The New York Herald Newspaper, December 30, 1872, Page 8

Ee NEW YUKK HEKALD. MONDAY, DEVEMBER 30, 1872—WITH SUPPLEMENT POPULAR PIETY The Worship and Teachings in the Various Churches of the Metropolis Yesterday. BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW. Sermons on the Christmas Season, the Old Year’s Death and the New Year’s Na- tivity, by Archbishop McCloskey and Rey. Messrs. Chapin, Frothing- ham, Powers, Graham and Northup. Mz. Beecher Preaches on Unconscious Influ- ence, Peevishness and Cheerfulness and the Mirthfulness To Be Found in Heaven. peer eet a TALMAGE OUT OF THE TABERNACLE, pene Sere a The Services of His Congregation and the Sermon that He Preachedto . Them in the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “WHY WAS THIS WASTE?” Dr. Camp's Christmas Celebration for the Children in the Unity Chapel. The Rev. Dr. Chapman on the Sin of Indiscriminate Eulogy. How the Day of Religious Rest Was Kept by the People. CHUROH OF THE DIVINE PATERNITY. Dr. Chapin on the Lessons of the Closing Year—Significance of the Inner Man. Dr. E, H. Chapin preached at his church on Fifth avenue and Forty-fiith street yesterday to the usual large and fashionable congregation on the essons of the closing year. He took for his text the sixteenth verse of the fourth chapter of Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians—‘For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by The Apostle Paul, said the reverend gentle- man, recites herein his troubles and persecutions, and makes no statement of any ameliorating con- dition by which he was enabled to endure except his own inward spiritual resources, He draws a great contrast between the mere material man and that inner life that is part of our being; for, he fays, though our outward man perish, yet the in- ‘ward man is renewed day by day. The conditions wet forth by Paul are most worthy of consideration now as we Graw a lesson from the closing year. Nothing can more forcibly illustrate the reality of OUR OUTWARD MAN’S DECAY. Hours and days glide by and we de not notice them, just as small coin may be distributed here and there and never accounted for; but when a year draws toa close with its large sum total of Lours and days, 80 large and important a portion of our earthly life, we feel that we must stop and consider it to see where we stand, as the business man feels the necessity of accounting for a large sum disbursed. One year is a large sum taken from the capital of life, and life is a capital forever wasting and not to be recruited. If there is any ea of humanity that grows and improves it is | ‘he infant; and yet as the babe Gu year by year Toto manhood some particle of {ts material exist- ence wastes away, and each birthday that adds to the years of its existence deducts from its term ot life. We may not be able to look upon the changes in ourseives, produced by the fleeting years, but there is an old story of AN ENCHANTED HALL where a million mirrors reflect the man, not as he Seels himseW to be, but as he is—and in life we ma look upon the persons of our acquaintances an friends and see in them the images of ourselves, Not as we feel, but asweare. Their whiteuing hairs and weakening limbs may indicate the decay that is upon us, and our consideration of the old year will lead to some good if it impresses it upon us that decay is real. All things perish. Our granite | Btructures, our stately cities, our colossal fortunes, | even the world perisheth, In the ordinary business | of life there 1s no other account than that of : PROFIT AND LOSS, and in this business of life, as men look at it, even from @ commercial point of view, the losses must be all on our side, We lose hours, days and years. They go irom us and there is no returning equiva- Jent. Our physical frames decay, and there is no | recruiting of strength, But is there no gain? Is it all loss? Materialism says yes; that life is but a quick-wrought struggie, with no aim beyond the present—it is over and there’s an end; that man perisheth, his inner and outer life alike; that all perishes—even the great giobe itself, And like the baseless fabric of this vision, Leave nota wreck behind. Even if this were so there would remain HIGH DUTIES IN LIFE, noble duties and noble work to be done. Even | without the evernal future that opens up before us, it is a serious thing to live at all; and it is impossi- Die for that man to have the same zeal to do the game work who accepts the materialistic view as tor one whose life is overarched by God's sanctity and stretches out to limitiess eat ta Again, my hearers, Paul says “the inward man is renewed day by day.’ It is not a dreamer who says this. Paul was neither a dreamer nor a fanatic; but he was an enthusiast, as every man is whose heart 1s in his work, There is more COMMON SENSE | sok in his episties than in two-thirds of the oks in the libraries of the world. He was not a dreamer or @ fanatic, but an eminently prac man, #0 well informed and so experienced tha he gone into Broadway or into Wall street he have been noted there for his uncommon executive ability. What he saysol the inward ian, then, cannot be taken as the prosing of a scholar or the cant of the pulpit. In the revolutions and upheay- ings that go on around us in the constantly faithful Buccession of the seasons, the strict enforcement of the laws of nature, there is to be recognized the presence of a power before which man is naught, and his jittle life but a mere episode in the great history that is making. The influence of this reater power shapes or overthrows our actio irects our tides and ebbs, and rules aad controls the motions like A LIVING GULD STREAM. | Inevery man, however low and debased, there ie a yeariing, a sense of something noble and goo. A story is told of an engineer who was crushed With his engine in 4 collision, and when dragged trom the ruins said—*‘I am gone, but tell them that i stuck by the engine to thelast,’’ What was there in his stickin, Li / the engine that would aid his material lite fit is ali over with death why ts this inner emotion, this desire for good repute afterward, so strong in the minds of men’ It ts believed tat the grandest heroism is displayed on | the fleld of martyrdom and in battie, but here is as | rand a heroism, audit ts imbued in the minds of 4 t is @ common heroism this, but grandly ignificant of that inward character which Paul pg inner man. See how soon the mere ma- erial MAN IS FORGOTTEN. He sinks, and the waves close over him—a ripple dollows, anu the broad stream rushes on beiore, itis the inner man alone that lives afterward, It 1s given only to a few to be constellations of great- ness, blazing in the firmament and seen from all ad of the horizon, The inner life is renewed ay by day—renewed by truth, never obsolete truth, exhaustless truth, and renewed by love, The selfish man, who lives only to himself, shrivels up ie & MUMMY jammed into a sarcophagus, THE SRASON OF CHRISTMAS is eminently siguificant of that love that renews the inner man. The genial warmth within, the hearty generosity, the universal sociability supply the aspects of Summer that are wanting in the Neak lation Of the Winter without. The storm hat has fallen upon this city, with its wild fury and snowy desolation is typical of the lives of mapy of the poor in our midst—a life that has been always a storm blockade. In helping them we may renew our inner life. The year that ts draw- ing near its close has been an eventful and a sad | one, Men that clutched empires have been pushed from their stools, great intellects have been | his purpose. ice io darkness, and from among ourseives gone ong over Whose scat the mourning sym- bols yet . The sea has upheaved and fire has spread desolation along the surface of the earth, e outward man perisheth—yes, the Wintry de- vastation of the branches, the dying heart throbs of the old year beaten by the hand of every clock show it, but the inner man is renewed day by «lay. 8T, PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. Sermon by Archbishop McCloskey— Thoughts Suggested by the Christmas Festival, ‘There was a large congregation in attendance at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral at the high mass ser- vices yesterday, The music was, as usual, very fine, The sermon was delivered by His Grace the Archbishop, Who, it is needless to say, was lis- tened to with the greatest possible attention. The right reverend gentleman, after having in a most analytical and interesting manner dilated upon the fall of man by sin, the consequent anger of od against him and his kind, and the gulf impas- sible that existed thereafter between God and man until THE COMING OF THE SAVIOUR, he spoke of the “alliance” between God, the Creator, and man, the creature, which the condescension of the Saviour in becoming man had brought about. It was, he said, after the sin of our first parents, an impossibility for man to raise himself up to God, inorder to put himseif where he could, face to face, talk with Him, and be in a position to ask of Him the graces he stoodin need of. How, then, could the alliance take place, or, rather, how did it take place? It being impossible for man to raise himself up to God the Son of God Himself consented to come down to man, to become like to him in all things, in his lowliness, in his abasement, in his overty, in his wretchedness, in everything to be 18 equal but in sin, For the sake of mankind, whom He wished to save, whom He loved so dearly, He even took upon Himself our poor, weak human nature, our human flesh ana blood, and consented that He should be touched by human hands, to reccive expressions of human love, and to return love forlove. Yet that little infant in the manger was all the time the infinite Almighty. With all His poverty, His abandonment, He was full of riches, of honors, of glory, of immortality. By the coming o! that infant the alliance between God and man was restored. Inthe birth of the child the work of the reformation of mankind was not consummated. but only begun. Then, indeed, God Was seen on earth and communicated directly with men, but in that alone was not the mystery of the incarnation. Then it is true God had united bim- self with man ; still He had not communicated Him- self to each personal man. Was, then, the object of His migsion on earth to last only during His life- rau to cease When He passed away irom earth? NOt 80. THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION first achieved in a stable is to endure forever, to exist until the end of time. God once become man was never to cease to be God and man, never to abandon man to bimself, for whom He finally laid down his life; so the mystery of the incarnation Still exists, and the Saviour ig still with us. He had not only united His divinity to our humanity, but He left us the meaus of salvation, the power of becoming sharers with Him in the kingdom of heaven. As St. John says, ‘He gives to us who re- ceive Him, who believe in Him and who adore Him in the fulness of the mystery of the incarnation, the power of becoming the sons of God.” So He has united Himself to each one individually, The right reverend gentleman then remarked that the best way, especially for this season of the year, to unite ourselves with God was to receive him in the sacraments. If Catholics had not already done this, or if they did nat intend to do so, they did not realize the Ebel ofthe incarnation in its com- pleteness and its perfection. He then went on to say that we were already standing on the threshold of a new year, and a8 our thoughts went back to the months that had rolled by since the last “New Year” me naturally asked ourselves had we during that ime DRAWN NEARER TO HEAVEN, nearer to God’ ‘The resolutions and promises we had made at the beginning, where are they now? A year once passed is passed forever, and its words and deeds were beyond control. The present was indeed a time jor solemn warning, but it was also @ time for holy resolution and prayer. We should return thanks to God for the biessings he had showered upon us during the past year, and we should pray for the grace of God during the com- ing year; pray for strength in our cares and troubles; pray for the afflicted Pontiff; pray thnt the light of faith should break in upon the dark oe that now surround bimand that all the erring children of the Church should be brought back to the knowledge and fear of God, ONURCH OF THE MESSIAH, The New Year’s Sermon by the Kev. H. Powers. ‘The Church ofthe Messiah was well attended yesterday, and showed a decided increase in its congregations since some weeks ago. The pastor, the Rey. Mr. Powers, preached his New Year's sermon from the text, “He hath made everything beautiful in its time,” which Is found in Ecclesi- astics iii, 11. Mr. Powers commenced as follows :— Accepting, now, as true this sentiment of the wise man of the Jews, let us inquire, my friends, what are some ol the thoughts which it suggests and how | they can be best improved by us in accordance | with the spirit of the hour, First—Let us seek to apprehend, if we can, the idea which the word “time” embodies. But this is no easy task, for the instant we essay to grasp it it is gone. If we think to portray it by signs and symbols we are mis- taken, and yet images are its only means of de- scription. Time is as THE TWIN BROTHER OF SPACE, and nothing in God's universe can exist or happen without the intervention of both. Time both pro- duces and destroys all things. It is both the longest and the shortest of the motions with which we have to do, the simplest, the slowest, the most divisible and the most indivisible, the most regretted when it is gone from us and the least regarded when it is by. Strictly speaking, time is not itself an entity, a thing, but simply an idea, a CONSTANT SUCCESSION, an endiess duration. It 1s always the friend of the virtuous and well-disposed, but the bitter and tor- menting foe of the vicious and evil-minded. Its function is to measure for us here our allotted space of God’s good life, as we journey from the cradie to the grave, and therefore to the good man itis redolent of memories sweet and anticipa- tions delightful; but to the bad, of recollections that are sad and forebodings that are gloomy. Second—As the proper way tor us to improve our time, our opportunity, our segment of God’s eter- nity, answer generally as Solomon has it in the text, “He hath made everything beautiful in its time,” and that “He has setits destined duration in the heart of everything.’ That God has done this, remember, and not fate nor the devil, and that, therefore, it is well. It is as though mortality were a huge timepiece, which God had made and set in motion, which moves its resistless course while each cog in ITS MYSTIC WHFRLS bears graven in its stern substance as it comes swiftly up @ biessing for us all, It ticks the time for us “to be born,” and though we may not like | the age or land or place in which our lot 1s cast, we | cannot help it, nor need we wish to do so, for it is the best for us. So also | with ‘our time to die, As God sees it there is no untimely death; no man really ever died too soon, or lived a moment longer than was good for time. “To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven;” “a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a TIME TO BREAK DOWN and atime to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and @ time to dance.” No one therefore can fix a date beforehand and say, “On such a day I will be merry and such a day 1 will mourn,” and be certayi of the fulfilment of For the day wppointed for his wed- ding may prove the day destined for his mourning. Alter iully explaining the above views on time the preacher made some very sensibie and practical remarks dade ped to the dawn of the new year, and concluded by offering to his congregation as & New Year's motio, “Let us therefore, brethren, as many as be periect, be thus minded,”’ TWENTY-THIRD STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Sermon by the Rev. H. D. Northrop— The Old and the New Year—God’s Great Bounty to Mankind—Meeting (Relative to Foreign Sunday Schools= | Addresses by Drs. Eggleston and Wood- ruff, The Rev. H. D. Northrop preached at the West | Twenty-third Street Presbyterian church yester- day forenoon. He took his text from Psalms ci,, 1— “Iwill sing of mercy and jndgment’—and com- menced his discourse by drawing attention to the | fact that David praises God for His judgment just as he dues for His mercy. We are apt to be graterul for mercies and simply resigned to the judgments of God, We think the sweet and pleasant good and the bitter evil, yet it may be the latter that cures. God has a lesson in everything He does, and He speaks to us by events and cir- cumstances as well as by His written Word. It is “worth while, therefore, to consider the mercies of the past year and refresh our minds with a reckon- ing of good things, The preacher comprised these mercies in two distinct classes—the temporal and spiritual. .The temporal life ts the gift of God, and its value is shown as longevity is given as A REWARD TO THE GOOD, | chapter of Job—"I said, Days should speak.” also the crimson tt the brush falls from on man’s cheek, and when he Master’s liand that cheek will pale. We are prone to consider that life is drawn from a@ lower source talk about preserving heaith and taking care of ourselves; yet if Ged says live, we have existence, for He is the sovereign of our very breath, as He is of all the world’s on high, The learned divine then di- lated upon the suddenness of death's advent and of the numerous fatal disasters ard catastrophes which had taken place during 1872, drawing there- from a beautiful deduction to proye the necessity for spiritual grace. We, none of us, know how long we have to live, and should, therefore, walk opr ightly and in the love and favor of the Lord. iy the past year there had been @ political campaign which was so ageri- monious and scurrilous as to fairly dis- ce a nation calling itself civilized, it was followed by the death of a man who was too great to be President, yet did not know it—a man who did more for his country than the whole pack of snarling curs who defamed him and called him a devil during life, yet who were ready enough to make a saint of him when dead, HORACE GREELEY was only one of man: mens and good men who had passed from earth during the year. Anew ed is close at hand, and this is a proper season show gratitude to God for the many blessin; His meroy has vouchsafed to us, and also for the framing of resolutions which will enable us toaspire Ve the future to a high place in His heavenly king- om. A sopatioe was held last evening in the cuurch on behalf of the Foreign Sunday Schools Mission. The Rev. E. Eggleston addressed the congregation atconsiderable length upon the advisability of promulgating religion in Buropean countries by Means Of Sunday senools. He spoke in particular of Germany, where the Church and State are allied, and confidently asserted that Sun schools would soon Spanncinsre religion from the anarch: and intolerence ofthe government. He recognize fully the wonderful benefits which have resulted from the system of public emul but he did not consider it advisable to leave religious education to these institutions. It was impossible to graft in the heart and memory of a child Reogra) hy, arithmetic and religion simultaneously. ‘he arts and sciences were driven into the youth. ful understanding—religion had to be generated in the bosom of the young scholar by love and gentleness, ‘The government of Germany was serongly cr posed to them, for it recognized the certainty that children would begin to think for themselves, and not rely too much upon the power of monarchia! rule. He deemed it fortunate that in this country the burden of religious instruction had been shifted from paid teachers to those who la- bored for love. A bond of holy unity existed be- tween pupil and teacher that grew stronger as the infant mind advanced its knowledge of true reli- ion. Germans as teachers were far ahead of mericans, but they did not dare to expound theo- riesin their own country on account of the govern- ment. A system of Sunday schools throughout Prussia would be the means of re a true Christianity, of revolutionizing religion all over the Empire. ‘ey. Mr. Woodruff said that the number of SunGay schools oa the Continent of Europe was at ge small, France had 800, Italy 72, Germany , Switzerland 660, Spain only @ few. Nine-tenths of the Germans who emigrate to this country are little better than atheists, though their ‘“ Vater- land” was the primal seat of Protestancy. This sad fact was the result of compulsory confirmation and the action of the government making certain Teligious ceremonies necessary to be passed through before a youth can be eligible even for ap- Dean teesnip, Rey. Mr. Northrup spoke of the great interest he felt in the movement and she benefits he thought would accrue ifthe matter of establishing Sunday schools more widely on Teutonic soil was carried on with promptness and energy. He read a letter lately received from the Rev. Mr. Brocklemann, of Heidelberg, in which that gentleman spoke most favorably of the progress being made and the happy results which were already accruing, LYRIO HALL The Soul of the New Year=—Sermon by Rev. 0. B. Frothingham. Lyric Hall was well filled, as it always is, by an intelligent and attentive congregation yesterday morning. The subject of Mr. Frothingham’s dis- course was “The Soul of the New Year.’ Before we meet again, he commenced, this year will have closed and we will have entered upon an- other. Some say one year is just like another and that the same things happen over and over again. We have joys, griefs, disasters and trials every year. So it seems on the surface; but is not every twelve months o separate creation and we a year further on. The new year begins when the gra- cious sunbeams melt the EARTH'S OLD FROZEN BEART. Another year and new currents of life are flow: ing over the old Continent. Every one speaks of progress, and how do we know but that it con- sists in the steady building up of the future? In the faith that every cause has its effect, and every sequence its sequence. Many believe that things move in an endless circle. The discovery is that progress is a law according to which it is impossi- ble for anything to stand still. Nothing perishes, We talk of the ‘ost arts,’’ but they were nothing that would benefit man. Remember that progress does not go in right lines, but in waves. There isan ebb and flood tide in pronrees. We mai fancy that things are going backward and forward. Watch the action of the waves, They come up and fo back, and BA don’t know Whether it is eb» or jood tide. ‘The seventh wave goes beyond the others, and all after it go in farther and farther. This is the law which governs human affairs, In 1848 the great WAVE OF REVOLUTION swept over Sicily and Naples, and they determined to throw off the despotism which seemed to have overcome them. Even the Pope of Rome seemed to have turned reformer. The same wave over. over England and even reached our shores, The North became aware of the atrocity of the Institu- tion of slavery. New papers were started, re- formers made their appearance, but the ebb began to set in. It began in Austria and ran rapidly all over Europe. Refugees from Hungary passed over here by the score, ‘The city of Rome was held by French troops and the spirit of despotism settied down firmer than ever. The reaction struck our shores and the old ANTI-SLAVERY QUESTION began to die out. Compromise came after com- promise. We all sat in sackcloth and ashes. Had the tide gone back? No. Had a prayer been Offered iu vain’ Never, Ina few years the flood came in again and the reformers with it. The waves did not stop here. You know how the French despot feil and how the Pope was stranded in the Vatican, See by th's that nothing is ever lost. Several years ago there was @ flood tide in temperance. In Ireland, which, with perhaps the exception of England, is the most remarkable for drunkenness, the reform was signally marked; millions put their names to the pledge. "Men sto upon their feet and families came together again. At that time it was worth almost a person's character to say anything against the temperance reformers. One says that one of the most temperate people is the most criminal. Another that temperance does not influence longevity or health. There is more tem- perance now than there ever was before. There are thousands who would sooner die than taste the accursed thing. The WOMAN'S RIGHTS question a few years ago came up in a flood tide, Dut now it is beginning to CB bac erhaps, because it was associated with disreputable ideas of social life. We have touched bottom, but must wait until the flood comes in again. There isa creed called the doctrine of Trinity, which has agitated England. They say, “The Father is eter- nal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Ghost 1s eternal, and there are not three eternals, but one.” “The Father is omnipotent, the Son is eit hd the Holy Ghost is omnipotent, but there Is only one Omnipotent.” This is the holy Catholic faith, which if one does not hold steadfastly he cannot be saved. We decline to read the creed, It is one of the corner stones of a building at which no one looks, but if it were taken away the structure would fail, The past year has been one of FRIGHTFUL DISASTERS. Floods in France, Italy and England, conflagra- uons destroying our best cities, a fearful famine in Persia and an earthquake destroying the old city of Antioch. All these calamities show that we are neglecting ourselves and running to idleness. We should build better houses, Every year is a prophet, The past heralds the future, SEVENTH AVENUE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, The Departing Year—The Lessons Which Its History Teaches, The Rey. 8, H. Graham, pastor of the United Pres- byterian church, on Seventh avenue, preached a sermon toa large and attentive congregation yes- terday afternoon on the subject of “The Departing Year.” After the usual religious services the rey- erend gentleman announced for his text the first clause of the seveuth verse of the thirty-second He said:—We are standing on the eve of the depart- ing year, aud we propose ere we lay aside the volume of the past and turn to the bright, fresh pages of the future, with which we are all unacquainted, ere we reverently close the eyes of the old year and look into the bright, gleaming eyes of the new, to induige in some Christian reflections, with the fervent prayer that God will free us from ail selfishness and enable us to consider Him more and ourselves less. Alter arguing in favor of the idea of a SPECIAL PROVIDENCE to a considerab'e extent, and that its workings are clearly evident to the spiritual Christian, he urged that there 1s reason to fear that the lessons taught by its operations are likely to be overlooked, The events of a year, in all their varied relations, Hg who pajats the liiy and the buttercup paints | are so numerous that only a cursezs glance can be CB e—E——————— given them, After referring to the context and showing under what circumstances Elihu uttered the words of the text, he added :— THE DAYS OF THE YEAR SPEAK something awful to you and tome. They speak of abounding mercy and unmerited ror bon, He dwelt upon the more common, and therefore less Spode, blessings of Providence, and showed that these are the most important of all; such as the air we breathe and the means afforded-us for supplying our wants. He then proceeded to con- sider some of the special mercies. There has been no special outpouring of God's spirit, but the move- ment of the Church has been onward, while the signs of the times evince that the measure ot God's Wrath toward the wicked is being rapidly filled, and the glory of His Church will be enhanced when the blow comes. Crime on the increase, and yet it is certain God rules. Again, the history of the past year tells of fea ful judgments—severe, startling, unexpected. The ine and pestilencg in Persia form a lesson to be read by us as well as by the yore heathen in that unfortunate land. He spexe eloquently of the Wars ol the past year and their devastating effects, n 4 of the many shipwrecks, fir ace’ dents as fulfilling the prophecies of God and pre- senting an awful, sad lesson to us, That lesson is, that He is angry with the sons of men, and they will have a effect if they induce the wicked to give their hearts to Him. After incidentally refer- ring to man’s personal experiences, affording, os they do a mixture of joy and sorrow, which should bring him nearer to God, he turned to the POLITICAL CONDITION OF CHRISTENDOM Politics are not the business of the pulpit or of the Church, he argued. But if any great moral einelble is invol then it is the duty of all to ring hat principle out into the brilliant light of the “higher law.” We have to observe if God rules or man, . In showing the evidences of special providence he said :—Germany ts struggling hard to adapt herself to the condition arising from her recent victories, France is emerging, with many throes, from the dust of her defeat, Italy has thrown off the Papal power and Russia is indulging in a vast expedition which indicates WAR AS THE ULTIMATE OBJECT. , _ England, who pursued her course of detestable neutrality, of no credit to herself or benefit to any one, is governing her vast realms as best she may. Then, turning to our own country, he referred to the late Presidential election, with its harvest of depravity, and asked, in view of all, “What is our condition in the sight of God, and what 13 the lesson of the past year? and drew the conclu- sion that, notwithstanding the great atnount of wickedness and unbelief, it was evident that there was a controlling power in the hands of God, and that in the great contest between right and wrong he was certain to be ultimately victorio In conclusion he considered the question, “Whi been done by the Church at large and by us fraction of it?” He referred in denunciation to the VIOLATION OF LAW and Justice in this city, the result of iniquity on the art of those in high places. He said:—Never be- re has law been so trampled upon and honesty dishonored as to-day. There is no saiety from the knife and pistol in our streets, Vhat has brought us to this? ‘fhe wickedness of those entrusted with a due execution of the law. The remedy lay in educating public opinion up to a Christian standpoint, and to this duty the Church should devote itself. He urged advancement and progress upon the Church com- mensurate with the progress of the age in material matters; that the great cardinal doctrine of Christianity is love to our kind, and that ever Christian should pomard the world as his paris! and not circumscribe his efforts within the or- (rine sas to which he belonged. He exhorted is hearers that, no matter wnat their position on earth, they would hereafter be Judged in accord- ance with the divine announcement, “By their fruits shall ye know them.” Let the efforts of Christians be greater and still greater, so that for their fidelity, When the end of 1873 shall have ar- rived, “The days shall speak.’? THIRTY-POURTH STREET REFORMED CHUROH Sunday School Anniversary—Address by Rev. John Hall, D. D. The forty-ninth anniversary of the Sunday school connected with the Reformed church in Thirty- fourtn street, west of Eighth avenue, was held last evening in that place. The children crowded the galleries and a goodly congregation filled the main room. The exercises consisted of prayer, reading of the Scriptures and of annual reports, singing by the children of a Christmas carol composed by Rey. Dr. Washburne, . of this city; a prayer by Mr. Pitcher, Superin- tendent of the Sunday school, and a couple of original hymns composed by Rev. Dr. Riley, the pastor of the church, An address was delivered by Dr. John Hall, of the Fifth avenue Presbyterian church, and Dr. Riley added a few remarks. The reports declared that during the past year eight Sabbath scholars had become mem- bers of the church, and that the roli ofthe Sunday school contains at present 300 pupils and 27 teach- ers. The collections amounted to $734 and the disbursements to $791, thereby leaving the treasury of the school in debt, to relieve which a collection was taken up at the close of the ser- vices, The missionary collection of the little folks amounted to $350, of which sum $120 was appro- riated to the mission in Mexico, under the super- Intendence ot Miss Rankin. The balance was dis- tributed in this city and in a few points in the West. One lady teacher and one scholar died during the year. ADDRESS OF DR. JOHN HALL. Dr. Hall spoke about the kind of work that is done in the Sunday school in teaching the young about Christ. It is real mission work, and were there more of it done by the churches there would be less of it to be done by organizations outside of the churches, and he believed it would be done better, The Sunday school can do much in this way, and the Church must act the part of parents in this regard to many children. The children can’t get religious instruction in our public schools as they are at present conducted. The Doctor, therefore, urged parents to send their children to Sunday schools, and pointed out the advantage it would be, not only to themselves and the little ones, but to their neighbors, who might be led to imitate their example. He also urged the children to bring others into the sunday school and thus make themselves little missiona- ries for Christ. He bade both children and parents beware of the books they read. He had seen some in Sunday scnool libraries which were greater trash than the cheapest of the cheap novels that are pub- has a terms of eloquent lished. Often @ poison is introduced into the household by those books, that is never got rid of. He would have Bible classes in every school, as q sort of bridge connecting the church with the school. Could he have his own way he would have the church a Sunday school for adults and the Sunday school a church for little folk. Reierring to the series of international lessons which the Evangelical Sunday schools of this country and of Canada take up next Sunday, the Doctor spoke about their influence for union on the churches, and urged their study by parents and children. CITY OF CHURCHES. Discourses from Her Pulpits Yesterday—Tal- mege at the Academy of Secular Song— “Why Was This Waste?’—Beecher on Unconscious Influenco—He Will Re- ceive New Year's Call— Dr. Chapman on Indiscrimi- nate Eulogies, PLYMOUTH CHURCH. Mr. Beecher’s Sermon on Unconscious Influence=A Rebuke to the Irritable and the Peevish—Good Nature, Wit and Humor and Cheerfulness Com- mended=Plenty of Mirth in Heaven— Mr. Beecher to Receive Callers on New Year's Day. The service at Plymouth church yesterday morn- ing was in harmony with the season. The choir sang the time-honored Christmas hymn, com- mencing Mark! the herald angels sing, to @ carol from “Zundell’s Book of Anthems.” The melody sung was an English melody, very famillar in the Episcopal churches of Europe, but was not well rendered by the Plymouth choir, The hymns sung by the congregation were also seasonable and jubilant, and formed an ap- propriate prelude to the sermon. Mr. Beecher’s subject was “Conscious and Unconscious Influence and Power.’ The text selected was the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth verses of the filth chapter of the Acts of the Aposties—‘And believers were the more added tothe Lord, multitudes both of men and women, Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter pass- ing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks unto them which were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed, every one.” This text was used by Mr. Beecher, not in reference to its historical relationship, but as an embtem of the moral and spiritual truths he desired to enforce, The sbadow was as the unconscious influencer | that was exercised by men unknowingly, both for good or evil, Men are surcharged with power, aud human life is the noblest scene on which to give and receive cerebal influences, Men act more than they are suspected in the production of trouble. Man was restive in business and in his ordinary occupations, and his conduct, which, if pursued in the line of nature, might be productive of good, Was not in its unseen influence good when pursued in the line of force. Then si A MAN'S SELFISHNESS had an unconscious influence, ‘Then combative- ness in man took up forms that detracted from his influence. This law bore upon the irritable and impatient, and its effect was just as perceptible in the sullen silence as in the irritable reply. A man was responsible for the temperament he carried about with him, Then there was the unconscious wrong done by the undue harboring of sorrow on those who were around and about us. It was uite true that sorrow must have its way, and there were no times in which this evil was more frequently done than in the cases of minor sickness. The spirit of exacting was the cause of infinite evil. Let not your good be evil- Spoken of was the admonition ‘of pagans as well as Uhristians, Then there was a kind of egotism Of goodness that was very painful. There were poopie Who were so very good they had all the jualities that lifted them into @ perfection, that itted them only for the blesged, and these people knew it. Their goodness was obvious that it was a kind of rebuke to less perfect mortals. From such people Mr. Beecher prayed that he might be delivered, He could quite understand Theodore Parker when he said that he never liked Washing- ton until he learned that he swore. Their perfection was a@ kind of hard Pharisaism that needed something human, to provoke them to charity and loving kindness. Now, let them look at the other side of this unseen influence, That was an influence like the Summer sun; it shone alike on the city, the town, the coun- try, the park or the wilderness where no man was. So many men went forth as luminaries of God’s benefits, benonene in what they mean to benefit, and benefiting that which they ‘don’t mean; just as there was & beauty that did not know it was beauty. So there was a goodness that did not know it was goodness. There were a great many, HUMBLER WORKERS OF SOCIETY who were not noticed and were, as it were, outo sight. Those were the lubricators of boy who like the oil that was put to the joints on locomo- tives on its journey, would, in thelr absence, cause society to go wrong. Such was the good-natured man; the tendency of his good nature was to make other people good-natured. The man who came to the breakfast table irritable was very likely to make somebody else irritable. God bless good-natured people! ‘here was room for a good Many more of them. 1t was a blessed thing when @ man had wit and humor in his mental constitu- tion, There were no gifts that we should be more thankiul for than these. Ifany man had WIT AND HUMOR in him, in the name of heaven let him not suppress it, How painful it was to see everything taken in the hard reality of life,as he sawe great many housekeepers take it. They did not know how to take Ilfe and make the best of it, and what a blessed thing it was that there was a comic side to life. There were ny who thought that there Would be no mirth in heaven. Where did they find any authority for that? I believe there will be a gpd deal of mirth there. don’t know how any man can read the Old and New ‘Testaments and not think 40. Blessed, I say, are those who are the natural in- spirers of hope and courage. We are too apt to think of Christ as the teacher, not as the actor and the doer. Let men think of the harm that they are unconsciously doing , @ lack of cheerfulness and contentment. They do far more harm than they suspect. The shadow of Peter was just as hard a worker as Peter himself. A few words ot practical admonition closed the discourse. NEW YEAR'S CALLS. Mr. Beecher announced that he would receive callers on New Year's Day at his house, from eleven A.M, to seven P.M. The humble and the lowly who felt a friendliness toward him would be very welcome, TALMAGE AT THE ACADEMY. The Tabernacle Pastor’s First Ser. mon in the House of Secular Song— Woman's Lifo in This Country—A Word on Worldly Notions of Econ. omy=—The Lessons of the Recent Loss=The Burning of the Tabernacle Not a Waste=—The #refigurements of the Final Fire. Mr. Talmage preached at the Academy of Music for the first time yesterday morning. The parquet and dress circle were crowded, and the family circle was partially filled. Services will be held at the Academy until the new church is erected, which will not be until Spring, or perhaps early Summer. The pastor occupied the stage alone yesterday, so the drop curtain was down and the only furni- ture on the stage a wooden settee, asmall table and a chair for the preacher. Mr. George W. Morgan, the organist, presided at a grand piano inthe orchestral department, and furnished the accompaniment for the congregational singing, which was as grand and inspiring as it was in the Tabernacle. THE SERMON. Mr. Taimage selected for his text, “Why was this waste?”—which referred to the inquiry of the people when the poor woman poured the costly ointment on the head of Jesus at the ban- quet of Simon the leper. The preacher said:— Now, before I come this morning to the main thought of my subject I want you to see what a beautiful thing it is for a woman to approach Christ. This woman of Bethany may have done a good many pleasant things before, but this was the grandest, bravest, sweetest thing she ever did, and it is told as @ memorial of her. Woman’s life is dull and monotonous in this country without Jesus, Men may go outinto the world, as they do, every day, and they see new sights and hear new sounds; but woman, for the most part, suffers and toils indoors. She needsa rest and inspira- tion she cannot get from music and needle- work. She has affection, deep and priceless, and will never be happy until she pours that ointment from the alabaster box on the head of Christ. She may try to satisfy her soul by drawing room flatterles and elegancies of apparel, but wil often feel great disquietude. She cannot have peace here or well-being here- after unless, like the woman of the text, she bursts into the room where Jesus sits, with all wor- shipful affection. Cirist asks no impossibilities. The woman of the text brought an alabaster box, What was it to Jesus? Why, He was the fragrance of the earth and heaven; but He took it. He was satisfied with it. If it had been a wooden box He would have been just as well satisfied. I hear some one say, “If 1 only had this or that 1 would do so much for God.’ In the last day it will be found that a cup of cold water, given in the name of the disciples, gets as rich @ reward as if you had founded a kingdom, and that THE SEWING GIRL'S NEEDLE may be as honorable in God's sight as a king’s sceptre, and that the grandest eulogium that was ever uttered for any one was this—“She hath done what she could.” as Weill as youcan. There is & manJoiling without Christ. He does not get on uch. When he hears Paul thunder and Edward ayson pray, he says, ‘Il wonder if 1 will ever join in the song of heaven.” He wonders if it would not look odd for him to stand amid the apostles who preached and the martyrs who flamed, Greater will be his wonder on the day when he shall find out that many who were first in the Church on earth are last in the Church of Heaven, and when he sees the procession winding up among the thrones of the sorrowing ones who never ugain shall weep and the weary ones who never in shall get tired and the poor who never again shall beg, and Christ, regardless of all antecedents, shall ut upon the heads of His discipies a crown made m the gold of the eternal hills, set in with pearls from the celestial sea, and inscribed with the words “He hath done what he could.” I see in this subject what wrong notions the worla sometimes has of economy. Just a8 soon as these people saw the costly ointment spilling out ‘on the head of Christ they said :—“Why this waste? Why, that ointment might have been solid and the money given to the poor,’ THE HYPOCRITES! What did they care about the poor? 1 don't think that one of them that made & complaint ever gave yong ters to the poor. I think that Judas was most indignant, and he sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver. There is nothing that makes a stingy man so cross as to see generosity in others, And so it is olten the case in communities and churches that those are the most unpopular men who give the most, Here is a man who gives $1,000 to the missionary cause. Men cry out, “What a waste! What's the use of sending New Testaments and missionaries? Why don’t you send ploughs, and rakes, and corn thresh. ers, and telegraphs!’ Ask the nations that have been saved, Have not religious biessings always preceded financial blessings? Show me a community where the Gospel triumphs and I will show you a community prosperous in worldly mat- ters. If a man invests in a vank the cashier may abscond; ifa man goes into partnership his asso- ciate may sink the store, Alas for the man who has nothing better than greenbacks and govern- ment securities) Ever and anon GOD BLOWS UP THE MONEY SAFR, and with a hurricane of marine disaster dismasts merchantimen, and irom the blackened heavens He hurls into the Exchange the Le thunder- bolts of His wrath, There is no safe investinent save that which is made in the bank of which God holis the keys, The interest is always being paid, and there are eternal dividends, God will change that gold into crowns that shail never lose their lustre, and into sceptres that shail forever wave over a land where the poorest inhabitant is richer than all the wealth of earth tossed up intoone ‘littering coin, Ah, there is no waste; all that you fave ever given to Christ has only been a perma- nent investment. Last Sabbath morning, I think, a great many persons standing in the presence of the great dis- aster on Schermerhorn street said, “What a waste!” All that toll expended hes gone down in an hour, Indeed, those who have built churches know that there are a Ce many toils, anxieties and sacrifices conneeted with such an enterprisé ; the collection aud solicitation of junds; the sclec tion of @ site for the bi set the watehing of -building committees, severely watched; the fatigue by day and the sleeplessness by might, It is a fact that i iy cases the church has been br t - gregation is exhausted and allt, 400 cop THE MINISTER 18 KICKED OUT. Ob you poche of the Tabernacle, what have to show for all the tolls and prayers aud expeidie ture of the last two years! A heap of ashest Twisted wally Scorched pillars, and utter obliteration of all you have done. What a waste! “Why was this waste?” ros my dear friends, there wasn’t any waste. All the toil and money you put in that enterprise had a heavenly insurance, and it will be ald back. to you in some ep What money I gave towards irl would rather have where it is Uiis moi than have it in my pocket. Having it in my pocke' 1 might lose it, but where it is itis safe forever. I don’t begrudge a nail or @ bolt ora screw that went down in that great conflagration. Why, if it cost Us nothing do you think that Christ would nave wanted it? Don’t fling any of your useless, worn- out boxes at Him. That was tlie great, precious, alabaster box that this conflagration poured on the head of Christ, When I say it was precious I coly, say what is true. Our hearts had twined around that place strongly. { can hear the old eae yet, marshalling the hosts of God for the battle shout of Chrdstian one I can see the audience Bane yee to the “Old Hundred” doxology. I can. bul the ola ented vie Eamisimes garlands, ing people that Jesus rh and every mal has a chance for heaven. The place was ail crow a with memories. Oh, that on the Jast ht peracid: in that blessed place I had known It was ¢ last time! I would have KISSED THE OLD PLACE GoopBy, It seemed to me when the roof tellin and we felt that all was ne that the tears on the cheeka stopped and that there went through the street on that cold morning one great groan. But do not mourn the loss of that; Jesus is worthy of the most pieious gilt. What a waste! Are all the joys we. felt there, all the comforts that brooded over our souls in or of darkness, @ waste? Were the hun- dreds and hundreds of souls who in that buil first found the peace of the Compas @ waste? No, no; the building did its werk, and itis gone. (Both astor and congregation were deeply aifected dur- g this reference to the Tabernacle and the memories clustering about it, and many in the audience wept.) Oh, God means something by this disaster. If such a torch be lifted it means to light us somewhere. I wish that fire had burned up all our sins and that it might teach us what @ poor foundation man buiids on when he builds en this world, and that iron and brick and granite are wax when God breathes on them, All these flames in Brooklyn, in Chicago and in Boston are only prefigurements of the great of fire which you and I will see as sure as you sit there and I sit here, That day will test ug thoroughly. It will show whether our religion is a reality or only a false face. When that fire comes, over the flelds it will come swifter than the Autam- nal fire over the lilinois prarie. Before it beasts will dash from the rocks ina wild leap. Coming over the precipices, it will be ‘A NIAGARA OF FIRE, The continents of earth will wrap themselves in @ winding sheet of fame and the mountains will ory, to the plain, “Fire !’? and tne plain will cry to the’ Ba “Fire !? and the sea will cry to the sky, ‘‘Fire!’? and heaven will auswer back to earth; the caverna Will groan it and the winds will shriek it, the thunders will toll it and the storms will wail it, and the nations will cry it—‘Fire! fire!” After the sermon a collection was taken up for the benefit of the building fund, and Mr. Talmage said that all collections hereafter would be devoted to that object. The congregation applauded, UNITY G6HAPEL. Christmas Greeting to the Little Ones by the Pastor, the Rev. Stephen Camp— Pleasant Services, Good Music and Happy Children—How They Lead Elder Folk—The Lessons of Child Life. Yesterday, as usual, this pleasant little edificd was well filled, and the services were cheerful and refreshing. Lately a new organ of fine quality has been erected here, and the music was creditable to both the choir and the organist for its simple yet tasteful rendition and appropriate selection, The sermon in the morning was preached by the Rev. Stephen Camp, the pastor, and in the afternoon the Christian exercises of the Sabbath school took place. The following CHRISTMAS CAROL, written for the occasion, was sung with beautifal effect :— Within each Christian home to-day ‘The oft-repeated story Ts sung again in sweetest lay joy, and peace, and glory. , that to earth's weary ones, ure lite was give: With “Peace on earth, good will to men,” And glorious gleams of heaven. From home to church we gladly haste, Our hearts with love o’erflowing, And in its sacred walls foretaste ‘The spirit’s true outgoing Ot) that to earth’s weary ones, Jesus’ pure life was given; With “Peace on earth, good will to men,” ‘And glorious gleams of heaven. The Magi as of old have come, Their gifts and incense bringing, id in every home, cir voices joined ia singing, For joy that to cartl’s weary ones Jesus’ pure life was given ; With “Peace on earth, good will to mon,” ‘And glorious gleams of heaven, Now let us as we gather here, To share this hour of gladness, Reinewber that the closing year Has mingled joy with sadness, But thanks that to earth's weary ones Jesus’ pure lite was given; With “Peace on earth, good will to men,” And glorious gleams of heaven. And filled with earnest faith in Him, ‘The Father of all living— A faith that time nor change can dim— We render our thanksgiving Of joy that to earth's weary ones Jesiis’ pure lie was given; With Peace on earth, good will to men,” And glorious gleams of heaven, The song “The True Shepherd’ fo.lowed the re- sponsive service. Then was recited the child’s creed, and, after a prayer, the pastor preached a Christmas discourse to the children, couched in such a playful and original style as to interest and deligut them greatly. His text was taken from Isaiah xi., 6:—‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” The preacher dwelt long upon the singularly powerful influence which little children may have at times over the natures of their grown-up elders, He himself had been led from bottom to top of the house and ail over by a certam little fellow whom all his listeners knew. And thus it was by the bright purity of their hearts they inspired higher, tenderer and nobler thoughts and awakened more beautiful ideas where the circumstances of hfe had perhaps before produced bitterness and unbe- lief; where sin might have held a long lease of power, THE STUDY OF CMILD LIFE was the richest in its results and that from which would grow the greatest recompense. It taught lessons of heaven and the cheerful, merry prattle of the children sometimes seemed the Vvolces of angels in its sweetness and gladness, They were weak and leaned upon us. ‘That trust of theirs was what touched the heart with a tenderness to which no other is akin and it was the inspiration of that stron vest and most deathless of passions—a mother’s love. In most.of them could be seen the conception of what we ought to be to be perfect in righteousness—“For of such is the kingdom of heaven,” The Christmas season particular! belonged to them as @ holiday and asa festival because He, the great hero of all history, sutfered them to come uato Him, and He set them an ex- ample of the lives which they ought to lead and the love which they ought to jeel jor God and man. If they foliowed in His footsteps they would never be unhappy, and they would grow to be noble men | and women and gain at last peaceful and glorious consummations of their li Alter the Rev, Mr. Camp had concluded the chil- dren sang ‘The Sweet Story of Old,” and the ser- vices were closed by recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the Benediction. 8T. JOHN'S METHODIST CHURCH. Indiscriminate Eulogics Upon Deceased Great Men Denounccd=Sermon by Rev. Dr. Chapman. Yesterday morning Rev. J. A. M. Chapman, D. D.j’ pastor of the St. John’s Methodist church, on Bed" ford avenue, preached to a large congregation, taking for his text the seventh and eighth verses of the sixth chapter of Galatians:—“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he aiso reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corrup- tion.” After a brief introduction, the speaker pro- ceeded to say that men were liable to be deceived in every relation of life—in financial matters, in reference to health, and also with regatd to friend. ships. One of the saddest things in this life was the holiowness of the social world; but infinitely, more disastrous was the deception which was rife in reference to the soul's aondi- tion, The religion of the senses nad its devotees; of forms, its votaries; of the intellect, ite disciples, and these were accepted as the condition of present and future saivation with far 1es# care and examigation than would be given toa triviag financial transaction, Persons might be deccived m regard to their personal interest” in true re~ ligion. Muititudes professed religion who were never “born again,” who never experienced CONTINUED ON NINTH PAGE.