The New York Herald Newspaper, September 23, 1872, Page 4

RELIGIOUS. Sanctnary Services and Sermons in the Churches of the City and Suburbs. FATKER M'NAMEE ON DIVINE POWER. A Scientific Test for Prayer Explained by 0. B. Frothingham. ee DR. HALL ON DECISION OF CHARACTER. The Rev. N. G. Cheney and Love to Man and God. Tho Progress of Christianity Portrayed by the Rev. John Weirs. TALMAGE'S DEFINITION OF FAITH. LYRIO HALL. The Scientific Test of Prayers=Prayers as a Substitute for Mcdicine—Sermon by the Rev. O. B. Frothingham. Yestorday morning Lyric Hall, 723 Sixth avenue, Was well filled by a large and fashionable congrega- tion. Rev. 0, B. Frothingham chose for the sub- ject of his discourse “Prayers.” He commenced :— The doctrine of prayers is exceedingly simple, and | is expressed in comprehensible language. In the Bible it says that “To him that asketh it shall be given,” &c. Up and down throughout the Bible it 1s stated that what the believer asks shall be granted. It is not said that all prayers are granted. Joshua prayed. ‘The sun stood still and the moon was arrested in her course. Elijah prayed on the mountain top that fire would come down and consume the woods, and it came. The Church prayed, and Paul was released from his prison house. This is the doctrine of of Christianity, and the books of Protestant churches abound in this doctrine. There is a cer- tain people in England who discard physicians and depend wholly upon prayers to save their relations and friends, as directed by the Apostle James. If the sufferer recovers the prayer is answered; but ifhe die, God intended it so. Do you not believe in the holy word? The argument is unanswerable on that ground, The only question is whether that ground canbe maintained, This is an UNBELIEVING AGE and people should not complain because their pray- ers are not answered when they do not believe. A professor produced the following experiment to seeif pan could save the sick. He said, let us take two hospital wards cared for equally well, and let one be occupied by people who believe in prayer and the other by people who belleve in the ‘virtue of medicine. Let the experiment be watched for five years and then see whether prayers or med- icine will succeed. He proposed this in good faith and sincerity of mind. He was a man of delicate organization, of poetical temperament, of unusual sentiment, and anticipatea no objection to his ex- | periment. He thought that mon of science ‘would leap with {oy and feel it a grand occasion. But the proposition was not received. The sceptics did not believe, and the church people demurred. Some said it was impious, irrelevant; others that It was @ trick, a trap laid for them. The valldity of Q prayer depends upon its earnestness, DIPLOMATIC PRAYERS, made to order, as it were, are lacking in the ele- ments which all prayers require. The first sound and bre omnyeey objection to this plan was that the conditions of a prayer must be in accordance to the will of God. Ohrist cries out in his intense agony, “Not my will, but thine*be done,” It may not be His will to answer these diplomatic prayers. Five years is not enough time in which to test the good of Ere nor two hospital wards room enough to hold the thousands which it requires. Supy se the prayers were answered. Who shall say that it was not owing to the atmosphere or teinperature? You do not know but that it was the tingling of the blood in the veins caused by faith and intense desire that caused the recovery. f the peayern aro granted, scientific men would Bay that it was due to NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. The question is this:—What is our idea of God? Is He or is He not a being like one of ourselves, but on @ grander, nobler scale? vast, undefnable, unfathomable, the’ realm of ' impossibility that has not yet been organized or expressed? A 30d who thinks as we do, who plans, schemes and unsearchable— mantpulates? Ishe like the superintendent ofa | railroad, who has a thousand trains, or like the First Napoleon, who knew everything that was going on in foreign cabinets, knew just how many rifles Spain had, and could dictate a dozen letters atonce? Suppose a case of drought all over @ con- tinent, from sea to sea and ocean to ocean, men and women living under @ BRAZEN SKY and babe eg dry earth. They poured forth their prayers to the Almighty for rain, lle might not make acioud, while miles and miles away there were thousands and millions of them collected over lakes and seas, They would move in accord- ance to the laws of nature, Suppose an immense conflict going on. Emancipation for in- stance, Such a struggle as our Revolution against foolish George of Engiand. If the commander-in- chief is ill, in danger, the whole people pour forth their heart-felt prayers. For with his dea their cause may be lost—they themselves ma; lost. Suppose by the natural ‘turn of events he is spared. it is no miracle. To my mind this idea of an individual God, who sits aloft on the firma- ment, who sees and arranges things irom day day and year to year is inconceivable. The bi people knew nothing about nature as we it. They had no science, no method, ble They had no conception of a r geology, no astronomy, no history. Their world | was very small. The whole aspect of the world po ae when knowledge opened their cy We dwell upon one of the smallest, dark planets which are scattered about in endiess space. You | cannot blot out a star without shaking the sun, We have not touched the bottom of the perplexity. All is under law. When one conceives the universe it is evident that he can ask for no special gift. Just as fast as men have begun to und Atand the world they live in they have ceased to pray. Our prayers are anticipated and answered efore we think of them. If prayers will save the wick what are physicians and medicines for? 8T, PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. Sermon by Rev. Father MceNamee~The Gospel of the Sunday Expounded—Has the Church Power to Forgive Sinst— What is Meant by Indalgences?=The Perpetuation of the Divine Power, The mass of yesterday was a “Missa Cantata,” the parts of which were rendered extremely flne by the organist and choir. The “Kyrie” and “Gloria,” the “Tu Solus Sanctus,” the “Incarnatus Est,” the “O Salutaris Hostia,"’ and other portions of the mass were very impressive. The presence of the Most Reverend Archbishop in the sanctuary was also @ most noticeabie feature of the celebration, The Rev. Father Kearney acted as celebrant. The Rev. John Mcfarley assisted in the sanctuary, After the reading of the Epistie and Gospel the REY. FATHER M‘NAMER proceeded to the pulpit, made the requisite an- nouncements, and read the Gospel of the day from | St. Matthew ix., 1, 9—‘‘And entering into a ship He passed over the water and came into [lis own city, And behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on @ bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy, ‘Son, be of good heart, thy sins are forgiven thee; and beliold some of the Scrip said, “This man blasphemeth.’’ And Jesus seeing their thonghts said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? Which is easier to say, ‘Thy sins are for- given thee, or to say rise up and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man liath power on earth to forgive sins, then saith He to the man sick of the palsy, ‘Rise up, take thy bed and go into thy house.’ ‘And he rose up and went into bis house, and the multitude seeing it feared and glorl- goa oe given such power to men," ere ig a truth Which the Church always strives to keep before the eyes and deeply (presen te the minds of its children, and that truth is, that a the bodily imflrmities—ali the pains and torment, which we are liable to endure, nay, even death it self, are the consequent effects o1 the great evil of sin. Scarcely, however, bave we suiliciently re- fected upon the deplorable condition inio Which the sin of our bottt ig arid has plunged us when the sadness occasioned by the reflection is suddenly changed into sentinmients of joy ond gratitude at the thought that God did not permit these sifects always to remain. but sent his only beloved Son to Or is He something | 8 | their frightful consequences, and in this | quered at last. Not one of re- pony Bane we behold an sates Oe that work q the sun as the centre of our system; it is which Christ came on earth to aa known to-day by ev. schaenay. ir Py ey rt pad ge ple at Fe cucty of coring CS ee ee atcienal His | and bad instincts, and he himself if he sud- the man, by whose appearance Bod disease fils di | ture'wit be Shaken, to the Toots, ‘Bus some, will - en gine eee oa to @ sense of charity and | remain torpid unless Onrist, the second person of the blessed Trinity, such have their way. But it as if na- showed: His omitipotong: eusitiog uy this perform: | Look at her ages of ‘oul, Wat ages" tose acter ta 2 Ty id work, m the oeean, and i she to be thus ance both of a order that this pewer should continue cised, He ed His Church and gaye same | power as & of lov gratenuiness to His successors, fence i618 that the | Eng rlests of "the Ohurch “when occasion, Tequires | ti exe! & similar both upon tne souls be bodies of their children. Among the many means of remitting sins which | They seem spontaneous. Christ hes left to Tis Church there is one which I ferently. ¢" A soul can be dat only in the must necessarily call your attention to—namely, same gradual way. Where a soul tries to ‘THR GRANTING OF INDULGENOES. damage itself it encounters God. A soul cannot That the Church has power § ingmiganees ie be lost in a year, The conscience is Smee ee'edlar Seend eaeted | Stel UG wh StS git hehe § olten m onscience, rue that if man swallows a cm them to be a license to commit sin, But the | bad article it must sometime be removed by vio- w taken of the word and its meaning 1s alto- gether erroneous, for ten thousand indulgences cannot remit one mortal sin. THE USR OF AN INDULGENCE is this, it reteases from the temporal panishment due to sin after the guilt has been remitted by the sacrament of mance. Thus God forgave the sins of eur first parents alter disobeying his man- dates, but the temporal punishment due to their was serv by them and continues to be ex- piated by their descendants. Thus, also, David suffered, sihonee forgiven for his transgressions; and the Israelites in the desert, although the chosen ones of God, were prohibited, on account of their offences, from seeing the promised land. An julgence cannot be a license to commit sin, for it presupposes a state of . When our blessed Lord said to Peter, ‘‘I give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,” He meant the Pecos to open and close the gates of heaven for and against the observers and transgressors of God’s command- ments. The reverend gentleman concluded by drawing a contrast between the Christians of to-day and the early Christians, and exhorted his congre- gation to seek the friendship and love which Jesus Christ never denies his children, by having recourse to that most salutary means of reconcillation—the sacrament of penance. FIFTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN OHUROH. The Necessity of Decision of Character and the Moral and Social Effect of In- consistency—What Strong Human Af fection Will Do—Sermon by Rev. Dr. Hall. An immense congregation was in attendance at the Fifth avenue Presbyterian church, corner of Nineteenth street, to welcome back the Rev. Dr. Hall, the pastor, who for two or three months has been travelling across this Continent, preaching at various cities. Upon the completion of the usual religious exercises the reverend Doctor selected for his text Ruth i., 16, 17—*‘And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will Ibe buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also if aught but death part thee and me.” The preacher first proceeded to prove the intimate relationship which existed between the Moabites and the Israelites, and referred to the discovery of THE MOABITE STONE, the inscriptions upon wnich had been deciphered, and which showed that the language used by the Moabites was a Hebrew dialect. The records upon that stone also bore out much of the Bible history, and this circumstance, he thought, ought to influ- ence Christians when they met with apparent in- congruities, difficulties and obscurities in the Bible, | to await with confidence for circumstances to pe \ developed to remove the obscurity and satisfy the doubt. He went on to give a brief and interesting biography of Ruth, and maintained that her accom- panying Naomi upon her return to the land of her fathers was, in the first place, an illustration of DECISION OF CHARACTER. Ruth had more foree of character and greater de- cision than her sister, who returned in compliance with the disinterested entreaties of her mother-in- law. After having exhibited the difference between inconstancy—which characteristic was greatly to be deprecated—and insincerity, he explained the evils resulting, socially and morally, from the want of decision of character, It was possible for all | peopie not to make engagements and promises; | and again it was possible, having made these en- gagementa, to keep them, Some would say tncon- stancy was harmless; but that was not so. It pro- | duced weakness of character and induced an unde- sirable mode of thinking, feeling and acting, which were extended into business, religion and politics, Therefore he urged his hearers to exhibit the de- cision, firmness and steadiness of character which belonged to Ruth, and to remain constant to en- gagements, whether of a religious or commercial character. In the second place, Ruth's determina- tion was an illustration of SANCTIPIED HUMAN AFFECTION. Ruth hed grown to love her mother-in-law, not in her person only butin everything connected with her. Her ways, her habits, her spirit, in fact, pe RAL 7 about her was loved by Ruth, and she was unwilling that they should be separated, One person very frequently took a liking to another on account of some particular trait about him, and, contrary wise, disliked him because there was some- thing in his habits or surroundings which were not liked, In these instances there was seldom suf- ficieat discrimination used. Strong human atfec- tion was the great means of turning character aud of giving new bent to the careers of men, It was, consequently, for us to make a right use of our affections and employ them that they might be sanctified to God, The Doctor, in illustration of the beneficial effect of strong affection upon the luwman character, instanced the creeping plant, | which would not otnerwise have been able to rise from the ground, twining round wire and thread which were held out for its support. All Christians Ought to act as threads for the support of the affections of the human heart, and in order to this it Was necessary to MAKE RELIGION LOVELY, and for Christians to be lovely themselves, Religion had its own true joveliness, and should be divested ofall meretricious ornaments, which did not be- long to it in the least degree. Religion ought not to | be drawn into dispute or used when ad- | Verse circumstances were encountered. It was not an wmbrella, to bo put up and made use of upon a rainy day, but was the sunshine of life. It was vitelity and it was life itself. In the third place, the text was an illustration of how souls might be won, Ruth was in daily intercourse with Naomi, and must have perceived the beneficent influence of Christianity upon her mother-in-law. The relation- ship of the two women was one which generally ave rise to dislike and jealousy; but in this in- stance the affection was strong and complete, and | the result most happy. It was | THE DUTY OF ALL MANKIND to endeavor, by words and actions, to infinence their fellow creatures for good in a similar manner, | drawn | He next warned his hearers against bein, from the path of grace by sons, whose great desire was the amount of ungodliness, In ungodly per- to increase the end by choosing religion. Ruth carried out her resolution wita much determination, and did not complain when hardships occurred to her. By and by, however, the Lord gave to her a home and end by her choice, The reverend gentieman next urged the congregation, if they had not made up their minds as to their relationship with Christ, to | do so at once, and afterwards counselled them to | | Yalue their Christian friends and to value sancti- fied affections, and concluded by exhorting them to be Christian to others, in order to do which only two things were needed—love and wisdom. CHUROH OF THE MESSIAH, or a Sinner Not Made in a Day—Dig Wailin, Rev. John Weiss, of Waterbury, Mass. sey: ~ { We can- The attendance at the Church of the Messiah, | not lay our sins on any one else, and, blessed be | corner of Park avenue and Thirty-fourth street, | God re can get the honor or glory of our good was, yesterda ¥ de yut ourselves, But in the performante ot caged ay morning, large and fashionable. | cood deeds good men are sometimes very seldsh, | ter the usual preparatory exercises of singing, | and are very apt in spea of them to multiply reading the Scriptures and prayer were con. | the personal pronoun ay “I did it; 1 did ft.” cluded, Rev, John Wi . | We must watch ourselves carefully at this point, 7 ; rrae Welss, of Waterbury, | in regard to men standing upon their individual ass, Who ofiictated as pastor, preached, | rights, Mr. Chonoy showed that the poor nelghhor choosing for his subject, “The Progress | had a right to appease his bs of Righteousness and Sin Gradual.” in nature, he commenced, from the formation of a planet to the construction of a blade of grass, is gradual, There are apparently some exceptions, In extreme northern climates Spring is upon the inhabitants fairly with a burst, Men go tobed, and itis Winter; they rise the next morning and it is Spring. Is this really a deviation from | Bressive rules? From not one step has there been the slightest deviation, The woodbine has silently grown; whole fields have been silently covered with verdure; yet nature has not beer vil dure; ature ha 0 over: stepped—"First the le, then the ear and then the full corn in the ” Watch a faithful teacher cultivating his parterre of scholars, Nothing ls | ‘ a £9 DISCOURAGING. e works steadily on; for a time his labo . rewarded; but gradually the springs of {oeaaieude | Open and the promise of the youth repays the toil of the teacher, Many a mode! steam onging | Was rejected before Watt struck on the one that | | answered all requirements, Yet none of those | is were abortive, The perfect one was their ion. The magnetic power that now moves 3.nay yet end in superseding steam. Pro. | blems agitate the world for ages but to be con- to to be exer- | treated. mn req Tl wer and with telling effect | Give it time. It’s work will be gradual, CAMP MEETINGS? unded down by the cant of convulsion? Look at future ofa human soul. What an oak it is des- ined to be! eeepc rige ye gre aee ut ni Listen to the swelling notes of a symphony. Tie composer knows ie. lence. But violence is not @ creed, The average conscience 13 A DISINFECTANT OF SOCIETY, ‘We cannot hurry the conscience. What a way this popular fashion of oa the conscience of oth- ers! Will nothing but the unveiling of all your acts and thoughts satisfy them? No. They must handle you till every nerve and muscle quivers. Look at the sun; but do not enjoy its heat and light until you seo it give them to its rays; look at nature, but do not enjoy her until you see her exact manner of getting her nutriment and coloring. These are like the inquiries that bhset some of the sects. Am I anxious enough? What a frightful sinner I must be. It eccurs to me that [have not a good view—do not belong to a good church. Take hold of me and drag me into Christianity. * 8T, PRANOIS XAVIER'S CHURCH, Sermon by the Rev. P. Dealy, 8S. J.—The Real Law of Mercy. The fashionables of the Catholic community of the city, of which the congregation of St. Francis Xavier's is in large part composed, and who have been remarkable during the Summer Sundays but by their absence from town, have evidently begun to homeward fly, judging from the well-filled pews in the church yesterday, The mass was celebrated by the Rev. Father Gelmas, 8. J., and the sermon was preached by the Rev. P. Dealy, S.J. be took for his text a portion of the sixth chapter of St. Luke. The reverend gentleman sald that THE EXERCISE OF MERCY was one of the chief occupations of the Divine Mas- ter while on earth. He preached mercy to the crowds that assembled to listen to Him wherever He went; He taught it to His disciples, and ex- emplified it in every feature of His holy life. He gave to mankind a new law in the law of mercy, which He had laid such stress upon in all His teach- ings, and enjoined the exercise of it upon His fol- towers in all ages as one of their principal duties, And yet, how few were there among Christians nowadays who really exercised mercy in the full sense the Lord meant that it should be exercised! He had taught us to bless those who did us ipjur, and to pray for those who calumniated us—in fact, 10 RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL. under every circumstance—and yet how different from this teaching was the conduct of the Christian in most instances at present! The mercy which the Saviour taught and which he commanded should be practised among men was violated in many ways. The violation was not always shown in some violent act of one man against anothor— some overt act of ill-will of one individual against another, The absence of the mercy, or, in other words, of the love we should always bear our neighbor was manifested in the way we spoke of him, how we commented upon his actions, how misconstrued his motives. Probably the most fre- uent violation of the law of merey was that maut- ested by those who, no matter what good their neighbor might do, were ever ready to put THEIR OWN BAD CONSTRUCTIONS upon the reasons why the good was done “Judge not, condemn not," was the teaching of the Scrip- tures; butevery day men sat in judgment and condemnation of the acts of their neighbors, sim- ply out of jealousy or for the mere love of talking against them or inducing others to think less of them for doing a good action than they might otherwise have thought. Jt was surely bad enough tocarp ata man for doing what, on its face at least, seemed to be good, without setting ourselves pp ag judges of his motives, This was the besct- ting sin of rash judgment, It jumped at conclu- sions on mere trifling rumors, and attempted, without waiting to know what the real truth of a report as to a man’s conduct or actions 1s, to blacken him or his motives in the eyes of others, We all should bear in mind the case of Susannah, Even while she was being denounced as @ harlot she was braving AN IGNOMINIOUS DEATH rather than wound her conscience by the wilful commission of a sin, and Magdalene, thoroughly repentant, was being pardoned by the Saviour at the very time she was being condemned Db; Simeon. And how did we know, when we were at- tempting to stand judge over the acts of our fel- low man, misconstruing his motives and giving ear to slanderous reports as to his character and retailing them to others, that in the sight of God he was pure and innocent, and we in our Phara- saical virtue looked upon as condemned? The reverend preacher continued at some length to show how vile and sinful was the practice of set- ting ourselves up as JUDGES OVER OUR FELLOWS and delighting in in thing that was uttered against them, and concinded by exhorting his hearers to exercise mercy tn all their dealings with their fel- low man, to judge not that they in their turn pient not be judged by a higher power than man. If they desired to judge and condemn the fatlings of hu- man nature, be sald, they could leave their neigh-. bors out of the question, turn their eyes in upon themselves, and they would then be certain to find ample feild for judgment and condemnation, ALANSON METHODIST EPISCOPAL OHUROH. The Duty and Blessing of Loving Our Neighbors—Relations of Love to God and Love to Men—Sermon by Rev. N. G. Cheney. Alanson Methodist Episcopal church stands in the midst of a very populous district, in Norfolk street, between Grand and Broome streets, and is the fourth | and last place he held that men never suffered in | position, and she consequently did not sufer in the | True Progress of Christianity—A Saint | $°lty. He dovs pot fgel that he is an individual at Noisy Camp Meetings and at Men | not’ for Thety Wickedness=Sermon by | 5i08 never make mistake Everything | the pro- | the Word of God, not to critt it but to learn What Is the will of God concerning him, 1a not far from the kingdom of . The preacher next no- | u the social dis fons of men, but thankea God that all had common rights in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In regard to individual useful- one of the most important Methodist enterprises in the lower part of the city, Yesterday morning the church was not three-quarters filled with wor- shippers, but this is accounted for by the fact that a large majority of the congregation are working people, many of whom are hindered by business trom attending the morning service. The congregations are said to be very much larger in the evening. The Rey. N. G. Cheney is the pastor, He preached asermon yesterday morning on LOVE TO OUR NEIGHEORS, and as an introduction he read a couple of psalms a portion of Matthew's gospel relating to the man who fell among thieves and the thirteenth chap- ter of L. Corinthians, all of which refer to this duty of love to mankind, And in thus reading the Word | ofGod Mr, Cheney showed an appreciation of its power and worth which other ministers who ad- mire their own words more than God's word might Well imitate. His text was, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Truc legislators, he said, dig down until they come upon this rock strata as a basis for their legisiation. us to admire men who care for themselves, or, as we sometimes say, who mind No.1. But such a man will never make much impression upon | aud bears a | relation to other individuals around him, He 43 swallowed uP in self and cares his nelghbor. This {3 sin, and our Thoy come back | to every man and they our bad deeds so also do our Tt is very popular for | th him, and as do | the arrow of convictio! may be saved, The beaut; love to our neighbor was next illustrated from God and he cital of the ‘known poem concerning Abou bin Adhem, whose name led all the rest in the great roll-call of heaven, because he loved his as himself. There can be no love to Son he said, without love to man, and ovesyshing, 18, therefore, based upon this duty inculcated in the text. The lessons that he would impress pron his hearers, therefore, are that they should help their neighbors in sickness, in ‘ty, in distress and sorrow at places, and that especially this should be done toward their neighbors. Ana when they die they shall have the blessing of the r, the respect of the Church and the approval of our own hearts and of God, He prayed that God would send such a spirit upon them. 8T, STEPHEN'S OHUROH, Sermon by Rev. Dr. MeGlynn—Sorrows of the Mother of God—“Stabat Mater Dolorosa.” At St. Stephen's church yesterday it was evident from the large attendance that the religious season had opened, The attendance was unusually large, scarce a seat in a pew being unoccupied. As usual, the congregation was treated to a rich feast of music, Mr. Danforth, the organist, putting forth his best efforts to sustain the high reputation this church has always had in that particular. The Rev. Dr. McGlynn, in making the customary announcement before. the sermon, again drew the attention of the congregation to the fair which is to be held in October next in aid of the Home for the Aged, and at which the ladies of St, Stephen's parish will be well represented. The Doctor took his text from John Xix., 25-27:—“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mo. ther and His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene, When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple stand- ing by whom he loved, he saith unto His mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ After that He saith to the disciple, ‘Behold thy mother;’ and from that hour the disciple took her to his own.’ The Church celebrates to-day the commemoration of the sor. rows of the Mother of God, The heart of the Church is not satisfied with commemorating the nativity and her assumption into heaven, but with indus- trious love she must propose to our meditation dur- ing the course of the years in many a festival the various stages of her life and the various attributes of her dignity. And for a special reason must she set apart a day that shall be all devoted to the grateful contemplation of her bitter sorrows ON THE GREAT DAY of the death of our Lord. The Church is so absorbed in the one great sorrow for the agony and death of her spouse that she can but glance sidelong for a moment with affectionate Syma EDY. at the over- whelming grief of His mother. Just as the joy and Fo ttate of the Church for Christ's inetfable gift of {is body and blood in the holy Eucharistic sacra- ment are not satisfiea by the praises which sound in the minor key of sadness, in which perforce she must sing them in the week of the Passion and under the shadow of her great sorrow, but must set apart a festival, A SPECIAL DAY to give full vent to her feelings; so does she set apart this day to commemorate with proper admt- ration and gratitude the unspeakable sorrows of our heavenly mother, through which she co-operated with the work of our redemption, The Church would have us to-day to commemorate lovingly, one by one, all the pains and fears of her lifetime, her spouse’s ignorance of the work of God’s spirit within her, the painful journey to Bethichem, the repulse from every human habitation, and the rude cave where, exposéd to the winter's blasts, she brought forth in abjectest poverty the ee of Glory. What fears for His threatened infant life—what painful eagerness of flight from His enemies, what fatigne and dangers in that long journey—what dreary hours of poverty in the land of exile, what dread that the fate then avoided had befallen Him at last as she sought Him sorrowing when she lost Him in Jerusalem !—a dread but too fully to be realized when, after His life of abject toll; He should leave her with painful parting to begin that public mission that was so soon to end in untold shame and agony. And then the LIFE-LONG AGONY, like @ black cloud overhanging her in the memory of the Brophecy of the aged priest as she presented her infant son in the temple, ‘Behold this child is set for the ruin and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted, and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.’ This prophecy has its perfect fulfilment, and all these sorrows are summed up and consummated in the scene which the Church presents to us in the gospel of to-day—the mother standing by the cross of her dying son—Stabat Mater, St. Augustine says:—“I read that she stands; I do not read that she weeps.” He loved to consider her as suffering alla mother’s anguish, yet, with more than a mother’s fortitude, standing erect as A PRIESTESS BY THAT ALTAR, to offer that blood and life which was her’s as well as His to His heavently Father in expiation of the sins of the world, Anditis in the contemplation of this awful sacrifice, as well as of the former as- sent which was required of her to the incarnation of the Son of God before He took flesh in her womb, that the Christian Fathers do not hesitate to speak wonderingly and reverently of this august mother as the co-operator in the work of our redemption, It is by her superhuman sacritice at the foot of the cross that she acquires the full right to the title of the second Eve, co-operating, as she does, with Christ, the new Adam, in offering the sacrifice that reverses the sentence of condemnation that was against all the children of her who was called Eve, “because she was the mo- ther of all the living.” It was by the assent of the first Eve to the suggestion of a fallen angel and by her giving to her husband the forbidden fruit that | message of an angel from heaven and her sacrifice of her Son's life, that Mary helps to purchase for us the fruit of the tree of life and acquires tho right to THE TITLE OF THE NEW EVE, and the new and better mother of all the lving— the mother of ail the children of Christ, As the first Eve stood at the foot of the tree of death par- leying with the infernal serpent about her rebel- lon against God, so Mary, the new Eve, stand- ing at the foot of the cross and offering to ignominions death the fruit of her womb In sacrifice to the Father, converts a shame- ful wood into a tree of life whose fruits are the life of grace and blessed communion with God here below and the life of everlasting glory and happiness hereafter. By that sacrifics Christ be- came the father in the spiritual order of all the children of God, of the patriarchs and prophets and great men of oid, even of those who were His progenitors according to the flesh; and so, also, does Mary become ther mother. As Christ restored us to the spiritual life by sufferin; with horrible intensity all the ers of death, whic! Were the penalty: of original sin, so, also, was it meet that Mary, In becoming our mother, should bring us forth to the new life in the midst of such hor- rid agony as should far more than fulfil the type ofthe elder Eve, to whom it was said, “I will multiply thy sorrows and io conceptions; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” The great and consoling truth that the mother of God becomes our mother at the fogt of te cross 1a apt bolized by the words of onr dying Savionr': wont SUSU, TOF fore, saW 13 MoiMer AK tho disciple standing, thohi He loved, He saith to His mother, ‘Woman; behold thy son;’ after that He saith to the disciple, ‘Behold thy mother.’ THE DELOVED DISCIPLE, good ones, a ger out of the rich yaan’s corn field, But society fs a sort of conven: tion where certain individual rights are resigned | for the good of the whole body. Hence the rich | agrees to feed the poor and the thief must consent to be locked up if he be fonnd stealing, and thus | every part of society is mutually benefited. And | rightly framed law has this principle as its ba love thy neighbor as thyself, He would to | God that it go prevailed as to | SHUT UP THE RUM STOPS all around them and stop the Sabbath-breakers from thetr desecration of the holy day. Mr. Cheney | then cited some of the charac! ties of this love, | @s given in the lessons he had read, and of the food upon which it feeds, and remarked that if we do not let it develop its own life it will wither and die, Lo by said, makes us limbe: Th » he jod tor his own glory. and fit to be used nner who hears ness, he sald ‘wealth is power,” and he would ad- vise every man to live within his income and to la: by his spare pennies and open an account with some savings bank, Buta man may be useful without money, and God wants many aman to be 80. God loves the poor, but He loves the Tycy also-~ | the | who would be faithful | mother, and to her doc | childrei | fect sacrl who was at one time disciple, priest and apostle, with a virgin heart that made nf the beloved of ng of Virgins, may well repr 1, loving cbildr ent all of us 1 of the dying | Savionr; and to all of'us, therefore, in the person of John docs He command His mother tobe our ie command us to be her Hoe calls her “woman,” as if in the per- oe she has assumed in regenerating henceforth that must acce new office | with Him the sinful souls of men and taking them for her children. As she ig the mother of all the d,s0 must she be by a just title the ¥ of all the graces that low from the divine of Calvary and of the Christian virtues—the children o! mothe! soure flowers of penitence and purity that spring from | the soil at the soot of the cross, that is bedewed with the mingléd blood of Christ and the tears of the Magdalen. Flowers sprung from snch a soil find ready and congenial shelter In the bosom of the Virgin Mother, who is also the mother of rrows, and whom, therefore, In every age the Church loves to salute as the “Mother’ of Divine Grace,’ “Mother Most Pure” and THE “REFUGE OF SINNERS.’? | Let us fail not at our peril to fulfil our part of the types and prophecies of Calvary—tho part fulfilled by the beloved disciple of whom we read—“And from that hour the disciple took her to his own.’ If it was a wondrous condescension for the Word of God to take flesh even in the womb of the purest of virgins and the holiest and best of women, so that the Chureh in the Ze Deum says of it, “Thou didst not abhor the womb of a virgin,” it is equally a wondrous exaltation for us to be made the children of this virgin mother now that she is the mother of the Incarnate God, And while we are duly thankful for so great a blessing, and while we may well rejoice that the feith that is withm us is comforted, as it 1s, by the written Word of God, our ruin was begun; and itis by her assent to the | \{ fice which she had made of her Son she | | should cian fim no Joni § h Mr. Talmage, always earnest and eloquent in his discourses, Was more than usually so yesterday morning. The Tabernacle was crowded, In his prayer previous to the sermon he expressed the hope that any person who had come there to cari- cature the preacher or for the purpose of whiling away the Sabbath morning would repent his sin at once. Mr. Talmage’s text was from St, Mark, xvi., 16— “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved 3 but he that believeth not shall be damned,” The-preacher sald that it had been a question ho had often asked himself during the last three ‘weeks why it was that God has brought him face to face with death on the Atlantic and yet brought him back to his people alive. He had no trouble in answering that question. God led him through that Process in order that he might come with a more earnest, intense, consecrated and Christ-like minis- try to this people, and might God forbid that that Process should not have its proper effect upon his soul. The text was a plain statement of two great momentous, Infinite, truthful facts, and while he read it it seemed as though he heard two gates ajar shut—the gate of the blessed and the gate of the lost. You see that the text divides all the people in this Tabernacle into two classes—bellevers and unbelievers. He said that his hearers need not sit back in their seats, thinking he was going to give them @ dry definition as to what faith was. He had no BASEET OF THEOLOGICAL CHIPS tocarry tothem. Faith was a reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ; it was a feeling of “I can’t save myself, but Christ will do it, has done it, I put my whole weight on His mercy. Throwin; away all my sins, my doubts and my fears, I accep everything that Jesus has promised to and done for me personally.” Faith was sometimes an in- stantaneous act of the soul. Between everlasting heaven and everlasting hell you might decide as quickly as your watch could tick, There was the promise, “Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.’ Throw yourselves flat upon that and you are saved. There was one tl , how- ever, to follow, and that was baptism. Baptism was a public recognition and acknowle ent of Jesus Christ, an aid Mr. Talmage, cannot be a Christian without publicly announcing m: faith in Him, “He that believeth in baptism’? ‘would not be saved from the physical consequences of sin. Asoul might escape and be pardoned in this world, but in this world the could not escape, The text had reference to the future world, One inhabitant of heaven would never say to another, ‘Why, the last time I saw you you were IN A GAMBLING SALOON IN BOSTON or in a low place in New York. What are you doing here ?” For there would be no reference made to the past. The believer spoken of in the text would also be saved from toil, Some of our lives was one long scene of toil; it was work, work, work, and we arose in the morning no more rested than when, we went to bei Sund Was not long enough for us to get the wrinkles smoothed ont of our dispositions and get the strain of life bathed out of our limbs, Thank God, there would be 4 terminus of it! There would be no burdens carried snrongh that heavenly gate; there would be no going out early and coming back late; there would be no manufacturer, no em- ployer thrusting his thumb through the work of THE OVERBURDENED SEWING GIRL} no drudgery, but rest. Heaven must seem a differ- ent place to Americans from what it «id to other eople. There was in this land such a rushing, Jost ling and treading one upon another. There Were Some people whom, Mr, Talmadge said, ho could not imagine in heaven except rushing up and down in the street, crying “Get out of my way, or I will run over you!” If you asked a ‘philosopher wha¥ a tear was he would tell you it was a drop of limpid fluid secreted in the lachrymal gland; but Mr. Talmage would say that it was sorrow—the language of the world’s woe, It was a planet of weeping that we lived on; the earth was gashed deep with grief. As at the close of the war sometimes we saw & regiment of 159 men, the pagent of the 1,000 men who went out, so he could put realize that his people were the fragments re Led Ee pocket ot regiments of joyful associations that had been broken up for- ever. But, blessed be God, there would be no sor- row in heaven! The undertaker‘would have to have some other business there. In the Summer time our citles had BILLS OF MORTALITY that were frightful—sometimes in New York a thousand in @ week, sometimes it had been two thousand in London—but in that heavenly city there would not be a single case of sickness or death, not one dress of mourning, but plenty of white robes of joy. But when the clock of Chris- tlan suffering had run down it would never be wound up again, and it would be ocrisy and cowardico in him to tell them one-half of the text and not the other half. If there was a Heaven there was just as certainly aHell, The text said that “ne that believeth not shall be damned.” Those who were cast away under that sentence would go away irom the presence of the most lovely being in the universe. The gulf between would be vast and there would be no bridge across it. Oh, it was across it—no swimmin; | an overwhelming thought that some who now stood together in the tenderest ties of affection would, unless they repented—or the Bible was a Me—pass their eternity in TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS. So what you had to say, say now; one moment after death had dropped upon you, the archangel would rise on his throne and ali the strength of his ex- istence could not change your destiny or hinder the separation, “Oh, there Would be parting at the judgment seat of Christ; parents and children, ‘wives and husbands, would part to meet no more!” They who were cast away would go into the com- penlonshiy the worst population that had gone out trom this earth. There were only two worlds— heaven and hell—and the believer would go to hea- ven and the unbeliever to hell. There was no compromise; it was one thing or the other. He thought there would be one vast community of suf- fering and crime, Most of Sodom would be there and the worst slums of earth would empty their population into that place. It would be TNE PENITENTIARY OF THE UNIVERSE. If you got in there you would never get out. There would be infinite pain, The English lan- gange was full of words expressive of suifering, wretchedness, torment, convulsion, agony, woe. Mr. Talmage said he would make a ladder 01 those | words—each word a rung—and let it down into this place and see if he could measure the depth of sor- row into which they would fall who rejected Christ, He let down the ladder, but it didn’t touch bottom! He listened to hear when it struck the bottom. No echo! no echo; bottomless! bottomless! After millions of ages of suffering some soul would say, pee it most ended? Ican’t longer endure it,’ an A FINGER OF LIGHTNING would write on the sky “Forever!” and the thun- der following echo, amid the bot of death, “For- ever!’ Oh, those fire bells would never stop ring- ing, because the conflagration would never cease, in conclusion the preacher said :—“Upon one or the other of these worids I, De Witt Talmage, must soon enter, and youalso. Which shall it be? Tam deciding it for myself this morning. You will have to decide it for yourselves. Mark this, if you are lost it is your own fauit, ‘He that heheveth and 4 baptized spall be gayed, &e “Wark it down whel vou 4 Tome, iant up the passage for yourselves— St. Mark xvi., 16.” UNITY OFAPEL, The Church of the Unitarians Compared With ‘ad Mustard Seed—Its Origin and Progress=The True Protestants—The Sinister State of Politics=Sermon by the Rev. 8. H. Camp, On Ciasson avenue, near Atlantic avenue, stands the modest littie ediflce calied Unity Chapel. Its interior is cheerfully and tastefully ornamented, and @ mellow light falls through the stained win- dows Over the bowed heads of the congregation as the pastor slowly and solemnly utters the words of prayer which are a part of the day's service. The bright, happy sunshine without streams down through painted panes, and just at the apex of the apsis over the chancel, where in glowing illuminated letters is traced the simpic name “God,” it forms a tender halo which sheds its rich hues and soft effulgence upon the very head and face of the preacher as he stands in the pulpit. There is one characteristic of a Unitarian temple, and that is that its atmos- phere is always cheerfal and one sees only pleasant faces within its precincts. The sunshine on the features of the pastor is reflected through the congregation as that which falls through the stained skylight over the pulpit is reflected upon his, Itis meant as a symbol of the love of God, and is an impressive adjunct of the worship, how- ever the cynic may doubt the truth of the figure, THE MUSTARD SEED, The Rev. 8. H. Camp preached cy morn- ing in the Uinity chapel upon the saying of tho Saviour, recorded by St. Mark:—“It Is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is gown in tho them courage, and to convince that their belief was infinitely precious; inspire them to lose A ny A rather as that, It interes! to the story of the brave mon tnd women who have carried the ark of God, who kept faithful to the cause when 1t would have been so much pleasanter to have done otherwise. How much blessed meaning was there in the testimony of the lives they have lived! The beginning Unitarlanism was GENUINE PROTESTANTISM. It had been constantly on the defensive; and this ‘was the reason for the.pecullar character of Aapren $o-day. “He coul Ree out ge ve ere Bu because they were not orthod xi they dia not Dalove in the Trink ity, in the atonement or in Calvinism. 3. Rs build a new church that tnese old mouidering folds might be riven at ? Not allof them; And the great element of the weakness of unitar- janism was that it was still negative. The very hospitality of the Church had been a its test perils. It was likely to be rarely likely to be rightly understood. A Unit church drew to itself ze that was nos something else, It was difficult to deal with the elements that met within its folds. He not have the armor put on too hastily, ‘would not have the new comer take the swo! til he had been somewhat trained. The reasom why such people were not thoroughly made a part of the Church was because they were usually so in- dependent in their own individuality, It was ike A ROW OF BRIOKS in which every part supported and strengthened another, He would certainly open every door, and welcome every new comer; open every window, 80 that all the light and warmth and aircould come in. No new light could take away any of the sweet- ness of that el that for eighteen centuries had made its impress deep in human hearts. For no matter how the foundation stones were laid, as arts viet ves tolls ber oaks eg cole n What was built; but to @ temple s and fair of thelr own. agua ‘The business of Unitarianism was now sive. There should be some enthusiasm about ite faith. His church was not to be like those of Dr. Hale, William Ware and others, kept up because fear of scandal, People said, “We mustn't let thesa go down;” and so they contributed money and the proecne went on whether thet ® congrega- ion or not; the music was hired, and there was no solicitude as to how it was executed; all the verses Were sung, and that was enough; and go the exist- ence of the place of worshi d its length along. He had been in such a church, where he had seen the dust of decay gather over everything. If people would do what was bel ta at noond: the evening would be bright and full of blesge retrospect. The way to widen the influence of the Church was to increase the personal enthusiasm of its members, He wondered how little was thought in these days of real goodness, IN POLITICS especially there was so little regard for rant, and. he had become so used to hearing men tell lies as it it were a matter of course, that he sometimes fell into utter despair. Was political success and in- fluence better than the honor and honest pride of morality and religion? The reverend gentieman concluded by finishing the illustration of the pro- gress of the Church by the growth of the mustard seed, which, although small in its beginning, fut- filled the promise of a great and noble development, SEVENTH AVENUE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUROH, The Rev. Dr. Wild Upon Man’s Source of Supernatural Aid by the Holy Spirit. Dr. Wild, of the Seventh avenue Methodist Fpis- copal church of Brooklyn, delivered a very excel- lent and impressive sermon yesterday morning im that edifice, The singing, conducted by Mr, Mars- ton, was well chosen, and beautifully rendered by @ full choir of voices. After the opening services the Rev. Doctor selected for his text the eighth chapter of Romans, twenty-sixth verse, ‘‘Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities,” and re- marked in substance as follows:— Man naturally is weak in those things that make for his salvation and peace. But here we have re- vealed to us @ source of power. It is said that knowledge is power; if so, then ignorance is weak- ness. To increase in knowledge is to augment our power. To this end the Holy Spirit is a promised guide into all truth, Wisdom is the application of knowledge; to know is science, and todo is art. Science is honored by art, for in art it has its test and valuation. So faith is a divine science, that should be honored, tested and sanctified by prac- tice. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” It is very cheering to look upon this life as but introduc- tory to the sublime mysteries of that which is to come. It is as but the beginning of a never-ending career that may be sacred as enduring, majestic ag inviting and sublime as mysterious. MIND AND MATTER are delicately adjusted in man; in him they hay an intimate corelation that gives rise to the law mutual dependence and iniluence, Matter some- times touches hard upon spirit, and the spirit gives in return sensitive impressions to matter, The flesh has an ethical relation to the spirit, and Christianity pie and legislates for both matter and mind. All this implies the possibility of the Holy Spirit being a competent and sure help to man. Similarly the whole world of matter was ad- ee to. the Godhead in the person of Christ. hus to Him nature was pliable and subject. It was indeed marvellous with men, yet simple in result, for the man Christ Jesus to walk in and through the chambers of the wind, and stay or intensify their going forth; to comfort the demons in their graveyard retreat, or meet and assail them when on wandering errands of violence and de- struction; to cut oi the life-flowing juice of the fine foliaged fig tree, and curse it with the curse of death; to hush to dreaded silence the busy multi- tudes of the Temple, till He chided them with mak- ing the house of His Father a place of merchandise— which done they fled in terror—for the lamb became a lion, a simple cord a scorpion lash of revenge, the servant a master, and the man Christ Jesus a God. It was easy for Jesus to begin at tie end as a beginning. He could grow bread from bread, multiply fish without life, yet enough and whole- some in Pe kd and quality to feed the multitude, He could evade, by not wai ving, the sowing, the growing, the harvesting, the grinding and bak He evaded by not waiting, the vessel, the net, the tacking and perils of the deep. Ob, marvellous man!—child of heaven, life’s source, nature’s Lord, man’s God—who shall doubt Thy power to saveand help? The Holy Spirit takes of the things that are Christ’s and shows them unto us, He is to the Church what Christ was in bodily presence to the discipies—a guide, a comforter, a help, a remembrancer. His presence every Christian feels, for the spirit and motive power essential to the discharge of duty cometh from Him. Nico- demus-like, many will say, “How can these things be?? The wind bloweth where it listeth. This we know; but who shall teil us from whence it came | and how? Ah! who shail tell us of the mode and manner of the Spirit's approach. Itisa FELT BYIDENCE. By the law of association, by pure reasoning, we cannot account for some of our thoughts and much of experience In @ religious sense except by ad- mitting the supernatural, The Creator moves the mags ie awete sincerity and fulln of His éwn spirit. Emotions, agreeable is own, fill the mind of the audience, the best evidence of which will be an internal or felt one | 50 thought | and em Hon, fow witn 4 the Divine prostiiee. Aa Th ha temo: nd taber: nacle of old the people went in by the way of the courts, but the pregence of the Lord came in by the way of the Holy or lolies. So, now, we, as the temples of the ving Gud. Permit the people to come in by the way of the con, ‘s—that is, through the avenues of the senses, Bit fhe Divine ape progghes us by way of the spirit. Men get at ou spirits through matter, and od gets At macté; through the spirit. The power of iis indwelling resence the child of God often jecels, and by It ia Inspirea with boldness in the discharge of duty. Man, by his very constitution, has one side of hi being open heavenward and the other earthward. A Divine bodily presence was snficient for the im fant Church; but the maturing Church needs @ Divine presence co-eyual with itself and its agencies. THE SPIRITS Wonk ia to inspire and direct. In olden times men were moved to write the Scripture dl we are com- manded to search them, for they testify of Christ. On the day of Pentecost the Church, through its agencies, was presented to the divine multitude, with power and adaptive competence to preach the Gospel to them in their own tongues. So to-lay the Spirit moves the Church abreast the heathen world, with ability and adaptive competence to reach to them tle Gospel in their own tongues. rhe day of inspiration is not wholly passed away— even now God deigns to instruct. Much of what we regard as nature may be super-nature. God's wor! is pei therefore not easily discerned, Who ot us pe ive the complex motions of the Earth, The supernatural {8 often hidden in the natural, Job says ‘For God speaketh once, yea twice; yet man percelveth it not, Jnadream; ina vision of the night, when deep eee faileth upon men in slum berings upon the bed, Then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction,” And now my frionds, begin when younecd Him, trust Him, and He will help you. Try Him, that yon may know His power. May He come to you through the and through the night watches and be an ex dog an eyadtabig iely unto you aly