The New York Herald Newspaper, December 29, 1873, Page 8

— THR DEPARTING YEAR, The Voico of the Churehes on the Lapse of Time. ‘ BISHOP ODENHEIMER ON- OPEN BO9RS, Rev. O. B. Frothingham and Phil- osophical Conundrums, BEECHER ON PERFECT MANHOOD Sermons by Dr. Storrs, G. H. Hepworth, Father Farrelly, Dr. Hall and the Rev, H. Powers, OHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS Whe Prophecy of the Birth of Cnrist= The Divinity of Christ—the Influence of Christ, Its Extent, Its Variety and Its Permanenee. Dr. Storrs’ church was ‘led yesterday morning by @ large congregation. Dr. Storrs commenced his discourse by saring:— The words of Scripture to which I call your at- tention will be found in Isaian, {x., 6, third clause—"And bis name shall be called Wonder- fal.” <A prediction 1s shown to bea true predic- tion by being realized in history. Here ig the dif ference between a faney and @ prophecy, A fancy of what may come to pass and a prophecy of what issuretocome to pass. Every one may throw his fancy into the fature and prophesy what may come to pass; but a fancy ia certain not to fit the reality. It is only a true prediction of a mind in- Spired by God that can fit itself accurately to the coming events of history, and the further into the future it reaches the more ciear becomes the Origin of that prediction in the mind of the Most High. Here is a prediction more that 2,600 years old, a prediction which was uttered 809 years before the babe to whom it referred was born, Has it been accomplished, or was it an imagination of the mind of the prophet, which events have contra- Gicted? We might risk the whole Bible on tie answer to that question. Itis as evident as the e@arth to our senses that this prophecy has been Iterally and gloridusiy realized. Even sceptics wil) admit that Jesus Christ was a wonderful per- son. <All mankind is constrained to admit more and more that this babe, whose birth the prophet Was looking for, is wonderfuhwonderiul in extent of His influence onearth, There have been great Men and there are great men, but what weight have they outside of the places where they are knownt Here is a man who died so long ago, Whose name is honored in all the world, and las Obedient servants at this lour in every land on Whica the sun shines, The child’s heayt glows With enthusiasm and the aged eye glows with bew UE or ey & name honored and ¢ y both sexes, by rich a Ena ovecuce a nd poor, high born sana Waa be pete of His nfiuence, there is ri to story; great men fa sight, Here 1s a name thud sii i LIKE A STAR. nawe of Christ is like a star in the heaven of @u SKles; wile tae name of the greatest men fade ont Jesus’ name aches every de- Wonderful, too, in variety, it ry ‘partment of life; it touches literature, Great the iufiuence of linkers are developed under fesus of Nazareth; the telescope which searcues oe ~ snrings up under the touch of the the heavens ~. ¢ edocs fingers of this Maen o1 Nw ‘the fine arts gna mmaust stows His miuence. ‘The Chinese invented gunpowder and the art of Tinting, avd the mariper’s compass, but what use tia they make of them? B en these discov- ‘eries came to light in Christendom they were util- ed. Whenever any discovery comes to light within the range of Cirist’s influence it becomes power- ful and iruitfal, and the ine arts as well. You go througn the galleries of Italy, and you ask yourself where comes this aflluence Of art? Aud the ques- tion is not auswered till you see the subjects. It was the thought of Christ that touched the Italian nature and made it bloom and flower, Everywhere the name of Jesus is a benizon and Daptism; His name sali de called Wonderful. And the energy of Hits influence is great, for it results im the reformation of character, ‘Think what @ work this is. Take some subject for experiment from the streets und alleys, Now try, pot only to educate the mind, but to change the character, to curb the passions, to inspire a spirit of charity towards men and of reverence and love towards G@od, instead of rebeilion, Ab! you have found our match, You can change ‘the outward lile; ut wien you try to Make a new character you Might as weil try to crush the aur around you into Inarble, Now Christ took a slave—false, thievish, ribald aud licentious—and made him a Christian man, | consecrated to the Most High, whom he had not geen. He took Paul and converted him into the loving apostle; and, later, he took Augustine and changed him ito a great teacher of the Gospel of God; and, in our own times, we bave seen, by the Influence of the Man of Nazareth, worldly men Diode devout; we have seen women Of fushion changed into praying and devout women. To deny Eis influence would be as if you were to deny ocu- lar scieuce, because now and then there is an eye that,cannot be cleared ol its cataracts. There are men Whose Learts have not been touched through 60 years of hearing the Werd of Goa. Surely human hature is a tough subject to work upon. But how much is admitted in the sneer of the geeptic! Itis admitted that they are exceptional cases, Who do not s€e! His induence, Remember the extent of His influence, remember the vast variety, remember the energy, and then say if it ‘Was nOt a true Word when the prophet said, HIS NAME SHALL BE WONDERF and, finally, remember the permanence of His influ- ence. Only those have influence With us Who have iuked their influence with the Influence of Jesus, juther influences us yet, but Ho man haa an infiu- Once on us Who las been dead 100 years, except it ‘ts linked with the influence of Christ. His power is as young to-day as when He spoke to John and Peter in the temple; itis a8 young as the sunshine, which is no older this morning than ‘when it brightened on the hills of Judea. This wer of Jesus is the one force that links the New World with the Old, Remember the extent of this power over all this earth, the variety of it touching everything, and the permanence o1 It, and say if tue prophet was not right when he said His hame shall be callea Wonderful. Marvellous it is. The prophecy is fulfilled, the prediction shown to be not @ fancy, and, as I said in the beginning, MU you pivoted the whole Biple om this iancy it would stand solid as a rock. But more than this is shown :—First, it is evi- ent that this being is divine in His nature. Now, submit it to the judgment of every man und wo- nan whether it Was possible jor a man of Nazareth, a man trained in no school, whose pah- ic life Was brief and onscure, to be able as a man toreach human hearts through all ages and look into the secret of the heart. ‘To be a mun merely that has done all this? Nothing is impossible to Goa; but Wit Was only aman then explain to we je Tinl arta as well, He be- ai MIRACLE OF CHRISTENDOM, Has the world gone crazy to honor and love and pbey this Jesus of Nazareth, or is it indeed true bat He is a power every sane man must admit? It is the po and spirit of God made Mmanifestiin His son, Thirdly, if God has done so much, we know that He will do all that He bas promised in the life to come. We are so unworthy of it all, is it po we shall enter the gates where’ there shall be holl- pess and everlasting felicity? member how He as laid His band om human hearts and stilled heir passions and be comioried. blessed be His mame that it shall be Wonderul throughout eternity | ible that LYRIO HALL, Chrtivt Away Behind Car Modern new formers—The Figure He Would ‘Hove Made in Wall Street and in Politics ond in Life Generally—No Reason for Doing Him Special Honors—Sermon by Rev. 0. B. Frothingham, Mr. Frothingham, whose passion as a preacher 13 selecting eccentric themes and propounding pro- foundly philosophical conundrums, discoursed yes- verday morning upon the question “Why Celebrate the Birth of Jesns After a highfown introduc. tion, in which he bore his hearers away with the Swoop of his magnificent pinions amid the starry splendors of the limitiess untverse, he descended ail at once precipitately, like @ balloon that had buddeniy collapsed, into the classe regions of BAXTER STRERT. © ‘To the denizens in this squalid thorongnfare this NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1878—WITH SUPPLEMENT. consclence, Wisdom and trath. From this he awitched off to the modern man, who, he says, cannot look into the future without regarding it as a better stage of existence than the present and as atime and jor more george From these premises he deduced the fact that there was ‘NO NECESSITY OF A SPECIAL SAVIOUR to come to the world. He did eonsider Christ a saviour nor @ redeemer. If st had glanced atthe theology of some of our modern Churches it would bave been uti incomprehensible to bps nee com not ~ foe pS ban ravity, predestination, the trinu ry theological absurdities, Men believed in God ages before Christ’s foot touched our planet. The doctrine oj God, tons modern men, Was an idea that the Judean youth could never have entertained. We do not, therefore, rate the birth of the bringer of revelations. we celebrate the birth of a reformer?. Christ was one who would bring Eo back from the letter of religion to the pirit. Did He abolish the tempie! Did He abro- ate the laws of M Y Did He preach a truth as frosa as the world? It is doubtful. Christ was reformer and a sincere one, for He died for His lief, Was Be such @ reformer as our modern world needs? You can find in all His language a word toat goes to the heart of man. We modern men have abolished slavery, Whereas Christ never spoke 4 word for Its abolition, As to THE GREAT WOMAN QUESTION, Christ never thought of women otherwise than in thelr condition of interiority. He never said a word to elevate the condition of woman, AS to that other great question becoming more and more vital every dey—the labor question—it never occurred to Christ, What sympathies Jesus might have had witb our modern workmen, they did not know. They could not celebrate the birth of a re- former, Why, then, was the birth of Jesus cele- brated’? Say because he is the type of a new man. He is not the ideal man, nor the periect man, for the ideal man is in the future aud whe pertect man is more vnreaj than adream, We celebrate the birth of a typical man. Here is One who, stand. ing on the threshold of hia manhood, conselous of great intelicctual power, and yet he refuses to yoake himseli rich or famous. If Jesus were living to-day how long would He escape going to the madhouse? How long would He escape being taken np as avagrant? How can we fancy fim doin business in Wall street or being a lawyer? Last o! ail, how can we conceive of CURIS? AS A POLITICIAN ? His life would be shorter than in Jerusalem. Yet is it not a lovely image! ‘Think of society without Traud or violence or a poiiceiian! If ali men were lke Jesus the icarned professions would soon be neglected, In conclusion he dilated upon the ethics of our present ife, quoted the views of Strauss upon Christianity, ber rama Mendels- sohn, Mozart, Handel and Beethoven ag having coutributed something to make lile more sweet and beautiiul, declared the New Testament to be @ spendid dreain, and wound up by proclaiming a3 @ most delighifal vision the thought of heaveu as a future Kingdom and home, FIFTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Dr, Hall’s Earnest Appeal to His Con- gregation as to New Year Dutiee. Dr. Hall preached yesterday morning in his chureh, at the corner of Filth avenue aud Nine- teenth street, to a very full congregation which not only occupied all the pews but the aisies as well. Dr. Hail said that now as in the time of Moses, God was ever present with us, and teck the same interest in us now as be did in the Israelites then, He was not as demonstrable, perhaps, and did not come down to us ag he did to Moses then, But His blessings, His mertles, His constant gifts, His mani- fold indulgences were as great, He was the same God as He ever was and loved us as truly as He ever did, But in these latter days, said the Doctor, there is in matters of reiigion a vast deal of diggmg around at the root. 1 wonder bow much fruit all this will produce. Weare Much too apt at present to cut down the tree. There are some here to-day who, during the past | year, have sat here Sunday after Sunday, but they have not yet tasted of the joys of religion, and yet what has not God done for them? What jofs have we had within the year which 1s about to close? Some, perhaps, have been visited but with the consola- tions Of Christ. Joy has come out of grief and sor. Tow and tears # here it might ney? been supposed We shouid succumb, Of all this give Bim tue glory. Magntfy Him, Let there be an license going up at ali times, It is this we ought to think of. Jehovah | Himself ts the dweiliag place of His people. God has an eterpai, an unchangeable character. We Go not think enough of this unalterable character of dd, Dia you ever stand by the sea and ule waves as J come ey rraveit me u against the shores of a rock bound coast. They make an incessant effort to beat away those for- bidding walls of rocks and only fall back | 4 again to repeat the attempt once more. Hour after hour, day alter day and month after month this goes on. Did you’ ever think how many generations have gazed tpon this? You pass awe m are forgotten, but the earth en you walk the strect of a great you, of many who have passed off from tuls earth not to return. There they are faliing like the leaves, dropping like the snow, fading away like | drops of rain, and in all this God alone | remaing and remains for ever. When you see @ little cem in the country in the midst of smiling fields and remark bow it ts full of tombs unnumbered and npknown, a few with the stone sia) at the top of the grass crowo mound, do you ever think that all these have once ed the flélas that you now look upon, and count. 6 generations belore them, and all are pow gone And yet one day even the eartn will go and ¢ alone willremain f Aud do we think what poor evan- escent, transient, weak creatares we are walle God is from everlasting to everlasting But we | need not despair. There {8 @ way of making our hope, our heme and our dwelling in the Lord, This | relieves us from eur own nothingness and brings | us up to Him, It is because man sins that He leads | them to destruction. Beware of the sin of procras- Unation avove others. Do not put of your vation tor every day youlive. You become busier | aud more occupied, and while the allotted age of | man e Score and ten, it maybe much shorter. terminate at 70 and may end at 20. this, that you should always be g < ready to go, were good reasons in the olden time why o lived longer than he now does. The | world needed knowledge and civilization | commence a new ery 30 OF | 40 years would have put the worid L But this | is changed. Do not put of the time when you will change, for cares increase with iicreasing years. | You muy be cut down at any time, and you do not hearken to God's voice calling you. The Doctor closed with a short exhortation for the unthinking to change now that a uuw year was | begmuing. 8I. STEPHEN'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CRUROCE. | Mission for Children—Sermon by Dr McGlynn=Panegyric on St. Stephen= | The Proto-Martyr as Minister, Preacher and Saint. A “mission’’-for children was inaugurated in this church on the afternoon of St. Stephen's Day, December 26, at two o'clock, and will end on the | morning of December $1 at ten o’clock. The object | of the “mission” and the order of the religious i exercises are explained in the following circular :— The object of ion is to afford extraordinary a ts for all the children of the the de: G ive religious instruction and to approa n to Prac: religion, | is world: + he sacraments, with the view of inducing the tixe more periectly the teachings of our hol, and to preserve themselves unspotted from On week days, bes! special was for the childr there. will be an instruction and appropriate devorional On Sunday there will be the usul mass at | ‘byery day, Sunday included, there will be an instruc. | tion and devotional exercises in the eft o'clock, and in the eveniug at seven o'clock. The sos Will cod with benediction of the sacrament. ~ " nnfessions of sail day nidren between the ages of 7 and 1f are invited all will be prepared for coufessiou, and all of age for boly communion. It is the anxious wwh and iter er of the pastor that all tho children of the parish wiki avail thotnselves ot these | and that parents and gnardians Will not | pasary, to urge them to do so, ChiusrMas Day, 1873. Tho attendance at the high mass yesterday morn. ing was large, and apparently devout, The Rev. | Joun McQuirk, attended ny a master of ceremonies and a large corps of acolytes and torch-bearers, | officiated, During the services the organist, Mr. Daniorth, played some brillant passages, ‘Immediately after the first Gospel the Rev. Dr. McGlynn agcended the puipit and delivered a giow- ing and eloquent panegyric on the proto-martyr, St. Stephen, the patron saint of the church, Hay- ing read the history of Stephen's trial and martyr. dom, a8 narrated in the Acts vil, M4, 59, he said: It isa strange commentary on the gospolof peace and good will that the feasts of the Holy Innocents and the martyrdom of St, Stephen come £0 close aiter the nativity of our Lord and tell us of cruel murders, ‘The very coming of the infant Saviour js ade the occasion of shedding blood. In tits | tue &, of jaith discerns and recognizes “the finger ie Christ came not to give such peace as the world loves, but to introduce @ new war be- tween the kingdoms of the world and His own kingdom on €arto, Stepien was it PIRST VICTIM of that War; & } that we should medt- tate a litle on the history of tim under whose patronage and protection Wwe and our church are laced, He, who deserved to be the first martyr for the faith, is said to haye been “full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” and, in the very midst ot his en. | blessed | iris will be hoard ail day Monday, | ueslay. et he wasable to fay ;—“Lenold, J see ‘he heavens opened abd the son of Man standing atthe rieht hand of God,’ Stephen w: deacon, and it ts the teaching of the Catholic Church that World and humanity, he said,are not a cursed werld and acursed humanity, Having made this bold declaration, with no effort to prove its truth be yond & poetic allusion to what he calis the spark of our betier navure, Le aunounced our Saviour to be the order of deaconship conferk & sacramental grace, While a deacon cannot consecrate, te can dispense the holy communion and ajso handle the | kind. society are like sacred hu- manity, and these ”” are to be gathered up Py. the ministers of Christ, “lest they should perish.” The pro r of Christ, who, 7 1 Of his office, perieere these two duties, and who, by virtue the grace of the Holy Spirit “with whieh he was filled,” Periormed ‘them with taken as such eminent sanctity, may well THE PROTOTYPR of trae ministers of tne Church tm every age, whom she instructs to take up tenderly and rever- ently these fragments of Ouvrist’s humanity; with almost the same reverence with which she in- Stracts them to handle the holy sacrament of His bog 4 upon the altar, lest they should suffer prof- ation, It is also the duty of the deacon to preach. And nobly dia Stephen perform that duty, When Brcient before the Council he pronounced such an indictment agamst the Jews that ‘they were cut to the heart and gnashed with their at him,” And when he proclaimed the divinity of Jesus, Him whom the Jews had ‘done to death," “they stopped their ears,” ‘and, having cast him out, they stoned him.” On account of his fearless preaching he was cut down like a flower not yet jull blown. HIS MUTE BLOOD spoke and still speaks trumpet-toned and echoes throughout the world. The oying Words of the proto-martyr are iull of confidence In God and for- giveness of his murderers. | “Lord Jesus,” said our atron, “receive my spirit.* And kneeling down @ cried out with aloud voice saymg, ‘Lord, lay Not this sin to thetr charge.”’ As the stones sell fast and heavy and bruised and maimed him, not un- like his Master, he prayed for his enemies and fell asleep in the Lord, The Church loves not the word ““eath, and therefore in the Catacombs the iuscrip- tious generally speak of the occupants as havin; fallen asicep in the Lord. Indeed oar own wor “cemetery” means the sleeping, the resting place of the children of Christ, If, as we are toid, the prayers of the saints are like incense offered to God in censers of gold, we should constantly ask the prayers and intercession of our martyred patron saint. And we should pray ag he did, looking 38 to heaven and seeing ashe saw “the giory oi Go rand Jesus standing at the right hand of God.’ Saul’s conversion from a persecutor of the Church into ‘a vessel of election” was the fruit of Stephen's dying Ty Let us pray that-the woives, Who would ravage the sheep fold of Christ may be numbered among His flock, that the fulfill- ment of the Gospel of Christmas Day, peace, per- fect peace on earth to men of good will may soon take place, CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH, «The Annunciation”=—Children the Hope ot Humanity—Sermon by the Kev. Henry Powers. A large congregation assembled at the Church of the Messiah, Park avenue and Thirty-fourth street, yesterday morning, to hear the pastor, Rev. Henry Powers, upon “The Annunciation’.—Luke 1., 35— “And the angel answered and said unto her, ‘The Holy Ghost spall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest sbail overshadow thee; therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born of thee snall be called the Son of Goa'"—that is, the circumstances of the birth of Jesus were of an unusual and disreputable character, say many of our modern critics of the coarsely materialistic and destructive school in explanation of these words, But such an interpretration needs only to be mentioned in order to be condemned, for the Sapposition on which it {8 founded is so foreign to the spirit of the whole gospel narrative of the in- fancy of the Saviour, is so alien to the nature and facts of that Eastern domestic life to which it ree fers, and is so contrary withal to the common opinion and speech of the friends and neighbors of Joseph end his family concerning this same Jesus, thatit is most dif@cult to see on what grounds of the slightest plausibility and propriety it can be maine tained and advocated a single moment. Indeed, it never would have been mentioned or thought of, we are persuaded, had it not been for the existence ofthat other theory, so popularly received, of the nativity of our Lord, whereby His coming into this world is made out to be wholly an exceptional and miraculous occurrence on the paternal side of it, an explanation which is just as UNNATURAL AND UNBEASONABLE, and, therefore, scandalous as the other, if we con- sider all the implications which are contained in it, and vic consequences which follow thereirom; for it is said thay (here was need of such an inter- position, in order that ie Corruption of sin might be avoided in the Saviour's pec%0R, and His birth beaholy one, Butare all ordinary births, there. Ore, UUHUIY, UNE IS MUL Lue CUuevqueMUD vB transmitted by one parent as well as the other? The Romish Uhurch thinks so, and hence its dogma or the immaculate conception. It is said that the demand of the world is ior an infinite Saviour—one still remains. who can substitute his own righteousness ty and see the houses on each side of you do 4 Te you ever think of how many have been there beiore | for its depravity, and bear its punishment in His own body on the tree. But what comfort is itto you and me that one, not made in His es | sential nature ag are we ourselves, or subject to the same temptations of this earthly life, shouid attain to holiness and felicity atiast? What we wabt to Know 1s that es by man came death, so by lan came the resurrection from the dead; and that the true, the saving Christ can be found within us, also the hope of glory. What we are anxious to know 1s that the nature aud the career ol Jesus were pot exceptional in any exclusive way; that we are equally sons of God with flim, an that, u we are true, as He was and tells us how to be, to the GREAT LAWS OF LIFE, we shall also become perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is perfect. When It ts said that the birth of Jesus mast have been unnatural, t, é superliuman, because His lite was sinless, the reply is that sin, not holiness, 1s the unnatural thing to human life, and that, as a matter ot fact, there is more of holiness chan of sin in the lives of all man- Mr. Powers answered the objection likely to be raised upon this point, that every one bas , his faults, and asked if it follows, because the great multitude of any class of beings fail to reach the perfection of their class, if no one shail ever reach it? Js it not more probable that, amid this universal aspiration and tendency, one may at stsneceed ? Ifonce in time a bud upon toe hu- n stalk put forth and blossomed and bore a per- ruit—J somewhere in the long reaches of his- mid all its sin and shame, its hard routine, urbane and bitterness and falsehood and ruin, One Ian appeared without apparen* stain; one men who was always tender and stroug and good and who gave His life at last for His race; one wo was full of faith in God and hope for man; one Who was so without disguise and without pre- tence, that the effort to find a spot upon His whole career results in a hypercriticism so small and mean eas to be simply ridiculous; shall we proceed to eay that such aman was unnatural and superhuman in any re- spect? Shall we not rather say that He is more natural and human than any one of us—that He was the man God meant and still means us all to be, and that He was and is the man who be | reveals to us what our common nature 18 ani shall yet become’ The preacher followed up the thenié of his discourse with great vigor and argu- ment, saying, among other things, when we con- sider how mightily great men always inflame the imagination, what a disposition there has always been to magnify and deify them, and ho’ a word righty interpreted in the recorded lie and sayings of Jesus to warrant the idea, Christians have persisted in represeating Him as THE VERY GOD HIMSELF, we can find no difficulty m accounting for the fact that at a very eariy period of the primitive Church marvellous stories should have been told concern- ba is isl r. Powers then said that from this exposition | the birth of every human being is tobe regarded as holy, and that the angel’s address to Mary is | equally as applicable to prospective motherhood every Where :—“Tbat holy thing which shall pe born Of thee sliall be called the Son of God.” And If this be #0, how sucred ought chiluhooa always to be in our estimation! What holy joy | should dwell perpetually in the hearts of those who have to do in any way with chiliren! The tact is that the hope of humanity and the promise of fature good on this planet resta in these tittle ones, Instead of being the pt it they are the oldest of the human kind, for the blood of all past ages is running in their veins. When the Spartans replied to the King who demanded 50 of their children as bostages, “We would prefer to give you 100 of our most dis- tinguished men,” it was only an expression of this everlasting value of dhood to aby common. wealth or to any a he character sketch of Bret Harte with why first delighted the vivil- ized world, “The Luck eat | Samp,’ Was in- troduced by Mr. ’owers as an ilinstration of the power and infuence which children have over the mightiest of the human kind, and yet, he sald, this YARN OF FRONTIER LIFR i8 but another illustration of the prophet’s say- ing—“A littie child sball jead them.’ It would when Jesus said ‘Snuffer littie children to come unto me and forbid them not,” and blessed them, that what He would have us all to undor- stand was—that not only for their innocence, their jarth and docility, and lor the heaven te saw in their eyes He did it, bat because He knew that within them, as the germ is within the seed, and the seed within the earth, lies the whole Iuture of blessing to manxind, and that the hope of us all is not in the sepuichre, no motier how beautiful and costly it may be, butip the nursery, even though that hursery be a stable, In our love and care for our little ones, in the training we provide for them, and the way in which we habitually speak of them and treat them, we are to embody this conception of their nativity; we are toremember always that they are poten- tally holy and not sinful, and thas, through the In human nature the good is Ey and purely fea to it—is, in fact, the only God that it can snysvical body of Christ in the person of the poor ‘This 19 the true spirit of Christ aa it is carried out io His Church, ‘Ihe poor, the sick, the outcasts of discipline of this Worid, they are 10 become ANGRLS, AND NOL DBVILS, ood, While the bad is secondary and not totally Baas ‘and that every little child is to be thus re- arded by us, for the parent stands in the place of know. sow important, therefore, it is that whe atmosphere by which it is enveloped, and the whole wealment to which it if subjected, before Ww, without | as well as pie ite ance in this world, shoul be of wisest and Most nourtshing sort. It should be jremembered that the education of life begins long before the faculties of soul and body even are developed, and that. lu many things, the individual career is de- termined absolutely by infuences that are without it. Every mother knows that when her children are as yét unable to speak a single word they can discern either gioom or Eiger love or hate. in her slightest glance. one of voice and the lance of the ¢ 6 moulding them continually, she smiles the baby will laugh; if she looks sad or ery it weeps; and yet how constantly and care- lessly, If parents have great troubles or are tired and perplexed by many things, they fall into a habit of complaining aad set the whole music of the household's ‘aatly life in the pensive minor ey. 1tis a cause of general aud great giatulation that the children are being THOUGHT OF AND CARED FOR more, and more wisely, in these last days. The fact is noticed by every one, so that the oldest among us ave wont to exclaim, half regretfully, half complainingly, ‘It was not ao when We were young.”” Thank God for vhat, my aged inends. The worid is indeed growing younger, and, therefore, better; for “except all be converted and become as litte children we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.’? What a biessed thing it is for us, as well as for our chilvren, that once a year, at least, the entire business of the world, its politics and plea« sures, are set aside, that childhood may have its rights acknowledged and its wants, supplied, that the purest and most mnseltish love whicn can be known this side of the grave may have the free- est possible expression gran uno it, Every mother is a Madonna and her child a Christ unto the household to which they belong, ‘the lessons oi trath and beauty and good that come into the world through them are better and more numerous tnan all the otner teachings which the life of man canimpart. Most fitting isis that with the birth of the Holy Child we should associ- ate this ay and gladness; that whatever we have of greatest value should be cheerfaily laid at His tabie, and that the truth should be recognized and Made the most of at the same time; that ail life is holy, all love is sacrificial and all joy is the truit of its disinterested service, 81, THOHAS’ CHURCH, The Semi-Centennial Jubilee=The Order of Exxereises—The Sermon of Right Rev. William F. Odenhetmer—The Past and Fature Work of the Church—A Plea for Christian Union—Revelation and Scientifie Discoveries in Harmony. The closing exercises of the semi-centennial jubilee of St, Thomas’ church, Fifth avenue, corner of Fifty-third street, took place yesterday, in con- nection with Holy Innocents’ Day and first Sunday after Ohristmas. The morning service took place at half-past ten o'clock, im accordance with the following programme :—Processional, Hymn No. 179 of the Hymnal, by Wesley, commencing— Glory to Thee, U Lord! “Venite,” by Tallis; “Te Deam Laudamus” and “Jubilate Deo,” anthems in B flat, by Corfe, A.D. 1740; Introit—Psalm vill,, 1, 2, 4 and 8; Mar- cello; “Kyrie and Gloria Tibi," Gounod; Hymn 202 of the Hymnal, Wesley; Sermon, by Right Rey. William H. Odenheimer, D. D., Bishop of New Jersey; Ascription—‘‘Hallejah Chorus” (Messiah), Handel; Oifertory, “Thou Shait Love the Lord” (from Eli), Costa; Recessional—‘Brightest and Besi,"’ Arison. The Snnday schoot festival took place at half- past three P.M., at which were given a great variety of music and a number of addresses. Gilts were also distributed to the children, ‘THE SERMON, After the morning service the Right Reverend Bishop Odenhetmer announced his text from Rev- elations ili, 8:—“I know thy works: behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shatit.’ He said next to the places connected with the birtn and ministrations of our Saviour the rocky iste of Patmos is of interest to the Christian. Tlere where the beloved John saw the seven golden candlesticks and, in the midst, one like unto the Son of Man; where could be heard the great heart of the Redeemer beating against the heart of the Church, the only centre of unity, He had selected the words of the text as appropri- ate to the occasion when the work of the Church in the past is to be considered and that of the fu- ture foreshadowed, Tie Church of St, Thomas was founded in 1823, and the first church editice was erected in 1824. To quote the language of your ; > recent sermon upon this subiect. ‘t Wesker by men 2! Wisuum aud lorecast, who have shared largely in the civil, social and judicial renown of the city.” It may ve doubted ifapy chureh has enjoyed a greater show of pros- perity, and when lremember the great advance- ment in temporal and spiritual matters, fitly rep- resented by this elegant temple in which you wor- soip, ] am almost everwhelmed by the grandeur of the situation, After erecting an edifice, which was destroyed, you have rebuilt, and to-day celebrate your semi-centennial amid everything which de- hotes that advancement. There nad been, during the 50 years of the church’s existence, some six rectors, and from them and Bishop Ravenstraw, at tne head of the diocese in 1623, tiie apos- tolie succeasioD, nad extenced unti) it covered the whole land, Taking the carcer of St. Thomas? church as 2 yepresentative one, the right reverend genticmar then expatiated at large on the growth oi the Church in the United States—a legitimate 4ovelopment growing out of a living, loving, work. ing faith in Jesus. The heart fitied with the love of Christ must pray and preach, and give and build, and that iove will be satisfed with nothing but the best that is attainable ; it is that per.ect love which May be exemplified in the giving of the widow's mite or the BUILDING OF A CATHEDRAL. With thia advancement and prosperity has been developed a love o1 architecture and ornament so reat as to cause fears that the Church is driutin, front ner moorings ci true religion. It is recorded in Ezra that when the foundations of the second temple were laid many of the priests and chief of the fathers who had seen the foundation of the first house, wept with aloud voice, and on the other hand the younger ones shouted for joy, 80 that the people could not distinguish the noise of the weeping irom that caused by the shouts of joy. The tears of the fathers in those days were caused by the poverty of the temvie, while how they weep on account of the magnificence dis- played. The speaker thought that be di then of the Chureh, however, justified the crection of such edifices as the one they now occupied—a sign of legitimate development and continued progress. A review oi the last hall century affurded every hope aud encouragement tor the juture, and that in the great and final judilee they should be met With the words from the great King of kings, ‘‘I know thy works.” The Bishop then proceeded to consider the FUTURE WORK OF THE CHURCH, “T havh ses before thee an open door and no man can shut it.” On the one side is the iact of gooa work performed, aud on the other the larger work tor Curtst. The fruitful vine 1s watched and trimmed that it may bear increased fruit. mais this to the Church, standing upon the hig’ parochial eminence you occupy, and you will see that continued and more earnest evangelical Wiser and praying and labor are required. Vhatever appilances have been ascertained to re- dound to the saivation of souls, those the Church should have. The services Oo! the sanctuary, the holy sacrament, the hours of secret prayer consti- tule a door which the Divine Sufferer opens, In ail the parochial appliances, in the Sunday and reformatory sciivols, in the missions and hospitals 1s found an open door which no inan can shut. ta the record of the pastis found your right to appro- dag this open door. Speaking of the work which ay before the Church in general turougiout the world, he said the earth contains @ population of 1,200,000,009, 700,000,000 of which know not Christ. With these figures before usis demonstrated the absolute necessity of the Church putting on her missionary life—that Charch to whom it was sald, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Guspel to every creature."’ This isthe very essence of her roiséion on earth. The rightreverend geotieman, in touching upon the subject of CURISTIAN UNITY, said the world, as well as well a6 the Church, is Jooking for this, We have ail felt that, untess for intellectual and theological argument, everything should be latd aside except what is recognized 88 the cardinal principles of ihe faith upon wilcn our hopes of salvation are based. His remarks upon this branch were extended and earnest, urging that all evangelical Christians showd—as did that “grand old bishop of Germany’’—~take a stand in favor of tis unity. He then passed on to consider another work of the Ohurech jn this day—namely, the harmonizing the words of Revelation with THE DISUOVERIES OF SCIENCE. The enthusiastic Ohristian shall not stand in the way of truth, ‘There is @ necessity for & higher standard of Biblical researcn. fat will be the church of the inture whieh shal) feariessiy enter on Biblical and scientific investigation, satisi d that, rigntly understood, the two will harmonize. Another work is to dejend the human and divine nature Of Christ againat the avaanits of Antichrist, so prevalent in this day. He closed with urging upon his hearers more earnesiness in the per- formance o1 their duties as Christians, a larger sympathy with hamon e#uffering and @ stronger emphasis in combating the unbeiiel of this era, BROOKLYN CHURCHES, PLYMOUTH QHUROH, Mr, Beecher on New Year's Calls, and the Yeung Mon Who Make Fools of Tiem- aclvesA Sormon on Porsonal Excel- lence. Previous to the sermon, yesterday morning, Mr. Beecher announced that he would receive “calls” on New Year’s Day, trom eleven A, M. to six PB. M., at his residence on Columbia Ueights, He made the InvitaQon ay UDIVERSal asusual, Mvitmg not only the members of his own Cherch and cengregation, but all, whether rich or poor, native born or foreign born, if there would be glad to see him, “7 am the man,” said Mr, Beecher, ‘who shail be glad to see them.” In accordance with the re- quest of the Ladies’ Temperance Association, he referred at length and in strong and earnest words to the newly introduced custom in this country of offering wine, He denounced the custom; eaid that it derived its strength from the supposition that it was fashionable, and said that the victims of this practice were not the hard-headed, thought- ful, aplid men, but the “delinquescent,” light- weighted, fashionable young man, who is made up for the occasion, But even he wouid not yicld so readily were it not for the young ladies, who would tolerate anything 80 Jeng as it was fashion- able, When the young lady of the house stands before him with the brimming cup THE YOUNG FOoR cannot resist. And many a young man has begun to drink in this way, disgraced himself, and it has only required about two years to bring him down to irretrievable ruin, He therefore hoped that the result of what he said would be that those whom his words would reach would put no more wine on the table than would be on his own on New Year's Day. Mr. Beecher preached a sermon on ‘Perfect Men in Christ Jesus,’ and selected for his text the thirty-first aud thirty-second verses of the fourth chapter of Ephesians:—“Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, lorgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you.” The introduction was expository, to which special ref- erence was made to the thirteenth to the sixteenth verses. The teaching of the chapter was that there was a positive side, generic and ideal aim of the truth ag it is in Christ Jesus, in which Christt anity was defined to be the sign of right living, It is, indeed, the new manship of the world. The forces which Christianity employ are various, but the end is definite—namely, the perfect man in Chris t Jesus. This was the object, and one to which everything else was made instramental, To understand Christianity you must understand it im a living form, You can _ never understand it by seeing it speculatively—just as pO Man can understand & garden bya book. If he has seen a garden a book may help him, but not otherwise, Consider, then, the influence in hu- man lite of the exclusion of the whole malign cle- ment which men inherit; consider, for instance, what the effect would be upon the whole range of society, ‘in the whole intercourse of men, if this thirty-frst verse could be instantly carried into effect and all the bitterness on the earth could be taken away. The change would bo so great that the very ATMOSPHERE OF LIFE would seem different, Mr, Beecher then sektched the difference of the effect o! this in the household, in business, in the strifes and collisions of public aflairs, in the conduct of the State and when the malign clement was eliminated, In refer ring to the elimination of this malign ele- ment in individual character, he said that it might be shown, if there were sufficient records, that Shakespeare was as great himself as any of the best of his characters, So it was with thé remembrance of a mother's love, the beauty aud power of good iafiluences remain almost indestructible; there are some men who are 80 cynical that they swear the whole race to heil, but they save thetr one of them, and it is generally thelr motper. A reat life is far more poweriul than the mdst pungent sermons. What is it in fictions that delight us so? It is the perfect, the good characters. There are far more in the pages ol fiction than in the world itself; but it is the sweetuess of the described and portrayed na- ture that captivates us, It is the completeness of the nature of good and trve Men and women that capti- vates us, It is not the people who pray a good deal, sing a good deal, go to meeting 4 good deal, though these things in themselves are very helpful and commendable, that are always the most lovely and the most captivating, but it is the people with WHOLE AND TRUE SOULS, But you say that the Gospel is a history of Christ. I gay it is not. The Gospel is a history of the Spirit of Christ in @ living form. There is Christ in_prin- ter’s ink without number; but Christ in men— Christ, the hope of glory—now very few. liow easily you can tell these men! You take me into & pine wood, and you tell me itis an oak wood, I say itis not, I know the fragrance too well. You bahe ue tals @ acw-mown field and tolime that it isan old barn. I know better, What, then, tt this be 80, are the Gospel Jorces of the world? What mast be the substitutes and usurpers of them? ‘To a very large degree high spiritual rapture has been substituted torthem, Now, | have frequently said that men have a Praying gentus, and {have been reproved for it, Yet there 13 as much @ genius in devotion as in anything else. Praying is just a3 much, sometimes, 4 matter of genius as oratory; juss, indeed, Sc Much a flow of speech towards God as oratory is a few of speech towards men, Consider, too, the intellectual forces which have been presented to the world as the truth—presented, too, to the intellect. That which the worid wants is not this presenta- tion of the cold, intellectual truth; that which it wants is the presentation of the heart. It is that waich the world wants. Suppose I want to show aman what A SPLENDID THING an orchard is in the mellow Gays of October, and 1 take him down into my ceilar, and Ishow him an old barreio! cider that has turned to vinegar. Weil, he doesn’t think much of that. Well, 1 show him last year’s barrel, and he doesn’t think much more of that. Well, I show him a barrel of this year’s Cider, and 1 give him a straw; but still he js not satisfied, and he yet thinks jt isn’t much of an orchard, {take him up to the mill, show him the apples In the press split up, and ali slush and dirt. Well, be tlunks that is rather a slushy orchard. 1 say, “Let’s go out into tne lots,” I go with him, and he looks around upon the trees filed with fruit, and he suiffs the fragrance, @nd he is all sensitive to the beauty and the glory of the giorious season, and _the joys with which he is surrounded, That is just what the theologians do, They say, “Let me show you the Gospel,” and they bring out their barrel of cider, that has gone to vinegar, and they say they want togive us every “pint” thatisinit, And he begins with the evi- dences of the Gospel, that God established reve- lation — by inspiration, and then draws olf his deductions from inspiration, So he Tolls them off, and you coud call then of with the same facility that you could call off the roll of a military company. . Beecher illustrated the various difficulties that arose out of what he designated dynastic Christianity, I tell my boy, who has run agatnst a lamppost, not to run Cee a lainppost again. By aod by he comes in and says that he has ran AGAINST A TREE, Well, {tell him not to run against atree. Te comes in next day and says that he has not run @yainst a tree, but against an iron railing. Well, I tell him not tu run againet anything. ell, you gay, his Own common sense would have told him that. But if you were to answer theologians thas way it would sweep one-half of them from the face of the earth. For the Gospel there has been substituted church polity—dissertations in regard to the relation of theology te history and to the State—and nine-tenths of the power of man have been spent upon the external and the acciden- tal. ‘there never has been a time in the whole world, on the part of the whole body of Ohristians, when the force of the truth has been made to de- pend upon the real power ot the Gospel. The true power of a church is its capacity in the productive- ness oi men who are true men in Christ Jesus, Now that is an awful test. Idon't know any man who can stand under it, Icould not, When I see among you differences, squabbies, avout a Sunday school I feel that lam about as poor a preacher as I know, when I judge you then and by what I see, Thus we come to see that personal excellence is the law of ali Christian union, All other things are a8 nothing in comparison. TALMAGE AT THE ACADEMY, The Baptism of Fire—Anniversary of the Burning of the Tabernacle—The Con- ventionallities of the Church Depre= cated, Mr. Talmage yesterday morning preached the anniversary sermon of the burning of the Taber- nacle. Despite the snow, which rendered walking disagreeable, the attendance was quite as large as usual on Sabvath mornings. In publishing his no tices Mr. Talmage announced that he would re- ceive calls on New Year's day at his residence, No. | 287 Quiney street, and invited ail his people to meet him there, and bring thetf friends with them The text of the sermon was trom Mattnew, tll, 1i:-—"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.? Aiter dwelling upon the impor- tance of men listening when God speaks, in wave, or wind, or storm, or earthquake, or confagra- tion, tue preacher drew a graphic picture of the destruction of the Tabernacle last Decumber, aud then proceeded to draw out the analogy between tWo buptisins—the baptism of last December and the baptism of the Holy Ghoat in tue revival that has taken place since the jogs of the Tabernacle, and the consequent saving of many soula for Christ, Both baptisms were sudden, The congres gation THOUGHT THE TABERNACLE WAS FIREPROOF, and that whatever else might go that building never could, So on that cold December day, when it waa in Dames, there was amazement on covery face, and they cohid hardly think it posethle that the building was burning, 80 snddenty had the calamity come, So had tb been with the other vap- | tisin, the baptism of the Loly Ghost, ‘The spiritual Ore Droke out Bere on s Sabbath night, and whilé hundreds were arising and asking for prayerg there was @ look of amazement on the faces of the peo) and some aged Christians wondered what meant, The preacher also found the analogy between t they were trresiatle the baptisms in the fact tha: ble. Notwithstanding all their boasted machinery and organization for putting out fires the efforta that were made did not repulse the flames last De- cember. So it has been with the Holy Spirit moving through the hearts of this peopié. Wy, there have been aged men who for 40 or 60 years had RESISTED THE TRUTH who had surrendered, There have been men here who swore that the religion of Christ should never come into thelr households, who now kneel with their chudren at the same altar. Formalists bhava tried to put out the spiritual fire, but have only had their trouble for their pains, It has gone on and is going on now, conquering pride and world« lness and sin, and may it Keep on until it has awepteverything before it and there shall be in every household an altar andin every heart # throne for the blessed Jesus. is The analogy is farther found in the fact that both baptisms were melting. If you examined the bars and bolts and plumbing work of the Taber nacle alter the fre, you know what a meiting pro» cess there had been, The things that seemed. to have no relation to each other floated together. So It has been with the other baptism, the better baptism. It has melted down our asperities, It has destroyed all our rudges, — Heart has flowed out towards eart, it has been a melting process, if there ia anything that our city churches need it is a melt- ing. There are 1,000 icicles hanging to the eaves of our city churches where there are two icicles hanging to the eaves of the country churches, We are go afraid we will get acquainted with somebody that won’t do us honor! THR GRBAT WANT OF THE CHURCH : to-day is athaw, O that the Lord God would rise and melt down the freezing conveutionalities of His Church, I think that that fire of last December and this spiritual fire of this December have melted us until we flow together in Christian sympathy and harmony and love, and that we can now join hands in one great family circle as a church bnd sing as We never sang beforo, Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love; ‘The fellowship of kindred minds ike to that above. In conclusion, Mr. Talmage reminded hts people that they had not as a church yet entered upo the mission for which God had baptized them, des With fire and now with the Holy Ghost. They needed to pas forth on & more earnest mission than they had ever entered upon. God did not evidently intend them for smooth work. He had rocked them in A VERY ROUGH CRADLE, If there were any who expected to have a smooth time and an easy pathway they had better wake up irom that delusion and get out of this chureh., If God baptized them with fire it wag because He meant to fit them lor het and tremen- dous work; and in order to ,enter upon that work they needed still more vigorous baptism. They wanted the Holy Spirit to come down in all their famihes with His arousing, melting, illuminating, saving presence, CONSECRATION AT RICHMOND. Dedication of the Dioceses and Vicariate of Virginia to the Sacred Heart of Jesus—Sermon by the Right Reve Bishop Gross, of Savannah, Ga. RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 28, 1878. To-day, at St. Peter’s cathedral, the Dioceses of Virginia anfi Vicariate of North Carolina were sol- emnly dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Solemn pontifictal mass was sung at hal(-past ten o'clock by the Right Rev. Bishop Gibbons, assisted by the Rev. F, Janssens as assistant priest, the Rev. Fathers Charles and Van Vyue as deacon and sab- deacon of the mass and Messrs. Kelly and Tiernan deacons ofhonor. The cathedral was - beautifully decorated with wreaths and evergreens, and this ceremony taking place during Christmas week, the decorations used on that festival were still re- maining as they were first placed. The music on the occasion was pecullariy grand. A fullorchestra was present, and Mozart’s Twellth Mass was ren- dered with care and excellence. ‘Thus all those beautitul accessories which the Catholic Churctt calls to her service, in order more effectually to raise the heart to the contemplation of the God af all, lent their at to-day. In the sanctuary, besides the oMciating prelate, the Right Rey. Bishop Gross, of Savannah, waa present, and, after the Gospel, preached an eloquent sermon, explanatory of the devotion. Ia the vvures oF be said:— Our own being is full of mysteries. The union of our sou: with the body is a mystery, From the heart sows gre blood to the extreme portions of the body. ‘om this little centre of life the tide of blood dows through the Woudermi cnannels pres pared for itin the body by the Almighty. This stream pervades the other members of the body, gives them life, strength and health, Other mem- bers of the body may become diseased, and even lost to the body, and still the body will retain its Hife, But take away the heart and instantly all lite in the body ceases. But we have a higher life than the mere animal ite of our body. There are charms and beauties which can adorn us other than the beautles of th body. For what beauty of countenance can equi the charm bestowed by me kness, purity, hu- mility and charity? or what pleasures of the sense can equal the holy joys which flow irom the love for God and pure charity towards one's neighbor? The centre, however, of this more beautiful and captivating part of our being, of nobler and higher joys, is the heart, The voice of all nations and all ages has ascribed to the heart THE FOUNTAIN HEAD of the tender charity, the unstained purity and other gilts which have adorned their possessorg more than any jewels which this world can bestow. God Himself repeatedly en dorses in Holy Writ the same idea in ascribing the source whence fow_ virtues or vices to the heart. No greater gift, no more precious one, can we offer than our heart, The cnild will teli 1ts parents that they have its heart, Great men, in dying, have bequeathed their hearts, which grateful peoples have religiously kept in shrines of gold and silver. Even God, in return for all the favors and blessings lavished by Him on us, asks our heart. “My son, give me thy heart,’? You will understand, therefore, why the Holy Charch points us, her children, to the Sacred Hears of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN, He was God in all things equal to his Father, and he was man having a body and soul in all respects like ours, sin alone excepted. There were in Christ two distinct natures, the divine and the human, but one only person—the person of the Word of God. The human nature never for & mor ment existed separate from the divine, for even when He hung stark and dead on the cross that sacred body was united to the Divinity, and was worshipped by myriads of unseen angels. What shall We say of the heart of Jesus? It was the centre whence flowed the life of Christ during Hi: mortal career. The heart of Jesus was the sacre: fountain head whence fowed that adurabie blood which on Calvary was paid as the PRICE OF OUR REDEMPTION. Countless myriads of blessed spirits in heaven will adore that blood, whose fountain head was the Sacred Heart. What was the Sacred Heart? The holiest of altars, whence ascended to the Father in Heaven acts of adoration infinite in vaiue, Do ie wish to Know what was the Sacred Heart? Go in spirit to the scene at the Last Supper and hear the love of that Heart expressed in those toachin: words—With desire have I desired to eat thi Passover with you.” Yea, this blessed Heart had yearnea for the tne when He should institute that sacrament which the Ckurch so truthiull calls the sacrament Of His love. Do you wis! to know, what was the Sacred Heart? Go vo the ‘cross and behold, in the gaping wounds, in that plood bedecked body, how greatl, that Heart hath loved us, The Holy Church, ther fore, holds up the Heart of our Saviour, God, as the worthy object of our adoration and of our tender est love. She, moreover, hoids uP to her children that blessed Heart as the model for us all. i rat) er, has not Jesus Himself held up that bvlesss eart as our bighest and most beautifal model® Learn of Sie, for fam meekand humble of heart, To us ati that Heart is A PERFECT MODEL. On all occasions it can serve a8 & model, Does fortune smile upon us? Does the world fatter us? Oh! we can learn from that Heart to listen in humility to its loud hosannas, Does the world Cast humiliations and contempt? Go, then, in spirit to Jerasalem, to learn a lesson of sweet. hess and meekness from t blessed Heart when i alevel with a Barabbas, Are we stung THE 8RRMON to the heart at the ingratitude of those who per- secuted us? Behold that Heart, which on the cross makes its last prayer a pra rsecutors— “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Thereforo, fn dedicating you this day to ‘the Sacred Heart of Jesus, your venerable Bishop wisnes to place you in the surest, the ealest spot—the Sacred Heart of Jesus, In dedicat ing you to that Sacred Heart your dear Bisuop wishes to hold up to your view that the highest and sweetest of models for imitation is the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In conclusion the Kishop said—Permit me on this beautiful oceas sion to eXpress a wish for this groat State—s son ofa sister State, I hope and pray that Virginia, \ hich has placedgits name so high on the escutch- con of honor, may take A WIGH PLACE in the adorable Heart of our Lord, May the song and daughters of Virginia take this nopiest model of virtue and copy it well, May this biessed Heart be to you all of this great State a secure and happy place of abode daring life, your comiort and som ein death, and may this biessed Heart, you and be loved by you to all eternity in en, When the mass waa over, the Rishop having changed the chaguble for the cape, tie blessed CONTINUED ON NINTA PAGE,