The New York Herald Newspaper, February 17, 1873, Page 8

NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1873—TRIPLE SHEET, PRAISE AND PRECEPT. The Gocd, Bad and Indifferent Utterances from the Pulpits of the City Yesterday. ‘The Vacant Chair of the Late: Vicar General. ‘The Rev. Father Kearney on the Rule of Faith. A MEDIATING MESSIAH. “The Rev. James Freeman;Charke Find- | ing Fault with All‘Charches Except His Gwn. THE MIGHT OF THE WIDOW'S MITE. Mr. Frothingham on Society as It Is and as It Should Be---Gaffney’s Fate. The Bishop Elect of Savannah on the Vices and Infidelity of the Age. SPAIN’S POLITICAL STATE. Beecher on the Moral Economy of the Uni- -verse—Nothing Good Ever Lost. ‘Talmage on the Dangers of Delay in Preparing for Eternity. pct ee WORSHIP IN WASHINGTON. The following reports are sketches of the prin- cipal sermons delivered yesterday trom the pulpits ofthe churches, The slush caused by the last forty-eight hours of snow and rain chilled the Piety of too many church-goers, for the Most fashionable pews were found dismally vacant and unadorned. However, the weak- mess of human nature which caused this Femissness in duty may perhaps be toned for through the agency of the HERaLp if these instructive columns are read with care(ul and earnest attention, The stormy ana tempestu- ‘ous weather has never yet appalled any of its intrepid reporters, and there is no probability that itever will. Through their faithfulness it is that Many religious minds are now given their usual Sabbath food for iresh refiection, though it come Father late on Monday morning. CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH. Religion the Means, Not the End—Ser- mon by the Kev. James Freeman Clarke. There was but a small congregation yesterday morning at the Church of the Messiah, in conse- ‘quence of the storm. The Rev. James Freeman Clarke, of Boston, took his text from St. Mark, AL, 22, In former times, he said, it was thought that the people were made for the kings, but now it was admitted that the kings were made for the people. The end ought to govern the means, As a matter ef fact, it was often sacrificed to the means. The Greek colonnade was certainly beautiful, the two rows of columns surrounding the Parthenon were also very beautiful, but would they advise any government to build a custom house or a banking house in that manner? It would exclude all light. THE JEWISH SABBATH having become a servant of man soon became his master. When it hushed the roar of business and politics, when it hushed the demagogue and rant- ing politician, then it was indeed a@ blessing; but when it shut up our libraries and turned sunshine to gloom, then it became a tyrant. “The Sabbath ‘Was made for man, not man for the Sabvath.” Hardly anything in the Testament went deeper. Ittaught us to ask of all human institutions, “What are they here for?’ If this most venera- ble institution did after all not derive its sacred- mess from divine authority, but from its human ‘usefulness, then the same test might be applied to every other institution. The good of man—this was the end of all. Religion was for man, the eburch was for man. If Jesus controlled the hu- maan soul it was because he was the best repre- sentative of human nature. Man was the master of all human institutions and he had the right to change them. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH came to preach a gospel of love and peace toa world full of cruel war. It did this and became a Mighty power, and 4s Mr. Buckie tells us, for five Or six centuries there were no persecutions, But aiter awhile it abused its power and Luther then came in and said the Church was made for man, not man forthe Church, ‘That was the meaning Of the Reformation, It took trom the Chureh all its @ivine authority, The rock on which the Church Was built was not Peter, the infallible master, but Peter feeding the sheep and teaching the ehildren, The Church came because it was needed, it re- mained because it was needed, and it would remain as long as it would be needed. The Bible also came Qs the servantof man. The Koran was the Bible Of the Arabs, and all other bibles had an inspiration ef their own. All the bibles had been adopted Decause it was found profitabie to accept them for their teachings of righteousness. Why ‘Was the Bible’ of the Jews 80 gen- erally accepted? Because it was comfort in the Hours of our sorrow; because it sounded the fad depths of human experienge, But the coming #8 & servant also becaule a master, All the stories about Joshua and the sun, and Balasm and his ass, must be believed by mathe- Maticians and astronomers. Because Jesus taught bis Disciples that they were te be juaged by their Ddelity to His law of hogs g People snatched at this word and said that God, the Divine Father, gent his children into a world of eternal torrents. Then came THE QUAKERS, whe declared that the divine light in every sou! was higher than the Scripture. Then came the criticism of German scholars, showing the fallacy Of this literal interpretation of the Bible, Chris tianity had too often been made the despot and tyrant of the world. Christianity came to fill this fe with happtnees, to make men and women sweet and good holy, and make them more loyal to one another, After @ while it was thought that men must be driven te God by fear. They took @way the word “Father” and substituted “Lord,” “Sovere! " They made human life grey and cold, and told them tw pray anless they wanted Wo to hell, But CHRIBT WAS MADE FOR MAN, not man for Christ, They, as Unitarian, were a furs! ’ody, but they had been lesmening the whole lump. i.et those whe like the appearance of Power go to another place. The first ray of the _ Was but weak, but (t awakes all creation. The bald ie tare as Boshing but the troth; ad they ‘ars, aud finally eve ve ‘Way to # handfal of hen, The Uaicariae churenes were all on the Bia churches were dividea. " “eedom, while other said, Christ me to Me Fest.” The Hible came to them wen trop ee Mt, and it was not to be found on th desire it. To pray for the sake of ‘getting woridin jood was net prayer, Prayer was for the soul, it to give them rest. Prayer was mw: wot man for prayer. ‘The great Ouest ine payee ‘was to pray for power to resist tempt; “reed for sweetness and good te Pen ate expect to gota house ree be ee ny pray ; went an Dmleds, 'Y praying for it; they nt there were some things which were = nal—iove and truth, right aud justice, Trost ta God; trust in the goodin man.” These were not Institutions that were to be changed; these were everiasiing reales Whatever was divine ia ‘would be permanent. words were made for man, but man made for truth, for love, for justice, Christ and ‘His Forms and bimeelf w7.g for God, 81. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. ‘42 Vacant Chair of the Late Vicar General—The Rule of Faith—Sermen voy Father Kearney—The Music. + The thick fail of ‘eautiful snow” yesterday Yefrectually thinned the feminine attendance at the Cathedral, which was little mere than half filled. ‘The stark, empty pews in the middie aisle gave & fair idea of what the heavy grandeur of the church would amount to without these pretty ornaments, ‘The weather had an antithetical effect on the choir, in which there was a full attendance of silver- tongued syrens, whose vocal organisms seemed to have been lubricated by the dampness of the at- mosphere. Madonna’s Mass in ©, minus the “Goria,” was sung by Mesdames Chorrie and Nunger, together with Messrs, Ridel and Nochs, who comprise the regular quartet. After the Veni Creator” (Dietch) Mr. Gustave Schmitz, the-organ- ist, performed an elegant extempore. “THE VACANT CHAIR,” On the left hand side of the aitar, to the right of ‘the Archbishop's .chair, is that of the late Vicar General. Over it is thrown a black cloth pall, and ‘on the seat 1s placed a crown of immortelles—an anonymous gift—which on Monday last adorned the cataialque. This crown and the mourning thrown over the chair are to remain until the mew Vicar General is appointed. All the mourn- ing drapery has been removed, and the church wears its old face. Fatuer Schroder, who came from the Propaganda about a week , celebrated mass, Which was his first high mass in America, THE SERMON. Father Kearney preached the sermon, which was founded on the Gospel of St. Matthew:—"He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.” The objec- tive point of the discourse was to prove that there was a rule for faith. The reverend gentleman spoke, in substance, as follows :— ‘There are a class of Christians who believe in the written Word alone, and another who believe only partly in the written Word, ana still another who jo not believe in the Word at all, It is of the first and second classes that 1am going to speak. ‘The first can never iorm a creed or clan. for each one of them who believes in the written Word interprets it to suit himself, and the result is that we have a mest DELIGHTFULLY VARIRGATED OONGLOMERATION OF IDEAS and beliefs, which even the entertainers them- selves are unable to account for. And the religion, manners and customs of these people are diametri- cally opposed to their beliefs. They profess to be- Meve and obey every word of tiie Book, ana still they worstip God and rest from labor on the first instead of the seventh day, a8 is commanded, The other class forms the pregnant womb from which is bornevery year some new-fangled denomination, who dub themselves with @ nomenclature almost as outlandish as their belief, and before they are twenty-four months old they become the mothers of twins or triplets, and, pelican-like, the original communion dies to give sustenance to the off- spring. By these parties the body religious will forever be Kept im an unsettled state. If they had some rule of faith laid down which they were to believe there would be some union and strength among them, but as it is they are as variable as the winas and as unsettled as the seashore sand. ,In the Catholic Church we interpret the Word and give to the peopie the spirit, not the letter of the law, which, having been determined upon by wise ceunciis, all accept as the belief of the creed. Hence the unanimity of belief among Catholics. Cathotics, when they speak together, although strangers, can recognize each other by the simi- larity in belief, whereas two Presbyterians, two Baptists, Methodists, or two of any other denoml- nation could never tell each other’s creed, for each inan reads and reasons for himself, CHURCH OF ST, FRANCIS XAVIER, Sermon by the Rev. Father Cezeau, S. J—The Parable of the Scattered Seed—A Practical Discourse on the Functions of Conscience. At the principal or high mass yesterday in the Church of St. Francis Xavier the Rev. Father Cezeau, S.J., preached the sermon, taking for his text the Gospel of the day—Luke viii., 5 and 15. This Gospel contains the parable related by the Divine Redeemer of the sower who scattered seed, some of which fell by the roadside, some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and then some en good ground. He said the sower spoken of in the Gospel is God himself, and although He is om- nipotent yet it is literally true that He came to us; we could not go to Him, for Adam's sin had made an impassible abyss between Himand us. “The Word was made flesh,’ and the Son of God was soon conversing with men. The seed is the eternal truth, which comes from God, and is given to usin His divine and incomparable Gospel. The fleld is the world at large and the souls of human beings. It was not the fault of the sower that the seed did not all fall on good ground, for surely no husband- man would expect to reap a harvest from rocks or thorny grounds. Christ spoke to the multitude in similitudes. The Gospel does not say that the sower intentionally scattered the seed by the way- side, or on the rocks, or among the thorns—it fell on them, It is not given to all to understand the kingdom of God, but only to those who, like the disciples, gathered around the Divine Redeemer and inquired from Him the meaning of His words, Oh! may our Saviour himself unfold to us this mystery, and may our hearts be found to be good ground, In the natural order of things it cannot be that, by the material seed alone can be made fruitful soil of stony land, it ts made itself, and in order to nourish the seed it Must suck the juices from the earth. When the | Word of God talls on a hardened heart it has the | ower to change the condition of that heart. The Word is God, is eternal as He who uttersit. It lasteth forever. He spoke, and a universe sprang intoe xistence. “My word is the spirit and the life,” said Christ. “Men do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.” “The Word was, and the Word was God.” This Word of God is A TWO-BDGED SWORD, and if it does not change the heart it is not be- cause it 18 powerless, but because we, as free agents, have it in our power to resist its influence and destrey its saving effects. The eternal law of God ought to regulate our minds; but the law of God must be applied to each man, and this appli- cation, says St. Thomas, is to the consciences ef men, and conscience, according to St. Bernard, 1s the science of the heart. For tne Word to produce saving effects depends a great deal on the hearts, on the consciences of men. The exterior is the law; the interior is the conscience, CONSCIENCE is that interior light which points out the morality ofall our actions; which shows what is allowed and what is not allowed; which tells what should be done and what should not be done—it is the practical judgment of our daily lives; it is the channel by which Almighty Go causes the rays of His infinite wisdom to shine on our learts and the beams of His eternal Justice to illumine our reason. Conscience is that which possesses those inmate principles of justice, righteousness and purity, the light of which can Lot be put out altogether, Conscience is the word of God, rebuking man when he offends the infinite majesty of God, and Gilling his heart with heaven). pleasure when he complies with God's command- ments. Conscience stands before the soul as the tribunal from which it cannot appeal—before which man must give an account of his words and thoughts and actions, It smites the just for the laults they may possess; it censures them for their fickleness, their want of fidelity; it scourges the sinner with the sins which he has committed, and causes him to biash, and when conscience sentences a sinner neither MONEY, FRIENDS NOR INFLUENCE CAN BRIBE its impartial justice. The sentence pronounced is the dread, irrevocable sentence of Almighty God. Conscience punishes the sinner once condemned. It places dark ghastly spectres before him; with fright it surrounds him; it reprimands and lashes his soul eves as hounds pursue; and whether in the whirl o1 the worid or the silence of solitude, whether in the public thoroughiare or in the heart of the family, it makes the life of the sinner a living hell, The Pagan philosopher was right when he said the greatest punishment for sin is to have sinned, and the Pagans always portrayed sin as | @Vuiture preying on the ever reviving entrails of the sinner, The first man before he sinned knew not what it was to blush. But when he committed the first sin he blushed, he vegan to tremble, he tried to hide himself, There were no witnesses to his guilt. God had not yet spoken to him, and why, therefore, alould he blush and try to bide himself where there Was nobody to see him’? Because he accused the inexorable aecuser—conscience, and a great ie aly oppressed him—the weight of remorse, REMORSE ‘ let as thank God. How many sinners have been Tecaiied who could net find poses or quietness unt) they had unburdened their hearts of the Weights which oppressed them? God does not wish the death of a sinner, but rather that he be converted aud live. It is & true sign of damnation when @ person lives in sin and feels not remorse of conscience. When sickness has reached such a stage as to defy the efforts of medieal art; when the case is hope! and death already seizes ita prey, are they not to be pitied who try to stiffe re- morse of conscience ’ e Cato, they are stamped q@ith the mark of God's wrath and vengeance. Men commit sins ef injustice, of drunkenness, of impurity; they make a practice of cursing and biaspheming for whole years, and if one ef them be questioned he will say, “My ¢onscience does not troube me; my mind is at peace.”’ Peace | peace! “THERE 18 NO PRACE for the wicked,” says the Gospel; “the ways of * bewwe Wey Dave gk knows,” aud 1 would take bhe judgment of the Holy Ghost rather than that of the sinner, Whep the elements ate about to let loose there comes upon the world @ dead calm. ‘The winds are hushed, the waves are stilled, and uni- versad silence prevails. The wild shriek of a bird of prey is heard or the yell of some wiid beast a8 it hastens to find some place of saicty. Sud- Comepates lightning flashes across the sky; then a terrible clap of thunder announces to tie whole world the coming storm, and ail the elements of destruction are let loose, Such is the peace which the sinner enjoys who has not remorse of con- science. Al ity God has abandoned hiin to him ‘Bell, and the angeis of God have poured on bim the vials of the wrath of their Master and cry out, “Babylon has fallen; it has become the habi- tation of devils and the home of unclean spirits.” Poor, unfortunate sinner! Ten thousand Umes better to be smitten with remorse than feel such a treacherous peace. What can the soul do Without the grace of God? Conscience lightly dealt with is what causes cynics to doubt; causes ay Catholics to be, what they call, liberal minded, as if the word of God could change, or the Church, founded by God, ci as the inventions ofmen. ‘This consequently induces many danger- ous errors. Conscience, according to st. Thomas, ig the application every one makes of the law of God; of the law of God, which is immaculate, and ig & Natural emphatic rule, owing to the applica- tion of at. We may make it a@ false rule to our- selves, accordingly as we allow ourselves to be guided, There are as many aspects as there are persons to apply it; it changes as often as u person changes his views, and you know HOW EASY IT 18 TO CHANGE views on the same subject. We change them to suit our passions or our interests or our desires. Our desires ought to be according to our con- sciences and not our consciences according to our desires, We may desire sometning so very much that we think we cannot do without it. We go so fay even that we look upon it as @ means of salva- tion, and therefore we must have it, Take a man Tuled by one passion—love, for instance. How many times does he not trifle with his conscience, but by reasons of relationship, politeness or good breeding he is checked; conscience tells him avoid those dangerous friendships and familiarities, ap- Bone to his status in lire, put he goes on disregard- i conscience or accommodating it to his desire We make conscience of our desires, own interests. How 18 it we disregard the law of God? Just im the same way. By our interests. Our cupidi- ty is greater than our conscience, Conscience says We must make restitution. A man tries, but itis not time to make restitution, for reasons of in- terest to himself, and so it is put off until we find that it is seldom indeed full restitution is made, We think we have gained credit with Almighty Goa because WE HAVE DECEIVED OURSELVES. When there is not interest at stake how readily we can talk of duty, how eloquently we can preach, how readily we can tarn censor 01 others’ doings, become teachers to our brothers, how severe in the expounding of the law. How readily the masters can speak of the fidelity of their servants ; how trust- worthy they should be; how attentive to their duties. ‘The servants, in'turn, speak eloquently of the masters; of their haughtiness, overbearing dis- position and such like. Men of the world discourse ‘on the duties of clergymen; of the sanctity of the clerical state. Men of business know the duties of men of law and vice versa, We are exceedingly vigorous with others, and exceedingly LENIENT TO OURSELVES. A man will evoke the stringency of the law in favor of others, but will show great laxity in applying the law to himself, The reason why tne Word of God does not fructify is, because we are not willing to take time for consideration. We go on offending God by our sinful lives; because the Word of God, asexplained to us in His house, the moment we cross the threshhold of the door of the church is forgotten .At home pious readings-are regarded ag dreary and burdensome to us, while we read all sorts of novels and romances to instruct ourselves on various subjects. Our imagination is so full We cannot consider the Word of God. The Blessed Virgin treasured in her heart as precious gems the words that fell from the lips of her Divine Son, and Christ showed—when the woman cried out, “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee,” and He replied, saying, ‘Rather blessed are they that hear the werd of God and keep it’’—that keeping the word of God was greater than being the parent of the Man God, Let us then make a resolution to re- fect well on our duties, for we will be judged ac- cording to whether or not we make false con- sciences, 8T. PAUL'S REFORMED CHUZOH. Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Thompson on Christ as the Mediator Between God and Man. The first of a series of services under the aus- pices of St. Paul’s Reformed Church, Rev. Dr. A. R. Thompson, pastor, was held in Harvard Rooms, on Sixth avenue, corner of Forty-second street, yesterday afternoon. The object of these services is to bring under the influence of the Gospel that large proportion of our population which is deterred from attending in the churches owing to the expense of pews and other considera- tions, and which comes under the general denomt- nation of “outsiders.” THE SERMON ON CHRIST THE MUDIATOR. After the usual religious exercises Dr. Thomp- son announced for his text the passage found in I. Timothy it, 5—“For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” He first called attention to the force of the particle “for” in the text, as shown by reading the preceding verse, as follows:—“Who Will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the trath. For there is one God,”’ &c., thus establishing that THE GREAT CENTRAL FACT OF SALVATION, our solid foothold of hope for eternal life is based until he falls, according to our on the Mediator, the man Christ us. Without this Mediator it is impossibl for us to come to God. We are ignorant of the first step, and there is no one save Him to furnish a specific for our disordered condition, While the text was one of many which carry their own explanations with them, and which contain within themselves the essence of all Gospel truth, a lew considerations suggested by it might net be unprofitable, He first alluded to Christ as the sole Mediator, ofuized as such by all Christians, as those who pray tothe Virgin and to the saints be- lieve that their mediatorial quality comes through Christ. He then proceeded to show the separation between God and man made through sin and shown by the natural disinclination of man toward God and a repuision wiico followed ona contem- plation of certain of His attributes, as His power and holiness, This established, he considered, the character of a Mediator— ONE WHO STANDS IN THE MIDDLE, intervening between man and an offended Creator. This Mediator had not only bridged over the chasm which separated us from God, vat had filled it up, and so brought us in close communion with Him, The heart of man instinctively cries out after God. There is within him a longing sur- viving the fall, and this demand of his heart is only satisfied by being lead up to God through the Me diator, who pays our debt, makes up for our de- ficiencies, 80 that we may be reconciled with the Lawgiver, though no iota of the law be abated. Alter referring to the double nature of this medi- ation and its unspeakable sicnificance, he exhorted | to the cultivation ofa living faith, through whic! the soul shail be strengthened in the glory of its Champion and shall win to it that blessedness which is without money and without price. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. Sermon of the Rev. Thomas D. Anderson on Faithfulness to the Word of God. The First Baptist church, corner of Thirty-ninth street and Park avenue, was largely attended by the congregation yesterday morning, After the reading of the morning lesson the Rev. Mr. Anderson alluded in touching terms to the sudden death of one oi the Sunday school children— whe on the previous Sabbath was at his post in School in the full enjoyment of life—and delivered a very tender prayer for the bereaved family. Mr. Anderson then took for his text, “But He said, Rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.” In his opening remarks he alluded to the importance of each Christian performing the work set apart for Him in Christ, and gave a beautiful illustration of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem; how He set out on His journey to the great city, and sent before him His messengers to proclaim to the people throughout every town and village of His coming, so that all should see and hear Him; that thousands upon thousands met Him on the wayside and hooted at , yet He feared not. He knew well that He Would become a sacrifice. Yet would He not turn back, but rode into Jerusalem. Christ, he said, knew that He would not be hailed asa king; He knew His mission, and as the great Messiah He was fois among the people to prociaim the word of God. There was one among the thousands that lifted up a voice in his behalf. A CERTAIN WOMAN amid the company liited up her voice ana said unto Him, “Blessed is the woman that bare Thee!’ Was there, he continued, anything more beautiful, more natural than the expression of this woman of the happiness ot being the mother who brought into the world the great Messiah? Mr. Anderson aliaded te the great good that could be done by those who were biessed with wealth; yet how few could be found aiding as they should in the advancement of THE GREAT WORK OF CHRIST! A man who had but a dolar and gave but @ fraction of it was tenfold happier than the wealthy man who gave nothing. There were many who go to church and eail themselygs Christians, Did the ever usk themselves what their duties were as Cbristians? He feared there were many that did not. They might, be heard to say, “I have a pew in the church; I go to church regularly; I ike to heara good sermon ;” but that is all; in iact, he claimed that was about the end of their Christianity. ‘They hear the truth reached, and perhaps the truth sometimes strikes ome to them; they feel it, and, if their hearts ai on touches them, and they th co! ¢ are thus led toembrace the Saviour, He claimed (hat many Weng bo tae House Of od the same ag they would to a house of entertainment—to make show; to attract attention. This was, he said, a false show of Christianity, pe he prayed, for th sake of Christ, that they would search deeply !-4{ their core” so a8 to improve the ores ty gy them and thus save themselves er late. MADISON AVENUE REFORMED/ CHURCH. Preaching by Dr. Ormiston—The Love of God for His Children—Men Kings by Divine Right. ‘There was an extra service at this church yesterday afternoon, at falf-past three o’clock. The church was very partially occupied, The ser- vice began with the singing of the eighty-ninth hymn, when Dr. Ganse, the regular pastor of the church, pronounced a prayer, after which another hymn was sung and Dr. Ormiston advanced to the desk. His text was taken from Revelations, part of the fifth and sixth chapters, beginning— “Who has made us kings and priests.” The reverend gentleman made a very eloquent and somewhat lengthy address to prove that we were the real children of God, and that God by so denominating -us had acknowl- edged that love was the most precious of all the precious stones which composed the kingly diadem which encircled his brow. This idea of love was the main one with all the apostles. With John it Was the main point of all his writings, and the same idea existed with Paul, and also with Peter. God loved us so that He gave us His Son, who came on earth to wash us of our sins, Before this we were miserable creatures, without light, without hope. Christ Jesus had restored all this to us by His life and by His death. God had proved His love for us by word and by @eed and by thought, What He had promised us He bad given us, He had brought us up from our lowly, hopeless condition nm bad His children, so that being sons of a royal Father WE WERE ROYAL CHILDREN and each of us a King. God had endowed every | man with a divine right to be aking, and this was the only divine mght He ever had given men. Some day when the blessed hour of passing away came He would take us up and place usin Heaven by His side, and we should be all kings in Heaven. Here was where the lowllest nan was as happy as the highest. Asachoice between the proud, success- ful man in His mansion, surrounded by all the comlorts of life, or the poor old man lying in his bed in a garret and about to give up the ghosi, which did a Christian think the king of the two, the rich man or the poor, and in whose place would we sooner be? len generally little realize the great care and THE ENDURING LOVE which God has shown for them. He was never tired of proving to us in some way the fact that He never forgot us for one moment; in fact that, in spite of all our great failings, He was watching over us and loving us constantly. There was no aren that we had done all we could to tire ou THE PATIENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY, but this was only another proof of the deep love that He bore us, The men who wrote about the Son of God and who lived with Him were ready to bear witness that this was the most prominent characteristic of His life, and, more than all, the most prominent characteristic of His death. Dr. Ormiston concluded by a very eloquent explana- tion of the beauties of the passages of the Revela- tions from which he had taken his text. At the conclusion of the sermon another hymn was sung, and Dr. Ganse announced that on Sunday next the Rey. Theodore L. Cuyler, of Brooklyn, would preach in the afternoon, LYBIC HALL, The Widow’s Mite—Society As It Is and Should Be—The Two Theories About Good and Evil—Sermon by the Rev. 0. B. Frothingham. The attendance at Lyric Hall was not so large as usual yesterday morning in consequence of the un- pleasantness of the weather. Painted in the temple of history by the immortal hand of Jesus Christ, Mr. Frothingham commenced, was the representation of the widow dropping into the treasury of the Temple her two mites. This incident probably occurred in one of the large open court-yards of the Temple, and the people had gathered there to worship and converse. Among them was the saintly Pharisce, the GORGEOUSLY ARRAYED PRIEST, the Sadducee, and the stranger who was curious abeut the ways of Jerusalem. The wealthy dropped into the box their pieces of gold, the less wealthy their silver pieces and the poor their little coins. Jesus was there studying life, when He saw a | woman, clad in widow’s weeds, creeping modestly through the crowd and dropping into the box two mites, equal to a farthing, and He calied the atten- tion of His disciples to her. The cityand Temple are destroyed; the Pharisee and pnest, the Sadducee and stranger are uo more, but the figure of that poor woman-is going about the world stll, Jesus said that she gave more than the rich, nos merely because she gave irom her poverty and they trom their abundance, but because, while they with their gotd dropped in their wealth and their sense Of importance, she put in her trust, piety | and devotion, This littie rill sweetens all fieids, | When the city of Pompeii was discovered the iirs figure found outside the walls was a soldier clad in armor. inside the city were marks of DISSIPATION AND LUXURY, There were bodies of Ree who had died in an agony of fear or the delirium of passion, white at the gate was the Boldier who had perished at the post ofduty. As we look on the suriace of socicty We see that it is not handsome. It is because passion and greed, and unholy ambition, the spirit of strife and plunder, are reigning. Every week ! brings its murders, and we hear of acts of Violence in ali places, Law seems to have no power and the restraints of religion are loose. Voices of | alarm are raised, and the timid ask where itis to | end? There are two theories about good and evil in society. One, that the surface reveals all the good there is and that investigation shows the evil at the heart. The other, that the evil is on the suriace and YHE GOOD AT THE HEART. The first theory is liked most. Society would never hold together uniess the people duped one | another, Out of the heart come the frauds, murders and ravages that assail theearth. Man must be kept down under the inspiratien of fear, in order to have peace in the community. Things look wild and rough on the suriace, but there is no wave over thirty leet high, ana thirty feet below the surface ali is calm ane smoota, faith does not show its best face at church, a person will away, and will sit patiently under doctrines that | Many | his intelligence repudiates. Follow this person to i] ‘o to church because he cannot keep his home and catch the breath ef his secret prayer, In private he lives a sweeter life with Christ, ‘Think of the badly born, the badly nurtured beings brought up in vice and filth! ‘Think of those whose | existence from the start is a grapple HAND TO HAND WITH DEATH, and then ask what we ought te expect. We should expect murders every day. Yet the werld holds its own, and we do not carry weapons to defend us. Men trust each other, and it never occurs to them that the foundation of tue world may give way and hurl them into the fathomiess abyss. On every hand it is manuest that the censcience is growing keener; that charity and good will are going hand in band with mercy and justice. It is the heart that sweetens and regenerates society. New York covers but a littie patcn of ground. Tne snow falls and the iect of men and carriages make it ugly aud siushy. Then we say itis a nuisance. mooail id the surrounding couutry and see this oeautisul SILVER SHEEN falling over the fields and mountains, and prom- ising a beautiful Summer. So this common ele- ment of humanity, tailing into the wicked city, becomes disturbed and polluted. During the late war there was an Irish volunteer whose comrade ‘was shot from his side. Before he died he begged the soldier to take the money from his pocket and give it to his wife, who lived in New York. his volunteer went into the battle, and, being wounded, Was taken to the hospital. When he recovered he came to the city and wet about from street to street asking forthe woman. At last he found her aud gave her the money, not a dollar of which had been touched, although his wile and children were needy. There was the LONDON THIEF, steeped in vice, but who sent his contributions to the ragged scliools, and said ii there had been such schools when he was a boy his life would have been different. A man who has lost his reputa- tion, who has wrecked his future by committing & crime, perjures himself to cover itup. He must fight tor his good character, his wife, children and friends. When aman has everything at stake he Will commit crimes which in other moments he would abhor, In astorm the captain will throw Overboard the costliest freight t ‘The poor wretch 5 VaR anes eer GAFFNEY, Who was hanged at Buffalo, sald he would be con- tent to remain in a dungeon the remainder of bis life provided he could once in a white see his wife and children, Another man 1s happy now because the day of his doom is postponed. ile was young, gay, attractive, and he has undoubtedly done many 4p act of kindness, He was caught in the meshes Of dissipation, and the waves carried nim down Until he was lost in the hiripeot. The possibilit; of @ great sin was in him as it is in every man ani Woman, Let us be unselfish. Looking into the heart of the worid we see charity is scattered like flowers about life, SEVENTH STREET METHODIST CHURCH. Revival Services Yesterday—The H. stead Praying Band. At the Seventh street Methodist Episeopal church revival services were commenced yesterday morn- ing, under the auspices of the “Halstead Praying Band,” which is composed of about thirty laymen avsached to diferent city churgles, ‘The services Lngvemwy made jo tle Blessed Virgw besore wis The religious | | masterly sermon to a crewded congregation on | ‘aousistea of singing, prayer and exhortation, thirteen of the band participating. Brother Hal- stead, Brother Turner and others made exhorta- tions and earnestly urged the unconverted to go forward to the aitar and receive the prayers of the band, Brother Halstead said that Christ had opened a way for all to go home to heaven. God i good; His Word is and it is given us to repare us for heaven, He had been siruck by the lescription given by the Rev. Mr. Green of a great revival he had witnessed, where the whole coagre- | ony divided into little parties and poured out heir spirit in prayer. He wanted to sce the same here in the Seventh street church to-day—a good old Methodist revival. ‘You have been here now,” said he, “three quarters of an hour. What do you Want? Do you want a fresh baptism from on high? That mother says, ‘I know what I want; my prayer is for my children.’ That husband says, ‘My prayer goes up for my unconverted wie.’ Are you praying? ‘Yes,’ you answer. Amen, We all say, ‘Lord, let the baptism come.’ I God’ it would come now it should come; it will come if you will ray for it. Well love it, we'll ‘have it, want you to come now, just as you are, and bow at this altar and pray for the unconverted sinner— jor your sons and daughters. Come up; don’t hold back.”” In obedience to the invitation about twenty collected about the altar, and for twenty minutes eloquent prayers were offered up by the band. One young man seemed the especial object of prayer, and when he knelt at the altar several fervently exclaimed, “0, Lord, let Thy grace come into his heart.” The services were Oo! @ very earnest and impressive character, and when the band and those collected about the altar arose nearly all their eyes were wet with tears. The services in the evening were still more affecting, and the band thanked God in their prayers that sinners were being led to repentance. ATTORNEY STREET M. P, CHUROH. “Nothing but Leaves”—Scrmon by Mrs, Annie E. Smith. Mrs. Annie E. Smith preached last night at the Attorney Street Methodist Protestant church, be- tween Delancey and Rivington streets, She took her text from St Matthew xxi., 19. We find that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem, she said, with all the honors that could have been bestowed upon anyone. Finally He went out to have a night of rest. They read in the Scriptures how Jesus was enabled to fulfil certain prophecies. Jesus went to a fig tree for frult, Anybody would have supposed that there was fruit on such a fine tree, When He came to the tree He found there was no fruit on it. He found “nothing but leaves.” But this tree was a good representative of a great | many who professed religion—of a great many who were members of churches. In the morning Jesus hungered, and when he came to the tree he found no fruit. How easy it was for them to deceive the | world, Everythingin this age was hypocritical. There was a relgn of deception in business, in poli- tics, in science, even in religion. There was the deception in the tree, and such was the deception of the men and women who had no fruit, Because there was no fruit on it He cursed it, and if they knew nothing about repentance and sacrifice for God, there was no fruit in them, “nothing but leaves,” They were a curse to their church, they were @ curse to their families, they deceived them- selves and they were A CURSE TO THE WHOLE WORLD. | ‘They became indifferent just as far as it concerned { them spiritually; it did not even ruffie their | spirits. Jesus wanted them to lead lives so that ie should know that they had lived with Him and in Him, But they said, “We must make our living here.” Jesus when he came to the fig tree did not expect peaches, but figs, and so He came to them, expecting them to show tnat they were Christians and His children. If they had been living in a careless manner, knowing that | their daily actions did not correspond with the | teachings of the Bible, it was time that they should | undeceive themselves about the supposed cer- tainty of their gg, Sa heaven, There seemed to | be an emptiness. There did not seem to be the | jiety and devotion that there used tobe. “Oh, how 1 wish we could get up areal old-fashioned | revivai!’? she had heard a good many people say. Ifshe had to run the risk ofeternatlife for the sake of making a few dollars she would certainly avoid it. She would not risk her eternal enjoy- ment jor all the money there ever was in Wall street. IN THAT GREAT DAY when they should come up and stand before their Maker they would have to give an account of themselves. They would not be able to practise any deception there. Some people thought they | could deceive the world by shouting and praying and professing a good deal, They had the priviiege ot settling this great question to-night, and to say to the Lord, “ILI have not given myself up to you betore this, | will give myself to you to-night.” | | They said there were so many things to contend with. The hour of temptation had come upon the | whole world in the universal and all-absorbing love | ofmoney. This seemed to be the curse of this age. | When God said He would keep them they ought to | believe Him. It seemed as though there never was atime of such severe trials for true Christians, There seemed to be @ continual temptation, but they had the same grave to Keep them to-day that Daniel had. ey had the same God to | | serve to-day that Daniel had. Could they trust fod as Daniel did? They might say they were airaid ef the lions. What of that? Suppose they would die—would they not die in deience of their | faith? It there was a man or woman in New York | | who thought differently it was time they should say 80. There should be some sincerity in religion, God permitted the three men to be thrown into THE FIERY FURNACE in order that He should convince Himself of their true faith. ‘Would they live so that their lives should shine for goodness and virtue and purity, or would they live so that God would find no truit about them—“nothing but leaves?” He believed there were some people there who had something else besides leaves, God help them, that they should have something else besides leaves. The same blood that had cleansed their fathers and mothers could cleanse them as well, Were they willing to say this evening, “Lord, I give myself up to you 7” §T. ALPHONSUS’ OHUBCH. Sermon by the Very Rev. Father Gross, C. S.S.R.—The Vicesof the Age and Their | Tendency to Infidelity=The Protectress and Patroness of the Church To Be Universally Invoked for Intercession. The Sunday evening sermons at the Church of St. Alphonsus, South Fifth avenue and Canal street, are generally of @ very interesting and beneficial nature to the crowded congregations which assemble almost unfailingly to hear them, Last evening the Very Rev. Father Gross, of the Order of Redemptorists, who some few days ago received intelligence from Rome of his appoint- ment to the See of Savannah, preached a very | THE GREAT TENDENCY OF THE AGE to plunge into sin and infidelity. The reverend preacher, without selecting any particular text, referred to the spirit of the early Christians and | martyrs whose names were immortalized forever | in the catalogue of the saints. Those holy men and women of the past, whose sole ambition was to serve Jesus Christ with unselfishness and con- tnual love, should serve as examples and models of piety and true godliness to all endeavoring to attain their salvation, There was one among the faithiul retinue of saints who followed more closely to Jesus than all the rest, and who clung to His wounded feet on the tree of the cross, This one was Mary, His virgin mother. Jesus’ love for Mary, he continued, was as great as @ divine chiid could tender to ® mother. He never refused her a request, Oh, no! Is it to His dear mother, His sweetest, most affectionate mother, who watched over Him in Bethlehem, bore Him in her arms into Egypt and stood by Him while He was scourged at the pillar, while His head was being crowned with thorns, while He carried His cross up the rugged heights of Calvary, and, lastly, while the blood oezed irom His wounds upon the cross? On, no; He has never, He never will refui usin fo the kind, intercediag prayers of so fond @ niother, After thus eulogizing in the most affectionate and appealing straim the love of Jesus Christ and Mary toward one another, Father Gross satd that with inany nowadays he feared there was only a remnant of the ancient faith alive. It was not warm, open and entire, like that of the saints, The present nineteenth century was one of hor- rors almost unprecedented. He then referred to the bloody work of the Paris Commune, THE AGITATED CONDITION OF SPAIN, which was being now chastized for its late negh- gence in fostering as dearly as ever to her bosoin the faith of Jesus Christ, and perhaps for teimpt- ing the Lord by presuming to place the son of the Robber King upon her throne. “Let us look at our own country,” he continued, “and what do we see, We are not, indeed, by any means, a good people. The record of vice, of blood, and of an age of wicked actions tells us plainly we need the protection and control of some super- human power to guide us to morality, and place us once more upon the true religious path which can never be tarnished by one foul eed. Among Catholics there was need of still ater fervor in prayer, and of stricter devotion to their religious duties, It was not a strange thin, to learn ef many of them abandoning the faitn @| their fathers because they became sorgetful of the practice and exercises of their youth. Shame upon Catholics who do not hear mass on Sundays, Shame upon parents who neglect to train up their children in the lear and love of God. Here Father Gross advised all to pray to the virgin mother of God and ask her intercession for them from her divine Sen, He then said he would, after conclud- ing, bless a picture of Mary, the mother of Per- petual Succor, and have it placed near the statue of the Virgin over the side altar, He related tna most touching manner the story Of one of the many miracles which be himself “witnessed through | same experience. | alarmed. | out labor pains. No great truth is born without pieture of; the mother of Perpetual Succor. C01 yn were apparently moved to tears by the words of the preacher throughout, and his manner of address and style of oratory, together with the truly impressive tone of his voice and very forcible power of his gestures and attitade in the pulpit, make Father Gross a master of sacred élo- juence second to no Catholic clergyman in the city. @ See of Savannah may rejoice over his nomina- tion as bishop, but the pulpit of the humble priest will assuredly sustain @ loss, MEMORIAL SERVICE IN THE GREEK CHAPEL. Yesterday, notwithstanding the disagreeable weather, the principal Russian and Greek repre- sentatives in this city attended the services in the Greek chapel in Second avenue. Among those present were the Russian Minister, His Excellency Baron D’Offenberg; the Russian Consul General, Bodisco; Generai Gorloff, the military attaché of the Russian Legation, and Mr. Botassi, the Greek Consul, The chapel was draped in mourning, and the vestments worn by Father Bjering were of sombre black. The altar and reading desk, and all the appur- tenances of the sanctuary, were 80 robed as to indi- cate deep sorrow. The services rendered, also, were solemn and impressive, The occasion was a memorial service for the late Grand Duchess Pavolovna, who died in Russia a few weeks ago. She was born in January, 1501, and in 1824 married the Grand Duke Michael. Her funeral obsetjuies were held in Russia, but memorial services will be held wherever the Church has priests and priestly ankharit The regular Sunday services will be rendered in English within a couple of weeks. Yes- terday afternoon the choir rehearsed the litany in Ensilhi and preparations are gomg forward as fast ssible, BROOKLYN CHURCHES, PLYMOUTH CHURCH. Points of Comparison Between PhysicaB and Moral Traths=Nothing Good Ever Lost—God the Father of Truth—Sermop ‘by the Rev. Mr. Beecher. Notwithstanding the extreme inclemency of the Weather yesterday morning the Rev. Mr. Beecher’s church was well attended. Before opening the services Mr. Beecher announced that he would be absent during the next two Sabbaths, and that his brother, Dr. Edward Beecher, would fill his pulpit. Mr. Beeeher said that he did not leave his congrega- tion often, and that it is tweive years now since he did so, vacations excepted. The object of this ab- sence 18 to enable him to make a tour in the West, to visit those places in which his public life com- menced, and he spoke with great emotion as reminiscences of his past days crowded before him, Mr. Beecher’s text was taken from Isaiah iv., 10, 1i—“For as the = rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall | my word be that goeth forth out of my méuth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom- Pplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” In that little strip of land called Palestine, said Mr, Beecher, which on the map looks like a narrow line, is combined so many elements that the figures drawn irom nature there have a fitness for every climate on che globe. In the northern part, among the mountains, there is always snow. In the south- ern part we have a gradation of climate for a dis- tance of 150 miles to the sands of Arabia, In the vaHeys the sun pours its rays, rever- berating from every side, making it 80 warm that everything isin bloom in the middle of Winter. We have in Palestine an epitome of cli- mates. From this land came that word which hag borne the truth tous—the Bible. It is for the | Summer aspect as well as the Winter aspect that the textis meant, Truth is like the snow and rain, and shali not fail todo what God commis- sioned ittodo. Look at the points of compari- son, think how the vapor and rain lie far above us, invisible. Men can see no storms coming. That which the thermometer and barometertell us we are not organized finely enough to feel and know ourselves, So out of the great and unthought of realms come truths, So itis that abstract truths are not visible until we are touched by them. How feeble is the commencement of a storm! On @ mountain you can go through clouds; they are harmless; and by condensatien they be- come rounded drops, which seem to do nothing but make haste to fail out of their high estate; and snow seems strangely vagrant, floating down gently, vimless, weak and powerless, and yet it is in its power to put out the eye of ships, to block up roads, and all by this aimless, indolent, passion- less snow. ‘The truth of God has very much the Men find single facts and ob- serve them; another generation may find others and put them together. How slow, disconnected and vague the progress ! Go back to the day when Abraham, Jacob and Is: lived. See how mean tneir resources were; with what slow steps did truth develdp itself to them, fragmentary, local and not till thousands of years could they arrive a satisfactory results! So the knowledge that we have to-day has come little by little. GOD'S TRUTH FALLS ON THE WORLD, and men think of it, but it is only when men begin to live out what they have thought out that taey have found the truth. It disappears in ferm, but reappears in organization. God’s truth comes and enters into men’s thoughts and organizes itself, and truth is most poteutia: when it is organized, It is not THE PRINT OF TRUTH that is most potential. ‘hus God’s truth works not by visible means, but by organization. There is no evidence that apy single truth or any in- vention has ever been lost. The errand of truth is a successful one; nothing that ever was thought wisely has ever been unthought., There is no evidence that the world has ever lost a single moral truth or spiritual truth. Men say there have been such important secrets buried in the past. Yes, there have—such as ought to be lost. Let us hope some things have died out. The scope of thought is broader and human faculty was never 80 great as itis to-day. We could build pyramids if we chose, but we build workingmen’s cottages All that pomp and splendor, thank Goa, Now we make farms and raise instead, has gone down. nations. There is nothing to mourn or regret. The world might snake off more and be the better for it. The fear that men beye that religious truth will shrink is groundless. It has PERIODS OF ECLIPSE, its summer and winter, but to lave that fear is to be afraid of the continuance of God’s truth. it is to doubt God. Let not those doubt and fear who believe tn God. It is not in the power of the prince of darkness to put out truth, 1tis part of the pro- cession of universal organization. 1 rise higher than those doubts and fears, | rise as high as the throne of God, and though it takes time Iam not I have learned not to expect good with- pain, and when, therefore, men can say, believing it, that God is the God of liie—when they belicve that—they are prepared to take THE INCIDENTAL RVILS. It is not you that preserve the truth; it is the truth preserves you. Just as il the pickaxes that the inincrs use in getting the gold out of the earth should say one to the other, Brother Pickaxe, | am afraid we are not a for much more work, and the miners will have to stop their work, Men are GOD'S PICKAXES, and God is the miner, we are tue instruments, the might and power are fur above us, God is the Father of truth. lt isGod who thinks and wills, and draws men into sympathy with him through thinking and willing. It is not to diminish your sense of the power of truth that I speak, but to show the power of God. ‘Truth owes little to inen compared to what men owe totruth, Men say the Church has preserved God's truth, but the truer saying is that the trath has preserved the Church. I! every man was dead to-day the truth would remain the same, It is not we that keep God alive, but God that keeps us alive. Whatever may be the external arances, remember that the Murrow and the soul of trush are pot At you, but withGod. ‘The truth of Gud ia immutablé, TALMAGE AT THE ACADEMY. a Preparing for Eternity—The Dangers of Delay—An Earnest Discourse to am Earnest Congregation. ‘The storm yesterday morning had the eect of somewhat decreasing the usually large attendance at the Academy. The lower part of the house, however, was well filled, aud the congregation was avery attentive one, Mr. Talmage said that the subject he had prepared for that morning was ap- Propriate to a promiscuous audience and was not appropriate to that before him, so he would take another subject. He thought that the audience present was not a promiscuous one, but was com- posed ot one class—of those who were in earnest about their souls, ‘The sermon was based on the text—"To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,’? and was an argument to show the danger and folly of deferring preparation foreternity. Mr. Talmage said that there was a best time for everything. ‘There were some GREAT BLUNDERERS IN LIFB who did the right thing, but they did it at the Wrong time. You could look buck in your life and see that there were crises, that there was some Point in your life where you made avery great mis- take, and where, by one forward movement you Might have made your fortune. You all acknow-4 Jedxgd Wat iy waiters of tue world there was a The \ e