The New York Herald Newspaper, February 3, 1873, Page 4

4 SABBATH SAYINGS.| Celebration of Candlemas in the Catholic Churches. POLEMICS OF THE PULPIT. The Personal Character of Christianity. WAS ST. MATTHEW A TWEED? Whom the Gallilean Made and Still , Makes Coffins For. SCIENTIFIC SCEPTICISM The Work and True Accom- plishments for Woman. ——— Beecher on Emotional and Practical Reli- gion---Divine Intoxication, Yesterday, the 2d of February, was Candlemas Day, and hence in all the Catholic and Episcopal churches the ceremonies were in honor of the significance of this festival, and the sermons turned upon its intended lessons. From the pulpits of the other denominativns a great variety of subjects were discussed, with more or less brilliancy of imagination, aepth of thought and originality of illustration. Our re- porters from these have gleaned = the following brief summaries and sketches of the pur- port of the Sabbath sayings which greeted the ears of church-goers, and carried with them the effect justified by the respective degrees of merit of the pious efforts of the metropolitan priesthood, It is presumable that with similar impressions they will be perused by our readers this morning, and will afford them similar instruction and delectation or he reverse. 8T, PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL Feast of the “Purification,” or “Candle- ‘ sug; that the young cl n who speak at the Cathedral should take some lessons in modulation and general management of the voice. Full and steady intonation and good delivery add much to the effect of a sermon, and a clergyman would un- doubtedly feel much chagrined at hearing himself say “Kothillicksch’” for “Catholc Church,” and “sucecrement” for “Sacrament’—however sweet the change—and to have the name o! the Divine Redeemer come to his ears as ‘Jees—cry.” The ¢iminuendo ts generally too much practised for 80 large a building, and certainly with bad eifect. CHUROH OF THE MESSIAH, “Experimental Religfon”—Sermon by the Rev. Henry Powers. ‘The elegant Church of the Messiah, Park avenue and Thirty-fourth street, was well filled yesterday morning with an intelligent and devout congrega- tion, The subject of the pastor’s discourse was “Experimental Religion,” and the selected text I. Corinthians, ti., 14—“But the natural man re. ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because ‘they are spiritually dis cerned.” Perhaps the most frulttul source of error and false doctrine, Mr. Powers began, on the part of the interpreters of the Bible has been and is their inability, or at least their neglect, to put themselveg in the places of its original characters and writers. We hear men say often- times, when an attempt is made to en- lighten them concerning the true meaning ofany portion of the sacred record by a care(ul study of all its attending circumstances, “Oh, don’t trouble me with your learning and explana- tions; I take the Bible just as it reads; the plain, unvarnished truth ef it is enough for me.” Yes, my. friends, if we do take it as it reads; but this is mas”—Origin of the Festival—Celebra. | tion Yesterday—Sermon by the Rev. Father Farreily—The Musical Services. The Catholic Church yesterday celebrated the “Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin,” or, as it is also cajled, the “Feast of the Presenta- tion,’*in commemoration of the presentation of the child Christ at the temple. It is also called the “Feast of the Meeting,” in allusion to Simeon’s meeting the virgin mother and taking the child into his arms; but the most tamiliar name of the festival is ‘“‘Candlemas.” The testival takes its origin trom the history of Mary’s compllance with the law of Moses as related in Exodus xiu., 2, and Numbers vili., 16, by which it was required that the first-born shouid be offered or consecrated to the Lord in acknowledgment of lils delivering the chil- dren of Israci, under Moses, out of the land of The purification or CONSECRATION OF THE FIRST-BORN was ordained to be made on the fortieth day after tne birth of the child, thus bringing the purification of the Blessed Virgin on the 2d o/ Februar) Catholic countries the festival ts celebrated by a procession, m which each person carries a lighted candle that has been blessed at the mass o! the day. This custom is described in an old English document as foliows:—“On Candlemas Daye it Shall be declared that the bearyinge of candies is done in the memorte of Christe, the spiritualllyghte whom Simeon dyd propheeye (‘a tight to lighten the Gentiies’), as it is reddein the churche that daye.” Besides this, however, a heatien origin is ascribed to the custom. The Romuns were in the habit of burning candles on this day to the goudess ‘ebrua, Mother Of Mars; the reiguing Pope, in the uith century, perceiving what!) would be aimost bgypt. useless to prohibit so old a custom, ordained a sim- lar ofering to be made before the shrine of the Blessed Virgin, thus turning to account a very PREITY AND 1M IVE PRACTI Atthe present day the faithful present candles to the church, some to be burned duriog the year on the altar, and others, if they have ail been blessed, they take to their homes, so that “the biessed canale’”’ may be found in the house of al- most every taithiul Catholic. There is another iegend connected with Candle- mas Day Which, altaough not strictly religious, Will bear repetition, In most parta of Europe tae tradition is that a tine Candlemas portendsa severe Winter, or, as the Scotch have it:— If Candlemas is fair and clear There'll be twa Winters in the year. . , Should there be any real foundation for this tra- dition it is reasonable to expect a very severe Win- ter this year, fer yesterday was jair and clear and cold enough to suatisfy the require- ments of the distich, Despite the cold- Bose, however, the crowds who worship at » Patrick’s Cathedral were promptly at thew places in the sacred edifice. At the several masses the church was crowded with devout attendants, and at the principal or jast mass there was pre- sent the usual gumber of communicants, who, although new living at a distance from St. Patrick's, still return to it to perform their re- lugious duties, THE SERMON was delivered by the Rev. Father Farrelly, the lately appointgd secretary to His Grace Archtishop Movloskey. H@ took as his text the Gospel of the He explained the origin of the custom of purification, or the presentation of which the Gospel treats, showing that it took the Christian back, far back—iony belore the Temple had been built, before a stene had been laid upon a sione, to the time when the plagues were sent upoa Egypt, which ended with the siay- ing of all the frst-vorn children of the F; tians, and how as an evidence of thanksgi aud gratitude tie Lord commanded, Moses, the otfertu, of the first-born to demonstrated the humility and obedience of th Divine Kedcemer and fis Virgin Mother in their obedience to the ancient law as the word of the Heavenly Father, anu showea that the Church now Speaks lo and commands its children with the sBulue authority as that | by Moses. From this he illustrated the necessity of obeving the authority of the Church in ali its commands, as without ving through Him. He UTHORITY AND OBEDIENCE’ the Church could not exist; that the breaking of one commandment destroyed all, He showed how a disregard ter one would soon lead to a total re- beilton against the Church and its commands, as in the case of Luther. The worship oi God was not enougi. immaculate Mother of God was necessary. A man te all outward appearances may be a good Catholic, may approach the sacraments regularly, but tacre gust be t Within him, that spirit of faith which does not at once appear to everybody, but which can be truly shows im his devotion to the Mother 0! God. In iilustration of this he quoted the story of the two roses brought by the Queen ef Sheba to Sviomon. Both were alike as far men's senses could detect, the perfume was alike, yet ene was artificial aud the other natural. the ditference, held over the two roses. The bee hovered over them but a moment and immediately lighted en | the natural tower, The instinct of the insect could Not ve deceived. Devotion to all the laws ef the Clurch ana to the Bleased V! were the bees ths on Nan es the tra ym the SS Conee in J clice Of religion, and in @ pretty epilogue he exhorted his hearers 80 demean themselves That they would be almost discovered as the natu- arese Wo als ite, that they might ne assured of e presence y i Motier in the life to come, beaieotn: hors! Soha THE MUSICAL SERVICES were such as to deserve more than passing notice. Besides the ordinary Cathedral quartet, com- rising Mr. Henri Schmitz, tenor; Mr. Urchs, asso; Mme. Chomé, soprano, and ‘Mme. Unger, alto, there was @ poweriul and weil selected cho- rus irom the Church Choral Union, aii under the di- rection of the able ieader and’ organist of the Cathedral, Mr. Gustav Schmitz. ‘The choir sung a choral mass by Meiners, and gave it with really dine effect. At the offertory the beautitu prayer, “9 Esca Viaterum,” from Kossini's “Moses in Egypt,” was sung -by Mr. Urchs, assisted py the chorus, and at the elevation the rich soprane of Mme. Chomé and the full, sweet voice of Mm Unger filled tze capacions edifice with the “4 Verum.” The “Sanctus’’ and “Agnus Dei” were choral pieces from Weber's mass inG. The appro priateness and fine execution of the music added Bo little to the impressiveness of the ceremonies. It mav not be deemed captious or irreligious to Devotion to the Liessed Virgin as the | None could detect | Solomon procured a bee, which lie | i y. In| | | | | | | | not the case. The fact 1s that none of us can take the Bible just as 1t reads WITHOUT MUCH STUDY and great power of imagination. We take this let- terto the Christians at Corinth, from which the text is selected in its English translation and not in the Palestinian Greek, in which it was originally written; we take it out of its setting in that ancient Oriental iramework of rich and exuberant life to which it refers, and transport it to this Occidental world of ours, whose language is intellectual in- stead of emotional, and whose life is cold and subject to steady repression, instead of being warm and spontaneous and efllorescent, as was theirs. The average American, therefore, bring to its consideration the prepossession of his own soul, the prejudices of his own nature and nation and age and particular school in which he has been tramed, and his personal habits of thought and desire which come between between his soul and the true meaning of the record which acrid his reading it just as it is, simply because he is not JUST SUCH A MAN as he was who wrote it, and also because he does not use the same words with the same meaning and describe by their use the same’ set of circum- stances. We must remember, then, that the Bible is a book, or a collection of books, of an Eastern origin; that it cannot be understood by us, save in the most clementary way, without a Knowledge of the manners of life, habits of thought and speech which characterized those Eastern peoples at the time it was preduced and for whose especial benefit it was designed. In short, to kuow exactly what Paul is trying to say in the text we must be- come as far as possible, through an intelligent sympathy with them, members of the Charca at Corinth ‘and not members of the Church of the es: e in New York in the hineteenth cen- tury. And so—assuming it was Paul’s custom in ings to HE HUMAN RACE into three grand divisions or classes, two Oot which only are mentioned in the text—in- asmuch as the individual man is made up o1 body soul and spirit, so the human race he taught, cording to the system of his time, which is the col- lective man, is made of three classes or sorts of men. Yhe first class comprises all those whose souls have been turned, through the con- junction of the spirit of God with tne spiritual part ‘O1 their natures, towards God and the inimite good. Spiritual men are those who have broken all their chains and live a life of Jove. The second class 18 made of men whose souls are turned through the bedy, which is their earthly and temporal part, towards sensual and finite good. * These are the curva men, whose appetites are WICKEDLY AND DESTRUCTIVELY vuile both souland spirit are held in fear- jon thereto, Besides these there is another lass, composed of those who have not become itu ed in earthly appetite or conversant w spiritual truth, And the “soul man,” simply transiated “natural man,” spoken of in the text, is a member of this class, aud his state 1s that of the great majority of the human race, past and prescat, of all those who have not yet been aroused | and excited to action by the revelation o1 spiritual things, together with those living a non-religious lie, though not definitely an irreligious, sensual life. Of the latter they are not sinful in the blame- worthy sense, an: THEY ARE NOT RELIGIOUS in any praiseworthy regard, They belong to that great middle class which for want of a better naine is called woridly-minded, whose purposes and occu- pations and eujoymenits are limited to this present lue. Jhey wiilugly receive the religion oj Jesus, as revelation irom heaven; but practically they are not controlied by it in thought and condu and so, while the spiritual man beileves spiritual | truth, lo’ ual happiness and aims at spiri- tual improvement; while the carnal man believes tn rational things, enjoys sensual gratification most oj all, aud pursues it more and more from year to year, the natural, or worldly, man is guided by tae opinions of this world, LOVES IN HIS HEART the honors and successes of this present life, and has as yet no purpose of securing any greater good than itis able to Conier upon him, The ques- uon, then, said Mr. Powers, is “Are these things, indeed, as Paul asserts them? His bread asser*ion is, that a spiritual preparation is necessary for the discernment and appropriation of spiritual truth, his speecaes und DIVID suprem My) subj ahd large There is suiictent reason to be convinced that the fact is substantially so, And then the pastor sketched the g:ounds of this conviction in an able manner. Ae held as his groundworks:—First, the declaration thought to be true, because it 1s scems to be sensible and in accordance with the laws of the universe or ‘the nature of things.” Second, that experience goes far to substantiate the assertion of Paulin the text, In the third and last piace, Mr. Powers made an appitcation of the | eloquent and augmentative thoughts submitted, | He asked his hearers and himself to which class of ched, did they belong. Some were spiritual,’ PROBABLY NONE “CARNAL,’? but many were doubtless more or less in the “natural” state. What, then, was their duty? ‘Aud here he advised them how to act as Unitarians and how to reach that spiritual standpoint ad- vised. The principle that love is greatest should be acted upon. Prayers, persuasions and sacritices should be used more than reason, or argument or material resources, and in ths manner the soul will be developed and the religion they confessed greatly expanded, CHURCH OF THE DIVINE PATERNITY. Was St. Matthew a Tweed!—Religion a System of Conventional. Distinctions— Sermen by the Rev. Dr. CMmpin. The Church of the Divine Paternity was well at- tended yesterday. The keen frost did not in any way dwarf or chill the religious aspirations of its aristecratic congregation, who came, as is their wont, habited in the most costly and fashionable fabrics without, and with souls clad in the warm cloak of religious iervor.. The temperate climate of the church was delightral to one coming in from the keen, harsh atmosphere of the streets. THE SERVICES opened at eleven o'clock. The organ pealed out | men, as ske | dowUtiessly solemn strain, which Moated through the church, reminding all that they were within the precincts of God's own temple. Dr. Chapin preached a ser- mon pregnant with common sense and Sa for attentive consideration. Its shew that religion was not ordained so much for the faithful as for the sinful. The rever- end gentleman chose for his text the words of St. Matthew, ix., i3—‘But go ye and learn what that is. I will not have sacrifice, but repentance,” and continued in purport as follows:—When Christ con- descended to dine with Matthew, who was a pub- lican, the scribes and Pharisees murmured among themselves, for they thought it unjust in Him to sup With so unworthy—as they thougnt—a man as Matthew. Matthew was a Jew who had taken upon himself the office of collecting the revenues of the odious Romans, a consequence of which was that he was hated and despised by every loyal Jew, They thought him dishonest and’ mean, below their notice, and when Christ dined with bim t) thought it time to speak. Their suspicions tthew's dishonesty may not have veen of enlightenment and material progress, this nine- teentm century—God save the mark |—we have evi- dence sufficient to prove to us that ail who handle governmental moneys are not PARAGONS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND VIRTUE. Ifa man were now to start anew creed and claim for his followers the riff-raff of New York and the very «regs of its society, I have no doubt that you would liit up your respectable eves and hands in holy horror, and declare the propounder of the mew system a raving maniac, and suggest, for the protection of society, that he be treated to gratuit- ous accommodations in some of our bastiles, with the necessary straight-jacket append » And Such was the thinking of the Scribes and Pharisees. But Christ did not come to convert the faithful, but the wicked. The faithful were always with Him, and in His infinite love He wanted ali men to occupy the same relative position to Him as did the faitpful; so, like the father of the prodigal sop, He NEW YORK. HERALD, MONDAY, received the wicked back into His good graces and made them happy. We must not judge alone by actions, Jor it is intentions that we are accountable for. Now, as we are only capable of judging by actions, we should judge not, for, trom what I have jst said, you can Ue ge see that you are in- capable of doing 80 with justice. ‘nerefore do not judge the calibre of a creed by the intelligence and culture of its votaries, for itis noticeable that where there is least culture there is most religion, as the latter absorbs the attention, too much ef which is often given to the former. Religion ts A SYSTEM OF CONVENTIONAL DISTINCTION, And yet it is not a m or rule, but a grand com- bination of princi which appear evident in a lesser or greater eto all men. A man may object was to | torepent of our sins, We must have grace. as to without grounds, for even in our own day, this day | | lite'in ord | ditions. its sacred overture and the choir jemed in the | carry his religion into the world, but he cannot bring the world to his religion. Each man reads and reasons for himself, and if one views a matter ina different light from his neighbor it does not make his neighbor his inferior. CHUROH OF THE DISCIPLES. The Best Argument for Christ, the Foundation of Morality—Sermon by the Rev. George H. Hepworth. . The congregation attending the morning ser- vices yesterday at Steinway Hall, in Fourteenth street, was large, attentive and fashionable. The subject of Mr. Hepworth’s discourse was based upon the words of Paul, found in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, iii., 2:—‘*Ye are our epistie written in our hearts, known and read of allmen.’? Paut was the boldest of the apostles, he began, and ia the text he has used a figure as boid as himself, Yet it is an exceedingly striking figure. An epistle is a word, an admonition, a warning, @ statement of principles and an expression of love. Itis. put into such shape that another man seeing it could read and catch its full meaning. St. Paul said, “If any man wants an argument for Christ he must look at you. You are better letters than could flow from any pen.’’ Every man is In himself a book, and the whole world is but a library, There are men whose lives are false, and who are in the BOOK OF LIFE simple illustrations of selfishness or avarice or personal ambition. There are others whose lives are pure and who show plainly enough what it 1s to possess Christ; who live on the green sod, but whose heads are Close to the skies. The substance of Paul’s epistie. is the argument for a Christian life. H@ sacrificed soctal position, friends, money, household gods, everything for his conversion to the great Master, When you read his words you read those of a man who would have given up life itself for his principles. For what did he give up all his possessions? For per- secution and the FINGER OF SCORN. What spirit is that which takes hold of the human soul so that when the cruel ftames hiss and wrap about the quivering flesh the martyr can bear it with heavenlike submission? It must be something supernatural, a religion broad as humanity, high as heaven and tender as a babe. There are reasons for not acceding to the con- ditions of Christian religion, A while ago people said there were so many denominations and they were all quarrelling, 80 that they would take none. But this has died a » NATURAL DEATH. Some say it does not matter what a man believes 80 long as he is sincere. How smoothly that runs! If a captain believes that the wind blows from one direction when really it is blowing from another, he will go down if he does not trim his sails, Down in Salem the men who tied young girls to carts and dragged them through the town thought them bewitched. In the first place a man must be as near the truth as he can get, and must kee; the right always in view, not only concerning God, but philanthropy, and, being conscious that he is right, he will be sincere. You have said you would rather be sincere and wrong than insincere and right. A man belonging to the church goes into court and swears his soul away, and the world Says that ALL DEACONS ARE WICKED, You say, I don’t stand in so bad a position as that. [believe slap y in poy ich What do you mean by morality? That youshall keep the com-, mandments? That you shall care for your reputa- tion and make your word as good as your bond? If 23, mean this itis a good Kind of morality, The ighest motive is to be honorable to all men and true to Godas one of His children; because He has given you a wile, children and all the hopes that transfigure this life and open the pearly gates of heaven beyond, Christ's sermon On the mount is your foundation. The foundation of your moral- ity is Christ Jesus. The other day, he continued, I wished to see something, and looked for my specta- cles, [could uot find them, and searched every nook aud corner, when suddenly I discevered that Thad them on, There are a great many Christians after this fashion who are unconsciously using the spirit of God and all that is needed to take the step across the boundary. 8T. STEPHEN'S CHURCH. Father Flynn on the Virtues of the Sa- viour—Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. Yesterday morning high mass was celebrated at St. Stephen’s Reman Catholic church, and the Rev. Father Flynn preached the sermon. The text was taken from the eighth chapter of St. Matthew— “Lord save us or we perish.’ Father Flynn said:— It cannot be denied, my friends, that there is something in our very nature, something that is born with us and remains with us through llfe, which teaches—yea, even urges and forces—us to seek comfort in adversity, consolation in aflic- tion and advice amid temptations. When we have found out who is able and willing to aid us in our needs, who peurs forth into a bleeding and afflicted heart the balm of comfort and of consolation, how we cling to him, how we love, honor and respect him! Butitisa rare thing to find in “THIS WORLD A {RUE FRIEND,‘ one to whom we may tell our tale of woe and mts- fortune, the inmost secrets of our hearts without fear—one that will remain steadfast én adversity as wellasin prosperity. Such a friend we may have sought, but sought in vain, and sometimes when we thought we had found him we were cruelly deceived, WHAT, THEN, ARE WE TO DO amid the turmoils and cares of this life? Must we bear them alone? Shall we seek for comfort, but seek in vain? Not so, my friends, We are to imi- tate the apostles, of whom we read in to-day’s Gos- pel. They leit the shore with the prospect of a pleasant voyage. All was calm and tranquil, There were but gentle breezes, which wonld aid them to reach their destination. They had not, however, proceeded /ar whien, as we read, A TEMPEST AROSE, so that the ship was covered with waves. We can easily imagine their astonishment—terror was de- picted upen their countenances, fear had taken possession of their souls. They were in trouble and attliction—they imagine to see tne hand of stern Death upon them. in this common disaster what did they do? They went to Jesus—“and disciples came to Him.’ Bur this was not all. They likewise prayed. “Lord,” they said, “Lord, save us, we are perishing.” Now, our condition ip this mortal state is SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE APOSTLES. We, from ins birth, are launched upon the sea of 1 to work our passage towards a distant But, alas ! we have scarce 5 assed the years of our childhood when tempests arise. Winds and waves fury against us and threaten to us ruin and destruction Jong before we reach the port tow- ards which we are bound, The APOSTLES PRAYED AND WE MUST, do likewise, Jor prayer is necessary. Prayer 1s eficacious whem accompanied with the true con- It is necessary, and to convince ourselves ef this truth we have but to recall to mind that the end for which we have been created is supernat- ural, a gratuitous gilt of God, by no means due to our nature, but a favor bestowed upon us by the omnipotence and goodness of the Almighty. ithout Me,” says our divine Lord, dee can do nothing.” To believe. hope and love re 8, indeed, true that God well knows how much we stand in need of this great and holy git. He weil understands our wants and the enemies we haye to combat. He could likewise, and sometimes does, lend to man all the help he needs without prayer. This be could do, but the fact is that he does not in His ep had providence and Free government of the moral order of things. ie everlasting and the grace to obtain it are,as 1 said, gratuitous gilts, and consequently God has a ag right to the conditions upon which they may be gained. He had the right, and he exercised it by lacing the conditions, a fact which we learn from innumerable passages of Holy Writ. Ghrist, in the Garden of Gethsemane, goes to His disciples and finds them asleep. Temptations surround them upon all sides, the enemy is near at hand, the time Of trial has arrived. Christ, by His omnipotence, could have protected them without distar! them from their siumbers.’ But no; He wished them to be on the alert, He desired that they should ask for the grace to overcome those temptations. “WATCH YE AND PRAY THAT YE MAY NOT INTO TEMPTATION." The satnts of God were greatly attached to prayer, for they well knew that in this exercise the sou Speaks with God, opens itself to Him with all cen- fidence and receives wisdom therein, ‘Ask,’ 8ay8 our divine Lord—“Ask, and it shall be given ou; seek, and shall find; knock, amd t shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seekewh fndeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ ‘These words need no expianation ; they contain the eae WY andthe promise. If, then, amid so many mptations, we ask GOD TO HELP Us, will He, 80 good, 30 perfect, so mereiful—will He, our good Father, be deaf to our entreaties? If ask Him for bread will He give to pic stone tt for fish will He give to us 4 serpent? Oh, no, auswers gur Qivige Lord, your Father im FEBRUARY 3, 187: heaven will give the good Spirit to them that ask Him. Let us, then, be proud of efficacy of prayer. We have the promise of Christ—of Him who satd, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away.” That prayer, how- ever, may be acceptable to God, and efMicacious it must be made first of all with attention and re- spect. Finally, my friends, we must always pray and not faint morally; we must be persevering in our prayers if we would obtain what we ask. LET US IMITATE THE APOSTLES; let us go to Jesus.and say to Him, ‘Lord save us, we are perishing.” Let us go to Him with conti- dence, with bumble hearts, fullof faith, and be as- sured that. He will come to our aid; He will lielp us; He will command tie winds and the waves, and @ great calm willensue, Under His protection ace guidance we will reach the pert of heavenly 38 UNITY GHAPEL. Is Death a Gaint—Sermon by the Rev. . W. T. Clarke. The subject of the discourse preached by Rev. W. T. Clarke, at Unity chapel, Harlem, yesterday Morning, was, “Is Death a Gain?” The way we look at death, the speaker said, affects qur entire view of life, with all its interests, obligations and contents. The old idea of death was dark and dreary eneugh to send a shiver through all who had anything to love or hove for in life. The future was blank, if mot black. In the dreary underworld, where all souls were grouped in ghostly commu- nion, there was neither substance, heat nor color, evanescent splendor or abiding joy. The old Greek thought it better to be a slave on earth than the KING OF HADES, The Greek imagination spent itself in weaving the thinnest film of poetic fascination over the bier. He decorated the death he dreaded, but could not explain, The Egyptian mummy proves the tenacity of his desire for perpetual existence here. The later Jew was reconciled to death only in the hope of resurrection to enjoy forever the hills and sunsets and prospective glory of his na- tive land; and when death invaded his home he rent his clothes and tore his hair and hired a band of mourners to keep his misery company. The Old World looked on death as the end of life, or the end of its joy. It was an inexorable fate—an unspeakable calamity, an awful eclipse, biacken- ing the world, It was the king of terrors. There were instances of sublime trust in the primitive in- tuitions, and a clearness of spiritual vision which shames our blindness. Tne strongest Christian faith has pagan parallels. But the prevailing senti- ment was @ sadness which dipped down into de- spair, The masses found life so bleak and hard that they were indifferent to its continuance, and looked on death as a release from ills rather than an entrance into better conditions. With our views in their lot they would have committed sui- cide. Providence adapts faiths to facts. ‘The classic literature of six centuries is Satu- rated with asadness that drips threugh its figures and bends its lines, and to read trom Ecclesiastes and Hesiod to Lucretius and Plutarch is like listening to a dirge over dying hopes or following the funeral procession of a dead world. Christian- ity changed the whole estimate and perspective of lite, It cleared away the depressing gloom as the sun dissipates the morning mists on meadow lands, it was not so much what it says about immortality as what it says about everything; its total teaching communicated a victorious and unconquerable hope to its believers. Candles were used thousands of years before some innovator gathered 10,000 lamps in one splendid group to fill an Assyrian hall with their con- centrated blaze, turning midnight into noon-day. Christianity is not a series of single intuitions that can be taken apart and inspected and estimated as though it were an isolated idea; it is a spiritual chandelier, every lamp in its blazing galaxy lend- ing its light to the brightness of all the rest. Every idea and principle and sentiment goes with and adds to all the rest, like the separate glasses in the telescope, each increasing in power of the others: and multiplying — soul- sight a million fold. It helped men to see and feel that this earth was but a bubble on the oeean of God’s infinitude and this life buta moment in God’s eternity; that at the best it is but the seed time for an Immortal harvest, the training school for endless ppulicesone and uses and ambitions for which it gives no hint. It was this new view that gave the early Christians such energy of jaith, such hope and courage. It was this that made millions court martyrdom and wel- come death in its fiercest fopmasa friend. Cal- vinism reversed the teaching Of the original Gos- peland blotted out its supernal hope. It made even the thought of it terribie. It haunted the imagination of childuood with dreams of ghosts and chased its victims through lite with A REGIMENT OF FIENDS, It filled churchyards with grim and horrid images of skulls and skeletons and a demon armed with a scythe. Thank God, its sway is broken and its day spent. Death is gain, the speaker claimed, because it opens into a new Stage of discipline and adds to the variety and interest of life. The doctrine of immortality is baged on intuitions as ineradicable as human pres CIENTIFIC SCEPTICISM THE is neutralized by scientific revelations, Admit that we do no not know how it is tobe. We do not know how anything is, but the fact is no more incredible than that a lump uf ice can be made to blaze or that two men can converse across the globe by means of a wire, or that @ single drep of water holds electricity enough to charge half a million jars. The evelu- tion of man from the ape prepares us for his evolu- tion into an angel. All the analogies go to prove that the next stage of being is higher than this, Death is an upward step in the ascending order of an endless life. It is‘a gain in what it leads to, the new sanctions it gives to right living, the props it puts behind the wavering will. It is a gain trial and trouble in the sweet and blessed hope of deliverance it drops on the heavy heart. And it is a gain in the heat and passion of the day by the glory tpat streams down through its open door trom of high. ANTHON MEMORIAL CHURCH The Rev. R. Heber Newton on Woman’s Sphere. The Memorial church, located on Forty-cighth street, near Sixth avenue, was largely attended at the morning service yesterday to hear the rector, the Rev. R. H. Newton, on the subject of “Woman’s Sphere.” Mr. Newton’s discourse, although quite brief, was exceedingly interesting, and ‘was received with marked attention, especially by the ladics, who constituted a large majority of the congrega- tion. He started out with a description of : WOMAN AND HER DUTIES, her sphere in life and her labor, both by hand and mind, claiming that she had a higher and nobler duty to perform than she realized. He passed from one sphere of woman’s life to another, starting with the little girl and passing on to womanhood. ity that attended the rearing of girls, and he re- @retted to say that at the present day the the ambition of the parents seemed to be to place their little ones mbre upon the public thor- ougniares with dress, while their brains were a secondary consideration. The education of woman was another matter of serious contemplation. Go where you may, it would be found that it nad been sadly neglected; her powers had not been ex- panded. Many upon geing into society knew little or nothing of what constitutes a woman, A true woman when she launches out into the world seeks not dress, nor DRIFTS HEADLONG INTO MARRIAGE. There were, to be sure, many who had talent, ac- complishment of art, &c., but how few! The ma- jority glide out into the world blind to their own juture. How many women could be sound that, when they started out in life, nad a distinct aim to accomplish or a set purpose? ‘the women’s rights anda gain in the restraints it throws over us here, | { He spoke of the responsibil- | movement shows the determination of woman, and | yet the Church and society scorn it. Was it not a move, he contended, to elevate woman ? Was not ‘woman placed on earth to be blessed with ability as wellas man? Time would show a great reform in the question of woman's power. What were woman’s sphere and mission here on cartn? It was a beantifnl subject, and God's hand is visible in guiding and in directing woman. Take, for in- stance, woman at home. Go where you may, who will say there is no happiness to be found in THE TRUE HOUSEWIFE ¢ Mr. Newton here drew a very pleasing picture of the mother at home, her duties, and how few are taught the real requirements that devolve upon them. He spoke of the attempt made to consider weman inferior to man, This should not be the case, NO wowun could find her true mission so long as she thinks herseif inferipr to man; it is those who so think that find themselves too often lost in marriage ties, The true woman, he claimed, was the upholder of man, the inspirer of mun, his ide, and, in tact, his teacher. If women would lieve what God intended them to be they would be the strongest of the two, How often is it seen that husbands consult their wives in all business walks of life, and have prospered by 80 doing’ In alluding to the duties of motherhood he showed how few young women are perenne tor the responsibility. ‘They were brought up, as it were, tn idleness, with the great comforts of easy life; and it was a notorious fact that THE AMERICAN WOMEN are becoming more and more —— ie —s owing to their mode of being brou; a fact, that American families are diminishing in numbers. This is shown by best physicians of the country. of women grow up and become Weak and sickly mothers, Walt of them useless a8 mothers even to the care and culture of children, and he therefore did not wonder at so many infants dying. Anether point he called attention to Was, how few women pake @ study of mental . .—-TRIPLE SHEET. and moral science, yet they snould have a working knowledge of both, especially in THE TEACHING AND TRAINING OF CHILDREN. ‘The truth was that but few ever looked at a book or read of what constitutes the duties of @ know is the training of children by naked wit. concluding, he alluded to the essential duties of woman, the controlling powers that she wields, and claimed that it, was the true woman that made the noblest man ot the world. CHRISTIAN OHUROH. The Personal Character of Christianity— Discourse by the Rev. G. H. Ball. At the above-named church yesterday, after the usual reading of a portion of the Bible, the Rev. G. H, Ball came forward and spoke substantially a8 follows:—You have heard read a‘remarkable state- ment made by Pilot when he introduced Christ to the multitude—“Behold the man.” Christianity ‘there appeared in its personal character, and this personality we shall consider. Christianity is more personal than doctrinal. It has more to do with the individual than with speculations or theories. At one time we hear it said that the seed of the woman shall crush the serpent’s head; at another time that a great prophet shall rise, who shall rule the peopte Israel, and again that he shall be called the Angel of the Great Council. And St. John the Baptist says that he ts the voice of one crying in the wilderness—‘Prepare the way of the Lord.” When Christ was transfgured on the mountain the glory of Him struck the beholders with admiration, for, as Paul says, THERE 13 NO GLORY, by reason of the glory that excelleth. His glory outshines all other glory, as the sun conceals the stars. All this time His personality is the all- absorbing topic. When Christ said to Peter, “On this rock I will build my Church,” He evidently meant that He should puild it on the confession or_ creed just made by Peter; and if the Church had always rigidly adhered to this simple creed, exact- ing loyalty to the King, we would not have wit- nessed half of the gvils attendant on creed- making, and founding new tenets, &c. We cannot epprecinss the greatness of the mission of the spirit unless we keep Christ constantly in His personality befpre our eyes, Just in REpeor ean, a8 we exalt Christ and acknowledge Him as our Lord and Master we realize the power and truth of the Gospel. And when we come thus to appreciate Him several resuits will follow :—First, it will have @ wondertu! power over our hearts and affections. Nothing has so much power over our minds as faith ina person. In this way God moulds and trans- forms us by putting Christ before our eyes. Great pains are taken to present Him betore us. FOUR GREAT ARTISTES, the evangelists, have given us beautiful, concise pictures of the man Jesus Christ. In those we be- hold Christ with a halo of glory, as a iriend, a sympathizer and as our High Priest. Artists have studied works of ancient art to such a degree that they ultimately carried in their minds the exact representations of those monuments. So it is with the study o1 those paintings of Christ, Christ must fill the picture; He must be the Alpha and Omega; He must fill the horizon; and justas we get the world to Fecognise Him we shall get them to be filled with enthusiasm, to be honest and virtuous, Another result of this exaltation of Christ will be the union and harmony of all the people of Christ. We are mortified to-day on beholding such DISSENSIONS AND DIVISIONS ¢ among those who profess faith in Christ. One man comes along and in order to carry,out his par- ticular ideas of things must found a nefy sect. An- other takes a stand on the supremacy of the human will, Others become the slaves of speculations, The Pope of Rome is not the only infallible person among us. 1 have often heard it said that the young men of the Church are so many popes, Will this perpetual construction of systems and found- ing of new sects tend to harmony? No. We must return to the simple faith and union in Christ. This done we may speculate as we will. We want the keynote of harmony sounded among us and that keynote is Christ. When His voice shall sonnd forth then shall the flats and the sharps and the discordant voice of sectarianism chime in and unite in singing His etd One other result of the enthusiasm for the person of Christ will be a wonderful increase of the Church in'members and in deeds of generosity. It belongs to Christ to rule over every heart and every land, and when enthusiasm for this act is once excited pone will have an enthusiasm for humanit: ‘any men are enthusiastic fer the cause of Met! odism, Presbyterianism, &c., but an infinitely higher enthusiasm will it be when men perform such works jor Christ—not for a particular sect. With the accomplishment of this men will enjoy far more comfort in times of atliction and tribula- fee! ane they will achieve more brillant triuwphs in deat 8T. PAUL'S M E. CHURCH. Sermon on the Divinity of Christ—He is Both God and Man—Authenticity of His Greatness as Recorded by Tacitus and the Younger Pliny—Whom the Galilean Made and Still Makes Coffins For. A goodly number of apparently devout worship- pers assembled yesterday morning within the above church, corner of Twenty-second street and Fourth avenue, to listen to the pious words of the Rev. C. D. Foss. After the recital of an appropriate prayer and the singing of the 105th psalm the rev- erend preacher chose the text of his subsequent aisc@arse from II. Peter:—“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His Majesty.” The reverend doctor said it was not his inten- tion, nor did it come within his sphere, nor was it necessary to draw a new portrait of the Saviour and place it before his congre- gation. He would rather refer them to those already drawn and recommend them for contem- piation. They had frequently felt the whisperings of grace and were eye-witnesses to the spirit of Jesus. They Yollowed not artificial fables, since they relied upon the testimony of historians as well as of the evangelists, which went to prove ‘THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST. The unvarnished story of tradition as well as the golden pages of history confirmed His goodness, His greatness and His ‘power, Christ was some- thing more than man. He was God. This is a fact no reasonable man can contradict. He was the promised Messiah who caine in the fulness of time, whom the patriarchs spoke of, whom the prophets foretoid and whom all generations expected. He came upon earth humbie; but by his miracles, which none could imitate save through Him, and which all the rationalism of this world cannot disprove, He showed.himself to be God. ws name and the fame of His works were known to all great writers, scholars jand philosophers con- temporary with Him, but not one ventured to con- tradiet the recora of His works' even when Clirts- tianity was but a spark upon the bosom of the great pagén Roman empire. ‘The reverend preacher here read one or two EXTRACTS FROM TACITUS, the prince of historians, where, in his annals, he makes mention of a law-abiding sect calling them- selves Christians, aiter a great ard good leader named Christ. He then referred to the writings of Pliny the vounger, where he asks the apostate Julian, who was then waging a fierce war against the Christian religion and for the revival of pagan- ism, how the Christians were to be dealt with. Thus it seemed that all were eye-witnesses of the vast progress ef Christian teaching. Hence the great question is—net who circumnavigated the earth; not the rise and fall of the Roman Empire; not the discovery of America; but WHO CHRISTIANIZED THE WORLD ? The first three centuries of the Christian era were crimsoned with the blood of persecution. The Church had to grapple with tyranny and faise philosopny. Millions of her children were immolated and rivers of blobd flowed from her bosom before the trembling nations bowed to her ha and professed her faith. Then she stood forth un her giery. The sages of Rome and of the Areop- agus were mute before the tent-maker of Tar- sus and the fishermen of Galilee. The cross of Christ was reared in every village and hamlet and glittered in the diadem of the Cesars. All this could not have been the work of aman, but of @ God of infinite power. Christ frequently declares himself “the Son of God, equal to the Father in all things.” St. Peter, answering Him, says, “Thou art Christ, the son of the living God.” Speaking to Big apostles of His divine commission, ne says, “AS a sent ae ae ae we jue Rousseau, speal “ar "Nocraves died ike a sage Christ died like & ” THERE IS NO POWER IN INFIDELITY to withstand the strength of Chrigtian argument. The apostate Julian asked a Christ: whom he was persecuting, “What is the Galilean doin; now?—meaning Christ. The Christian answered, coffins,’ and Julian was shortly after en- in one. Voltaire once said, “A glorious chi will soon take place’—hoping fer the tri- umph of his principles—but France was soon after rid of him and his followers. Thus Christ makes coffins for many unawares who labor to destroy His works by which He has made Himself an eye- witness to all. The reverend doctor then concluded his discourse by a short prayer, after which the sacrament of the Lora’s Supper was administered. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. Sunday School Missionary Anniversary— ReporteAddresses by Rev. 8. Paxon and Dr. Hastings, of This City. The seventh anniversary of the Sunday School Missionary Association of the West Presbyterian Church, in connection with the American Sunday School Union, was ueld last evening tw the qhurch in Forty-second street, near Fifth avenue. Reports were read showing that the collections of the society for the year past’ amounted to $473 12, and the disbursements to $45307, of which sum $400 went towards the salary of a missionary in the West, The is small, numbering only 150, but besides paying the above amount to the mis- sionary it also supports a pupil im Dr. Jessup’s school, in the Syrian mission, at a cost of $100 & year. The missioi Rey. Stephen Paxon has Spent twenty years of his life in organizing Sunday schools in connection with the American Sunday School Union, last year he organized sixty-two schools and gathered into them 2,980 scholars and & few hundred teachers, and churches have grown out of these and become strong and self-support- ing. He has also. visited 439 schools previou organized. He has aided ‘in several revivals seeu @ great many children and old folks con- verted. He has recently assumed the superinten- dency of missions and missionaries in six States in the West and Southwest, and, with the mission- . aries, has helped to organize 160 other schools in States beyond Missouri, into which were gathered 1,498 children. In the State of Missouri 3,000 pub- lic schools have been erected within two years, ‘and the Superintendent of Education is anxious and willing that ‘Bible classes” may be established in each of those places on the Sapbath by the mis- sionaries. ° Addresses were made by Rev. Mr. Paxon, of Mis- souri, and Rey. Dr. Hastings, pastor of the church BROOKLYN CHURCHES. PLYMOUTH CHURCH. Emotional and Practical Religion—Vis- ions and Dreams—Work the Evidence of Love—All Men Have Not Steam Enough to Work the Engine and Blow the Whistle Too—Beecher’s Sayings Yesterday. Although very cold yesterday Mr. Beecher’s church was, a8 usual, filled to overflowing. The services were opened by the reading of the second chapter of the first Epistle of John. The textselected was Matthew vii., 2i—“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lerd, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that docth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Mr. Beecher endeavored te show the difference between an emotional anda practical religious life, a contrast between the spirit of.ethical and emotive living. Among Jews scrupulosity of obedience to the laws was thought to be the best way of insuring the favor of God. In doing this they overdid the requirements of the laws, allowing a little for shrinkage. The mainte- nance of the ritual law avas the secret of their church life. At a later period there grew up A MORBID SPIRIT OF SELF-SACRIFICE. People thought they were Christians in proportion to the violation of nature; they denied themselves all their harmless appetites and pleasures. A prac- tical religious life consists in doing deeds of charity and works of righteousness, not in rigorousness. Some men mourn because they have not evidence of their acceptance by God. Everybody cannot see visions und dream dreams. A man dreams that he sees JACOB'S LADDER and imagines that he las received some direct per- sonal evidence of his fitness fora Christian life. It is not so; he is no better Christian than the man who never sees any visions, but spends his hfe doing good to his fellow men and in endeavoring to obey the commandments of God. I do not say that an emotive life is not to be de- sired. Where emotion is priest of the soul and joined to, full ethical life it is normal, beautiful, desirable. Men scek in revivals to carry up their feelings to intensity, to Kindle enthusiasm. I be- Heve the mind carried up is exerting itself in a higher plane, bat ldo not think being always ina high state of excitement is the best life. It may be good, but not necessary. High feelings appeal tothe imagination amd all high feelings mingle with the imagination. All men love excitement, which is loving lle, It is sought by some by the aid of stimulants, but we may seek excitement in moral as well as in physical lie. ‘here is DIVINE INTOXICATION, and one may seek moral excitement to his dam- age. He may have intense faith, be prayerful and devout in all his religious observances and after all be selfish, careless and even dishonest in bust- ness matters if tempted. One may ltve in excite- ment, weep, rejoice and take on and yet inwardly he may be a seeker of his own joy. Have you never seen an exceedingly pious per- son, but very disagreeable ? Such persons may spend hours by themselves in prayer, and when they come out they make you Wish they had staid longer. They talk of heaven and religion, yet are obstinate; not disposed to humility, not in sym- pathy with mankind. ‘they hang as icicles, pure but cold. There is more virtue in men who main- tain even decency than in others who are consid- ered good Christians. Some men have OATHS ACTUALLY HISSING in their mouths all their lives, and to suppress them there is more credit due them than to men ne ees uttered an oath jn their lives or ever thought of one. Many men have cheer and hope who are seeking daily to do God’s will, No man is to suppose he is not a Christian because he is not the subject of experiencés; he who keeps the com- mandments and is seeking daily to do Go@’s will ts the Christian. . It is far better te bring the whole soul into coniormity to the law of God than to have any amount of emotion, Seme jee! that they must picture to themselves a vision of Christ to love. If you keep the commandments that is evidence that you love God. Christ says, ‘I know you love me if you keep my commanaments.”’ K Is the most tender relation the most emotional ? A mother ts always kissing her children and mak- ing demonstrations of affection to the whole heuse- hoid; children slipsked, nothing is comfortable, all is excess of feeling; all feeling and no practice is not a fair thing in love. Another mother has no rapture of feeling and kisses her children rarely, but everything goes quietly; children are com- fortable. They are like two brooks; one rushes along noisily, accomplishing nothing; the other goes along quietly, increasing in volume. Where joes it go? Down alittle further it is turning a mill wheel. Affection don’t turn any wheel, but our happiest hours are the most subdued, Working love better than emotive love. It is well to have both, but it is not every ne who has steam Cate to work the engine and ‘ow the whistle, too, There is a love which never {| speaks; it spends itself in work, like sunlight shedding its rays on the ground and, bringing the beautiful flowers, softly and quietly, This practical lite 1 accept. How well [remember the first year that I was at Amherst College; the great agony ef soul I was in; how! Utah by the our, longing for some evidence that I was achild of God, when all I needed was the slightest in- struction. I am sorry for those who, read the Christian experience of others, think they m 0 Ah the same. It ig not necessary to see hrist. Live righteously; live lives of goodness and purity. Not those who say, ‘Lord, Lord, in Thy name have we cast out devils,” but those who can show that they have been to their fellow men as Christ was—such can present themselves, and they shall be received, and it shall be said of them, Well dene, good and faithful servant.” 81. MARY'S STAR OF THE SEA. Public School Education and Infidelity= Catholic Schools To Be .Maintained Despite the Loss of State Aid—Remarks © of the Rev. Eugene Cassidy. Grand high mass was celebrated yesterday at St. Mary's Star of the Sea, Court street, near Luqueer, South Brooklyn, There was @ large congregation present. The Rev. Eugene Cassidy, pastor of the flock, officiated, offering the divine sacrifice as celebrant, and was assisted by the Rev. Father McCarthy as deacon and Rev. Father Callahan as subdeacon. After the gospel the deacon ascended the pulpit and preached an excellent sermon upon the acceptability of patience under the crosses and afflictions which it may please God to send usin this life, At the conclusion of the sermon the pas- tor read the regular notices, among which was one announcing that an exhivition would be given in the hall of the parochia) school house in the course ofafew days. There are upward of one thousand children in dafly attendance at this school, and the expense is chiefly borne by the parish. The rev- erend pastor said that the qaestion of education ‘was now agitating the country, and nothing could be of more vital importance to us than the training ot our children. TUB SPIRIT OF INFIDELITY [8 ABROAD, which jaughs and scoffs at Ndi = that apy tuins to religious instruction. liberal civil tion is meant, as the world to-day interprets it, infidelity, to teach the young how to despise God and respect the works of man. The public schools ignore our religion and ridicule our divine faith. Last your ve were given a little aid for our school by the State. ws year we are told that the Catholics shall not be given one cent for ther schools. They say, ‘‘We have tried hard, but all in vain, to make Protestants out of the children of Catholic parents. It won't do; we cannoy drive them from their faith. Wi! are we to do next? sy, they. Let us net say a word about religion at allin our pubiic schools, then they will grow uy without any knowledge of religion and we wil make infidels of them. We will teach them to despise the Catholic Church, to despise God and to despise the Apostolic Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth.” But we, as faithful children of tne holy Catholic Church, the pillar and ground of truth, ‘de- clare that this shall never be. To bea Cathoiic ts to be greater than ought else. It shail be the glorious heritage of our children, and rather than relent one principle, dogma or article of faith we will suffer any sacrifice. We shall continue to be Catholics and defy the spirit of the world, THE TREASURY OF FAITH 13 RICH . in the seed and the blood of those who have before us, and who have sutfered every coptumely and pliction at the bandg 9: r- fone © Prseonur lately