!ul Limits: of Tellzious Thought.) But 1t 1 turn to Imanuel Kunt 1 1lod hilm uttering the smnzing proposition that “un erring consclence s 8 ciimera.” ‘Thera I8 no such thine, (Kant, Mutapbysic of Ethics, 3d, ed., p. 217.) 1 nak Rothe, yonder, what no srys about that statement, and he bows assent to the, whole of 1t, Thceol., Ettick, I, 20.) 1 cross the Gierman Sea to Svotlund, and enter the purlor of Prof, Calderwood, Teacher of Eth- s fu the University at Edinbure, where Sir Willlam Humilton taught, and that scholar is vutting Kaut's proposition, that an erring con- sdence ia a chimera, Into the hmflmuud of hls Lest work, (Hland-DBouok of Moral Philosophy, ™ m‘h Stuart Mill sita over there, and Rotbe, over biere, louks Stuart Mill (o tho eyes; and us 1 pazo tnto thelr faces §°do not nd ‘that Rothe and Kant are as likely to be looked out of coun- tepaues aa Mill and Spencer., Nevortheless, there nust bo somao way of ex- plaining the Wilerence between these bonest men. We have tho same debates umong our- sclves, Weare accustomed to afllrm that cone scicnco hus sowething divine [n {43 and thut which Is divine dovs ot tlslead us, docs 1t ut we say also thut couscienco la uot Infalliblo; ft Is creing. The Bille ftself spesks of cou- pelence ns scured, blunted, and blinded. Wo Luve Beriptural warrant for saylug that the cou. sclence may be scared us with a hot fron. And yet the Bible docs speak of & Light that lightets every wan that cometh mto the world, aud that fu thie bezlaniog was with God, and ‘was Gad, Cun thatbe seared with ahot fronl Can God he bllnded! Plainly there uro two doctrines n the Scripturcs on ‘this subject, or ruther two points of view. Thess oppusing schouls are not really stuting propositfons that contradict cuch other, They stand ut Jifferent points of viston; undd 50 tho different popular idess concerning cnce are apparently scll-contradictions, se we do nut uotlce that they aro taken up from oppusing outlovks. Wheucyer you Und yourself {na meutal fog, attend to the duty of detinition. DEFINITIONS OF CONSCINNOR. What is cousclence! It was my fortunc to spend the lirst threo months ufter the close of three years' theologival study, alone on Audover 1041, with the use there uf the best theological librury in - New England. [ had bad suwne in- struction in relleious scieuce; but when I asked wyscll what I micaut by consclence, it was fm- possible for e to glve a distinet dotlultion, £ tud been authorized to teach such as were fool- {ah enouigh to listen a few propositions concern- ug rellglous trutn; but [ could not define con- gclence, 1 et myself to work, and it was nino days before un{ adeguate light dewned un that l.um«. What I am uwow to put betors you i have ften tested by putting It before scholars, uud [ do vot kuow that a sluglo syllable busever Leen objected to. Nevertheless, | ask no wau o adupy wy theory of thy morsl sensw; 1 win weuking licre, as always, not to schalars, aud AL Lo teachens of religious sclence who honor is with thur presence, but to the ayverage arquirer; to the persou who, thiuking for him- self, tinds that be muat, Urad of all, learu: how to thivk, snd that on luany o I at tople, be uceds Lo kuow what Las survived fu tho etrug- les of scholars with each other, age after wee, stid to know this frum wen who bave time to cxamibue the reeord, 1 seport Lo you what 8 suppused to Le the fresbest wcholafehip un this thedie fu Uertnauy, fu Scotland, aud ju America. 1. Consclence, uceordiug tu the loose, povu- 1ar idea of it, s the woul's scuse of right and wrong. ¥ Consdnce, according to tho strict, schol- 's scuse of right wud arly fdca of it, 4 tho aoul wroug s molived. 2 0 "§eined fn the loose, popular way, s only the seuse of right and wrong, couscicnes fw- vlicity fucludes the wetiou of the judzwment, zs well 2 uf the morul perceptions wnd feclbugs. 4. Bincy Judzwent §s failible; conscence, de- Sued usa .{munl multiplex, tududlog judg- wicnt, b fuilible, uid way Juatiy by spokcu of 35 witen bhuded, eTiug, wbd seared. B Th buues poptioar delutivn makes wo e of_Intenttons. of all our popular, nd of eourse all the Script- ural language, concerning the possibilivy that the constlencs ay by seared with a hot lron; but I tnsist nlso that there is in us au original capacity to judge of the difference between right aind wrong intentlons, and that [nst as wo see that the whole fs greater than a part, wo ses. that meaning right 18 something different from meaning wrong. . omatical axloms; and if exact rescarch catab- lishes axiotns in cthics, you will know how to bulld on them after the pattern shown fn tha Mount that burneth yet ns with fire, and that cannot be touched, aid which, if we rould 1t 1o its unexplored remaluders, we should ask to have screened (rom us, for no mau ever pass- cd forty days aud forty nights thore without cuming down with sucha glory on tis faco na to need u vell, dicated, you say that it is not clear that judg- ment {8 dot concerned In doterinluing whether a motivo Is right or wrong, Wi Byria I saw tun, occaslonally pluel look at it, welgh it In my hand, notico its subtle frageance, and finatly taste it. Now, no doubt tho fntellectunl facultics do pluck down motlves from tne tree Igdrasil, and no doubt we stand o8 lawyors before the court of con- sclence and make pleas, often very mischiev- ous oues, d judgment is a faliible faculty, and that I do welizh the Igdrasil pomegranata b that intel- lectual band; oud that it does bring the frult 1o the lips; but it {s only the tonuue Lhat tastes tho pomeeranate. B{ bring the motive clear) (v consclence perceives fingers that taste the stranue fruit, #The c kuow notblug of flavor, possessed by man b{owhluh the flavor of the T R resta i the tawpane V. thows the | Inzand rodomptive truth of exact cthical cl- s ence, o {uentity of the Moral Law and the souse of taste, thure ls no percspblon f)yyiie Nature, Wherover the Moral Law acts, of flavors: without consclence, thero i3 no por- coption of tho difference between right and wrong. case can perceptlon ho nu}nlmd. out conscience, however lectually, cannot be taught to feel the diatine. .tlon between what ought to bo and what ought ubllity of the Napoleons and Cwsars, and yot coption, and allowed to mova without futiers, 80 mudo that the distiuction betwuen right mnd ol a whole over a purt Is in the sphers of math- lcit dlstinction between the outer act and tho nner motive. ©. Thc consclende, if anpposed to be the com- und of facultics by which wo declda on what s called the rightness or wwrongness of external acts, i doubly Tallible, and may, with acientific Justice, be pronounced. erring, vacillating, and often self-contradictors. 7. On the other hand, It consclence bo deflned in the strict, acholarly way, as the soul's scnsa of rizht ang wrong §n_motives, the Judgment or urely Intellectual activity of the soul s dis- ingnished from the moral perception and feel- ings; and, therefore, in this definition, does not constitute » fauliblo fsctor in consclonco. 8. A mandoes Infaliibly know whether he means right or wrong inany deliberate chofce. 0. If, therefore, conscience be supposed to be, as the strict definition describes it, the soul's sense of right and wrong fn motives, and in :‘Iufie only, consclence {n Infalliblo within it eld. 10 Tn this rense, and n that field, conscionca 18 nut edueable, 11. It follows from this definition, that right and wrong belong only to motives; and that ex- ternal acts, taken wholly apart from their mo- tives, have only expediency or expedieacy, uac- s, or harm{ulness; and that thelr character intl reapects is ascertained by the judgment and not by the consclence. 12, But consclence not only parceives tho dif- ference Letween &, good motive and a bads it feels that the wood motive ought, and that the ‘Dbad ought not, to be chosen., 13, Consclence, therefore, may bo bricfly and provisfonally deiined as a sense Including both a pereeption onu a feeling—a_perception of right and wrong in motives; and a fecling that right ought, and_wrong oucht not, to be chusen by the will, * Every motive has tivo sides—a right- ness or its opposite. The former distinction fs percelvedd, the latter felt, Conscienvo I8 that which pereeives and feels rightness and ought- ness in motives. Such {s the definition with which wo sct out onacourse of thouzht in which It {s hoped thero may be discussed John Staart Mill's views, Herbert ‘Spencer's, Mathew Arnold's, and Mr, Emerson's, s well o Kant's, an Rothe's, and Butler's, or the entire conflict be- tween the development and the Intuitional, st between the latter and the panthelstic theory, concorntng the loftieat of the facultles posscssed by man, At tho close of the enlargcinents and verifieations of thess propositions whiich aro to come In subsequent loctures, thero will bein- ferences of agort which 1 hope will do somie- thine to blanch the check of unsclentille thoughtlessness, Everywhere we are to pro- veed according to the principles of inductive science, We are toask, What arc the facts In man's Inmost life, and what its rclations to the nature of - thinga Wa are to Inler from uncontroverted facts concerning the mnoral sense, what its nature is, e aro to Judge It by its cifects. 1 am not nsk- Ing you, I anything [ havo thus far put bofuro i:n, to accept) MUl's theory, or Rothic's, Her- rt Spencer’s, or Kant’s. I am naserting here and now only that n distiuction {s to be made between external acts and fnner motlves, and that the peculiar prerogative of consclence is to tell us what is right or wrong within tho sphere Indin,—~and in the mitnights. Father, mother, wife, 'and children werd worils to which he al* lowed thelr full wefht. Ho waa the anly suj port of hix famlly, but tho one workonghf azain and again carrfed wp the weight of these welghtiest contradicting ayllables. What {f this soldier and that conld have put into the Teft-hand ncale all that men value in wealth, and honor, or reputation? I wiil not suppose the word 'honor to have any other meaning than reputation, for [ cannot welgh ought agsinet oughts and n tman ought to malntar his honor, ” We must not be so unsclentific o 10 welgh a thing ogainst itaclf, ut we put iy bere, outward standing among men, aml wealth, and life, If yon pleare, sum up tho globes so much silverand the suns as so much @old, nud cast the hoxts of heaven, na diamonds on n necklace, into one scale, and i€ thero is not In It any part of the wonl ouzht,—if oaghtisab- sent {nthes one scale and present in the other,— up will go your scale hnden with tho universe, as a erackllng paper acroll s carried aloft in a cone flagration ‘ascending toward tho stars, . [Great applause.] s it not both a curious and appalls fugt fact, this weight of the wonl ought—nnd yet a tact absolutely unileniablel Wnere Is the materialist or the panthelst who daresassert that I am making this syllable too hearyl You may wefleh against that word oversthing but God, and 1t will outwelgh all but fimselt, T cannot Imagine Gol weighed nguinst ought, Trecisely here fs the expianation of a mystery. Gud §4 In that word uufilu, and therefore it it weighs all but God. pplause.] There Is your first unexplored remalnier, WHAT CONSCIENCR INCLUDES, But, my mcnda wo must be analytical tn or- der to be brief, Consclence meludos: I A direct perceptlon of the differenco be- tween rlht and wrong in motives. - 2. A feeling that what {8 right in motives ought to be, and that what Is wrong In wotives ought not to be, chosen by the will. 8. Ascnso of ona's own aporoval or dlsap- proval, according as what ought to beisor Is not chosen, ' 4. A mmso of an'approval or dlsr(urnroml from o Divine Somewhat and Some One not oursclves, according na we choose guol or bad motives. . < B. A Dliss or a pain, cach capable of beinz at its height tho acutest krown to the souls the former arising when what ought to be has been done, and the Iatter whon what ought not; and the two aiternating or acquiring final permangnce axvording as our appraval or dis- opproval of ourselves and our fecling of our approval or disappraval by a Divine Somewhat and Bowno One not oursclvea alternato or ae- qutire fiual permaucnes. U, A prophetle anticipation that both our ap- proval nm ulmprrn\'ul by otirscises and by a Divine Sumewhat and Some One not_ourscives aro to continuo beyond death, and to have cun- sequences allectingg us thore as personul exist- ences, In those six propositions T have ventured to summarize my defivltion of consclence, I shall herealter enlarg and defend thdin ono by onc, but bere sud now § use them only in the out- lne which this lecture is Intemded to draw in bold contuurs, and leave you to take the polnt of view of practical philosophy without asking you tu declde to~lay botween the Mills and the Spencers on theune hand, and the Kunts and the Rothes on the other. Theso two scts of 1isteners will indorse these propositions n: menta true to human nature, There lswif the power of percelving the difference tween right and wrong in motives. Wo have a feeling that the right ought to be followed, and that the wrong ought not to be. We lhave n sensc of approval or of ditapproval of our- selves, Our lustincts assuro us that therols an Approval or Disapproval abuve our own. Wo havo abliss or _pali, accordiug as we fecl this approval or disapproval from ourselves, and fruin Somewhat or Some Unc not oursely Lastly, thero {8 in consclence o prophetie otlice, by which we anticipate that consequences closely concerning us a3 vonsclous personal existences, will follosw us beyoud death, [ defy any student of tho literatures of the world; I defy any man who will be faithful to the scientlie method I the study of human nature; L defy any candid and clear thinker to deny in the name of {uductive scionce either of these six propositions. Think of the uncxplored remainders beyond each ono of tho ascertained sclentitie facts con- cerning consclence. Whepe is tho scat of that Authorlty which speaks In the mysteriocs but wholly undenlable weight of tho word ought{ Whero now Is He wno is the Lightthat lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and that in thie begtnning was with God ond was Godi ‘There are men who do not percelve the abso- Jutely unfathomabla glory of Clristianity elther ns a philosophy orasa lfe, and who as| vaguely where Ho s who spoke once as never man 8piake, and since has governed , the centu- riesi Where now is Ho whoso plerced right- haod Mfted heathentsm off ita” hiuges, and turncd {uto another channol the dolorous and aceursed ageal To me, tov, on humble nud struggling patha in the valleys of thought, a8 well as to your Dean Stauleys and your Rothes, aloft there ‘where the sky- kissed veaks of rescarch gaze upon tho coming aun, the sublimest as well a8 the wost organize ‘You notice that I have admltted tho propriety Thereara ethical axioms, ns there arc math- BCE JUDOMENT CONCERNED IN ILGHT AND WRONG, Inspite of the distinctions which I have in- When 1 was [n strange fruits, and would down a pomegranate and It is beyoud controveray that tho an Inteliectual act we before consclence, and ta flavor. It is not the 2 ‘There is no un% there Christianity finds the personal omulpros- cnee of Him who we dare not nuno—Father, Son, and Ifoly Ghost—Creator—Redeciner— Banctiter—One God, who was and 1a and s to come. At this miraculous hourthe Light that 1ighteth every mau thut cometh futo theworld Nelther in tho former nur in the latter A being with- Mihly enduwed intol- is, not wus. It [s scientiflcally known that this Lizht has Its temple lu conscience. But it uus been proctaimed for ages by Christianity that Godls One,and thas our Lord isns persountly pres- cnt Inevery breath of the llul? S‘J irit In th latest days s He was In that breatit which be breathed ou His Disciptes when he sald, * Recelve yo the Holy Ghost." Qur chiecks may well grow white and’the blood of the ages leap with o new In- spirgtion, when, standing betwoun Christianity and science, wa tind the thunders of the one and the whupera of tnu other uuurluE the same truth. [t ba a famitlar doctrine to Christlanity that our bodies are the Templo of Somowhat and Some One not oursclves, That Somne Ono Chrlstinnity does, although I:h ysical sclenco docs not, kuow h{ an incommunicable Name, Thero sre canuectlons between rellicion oud sdencs here of the most overawing moment} and in tho whale fleld of the trath concerning €on- sefence they arc the vastest uncxplored re- taloder. NATURE’S KINDNESS, BEHMON DY PHOP. BWING, 3 Spite of the threatening weather, a large con- gregation nssembled yesterday forunnon at the Ccutral Church, where Prof, Swing preached on “The Kinduessof Naturo,” Following ls the sermons Behold, therefore, the goodness and sevority of 0; on {huso who foll, sovurity 1 but Loward thse, goudness, If thou continue in that goodness. —Zo- mana xi,, 22, God moves over tho world in the two forms of severity and guoduess, As over our world there passes sunshine and storm, so over the human world the Creator passes in alteruate loveand wrath. Lookiug at somo of the phe- uomneua of Jife, many a tender leart has been sppalled by the terribleness of the scene; and another heart, or the same heart In oshier mo- nents, has been amazed by the vndtess goodness of the Maker of all things. Skeptical or athe- fstic writers have had no diflculty in Andiog & great mass uf evidenco #galust thu existence of & benovolont God, but religious writers have cotny to the rescue of thoir altars, ood have framed a massive argument to support thelr Idea that the Deity Is love, Tlg Inauiry is difft- cult and long, und no doubt the unaweras to theexact quality of God will mever come to the dwellers upon earth, Though great bas been the futetlectual and spirfeusl progress of man, yet thero are some directlons in which no progress bhas yet been anmonnced. Mau's eye cannot éee the alr or tho oxygen gus, and it fs not probable that 10,000 years lency man will come uny nearer sccing that substance than be stands to- day. Ilis eye has a deflulic range, and the gases aud airs aro outside. 8o it 18 not proda- ple that all the thought of earth In the lung aues to come witl bring God so near thy carthly lutelligence that it can fatbom the hltberto wystery. According to human logie, there should be no trace anywhiero of a_scyerity fn nature, i that uature canie from a belug of infinite love, But thero aro lelghts and depths of which humasn Feasun can tuko uo aititude or sounding—places where we must say with Job, 1t {35 us bizh as Heuven, what canst thou dot "1t {s deeper tiaan bedt; whateanat thou kuowt” In tlls strange country of measureless heights and deptbs has waudcred 1nauy a great coul valuly attempting to luok fntu the great beyond snd see the foal solution of their fuguiry, and often thelr sor- row, Bome ol the greai anclents and some of the most illustrious woderas bave been uiable 10 Larwonize the crued pheuomena of vur world not to be, Wedo not reason with the Corliss engine to teach It thatit should plunzoe its pls- tous regularly. As it feels and knows nothing gf mora! distinctious, so we can imagine a belug ssessed of the Intellectual equipmynt of ho Arnstoties and Bacons, or the exceutlve without a perception of the difference be- tween nght and wrong. Wo can plcture to ourselves o creature possessed of that lu:r- and yet without any fecling when right baa been seen that it ought to bo tollowed, but nelther popular nor scicutitlc lan- zunge woukd perimit us to say that such o belng hos o consclence. This crucfal fact shows that the moral sense must be made to Include both a pereeption and o feellng; but tho 1atter tmay be weak and conselence yet exist, 1 detine consclence as that within us whichnot only perccives what is rlgght in motives, but also fecls that what is right sught to be chosen by thu will. You may be puzzled by the guestion whetber consclence is not sometimes luopera- tive or dead, I know that this feeling that what is rlzht vught to be followed, may have greater or less for Lut the perception that theroisa distiuction ebutween right aod wrong in motlves, ¢ or between neaning to do well and meantnz to do i1, I hold is clear in cvery man duwn to the Limits of san- Ity and that, althouzh the magnutic needlo may not alwaya be followed, although the crew uay be crazy aud not look at the card, there {3 In the needle a power that makaes it polut to the north wheueyer it Is bulanced on a nnlf\.l‘olul o oure wrong In motives 1s as cvident to us in tho sphere of mogul action as the superiority {n slze cmatics. In the reglon of ethies it is axiomatic truth that religlous scicnce Insists upon, just as in the rezion of mathemnatics It Is axfomatic truth thut athematical sclence insists upon. 1beg Mr, Mill’s on; | am not using the word intuitive, which ho dwslikes and which Kaot honore, Hers and now I Jusist on uotb- inz more thau the proposition that selfs cyldent truths ars the basis of - muthe- maties and that sulf-evideut - truths are tho Lasts of cthics, and that we percelvy all such truths directly, They are matters of supreme certainty, ‘Thero Is"a difference between the right hund and tho left u the soul's cholces RGN uOLIves, AN MER Are A8 sUFe CONCCN- fuig thut ws they nre cuncernlug the proposi- tion that every chango must have an_adeyuato cause, Disthizutah, then, between the Hogers that pluck dowu the fruit, ur the Intellectual foculties that discuss wmotives, and the moral sense that tastes thew, (Applause.] 1may almost defino conscience as thy tonzue that tastes tho davor of futentions, [Applause, ‘Fhe chiel sdvances of seicnce have comoe }mm the study of unexplored rowainders. Wo have Ju conscience a perception of the distinet{on be- tween right and wrong, But what lies benind that perceptiont The differcnce cxista ln thy nature of thiugs, up&nruntl . But what lics bo- Lind the nature of thiug ! There Is in consclunce # focllug that wr‘ ought' to Mullow whut wo per- ceive to bu a rleht motive, and ouglit not to fol- low what we percelve to be a bad oue. But wlmfi l:e- bebiud the werritie welght of the word ought| 'Eakq the slngle syllable ought and weigh ¢, my surprisin, eptical fricuds, sud do soac- cordiug to the steruest rules of the stlentitic metnod. How are we 1o ascertain what this word weighs unless it be b()‘ vxperiment! Waat experlment shall we try with it, if it be uot that of m:lsghlmi-,l over ugalnst it somctbing very beavy! What shall we weigh agalust the oue word oughitt Hore is o soldler with an umru sleeve. There w a day when the guustion arose whether ho vuzht to go to the frout fu the war, He bad to maintatn father and mother; | with the ductiine of & guud aud all-powerful and the word howe is supposed to be a very | Belug. But thuss have beeu foew fn wume weighty one. Heavier than the word fdther or | ber, couutiug ouly a score in a genorntion, mother {4 the w wife. He welghed that | who have fclt convinced that tue apsument word and the otbers with it sgelnst the ono ‘word ought; and father, aud motber, snd wife wout up in the scale uud ougat went dows, and be webt to ths frout. s onght sclentitically known Lo welch any thiugl llero is *ouother soldicr wuo Lus fatler, wother, wite, child, and children to W uzalust that inslenideant syllable; and he ed theus, i (ke worning, wid the o ns,— lu botls gl wacred tnilights, s they say du from buman _evil vegatives thu bypothests of & Heaveuly Father, The alnost unavimous helief of suelety puiuts one way,~towand a God wll-wise; all-poweriul, Lord Bacon alluded to the fewoess of sthelats, and sald that, when soine bad wandered away from bellef, o deeper retlsetion bad brought them back uzaly toward o Creator, Dwelllng In'vuch a waze, let us cou- fuas with Paul thu two vast facts, and with Lim tuw gooduess uud severity of Gud. Let us con- toward theo goodness hadat thou continned In that goodness. Natura tricd to love thee.” Ail'along the pathway of man Qod has stood Inan anfalling benevolence, Aa soon ns the world began to seck a broad langquage—n lan- gumm that could express admiration and the eautiful—it began to employ that langosge In singing tha glories of the external scenc, Job, David, Homer, Plidar, and all hefore and after themm, bore witness to the nnfalling kindness of land, and aky, and sun. A total eclipee of tha sun made Pldar send forth a long latnent: Beam ?l the san! heaven watchor! thon whose glance Lagnts far and wido, nnvell to me, nnveil Thy brow, that once again mino eye may hall The beauty of thy clondlees conntenance. Jobmore than cquals this In his grand poem, and Davld surpassos both In his pealm, * The heavens declare -the glory of God.” But ail Diarps havé made one music hicre {n the agea bo- twean tho first song and the last. For countless ¥ears Nature has been true to man, It will bo secn that nimost.all the f1ls of hu- manity are self-bronght. Ureat exceptions, fn- deed, aro to e found, but there Is nao perfect unifurinity in the universe, Exccptions astle, man's world s marked all_qver by the tender- ness of its Author, Indeed, Nature follows us with more than 8 mother's love. When a grreat genfua liko an Alexander, or a poet Horuee, ora statesman like Webaster, lingers lone at the wine, Naturc dally attempts to repair the injury done'the Lody and the sonl. Shesits down pa- tlently to rebuild the body, and attempts to wash”tho soul white withi penitential teara. That cloquent Kentuckian who died a drunkard n fow . @cars sinca would ‘at thacs weep for hours ovier nis injured body and spirit, and for wecks or months would climb up- wards. ‘This was God's laws coming to his rescue, that rcflentzncn belng an angol sent to bear his soul back to honor. Wao say, Human nature {s weak; man fs cumbored by tha fleshi s but we speak carclessly unless we rmark how Natura retarns azaln and ngain to cach sinful one, pleading with them like a moth- or that they woukdreturn, 1t Is only alter a long, long strugele Naturo gives up ‘her chil- dren. She fills thelr midntaht chamber with her sighs, their plitow Is wet with the tears of her penitence, the atlont night is full of her wms{nmd oloquence. _ A fullen one {n this city sald that when she and her sister fled from n re- ligious howe to live In vice, they cried each dav {or along vear. Thus camo CGod's world to them, unwilllug to give those beautiful chil- dren over to desolation. Oh, the Kindness of fesa that our Maker moves along over the ages naw a8 A summer-time and now ns A wintry storm. But, inasmuch na both these phaacs of Deity are too much for one haur's thought, let us divida the vast subject Into two hemlisphicres, and, for the honr, stitds only tho gooducss of God, Not onty doestho fact that the two themes would be toularge foronn essay justify this division, but the greater need of the day 18 that wa ahould find more of (nl's goodness and less doubt of Il1s beinz. For it canrot be denled that the etudies of the present times are more on the side of Naturc'a {lla than on the sidu of her blessings, Wo sce on all aldes suffering, on all stlcs sin. Famine, war, dis- ense, peiedy—nll #in, are facis which may well Jead sonfh Kind hearts to wonder whether Gol {a near His cnildren In a love above human. It Is a strange age, full of logie, full of inguiry, full of sympathy—an age which needs all the proofa it ean gather that Its God s, ltko it self, full of benevolence, The {lla of carth t}gn‘\,m many doubt the uxistenco of & Heavenly ‘ather. We must conf3ss that tnto any Inquiry about the Divine guodness thers must be telt room for a plan—n s:heme of government too long and too deep for vur analysis. 8o vast mav Do this scheme that, could we read it all from first to last, what we call il might turn into good In remote centuries or copehs. It way be with the world as {t was with old Jucob, whose sun was sold Into bondawc ouly ‘that he might bocome a Klng—the world may be on the way to a greater good, even though It weeps as it walks. As 10 stutesmen, the cominon peo‘iln must grant. time and the means fow carryiog out aplan of supposed wisdom,—aa tha people must curb thefr own Impaticnce and permit the, seven cars of the Colonics, or the thirty yeard of the Netherands, to roll “along in tclr slow and sorruwInl months,—so, passing out into the lin~ nense Emplre of Nature, we must expect o vast and slow schieme, aud must cast down as many centurics to the disposal of Naturc os wa shoulil grant mlimtea to the leaser Kinga of tho earth. When we pereeive this onu attributg of the eartuly dynosty, that it'ls ufder tho law of human fece seeney, this one atiribute should at onco prepara us to witness a long amd great turmoll. Had man been ereated with- out free-wlill, and henco without self-prog- ress, tho schemo of the carth would have been sitaplo ansd unchangi Man without the element of free-wlll sud progress would have been the same In the 6,000th year as he was in the firat year, Just as tho honcy-beo makes its cell toxlay as it made It fn Palostine when John tho Baptist ate honoy in tho wilder. lioly infiuencel A most thrilling_scene may now be looked e h ;‘fifli E‘" ;‘f(l_;:',': ,:Ph,;":i;?,"t.unz.:?ngp‘(':,'m:c;lw,:;fi upon ina certain Pagan tand. Turning your ness.” In all that immense kingdom Into | imagination thither, you seo seven hundred and fifty thousand dead fades, Father, mother, child, all still in ono slowly-found deatl. ~ We call 1t famine, but it 1s only the lone-delayed result of man's cruclty. _For hundreds of years the Kings at home and abroad, tho Begams whoin Hastings robbed us they had robbed thelr peoale, liad been conguming on splendor and vica the money which should have gone towand a pubife education, and to n bcuo: agrleals ture, and to every torm of publie prozress, and now at lnat, alter a thousand yoars «of patience and long-sufferiny, Noturo has been compelled to yleld to tho cruclty of tnan and to call back a million of her chlldron to the grave. India was oncs an earthly paradise. It s supposed that the Garden of 'Eden was on ber border, as beine the placo where man conld find most easlly the best land and the best aky, Hut this goodness of God was nll in valn. Man wonld not continue i that goodness, and tho suverity of God las'fully sot in toward the em- pirg, 1t {8 declared by many that when thoy 8ce the sufferings of the poorer classes which throng our own largo_citics, they wonder If thera Is n kind and just God. Oh, yes, theroe §s a kind and Juat God, but Ho scems to have been too gone crous toward-man; Holoft man freel Man was unworthy of such a divine cholve, for ha solects misery and dcatn in the clties when all God's land, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Columbla River, invites us to {ts life-giving breast, Thero 13 one singlo Btate on the Guif which could farnish happy howcs to ten millions of our r(mr. The {mmense wheels of the sensons have been roliing all over this contlnent for many centurics, and stitl thu spring comes {n regal buauty and autumn in richucss, and not a son of man will wovo out to hunor spring by pleking & witd flower or honor autumn by reaching up for a wild grapo, 1low many hun- dreds more of years Nature will walt for man to como and touch this rich soll with a plow and carner in abundant bread, no man may tells but this we know, that the goodness falls all over Atnorica, blows over it in the winds, falls on it fu the dew ond the raln, smiles In the sunbeam. She has made us a present this year of an exira hundred miltlons of gold—handed it to us in the harvest-ticld. It requires no great power of fancy to euable one to see along tho banks of our Wostern rlyers, from the Rlo Grande whieli no free-will enters, the palnful and mysterious are wanting—1ife moving there like tho wheelsof a machine, Without wiil-nower, without changing_ passions, without all that endloss varlation that comes from many dis- tinet and powerful minds, our carth woulil have been frce from most of tho bold coloring which now marks it, free from the gloomy and also the glorious rich colors that are seen fn iis nations, llylng or dead, The fact of free aweney ond progress involves that conditlon which gives us now a genlus, now a poct, nowa Gieneral, now o hiero. Phio lurge beasts which wander over Indls and Africa have only the resources to-lay which they had ten centuries ngo. Thero springs up no ruling class, The scene changes not. But In that nobled anfmal wlere . free-wlll and progress have been laylng thelr marselous” part, these classes have sprung up, and the miuds of the fearnud sway thelr nwu‘m vver the minds of the igno- runt, and th souls of the berolc rule the souls and bodles of the timid and abject. It would ecem, therefore, that when the human race ac- cepted from fts Maker that amazing gift of free-will {t nccepted a power that would soon divide the huwman famly Into pocts, and Gener- als,and philosophers,ani Kings,and laborera,and alaves. Buch freedom was an attribute of God. 1t was with Hin when tle laid the foundations of the universe. It streamed forth in all direc- tlons, and mado heroa sun and put srounl it a string of plancts to be radiant. 1o 1ts light; it sct vue planet amid rings; it drew bauds ucross another; it sont to_ono,tho woods, and flclds, Howers, and birds, and man, and perhaps to ut l{fe as wonderful fu form aud variety, ended Into details und paintod wvery leaf feathier, and uwr{]mornlug anil even- Ing clowd. This freedom of God went forth until the varlety and the magnificence of the unl- verse transcend all thougnt. When oue magks Shat stupendous powers 1lo fn this progressive and freo will, ong caunot but bo amazed that the Creator should have bestowed upon any of His creatures such a montal quality. It wastho attribute of God, and would have seemed an fo- sepurable part of the throne. It shiould modily the mg‘?lnlnh of socloty as aznfnst the goodness of God, that He gave man sucli on agent ns this will and an unlimited rungeof action. Althoughout of the xift great sorruws havao come to imany, yet so far as humaa }:‘. 0.1:51 ',',’{,',i’“'gh,;‘.'f n:.l;o h::\:{ll(':ol:v'l‘:ul(lllu':g: logic can perculve thero was do other condition | 40" 1™ thickly ocecupled ns tho. banks of Hinal greotness und happincss for mankind, | o9 8¢ o ENHEY, | GEEIRS Tolly tntrides and Whether Gud could have mada s free race and then have held all tho individuals In tho best possible path of lfe, fs & question beyond our reach; but it would seom that ° freedom fnvolves the riaing and falliog of many, aml could come to man ouly as we be- hold it {n this world iu {ts positive action, Thus in sevking the woodness of God wo must keep in mind the two facts that God niav have a plan which Ves boyond our gragn, and hence may in tho cad roveal inflnita kindoess; and secondly, that In granting man the divino attributa of iberty 1la may have granted a glory that far outweigha all of earth’s unhopplness, Turn now from these proliminary theories to the study of external facts, 1t would scom that Nature is full of goodness toward the human fanlly. -In looking at the toral world we are bound to ses twy Lands resting upon It, the hund of God and tho hand of mau. ‘Tha {ils of sl inust come from ous or both of these. Mon should not reproach God“for soll-brought lls. Whon a freo mind ruina self with the drunkard's cup or with the glutton's feast, or by idicucss or any vive, {t should nsawmne the blamo and make those 1118 no part of the severity of God. It in the attribute of vclg small or a very wicked miud to roproach tho Doity for fts owis sing. Tho gift of an Individual soul, ol a soul that might rise up to an angel’s altitude, ls*so Kind that the beart which rulus the gitt might well ask God to take b back, gud permit tho unwortby lolder to sink tu the nature of u brate; but blume the Creator he caunot withe out puttinz asldo overy attribute of man thought noble by poct or saze. fonce, in seck- ingg the proofs of tho kindness of Nature, wo must omit the negative urgument from self- brougbt ills, aud niast bold Naturs responsible fur only whint comes to us from the rouim with- out. \When the Impetuous speculator embarks his fortuve In & shadowy scheme, and, fustead of doubling hls guld In s few days, loacs it all, be dves uot reproach you aud me fa our utter liolation, Lut confosses to his own beart that he bimsell mado the bad move upon the battle-0sld, 8o, in the larger arca—when we tind ourselves welghed down by self-brought llls, wo imust discriminate carv- Iully between the soverity of Naturs aod the folly or vice of sclf, W' must rendor to Cisar tha thinge that ure Cmsar's, to Uod the thiugs that are God's, With this rulo of discrimina- tion to wuido us, Nuture hus a thousaud smiles wore than had been areuned of §n our philos- ophy. Asthe hnage of Gud, Naturo passes alonig bofore the huinan race in almust perpet- ual benlgnity, HBehold thy gooduuss of Nature toward thee, If thou continue u that goudness! ~—her severity fudoed I thou fall wto ain, but her goodness If thuu ouly mark well her laws and “stand upon thine own uoble manhood. Sometimes, judeed, & convulslon comves in her uwn busom, and sho burles o Pompeif and Her- culaneurn o hot ashes; but wlmost all the cltles of the carth llo buried, not by Nature's wrath, but by their own disregard of her Lenevolent dustroys thla picture, and wo behold thoso streams flowing (o a gloomy solltude as lonely as the {nmost chamber of “Etua, while all our stroota and highways swarm with beggars In cvery form of wretchoducas. When ohe sods tho ‘goodness of Nature pourcd out so gener- ously, when ona sces lprhl? and summor puss- Ing in infinite value over fertile lands for hun. dreds of yoars, and thon beholds wmillions of starving poor, mado puor by bad government, made poor b{ ignorance, made poor by ldleness, made pour by vico, the feellng comes over tho heart that Gud might well coll man's earcer on earth o fatlure, and might declare his stay hero ended, and say, Cotna ow tne fervent heat to dissolvo tho clemcuts, ‘Thus tar the word Naturo hos beon uscd as meanlng God, acting in the materlal world, But foli8w Naturo still further, and mark with what tenler sho accompunies her children, It would not be enough It sue should only pro- vido homes for all in her hills and rlulm. for man needs more thao sholter aud food, 1o hos & mottal and spiritual nature. This the Uod of tho Universo remetnbers, and hence thera Js not a rood of earth’s wurface that does not awaken thought, not an hour which may not intlame the eart, Tho scascus bring not only haryests, but they cuine with thelr arins tull of postey and deop meditation, Borne trom thy romance ol spring, wo are about to be surrounded by tho peusiveness of autunn, Its folmge s to appeal sgaln to our souls aud muks us more rateful for the It of futelllzent life, he world does not slpply furuish bread, but its facts turn fnto sclences, ita loveliness I to art, ita truths into phllusoply, its feelings juto poutry, its’ meditation into” rellzion; the ron over which humanity hus tnarclied Is trans- formed Into bistory, the sounds of the alr ara framed [nto musle, and even tho tomb where man returns to dust 18 transformed ingo tho portals of eternity, Hefore Paul's day, the Jew had Uinited the goodness of Uod by himsell, aul when Paul bewuy to unfold flis truth to the Rowmaus, tho; fuforred that the Jews wers to be cust away an the Homans only were to be blessed; but Paul et thom with ‘8 Gospel for all, and declared tuat this gooduess fs for all who remaly fu ite vast contines, To the unfaithful. scverity, be Tio u Juw or a Roman, but to’tbe faithful guod- ness will flow out forever and forever, Darl days niay seemn to bo around you, but to theo at last will that umoipotent “and {mperishably zooducss break forth. The uuiverso is tull of od, butice the trug soul—true to God—will bo overtaken by that benovolence which made tha earth und the sun, And uow mark iow Nature attempta to carry us kindly over the dark valloy which boul this fife] Wihen tho hieart hus to tho best of its wer doue Its dutles tuward man and God, nen death cowes as & peace. Boyond doubl tho death-bwd of tho Chiristian comes the near- st to psssiug from shinplo veaco over toa sub- lime trlumph; but Christianity did not come laws. If you will try %o recali all those cen- | when man came, and to hundreds of millions turies dur{u which {ho laws ot God have | thy joy of the l?'rounu nuucz"bccn preached attempted betrlenl the human race, | or conveyed even by rumor or legend. ilenca ou will secm tu havo coms upon the | g largs proportion of dylng hours have come {story of an fufinite love. It I3 uot knownhow 1ong mon Lus oxisted upon earth, butall througl those thuusands of years which we can sce fn history, Nature has been full of kiudncss. Earth bias grown cities as & ganlen grown towers; and olong in places where the particular hope fu Chirlst was not prescut to dispel clouds, but the guodness of God has not been confiued Lo a cor- ner of the earth and to a point in time, but it has atood faltbfully the human race scarcely fu a sfugle instance has Nature turved | gud has let all. m‘," millions down paide trom hor career of boundiess love, Mut | sottly ‘into the last slecp. Aftempt- as sty eu cruel to hlmsei! und to bls chil- dren. R’{lluluanldKllxlwnmducundlnw 10 lue 10 ake. the, WOHA swedt, n s, offering us_home, and educatfon, and beauty, and friendship, sud all happiu om- gmu the teaderness by blddiug us div in peace, Taking “Y the cradle of our youth, auti build fog the howe of middle life, He comvs back ouce more to lay us down st last toaleep. Al ulonyg the jourucy, the death-bed bus been one of composure and beautiful resignation. An old physician in s large city deciares that he has scen but one dylng man who was not willlng to sin, and wero Jeadlng thelr people down to yvice and poverty, aud then utter ruin, Nature was coustant 1 ber trivndship, aud has mado spring and sumnier como o loveliness, vven to the neglocted Emplre of Persian, or Greek, or Ho- wan, When the court of a Belshuzzar was rey- wug lu idleness, and feastivg, and vice, while that King was glorying lo the profanatiun of res higlon nd was wadermining all the foundatlons of Lis State, Uud's workl was trus to ils part h. The Christian of the luwman cemomy, sod spreal :’,:,:. ',_:‘:, .'i:; 1:,"," ;?,‘uu_"‘ il s out it swiling Helds “for the sower Nat thy strif aud reaver _and ruffed its wave for I Tt oy by strife, wan's ship. You way scioct the wost fuithless aud contemptible of all rulers who bave lived, an Autony or & Nero, and yet In- Nero's gardon brautiful roses would bloom and rich fruits ripen; sud whils Masrk Autony was carousiug abroad aud had made his family weetched by 3 heartlesa aod wicked abscuzs, yet Nuture seut her soug-birds tosing sud her ®ines to grow abous the hume where humau honor bad all come to usughit. No doubt, after the futal bat- tio of Actium, when Cleogatra saw tbat ber vices had cusbrouded hersdf end ber lover in ruiu, aud she was siuklug fo ber ¢audy chamber lu thoe suicide's death, all of Gud's world smiled uuz.medu:‘-‘ wlm sud every fiel L?;dn:m:xml" 85y, sud the rolling sea whlsper: v dylug g e sud tho East s paradise, dut thoy, g Queen, would uob. Gud would 'hays {el'u y Trembling, boping, Jingeriag, Sying, O pak tab B ot ying but the Love intinits remombers what milllons there are who bave had uo messago ol 8 riscn Lord, aud eveu to all thess dsath comes us & slee ‘Behold tn this kindness of Nature tho evideaco ol a persothl God. The forces, chemical, or spoutaneuus, o unconscious, canuot explialn the phenomens of the hour. Let us cast sside science sod throw ourselves anew upon the as- sutptions of religion. A mighty Gud, & tricud of the buman race, is moving slong o themidst of this sccue. Lut us uot falter urder the sor- row of a moment, bub let us behold that good- nesswhich Paul saw reaching out toward Ruway aud Jow,—s Kuodusss wanlfest indeed Lo Christ, Uod toward thee i thou only continue fn that * but holdinz all times and places in Its embrace. Let us not cast ourselves out of it reach hiy un- beliel or vice, but lct -us a0 live that in that Roodness e shall pass our days oud die in its strong but kind arma. IARVEST ITOME. BERVICES AT ST. PAUL'S REFORMED BPIS- COPAL, MYDE PARK. Yesterday morning, {n commemoration of the kindneas and bounty of nature and in remem- brance of the old Jewieh custom, o Harvest Home scryico was held in_8t. Paul's Eplscopal Church, Hyde Park. Tneldeaof a Harvest 1lomo is not new to the country by any means, but very little attention has ever been paid to the ceremony, The old English obscrvance was taken up by the early arrivals to the country, and after o while lot it drop In a measure. In Minngsota the servico hos been annually ob served for a few vears .FML and cvery year brings o better retarn, Tho service was accom- paniced by a solld show of thankfulness in the way of eiftsof the harvest from tho parishioners, wwhich will be distributed by a committae timdny among the various hoepitals and charitable In- stitntions. t ‘The decorations of the church were clegant, and displayed the greateat tasto and study by tho committee of Iadies who had the matter In charge. On entering the vestibule of the church the sight was greeted with corn on stalis, with nlms crosagd, and varlos greon plants, Inalde he chiurch, fruits, vegetables, and flowers wern grouped in profusion, In the back part of the auditorfun weré two la tablea covered with baskets of peaches, apples, and eeapes, dozens of jellies and jams, cab- boges, pumpking, cclery, corn, = squashics, and melons, The windows at the rear wero also Miled with the sane substantials. On each s-fIxture extending from tho wall was nlarge asket caovercil with moas from New Orleans and filled with fruits. A very large table n the front of the church was covered with melons, gravas, turnive, cabboges, and other yewetables, with n gouwl suppls of canned frait. The baptismal font was surmounted with a pvramid of grapes over three fect high, The pulbit was surrounded with flowers for a base and trimmed with gralna and berriea, ‘The lecturn was festooned with hops and ber- rles; tho organ dacornted with aleaves of wheat bound with rich buuruots of flowers and crossed with sago-palns. Two arches twenty feet high, mado of sago-palms trimmed with fruits, wheat, grapes, and lemons, spanned the front of the nltar, which wns urnamented with. the n'flmluul claboration, Thu cross which formed the central figure was backed by & large nuinber or palms, aud for a base hatd two bushels of grapes. On elther side wheat stalks and lenions, with a profusion of leaves, were placed, while ‘nck of all tho palns agaln apoeared, Fli6 nitar-cloth was also covered with crossed palms. Over the chancel wns nlarize motto, ** Thou crownest the yearwith Thy gool- ness," cach lettor of which was two feet In heh;l:t, made of antumn leaves and wheat., A testimonial communion sct of solld gllver, ciit, bresented by Mr. W, K. Ackerinan, oveu- pled # position besido the altar. Ench pleco was marked with an appropriate sentence. The Enllull.—lhc biate tor the bread,—* I am the read of 1ifo™; the chalioe, * Drink ye ail of it ' tho flagon, * Glory be to God ot high.” ‘Thia was given In remetnbrance of Mr, Acker- man’a mother, 5 ‘Tho sermon, which was exceedingly " op- propriate to tho occasion, was based on that portion of mcripture found fn Deuteronomy viil., 11-18, the central {dea of which i that wo should not forget that it Is through Gol's bloss- Ing wo have the power to gather wealth, Wo colebrate a festival which for many gencrations hns been known and kept as the ** Harvest Homo " in England, and swhlel los beon slowly working Its way to 8 home In the hearts of this American poodle, “especially in the Western country, whore the abundance of tho fruits of tho earth I8 a conatant revelation Lo us of the kindnoss of (lod. A festival of this kind must havo ita definito objucts and teach its definite lessous. It cannot be held simply to croate o scnsation or to sco hiow beantiful a church may ook when decorated with thu fruits of the earth, but it must bo by the outward clothing of areligious instinct, ” It is before all things the outward expression of tho falth of our heurts in the gooducas and providence of God. A NEW CATHOLIC CIIUROCII. TIHE LAYING OF TUE CORNER-8TONE. Tho corner-stong of 8t. John's new Church, corner of Clark and Elghtcenth strects, was lald yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock, with appropri- ato seryices conducted by tho Kt.-Rov. Bishop Bpalding, of Peortn. In spite of tha thoroughly disagrecablo stato of the weother, a large con- course of Chicago’s Irish-Ameriean population gathered to witness tho coremonies. As usual thece waos o procession, and that, also, in spltc of tho weather and the naturally deplorable ‘conditlon of, the. strects, was ?Il lit;lrrlnldabll: ‘nflunalrnonT In addition to he Bishop, the following elergy woro present! The llcv.l.}nhn Waldron, pu{fi‘, and tho Rev. Mr. Horgan, assistant pastor, of Bt, John's; the Rev. Hugh McQuire, the Rev. T. F. Loydon, the Rev. Patrictc McGulre, Bolvideros and tho Revs, Jolm H. Grufiml‘ Michael Cortrell. John H. B.hogemann, Patrlck Rierdon, Daulel Rierdon, P J, Conway, Chicago; Il Wyman, New York; . Powers, Joliet; gan, Hartland; E. J. Dunu, Joséph Carlon, Morris Oukay, M, Smith, M. 1latin, M. Mallitor, M. McGlynu, Mortin Van- deluir, Lyons, (iilesy Maternug échnflurmvur, Havelaze, and Peter Ffsher, Chlcazo; Fathior Borln, Notre Dame, Ind.; Father Meexan, 8t. Joho's Curch, Brookiyn; Canon Minsgrau, Clatsworth, Ill.; Father Gibbons, Cloveland. Among thu promincat people prescnt were Mayor Heath, ox-Mayor Colvinand Mras. Colvin, Jolin G, 8Bhortall, the Hon. Thomas Hoyne, Buperintendent Hickoy, several members of the Common Councll, Mr.'d. J. Egan, aud others, Licut Hood wns'on hand with a possa of police tu preserve order, but for some reason or other s presence wos of lMitle avall to prevent the pulling, pushing, v.ugEluz. ond general uneasiness of tha m'uvn) in the street, renderod somewhat uuruly by each one trylog to get na near to th coriier-stons as possible. Thie comblued effect of & dozen or fifteen brass bands, each vlaylng o difergnt alr, so that it was but step from “grave fo guy, trom lively to severy,” may have had, and probably dhl bave, muzh to do fn bringing on the confusion which, exeepting the weuther, waa the only uupleasant featuro bl the oceasion. ‘Fhe corenionies wero of the usual kind for ich servives, but to the nolsy, bolsterous crowd [n the street wero onl{. %0 much dumb show, At the concluslon of the sorvices, the blocks on which tho stuno rested wero knocked out, the and the Bilshop, stepping furward and vulsiug his volce so aa to be heard by oll preseut, delly- ered o vory briof scrinon on the glory of Lhe Catholle Church, which, ho aald, was tho only Church that could truce ité authority to speak to men direetly from (lod. Every day brought evidences of [ts growth, aud what they were doing in the laylng of thls corner-stone wus only an Instance of what wns belng done throughout thls land and throughout the world. In spite of Innumerable wbstucles fts rw‘nr had extended to every part of the coun- ry, and ho could onlv urge bis Learcrs to go on and co-operate with thelr excelient pastor, Futher Waldron, io this grund uudertoklug; to bu truo to thole feligion, and thoy would find thesa walls rising up to become an ornament to the city, s monutnent to the Catholis falth, an evidents that Uod sl lved and would protoct what hls servants had done of oid as wull os ‘what they were still able to doj that the faith which cuverted tho world was still abla to sanctify it and prepure it for the world on bigh, “The sermon coocluded tho ceremoules, aud the crowd dispersed. The box fu the corner- stone coutaloed a varlety of American aud for- clign colns, coples ot the Chicago dally papers, aud & Iut of names, iocludiug those of the Pope, Bishop Folvy, Blshop Bpalding, Father Waldron, and others. A NEW PRESBYTER. TUR REFORMED EPISCOPAL RITUAL. Yesterday afternoon Blshop Cheney conferred Presbyter’'s ordors on ths Rev. M. D, Church, the recently-appoloted pastor of 8t. John's .Church, ou Ellis avenue, After the regular de- votional services had been held, Dr. Hunter present®d Mr. Church to the Blshop for ordina tion, The usual warnlugs as to tho fitness of the appolntee were rend and satisfactorily un- swered. The Bishop then read the exhortation to the Presbyter as lald down fa the Book of Cominon Prayer, This concluded, be turmned to Ar, fi:::c.n, sud propounded the followlog ques~ * Do you think fu your beast that you are truly ufied, sevording t’u the will of u(u' Lord Jesus Chrlst, and according Church, o the ollice & bytert I think {.” 5 “Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contalu all doctrine required as uocessary fur eterual salvation through falth fo Jesus Chnsti aud aro you determined out of tho sald Beript- ures to lustruct the peoplo committed to your charge, aud to teach nothing, as Lecessary to salvation, ut that which you .hll be peng.:dml m'y|'f|' coucluded sand” proved by the Script- urcs! * | um so persunded, sud bave so determined by God's grace.” 4 \Will you, tben, give your faitblul dilizencs to the order of this miuistry ot & Pres- alwaya g0 to minlster tho doctrines, anil racrg. sments, and the discApline of Chrfat, 'na the Lopg hath commanded and as this Church hath ser forth the same, aceording to the teachings of Holy Scripture, sosthat o may teach e . lvle committed to your chiarge with all diligenco 0 keep and obyervo The samaol " T will g do, by the hielp of the Lord." Wil you ready with all* faithfal . gence to baulh and drive away from thg Church all erruncous nd strange ditrines con trary to Qud's Word, anid o use hoth public and private monttions and exhortations, as wel] to tho slck 88 1o the whole, ns neel shail ro. auire and occaslon shall be glven " ST will, the Lord belng my hielper."” Wil you be dillgent In prayer, and In read- Ing tha Ilul{ Scrlptiires, aml in ach studies ay help to the knowledze of the sane, Inving asidy the “““f of the worll and the fleshi’? “I wlil endeavor so to do, the Lond being my )mlpnl\" Wil you be diligent to framoe vourselt ant your famlly accorling to the doetrine of Chrlst, ardd to mnke both yoursclf and them, a3 much na In you lleth, wholcsome cxampics and pat. terns to the flock of Christi? YT will aPply mysel! thereto, the Lord belng my helper, B * Will you maintain and set forward, as much s lethin you, quictuess, peace, amd love among all Christian peuple, agud capeclnlly among ti, That ares or sbali "be, Committod. to: yam charge!” T will 80 ao, the Lord helng my helper,” Then the Bishop, etanding, sald? ** Almighty God, who hath given you this will to do ayf thesa things, grant also unto you strength and power to rerl’nrm the sane that tle mny ac- complish His work which Ilehath begun In you, through Jesus Chirlst our Lord.” 4 Tliv congregation were then deslred to unitg In sccrct prayer, after which “Come lioly (ihoat, our souls Inspire,” was sung. Dlshop Cueney followed with a prayer for the clurd; militant, The new Preshyter then kneeling, the Bishop and Preabyters lid hands snon hig’ Bishop Chienoy prononneing the following: ' “Take thoi authiority to exeeute the office of a Presbytor In the Church of God now com. mitted unto thee, and be thou a falthful (s penser of tha Wonl of God and of fis holy onllll!naceu.l ot ) \ **Tako thon authority to preach tho Wanl God, and to administer the l|puly lncrnmcfl(!."“l ‘The haly communion was then adminlstered, and the congregation, after singing o hymy, were dismissed with tha benedlet{on, X —————— GERMANTOWN. , Celebration of the Centennial of the Nattls, : [Philadelphia Timer, Oct, 5, All Germantown was awako at an carly hour, and at sunrise, when the Keystone Battery, un der the commund of Licut. James O. Winches- tor, ushered In tho fostlvitics with a salute of 100 gune, the strects began to fill with poople, all anxious to colebrato their great aay,, At 0 o'clock Mr. W. F. Gomble sounded a hundred strokes on theold bell which so long hung in tho State-House, and the clock was sctin motion by Mr. Q. Wilbur Russcil, Every one who owned a flag or could borrow one for the occaslon displayea It. It soemed as it there were hardly s house on Matn street which il not show soma decoration, Nover betore was Malu street so crowded with peoplo na yesterday, The drizzle of the carl morniog chauged into a stoady rain later In thu day, but It secmed to make no material differ- onco to the sight-seers. By 10 o'clock -the streets were nearly choked with people, and among the visitors to the fown, Wwho ook the Ilvellest Interest (n all fhat was going on, were Elt Crozier, of Wilmlncton, 00 years old, whi broughit with him his Mad Anthony banner, an: Wililam Jones, of Manayunk, 8 years of nze, who served fn the War of 181308 a (fermantown Bine. The procession, destined to be the great featuro of the day, was under tho chief mar- shalship of Uen. Louls Wagnor, o had made vxtenslve arrangenicits for carr{lm: out his part of tho programmo succcasfully, and the great pagesnt moved without & hitch, When all were in llne the column was an Imposin one, It was divided into three divisions, nud wns colmposcd of not far from 06,00 men and women, for tho gentler soxalso clulmed a sharo in the day’s celobration. « At 11:80 the order to move was givon, and the columyu countermarched on Chelten avenue, Wilen thus doubled, the processlon was two miles and ono-half fu length, so that in & stenight line tha column must have covered a distance of flve iniles, As the bands struck up the side- walka were immedlately flllod with sight-scers, The frequent excursion trains over the Reading Rallroad had brought in thousands of people from the city, so that locomotfon In every dirce y tlou was extremely difficnlt. Then tho raln be- gan to fall in carncst. ‘The streets ran rivers of mud and water, but the linc moved steaully onwanl without interruption, and the crawds did not secm to diminish In the least. The first division was composed of the militar organizations, Among the combanfes wlhicl turned out in uniform were the Princeton Cone tiuentals, fifty-five men, under Capt. Aaron L Green, the State Fencibles, the Keystono Battery, aud thd Glrard College Cadots, The Washington Orags acted ay cacort to Mayor Btokley and tho civic sutboritiesa. The sccond division, under Col. Daniel W. Bussinger. was composed of nearly all the Grand Arwy Posts, and many secret socloties of the city, to the number of about 2,500 men. The third division was the most intercstiug of the pro~ cesslon and {ncluded ropresentatives of the trades. This portion of the proceasion nunm- bered ‘not far from 8,000 particlpants. The colwan, after countermarching ou Cleltin avenue, moved ovor Wayne, Coulter, Green, .\lunuclm, Maln, East W .ut lane, Mecrtoy, Cliveden, Main, Johuson, Ausms, Tulvebocken, and Mam streets, tho routo uriginally fixe upon. Tho procession, ss o whole, made a voiy fine displuy. 1t vecupied an hour In padsing s given polnt, and the rain alono detracted from thy full enjoyment of the parcant. It was originally intended that tho historleal address ond * the oration should be : delivered from the Jarge platfurm in front of tho hall whero tho thousands could hear tha exerclses, but the raln prevented. The larie roowm on the second foor” was provided with scats ond sn prmy of policomen @otatled tu guard the en- trances, McClurg's Band was stationod on the platforn, and at 2:30 Gev. Hartranft, who ksl arrlyed shortly befors uoon snd had drivenins carriage at tho head of the procession, entercd the hull. He was accompanied by Maj.-ten, Briuton and the ofllcers of his stafl {n unifori. Mayor Btokley and mombers of Councila wers .algo seated upon the platforn, When the doors ‘wera opened the hall was soon Blicd, and at 8:45 o'clock thu Cluafrman of the Committeo of Ar rangements, Select Counclliman James 1. Gates, stopped to tho frontand introduced as Lyestdent of thy day Mr. Washington Dsstorius, “a liueal descendant of ous ol _tho plonoers, and oo of the oldest restdents of Germautown.” Mr. Pua- torius merely returned thanks for the honor and at once introduced the Rev, C. W, Schaciler, D. D., who ofwncd the exercises with &r’-yer. At its couclusivo the band played ¢ Hail Colum- bla," and the President introduced the histurian of ihe day, Dr. Altred C, Lambdiv, who read & paper giving ‘sn elavorats description of the military operations of Oct. 4, 1777, Ha began by speaking of tho fnadequats Idea mmmunl(y entertained of the battle of Uermantown, whiclh was ducto the prominence which Lad Lecn given toa single striking incident, which was really of minor Importance, the contest for the possession of Chcw's house, the battle belug really & contest between two arides for tao poss :lcl{llon ofa long aud strongly-posted Jhib of ofonsc. 5 At thio conclusion of tho address the orator of tho duy, the Hon, M. Ruseell Thayer, was intro- duced, and dellvered the oratlou, ‘The speaker's elom‘n.vnuu ll;‘“ilm mu::l‘xl fiuthulllrum‘ and be was frequently interrupted Ly applauso. \Vhl;:‘ Judge Tunyg' lmd’llnl-hud speakin! Thomas A. Gummey, Esq., presented the ol clock and bell to the residents of Germantowu. He briefly rlated the history of these tine-hons ored velica. The bell was hung in the steeple o the Btate-House durlug tho closo of the year 1323, he said, and struck the hour fur the Hrst tims on tha 1st of January, 182), For near) Ralf a century it had k“f‘ Huard uver tho deati- nies of this great dity, In years gone by it had .pealed forth in thuuder tones, caliing together our citizons for tho protection of thelr Lowes and firesldes. Its deep and solemn notes had been & requicm to the desd l,em from the battle-flald, Lo & Presidest, and to's state- man. Betieathi it had lain an Adsms, & Clay, sud a Lincoln, and o bost of the natiou's deade It only rewaltied to bim bow to preseut thy bel and clock to the peopis of Utrmnnwwnd au wmight our children aud our children’s childred record with reverenca what wo bave done bere to-day. .\'olxon Johnson, Esq., accepted tho gifts 1o behalt of the uitizeas, pledging thelr honor thab the utmost care should alwayy be taken to pro- serve aud keep tn good order thess precious wo- mentoes of the past. - Fhe Rev. Jacob Helffeosteln, D. D., pro- nounced tho benedictlon, and the audicoce dis- persed. ————— Judicial Digalty In&K.nln'H]- mauih (Xv.) Infepandent. Lagt wecfiu’fiqulu iunn Cabilil eld a term of his court st Knoxville. It {4 sald that Cabill's suliogs aro cqual tu, It Dot More severs thatl those of the fiwous Judes McMangma. Pre paratory to openlnic Lls court the '3qulr re heyed Llmselt of the fullowing: *Qeoticn U you uro not {n court yet, but you soou wil aud £ want It uuderstood that you wust respeck shio Court, 1 yuu dou'tdo lt, Ml be d—-dir § it mela vews il b6 4