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4 PALM SUNDAY. ‘The Triumphs of Christianity Expounded by Eminent Divines. —e—— SERVICES AT THE GREEK CHAPEL, (Dr. Muleahey on Pilate’s Scep- | ticism. | Beecher and the Love of the Brethren. The possibility af a new tssue af inconvertidle paper I regard with amazement and anpiety, and, tn my fudgment, such an tssue would be a detri- ment and a shame.—CHARLES SUMNER. | Canvany CHuRcn.—Rev, E, A. Washburn | preached yesterday morning on the Fifth Com- mandment. ‘The daty of Mltal affection and obedience was eloquently enforced and cogently | illustrated, | Sr. Magx’s CHURCH.—At St. Mark’s charch, cor- nerof Tenth street and Second avenue, the pas- \ior, Rev. J. H. Rylance, D, D., preached @ sefmon on Peter’s apostasy, and drew a pointed moral | Ruerelrom jor the consolation of sinners, | Lyric Hati,—Mr. Frothingham, as usual, chose yuo text, but announced as the subject of his dis- wourse, Tbe Agony of the Son of Man.” He elu- cidated the sumject entirely trom his point of view, jand was Lsteped to with the most earnest atten- ion. FovrrH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.—Chan- \cellor Crosby preached on the theme that ‘The ‘New Life Will Be Manuested by the Outward Lite.”’ His text was Colossians itl, 10—“And I have put eu the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Lum that created him.’’ | THE COLLEGIATE ReroRMED CHURCH.—In the olg | ollegiate Reformed church, corner- of Fourth jstreet and Larayette place, the Rev. James Lamb preached, His sermon was founded on une words found in St, Mark, i, 2—‘‘As it is written in the rophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy ‘ace, Which shail prepare the way. CALVARY Baptist CuurcH.—Rev. R. S. Muc- arthur, the pastor of the Calvary Baptist church, lwenty-third street, between Fifth and Sixth ave- nues, preached yesterlay morning upon the sub- Ject of Christian trials and triumphs. He chose is text Matthew xxiv., 13—“But he that shall » unto the end, tue same shall be saved.’’ CHURCH OF THE New JERUSALEM.—Rev. Chauncey Cues preached yesterday morning at the churca of the NeW Jerusalem, Thirty-flith street, between ‘Lexington and Park avenues. His subject was:— “Angels and spirtts must have occupations: what the Bibie reveals, aud man’s nature demands woncerning them.” FIFTH AVENUE BRICK CHURCH.—Rey. James 0. \Murray, the pastor, occupied the pulpit. He an- wounced as his theme ‘‘The Blessing of Being As- sociated with the People of God.” His text was | ‘Numbers, x, 29. He impressed upon his hearers ithe necessity Of individuals in Cliristianity ident. Mying tuemselves with the Churen, St. Perer'’s Cuvrci.—-st. Peter's Roman Catho- ‘he church, in Barciay street, was filled to overflow- ‘ing yesterday duriug morning service. Pather C. R. Corley sung the mass and periormed the bene- diction of the palms. The passion of our Lord was Tread from the puipit in English by Father O’Far- reli, from the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventn chapters of Matthew. Taw TABERNACLE Baptist CoURcH.—At this cunrch, corner of second avenue and Tenth ssreet, Mr. Henry D. Taylor, of the senior class of the Rochester Theological Seminary, preached his first sermon in New York. His discourse was founded on the text, “Count not thine handmaid for 4 Gaughter of Belial; jor out o: the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto ~ 1 Samuel, t., 16. FOURTEENTH SPR#eT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.— ‘The Rev. Rovert Sioss, pastor of the Fourteenth | street Presbyterian church, Second avenue, near Fourteenth street, preached yesterday morning on “Tne Holy Communion,” making a long argument in support of the custom which was first instituted when Christ pronounced the words which consti- tuted the text of the discourse, “Do this in re- membrance of me.” St. THomas’ CHURCH.—In this church the service Was read by the Kev. Dr. Morgan, rector. The rite of confirmation was administered by the Bishop of the diocese, the Rev. Dr, Potter. The Rev. R. E, Terry, of Brooklyn, preached an eloquent ser- mon from the text “ile humbled himselt,” &c., taken irom the gospel of the day. Filty-four per- | Sons received the rite ol confirmation. | Otp JouN SrReeT METHODIST CuuRcH.—The Rev. N. G. Cheeney, pastor of the old John street Metho- | dist church, chose for his text yesterday the fifth chapter of the first book of Thessalonians, anda portion of the fifth verse, viz.—‘Children of light.” From the fact of children’s disopedience to their parents he evolved the theory of the Christian's relations to his Heavenly Father and the infinite love of the Creator Jor His children, St. ANDREW’s CuURCH.—Jhis church, situated in the neighborhood of mach poverty, in City Hall | piace, was densely crowded yesterday morning. The whole of the service was conducted by Father | M. Curran. The altar pictures were all draped | ‘with purple in commemoration of the day, the | reverend father reading the passion of our Lord | from the twenty-sixth aud twenty-seventh chap- | ters of Matihew instead of preaching a sermon. ALL Sovis’ CHvReH.—Dr? Bellows’ puipit was | occupied yesterday by Rev. O. C. Carpenter. Hla | Orne: though He associated with sinners, did not 9! Vital importance. Priate’s question 1s often put text was eighteen verses of the first chapter of | Matthew. He announced no particular subject, but | went on to show there isa growth in spiritual | matters as well as in material, and that Christ’s | character was so varied, yet always consistent, | that he conquered al] minds. The philosopher and | the workman were alike well adapted to receive his instructions, | | Sr. LUKE’s METHovis? EriscoraL CHURCH.—The | Rev. R. M. Hatdeld, D. D., of Cincinnati, occupied the pulpit in this church in the morning. Anu- } merous congregation attended. The words of the | text were taken irom James, | “Blessed is the | man that endureth temptation: for when he is { 12 tried, he shall receive the crown of life,” suggest- | {ng an eloquent discourse on the temptationa of life, the trials of poverty and the blessed results of amMictions in general in the eventual bliss of per- fect trust in God, | i. Tae WeELsH Metnonis? Cuercn.—The Rey. Powell, pastor of this church, situated in Thir- teenth Street, between Second and Third avenues, preached a sermon in Weish yesterday afternoon, | the object of which was to prove that the Holy | Ghost is the chief Mover in the Church; that to the Paraclete is to be ascribed all snecess. The text was trom the sixth and seventh verses of the | fourth chapter of Zechariah—‘Then he answered | and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of | the Lord unto Ze el, Saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lora of | hostg,”" The possibitity of a new tsewe of inconvertible Paper I regard with amazement and ansiety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would be a detri- | be ready asa matter of bounty, and not asof | ternal to ns, It remains the same whether we men and a shame,—Ch« RLES SUMNBR. we - BROADWAY TaneRNacte.—This magnificent puild- ‘Ing Was in the morning yesterday filed by a large Qnd reverent congregation. The pastor, Rev. Wiliam M. Taylor, ). D., preached, taking as his Bbext Luke, iv., 4—“Man shall not live by bread Mone. but by the word of God.” The sermon wag | rector, Rev. Mr. MeVickar, preached irom Psaims, | | the “Ducies of Christian Ministers,” taking for his Church of the Covenant, street and Park avenue, before a large and fash- | a8 ® man o/ the world {s apt to do who has no | faith which i8 not, im its very nature, tf true steward; and the same was accused unto him that | tions.” | ment and a shame.—CHARLES SUMNER, RALD, MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1874.—TRIPLE an able exposition of the biblicate condition of | naving purchased the Jewish synagogue on Thirty- | ajter nature, but it does seriously affect men. It man’s liie—trust in and obedience to God, in con- | niuthstreet, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, | is a truth, tor example, that, while many of the Junction with the use of means afforded to us to be used hereafter as their church edifice, the | ©4°tU’s products are nutritious others are polson- Even as the body is supplied with bread so is the dedication of tuts building yesterday was attended | eewiiae by ¢ Pg ye te eG spirit’ supplied with tne word of God; and | by @ ‘ull meeting of members, The pastor, Rev. | truth, and his practical use of it may be propor- “whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, | Andrew Stephenson, D. D., preached a sermon on | tlonably restricted. But faith in the truth will we do all to the glory of God.” | the benefits of early dedication of life to God and | Xeg?,tim trom presuming beyond his knowledge, CHunou or THe Houy TRiniTY (HARLEM) .—The | | and so insure his safety, But if, on the other be ie . a4 cil the evils of spiritual neglect, his text being II. pane one ietermtses re hunseit $e tenors se RST PRESBYTERIAN CuURCH.—There W4S 4 | Qnronicles, xxxiv., 1-T—the narration of the | {UtD and tnsts on making le own individual moderate attendance at the morning service yes- | Ae ots of Josiah’ ane taste and opinion the sole rule for deciding on | earlier acts of Josiah’s reign, What he shall eat or drink, his faith is positively terday in this beautiful edifice. The pastor, Rev. | ee wrong—that 1a, it 18 faith in his own self-saileency Thomas S. Hastings, occupied the pulpit. The text The possibility y a new issue of inconvertidle | and in(allibility, instead ot in oe real Sook, and is my @ ms | . would not ve very surprising if he shonjd go on to taken Was from Job, xv., L1—‘‘Are the consolations paper Iregara with amazement and anziety, and, choose the sweetness Of poison, tn shonid Age he of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing | inmay judgment, such an issue would ve a detrt- | would b obody. ut Dy tng 0 blame in its con- with thee?’ The preacher, after some prelimi- | ment and a shame,—CHARLES SUMNER. | Seqhence: : erg aes ache Preowely so in | - vsti ink the revelation of grace. The subjects of this reve- BAEZ) FOGRARNR: OR: Sei CONDARY AE ADEE | lation are God's traths—truths that do not depend pride suggested by the context, proceeded to | PILATE’S SCEPTICISM. upon andare not at all affected by the notions or demonstrate the manifold and hopetul consola- inclesor men, Wor instause, Shab Share is one Ultiae v hic: ¥ | and true God; that je 8 Our im ly Creator aan the ail-wise goodness 0! God affords 0 Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Mulechahey on | p24, Father; that, He cares ior Us loves Us, yet ne. Pilato’s Scepticism—' | holds us accountabie by tho laws ot righteousness ; ; ruth Hache a eye Am | that when we nad ‘allen under the power of sin | — aster Than To Believe in False- | je sent His only begotten Son to take our nature | hood—The Beauties of the Christian’s be Him, ey ff a i and die ioe 08; ae ct Q he person of Chris jesus was Or ie OF, & » Be pone atthe oreps Cb nela RABOAY ABH!) Faith and the Darkness of Scepticism. | invamnare and dwelling in our flesh; that Ais liie how Christians siould love to Keep it. It should The services at St, Paui’s Episcopal church, cor- was for us a true fulfilling of the law of righteous- bring to mind the mediatoriai works of Christ, the | ner of Broadway and Vesey street, yesterday, were | ness, His death a true propitiation and satisfic- holy Passover, with blood to sprinkle the mercy | Of the peculiar solemnity demanded by the cele- | {on for out transgresslonsy Wat He ras trots tite seut, and to ask God’s pardon for past iniquities. | bration of Pain Sunday. Yesterday was the occa- | Father in Hea where He now liveth to tnter- Tt ushers in the day when Christ sat at the table of | Sion of the first great Christian festival since the | bong for ff hard efore His aacenise nine. Oaned supp 7 5 v ‘ | and constituted sacramen: ordinance: the Last Supper, when He wes at Gethsemane,of renovation of St. Paul's, The new embeilish- initiation into His religious economy and another the tempest and woes of Calvary, of the rest in the ments are of a very chaste and beautiful char- | for continued fellowship and communion in its tomb, of the days lollowing like rays of light mid | acter, particularly in the chancel, where the | uiciinal Hes Ee oA wae ostanlahed ap oulreraa s | | and perpetual extension His Churel " the dark storm, | mingling of blue and gold forms a very pretty | “which is His body,” the habitation of His regen- Cuvunon oF rug Hoty Savioun—Rev. A. B, Carter, | 7c Tue blue of the background is relieved | erating and sanctttying Spirit, in which He is re- ‘4 ‘ | by pretty figures in gold, which are in the best | Vealed and imparted to every faithiul soul as the the rector, preached on the subject of “Christ's taste. Here and there a mon m of the initials | W#Y, the truth and the life, and that the oondi- Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem,” taking for his ‘ograim of the initials | tions of everlasting salvation are thus proifered text Luke, Xix., 37, 3% The world, he said, woula | Of the Saint irom whom the church is named,may | to every one of us. These, and such as these, are M % ara . 4 be seen, also neatly done in gold leaf, The puipit | the truths revealed. They are truths whether we hardly recognize the descent from the Mount of | rec f d r received & has been renovated, and @ sounding board, | Tecelve them or no. If we had neve! Olives as a triumphal procession. It was almost @ f @ board. | revelation of them we should not be held respon- parody, But Christ, he proved, came not to show | with the symbolic figure of the Holy Guost in re- | sibie for belief in them; but surely no one who is ts 4 Z tievo, adds much to the effect of the voice. All the | 20t blinded by miserable seli-deceit can fail to see the majesty and glory of the kingdom above; came | appointments on the altar, ag mn h | thacif a revelation of them have been vouchsatea not asa mighty potentate, but illustrated in His | » 9 Well as in the | from heaven, and if we have been placed by God’s life that tue humility of heart is the noblest of all church, have @ new look and are set off by the | providence within the light of that revelation, it a cleanliness and freshness of the walls and baius- | 4ves, it must, make a momentous and vital ditter- Virtues. The service abounded with music most | | 1145 of tne gail L | ence to us whether we rightly believe them or no, artistically rendered, ‘ades of the gallery. Last evening the Rev. | 1) in the light of such @ revelation, you throw ER | Mr. Mulchahey preached @ sermon on the yourself back on your individual fancies and | First Barrist CuuRcH.—At the First Baptist | sutyect of Pilate’s scepticism, taking his | Opinions, and determine to exercise your inde- | churen, Park avenue and Thirty-ninth street, Rev. | text from John xviil., 38—“Plinte saith | ROwdeuce by trusting in and following them, you | do not, and cannot, Change the truth in the least | by your conclusions, but you put yourself, in rela- Dr. Thomas D, Anderson, the pastor of the church, | unto him, ‘What is truth.’ The preacher said: | tn my judgment, such an issue would te a detri- SHEET, to have come through doubt, through be reyes through the drawbacks of carnal conceit and self- Dienehe by real earnest thought and stuly and pears (striving, unto the knowledge o! God in riat; to be able to say honestly, with a noble hero of old, “1 know whom I have be'leved, and sm per- suaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him'’—ths requires, if not imtel- lectual strength, at ieast intellectual and spiritual imtegrity, Aad it is itself a ground and source of strength. ‘To believe,” Rovertson well says—and on this point I quote the more gladly trom him, as one never suspected of any tendency toward & too creduious faith—“To believe 1s to be strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief ts power, Only 0 far a8 a ian believes strongly, migltily, can he act cheertully or do anything that ts worth doing. ° ¢ The only manly tuning, the only strong thing, is iaith, It is noc so fur as & man doubts, but sO far as Le believes, that he can achieve or eriect anything, ‘All clings are possibie to him hat believeth.’ Never count hima beaefactor, then, but consider him, rather, a8 your worst enetny, who trifes with oriu any way endeavors to unsettie your faith, And never, on your part, be false to it. Never allow yourself to be an imitator of Pilate in asking, speptically, “What is tratn?” But let your spirit ever be attuned to flud its iraest ex- Pression in the psalm of iaith:— Lord, forever at Thy side, Let my place and portion be; Strip me of the robe of pride, ‘Clothe me with humility. Meekly may my soul receive nt eee hath rey Aled; en—I believe, Though the oracle be sealed umble ax a little child Weaned trom the mother’s breast, By no subtiety heguiled, y faithtal ‘Word 1 rest, i The possibility of @ new issue of tnonvertible paper Iregard with amazement and ansiety, and, ment and a shame.—CHuARLES SUMNER. PLYMOUTH CHURCH. Mr. Beecher on Love—The Power Which Makes Man Like God—How the Ply- mouth Congregation Took the Verdict of the Council. On entering Plymouth church yesterday morn- ing, twenty minutes before the commencement of services, One strange to the place would probably have been surprised by the buzz of hali-suppressed, eager voices, On all sides excited bretiren and sisters were communicating to necighbcrs the re- sults of the late session of the Congregational delivered the morning sermon before a numerous | We cannot say with positive certainty what were 00 to the dispensation of Divine grace, in a posi- F ; re- | and flity-second verses of the eleventh chapter of | itis quite certain that he did not expect an | ing that position, it is clear, in tue first place, that | St. Jonn:—And this spake he not of himself; but, | answer. He put it either in jesting captiousness | te mental temper is wrong. It is an attitude of being high priest that year, he prophesied that | or else in gloomy despair—either as one who did | Bee Le Gary ep bien rete peated Jesus siouid die for that nation; and not for that not care whether or no there be anysuchthing | apart from all the common relations of tne nation only, but that also he should gather to- | as truth, or else as one who had settled himself in | ¢C020mMy im which the Div.ne providence has gether in one the children of God that were scat- the conclusion that a knowledge of the truth can- | cast your jot; that you can subsist without tered abroad." | not be attained with any satisiactory degree of Sour RerorMED CHuUKCH.—Rey. E. P. Rogers, the pastor, occupied the pulpit, and preached on text Ezekiel, x warn the peopl picture of war. notes of warning, attack, assault, retreat or re- dependence on any of its resources, and find | your way cleariy without accepting its light. The | | certainty, 1! ti , | Vanity of such an assumption is not more remark- | | cea rds A RRUAT EADS SHOP MORGERrangve.. He | ble than tts ‘olly, and these are both surpassed, if | peiore hin at the tine a prisoner in respect of | possivie, under the claims of tue Christan revela- Whom he was in grievous perplexity, An excited | tion, by its ingratitude. For here the Pritnolbtng | 1g | Of i@ith involves not only rejection of truth, but 1, 8—“Blow the trumpet and | Mb were clamorously demanding this prisoner's | dis "repudiation of a Person, and that Person, | ‘he text and its context were a ©°#demuation as a blasphemer against their God | Him who claims to pe the only begotten Son of | . ‘ and a traitor to the State, And yet the whule de- | God incarnate for our salvation. His claim to our ROTA aN cot fu ors ae and history of this Suesner vee such | uth involves also cluims to our deepest gratitude i | and our most dutiful and loving devotion; claims joicing in victory, as the case might be. It was | 4S te make Pilate feel, not only that He was inno- | to the homage of all that we are and have, to the Hf cent of their charges, but also that there might be , eutire submission of ourselves ana all that is ours necessary. to strike the right note, From this id | to His service, under the direction and guidance | something superhuinan in His nature. His per- | | of His holy spirit. And it is not possible for you plexity respecting Him is shown by his conduct. to withhold faith from Him without tts involving, | tuts 18 very grapilcully pictured by Roverisun, in | asa consequence, the refusal of your gratitude asermou on the text, “First, he nears what the | and your aliegiance; ‘it is not possible to be defi- | people have to say; then he asks the opinion | cient in your faitu without an exactly proportion- ol the priests, then comes back to Jesus; | ate detraction irom all your religious principles trom Him goes again to the priests and peopie, | and afiections. To these considerations it is 10 be lends his ear, listens to the ferocity on the one | added now that there is no doctrine which comes hand and feels the beauty on the other, balancing | to us as a doctrine of revelation—I mean, simply, between them. And tien he becomes bewild , | On that assumption, no article of the Christian illustration, as a basis, he indicated the duties of ministers of the el, as God's trumpeters, to sound notes of alarm to sinners aud call them to repentance. CHURCH OF THE CovBNANT.—Rey. Marvin RB. Vincent, D, D., yesterday morning preached at the corner of Thirty-fifth groundwork of religious principles, and hears | at all, of the utmost practical consequence. Superficial discussions on religious ‘matters aud | Take’ the great fundamental truth of superficial charges and superticial slanders, til he | all revealed religion—that there 1s one Almighty Knows not what to think.” What could com: out | and Everlasting God, in whom and by Whom and of such # procedure but that cheerlessness oi soul to whom are a things. This, if it be @ truth—a | to which certainty respecung anything and every- | truth the knowledge of which involves obligations thing liere on earth seems unattainabler What, tar beyond that of @ mere theoretical opiniop—it im short, but that sad mental state which is prop- | demands the devotion of all our iaculties to Him, erly designated by the word “scepticism?” Such, | aud our most implicit trust in Him. And, on the then, seems to have been nis mood. And in suct | other nand, we cannot disbelieve it without being a mood, when be heard the very prisoner before | jeit, in our unbelief, without God in the worid; | him speak, with caim, majestic serenity, of truth and our very existence becomes to us, in conse- as tue very end and purpose of life; when he heard | quence, a mere accident of titme—without principle, Trinrry Cuvrcu.—The altar of Trinity church pam Geclares eee eae aoa ane e ee | Lene: devotion, without Rone: are ue ane ts ae ae a. | cause came to the worid, that 1 snould bear | vealed character of God, the doctrine of the was draped bk cil sheclgesioel ae beer pra Witness unto the truta. Every one that is o! the | Bibie in relation to His atiributes of omnipotence, tion of our Lord’s passion. e cohgregation Was | truth beareth my voice’’—oh, there was nothing in | omnipresence, omuiseience, goodness, holiness, ionabie congregation, choosing for his text St. Luke xvi, 1 and 9—“And He said unto His disci- pies, There was a certain rich man, which hada he had wasted his goods.” “And | say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habita- unusaally large. The pastor, the Rev. Morgan a pipapeal so | aucl fod [peeg Pest at (Urine | Justice and mercy. If your belie! strip in of any w we ‘ —Christ’s re aa 3 ‘uthy TOKE rom ny 2 a | ol these attributes, or subszitute Others of @ char- Dix, preached on the gospel of the day—Cnrist’s gaq “bitter, sarcastic sigh. “What is truth?” | acter mconsistent with them, it is piain that both triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the igno- Who knows anytuing about it? Wno has it® | your serv'ce in relation directly to Him, and aiso minions death which Was awaiting Him, He said who can be ceri#in wheulcr he has it or not? The | your whole character im ail its Felutious, wust, 1m ‘ ae ; ne question was hot put to get an answer, forhe went | so far as you are true to your belie!, be especially We are now permitted to commemorate again the immediately ou and did not wait for an answer. | atfected.” 80 with any. of the doctrines bles¥ed passion of our Lord. Human life is short ]t was not put tor the sake of ridicule, ior he went | which are distinctively Christian; the alter- and uncertain, said the preacher, and he prayed on to say, “I find no fault mm Him.” There was sar- | nauuve is the same between truth and that his hearers wouid be always ready to meet casmi in H, but it was “that mourniul, bitter sar- | faisehood, and the practical cousequences casm, which hides inward unrest in sneering words—that sad irony, Whose very laugh rings Of | of Christ be true, it involves the duty o/ honoring inward wretchedness.’’? And now, in pursuing the | Himeven as we honor the Father. But if that both the quick and the dead. | subject, I have to say :— | doctrine be not true, then whe rendering of such q | rideereieoileer aare Mts genre poate to | FORCE Co lera ts poshing: else than dow nEgnt religio saddest, the most unhanpy | idolatry. Ifthe doctrine oi the atonement by The possibility of a new tesue of inconvertidly and disheartening state into which one can eee, | bicod if true, it G@emands repentance of sin Pad paper I regard with amazement and anxiety, and. a er Se eee aaa erica os | deal belt i Him Gees uit pe are oe [- | 3 el eI bject such repentance is needless and such faith vain. in my judgment, such an issue would bea detri- | Cher faith than to have HO inith. For the moment | erane dnotrine of the resurrection ani Curate Jadge that faith 18 gone, the moment that one settles | ment be true, it is our wisdom and our duty to down into the conclusion that there is no such | live as they that must give account (or an inherit- | thing as truth, or no ascertainment of it, that mo- | ance of eternal lue; if it be not true, we may as ment his life is left without any guiding principle | well adopt as our motto—“Let us eat and drink, and without any high aim; and one of two | for to-morrow we die.” wretched results will surely foliow. Either he will When such alternatives are at issue it must not become a mere trifler, or else @ gloomy and ma- | be pretended or thought that it is unimportant— lignant hater of everything that accredited as | that it is less than vitally important—to know and truth. O/ course, he will then regard all wno profess | believe the truth, This, then, we repeat, should to hoid and believe in such truth as cither hypo- be held ever as a settled, fundamental principle crites or fools; and this universal distrust o! others | that a true beiiei—belief, that 1s, of the trutn—in can scarcely help reacting to foster dishonesty in | religion, is not a matter of indifference, but o! the | himsell, He is only playing the same me that | utm ost importance. i re e ne di ft divinit: their Lord, whether they lived or died, when He are Juseas iiverse. Weed cc wine Of sip cieiey, shouid come in tne glory of His majesty to judge CHURCH OF THE HBAVENLY Rest.—Rev. Robert S. Howland preached on lukewarm Christianity, choosing as tis text Revelations, ill, 15 and 16. Among men, he began, there are those who never show remarkable excellence, on the one hand, nor anything for scandalous tongues, on the other. This medium, lukewarm character is not oiten no- ticed where there has been either sickness or suf- | Say that 1 the Son of man am?’ fering. On the Judgment Day it would seem to be hard to tell whether they are wheat or tares. They are not saints, but they are very fair men, Why should not Christ judge them as leniently as the world does? Because Christ calls us out of the World to eievate us. St. Paui’s EpiscoraL CuvurcH.—The services Brooklyn, yesterday morning, were more than or- dinartly solemn, impressing the congregation very forcibly with the sanctity of the season that Palm Sanday commemorates. The prayers were read by Rey, Dr. Drowne, terminating witn the fine old hymn from Monk’s collection, ‘*Ride on! ride on in majesty |’ after which Dr. Drowne preached a very feeling sermon, taking for his text the forty- fourth verse of the twenty-third chapter of St, Luke’s Gospel—“‘And it was about tue sixth hour, and there was a darkness over ali the earth until the ninth hour.’ A very noticeable feature of the service at this church 1s the singing by the chor- Isters of the processiopals. MADISON AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.—Rev, Dr. Adams preached yesterday morning to the usually large and fashionable congregation. His | subject was Christ's interpretation of His mission, down and bis text Matthew, xvi, 12—“Whom do men He said that afnate with them. There was no guile on His lips. Christ told His disctples plainly who He was; that He was the Messiah—the Olrist of whom Moses had written and David sung, and whose com- | ing the prophets had foretold. He sbowed the propriety of Christ making this revelation to His disciples, and the results of such revelation as manifested through all the centuries since, Unity Cnaren (HARLEM).—‘‘Rational Religion” was the subject of Rev. Mr. Clarke, who took for his | hola text the words of Paul, “Prove all thing: fast to that which is good.” He said that Paul was the first Christian rationalist. The Reformation was an outbreak of reason. Every distinctive development of Protestantism, from Luther to Theodore Parker, was in the line of rationalism, Bat Protestants have never been but half true to their own principles. They denied alive Pope, but put a printed one tn its place, They made two mistakes in contending for an unnecessary infalll- _ bility, and the right of private judgment with the ability that education and moral insight give. Pro- testant freedom is that of a flock of sheep in a pasture, with wolves prowling without the walls. Cnrist CafrcH.—At Christ Church, corner of Tnirty-fifth street and Filth avenue, the congrega- | tion assembled was unusually large, The Rev. H. | M. Thompson, D. D., preached the morning ser- mon, choosing hia text from the ninth chapter of St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, fifth and sixth verses, ‘Therefore I thought it necessary to | exhort the brethren that they would go before | that whic! unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might coveteousness,”"—"But this I say, he which soweth | sparingly, shail reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap aiso bountifully.”’ SECOND REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.—This congregation, formerly worsnipping on West Eleventh street, between Sixth and Seventh ave- nues, and more recently in Continenta: Hall, others are playing for the same selfish ends; or | Tiird—ana now there is a third fundamental else he assumes a tone of lofty superiority; deals principle, which 1s this: Thac in religion, as in ail Out coarse and harsh mvectives against bigotry and narrow-mindedness; plumes hunself on his | tarian prejudice and sectarian cant; while, in science, the trath is iY be authenticgted by certain legitimate rules, and hag its vita! liveratity of sentiment and his freedom from sec- | institutions. tious class of religious y in organic There isa large and quite preten- hilosophers in these days truth, he is steeped to the very lips in the bitter- | who are continually talking about “searching for est malignity against all who dissent in the \east irom his unbelief, What a wretcned state of mind and heart! Who would willngiy sink into it? Who the truth,’ as if the truth were something which 1s adrift somewhere in the wide universe, and which every individual is to spend his life in seeking— | at St, Paul's Episcopal church, Clinton street, would not be glad to Know and anxious to hold | eaci one in his own Way and on his own account. | Jast to the principles of thought and lite which will | But, surely, there are some things tried and proved preserve him from it? Give me, then, your atten- | in religion as in everything else. Truth has laws tion while I ende some Of these principles. be settled asa fundamental and unquestionavle principle that in religion, a8 in every kind of | doubting assurance, eavor to indicate and illustrate | and principles which are settled, and which are not First of all, then, let it | to be ignored and continually reargued, but, on the contrary, to be accepted and relied upon with un- Suppose one shouid adopta science, there is such a thing as absolute truth. | similar philosophy in the matters of the present ‘There either is, or else tuere ts not one living and | life. every man must find and test tor himscif all truth. Suppose we should compel every one to find out tor true God; and He either has or else He has not | made that revelation of His nature and His | Wil which 18 contained in the books of Scripture | and proclaimed in the preaching and the sacra- mental mintstrations of the Church. There can be | no other alternative, Bo compromise which can | mnitigate in the least the opposition between these | positions, One of them must be true—true as Inatter of absolute fact, altogether independent of | any notions of ours—and the other muét be as ab- soluteiy false. It 1s not a question between differ- | ent seis or phrases of opinions, eituer of winch | may be held or rejected in the way of mere specu- | lation, Jt is NOt a balance of supposititious or theo- | retical notions, but it is a simple unmitigated alternauve between absvlute truth and sheer right falsenood. Second—It must be held, therefore, in the second Place, as @ settled principle that belief of the | good truth and nothing but the truth in this matter 16 nowadays—whether put by him or not—in such & Spirit as a sneer at the {Olly of insisting on any de- cided conviction in religious doctrme or fact. | | “What is truth ?’ itis asked. “Who need care jor that? What difference does it make whether we believe im one God. or in three gods, or in | twenty, if we only live godly? What matters it | Whether we hoid all the articles of the Curistian | faith as contained in the Aposties’ creed or deem | this faith no better than antiquated superstition, | provided only taat our conduct accords with good | principles ’ Ur of What importance can any dog- matic shades or degrees of belief be provided only tuat we are sincere in what we do hoid ?” For modes of faith let gracetess zealots fight, His can’t be Wrong whose life is iu the right. This sounds very plausibie and finds an easy cur. rency witn the careless and superficial. But one must be very careless and superficial not to see Wat its plausibility is not that of truth, bat of wretched fallacy. For it ought to be understood by every one who thinks at all, or assumes to know anytiung, about religion, that in both its function and its subject matter faith 1s something quite distinct from, and altogether superior to, | mere opinion, There are, unquestionably, in re ligion, a8 in every other department of life and thougut, a thousand subjects which are properly matters of opinion; but here, as elsewnere, they are only saoch matters as are un- | certain and indeterminabie. In assigning them to the province of opinion we determine them tobe such, We do not profess to have cet | tain knowledge respecting tuem, but only # proba- bie judgment. We are of the opinion, that is, we think, on the Whole, irom the degree ol evidence afforded us, that they are so and 80; but concede, or ought to concede, to others who may see them | from a different standpoint or under different | degrees of eviaence, the right to an entirely differ- ent opinion. But faith, aad especially religious faith, is quite distinct trom this, Faith is not | what one winks or conjectures, bat what one believes, and the subject matter of belief is not h is deemed to be Pel as ga but that | which is recognized a8 accredited mact. Religio | faith is the assent of the mind and heart to the | truth which God has revealed, This truth is ¢@ | believe it or not. Jt does not depend upon and is not at all affected by our thoughts or sentiments. But surely, if tt be reveaied, and if we be living in the light of that revelation, we must be respon- sible for its reception, and it must make @ very great difference in our character and on our aestiny whether we receive and coniorm to it or refuse to do so. There are certain truths in the revelation of nature, They are the truths of nature, ee whether men bave iaith in them or not, does no! | from Suppose we sbould take the ground that bunself whether fire will burn, whether water will drown, whether there be any such thing as poison and what are its effects; whether it really makes any difference what we eat or drink, ana in all other matters demand from every man—nay, every boy and giri—the exercise Oo! the same right of private judgment—it | i8 quite prodable that it would not be very long beiore our puilosophy would, by its own practical conciusions, effectually demonstrate its absurdity. No, bretiren, truth is not thus adrift, without local habitation or name, It is not thus subject | ever to individual empiricism. It is established in laws and institutions. 1t has the attestation of ‘estimony and the prescription of common con- sent, aud woe to htm who presumes, without very reason, to contradict any fact or doctrine which is substantiated py the weight of concur- rentauthority! Yo do it under any circumstances | ig to axsume a tremendous responsibility. ‘True, it 18 possible, that a doubt of some principle, which is apparently thus established, may cross— | nor only that, but lodge itself in one’s mind, ana | evidence agaiust it, seemingly new and credible, may come to him or fash upon him, and then his individual responsibility requires that he shoulu— not plunge at once into general scepticism, nor suffer his mind to betake itself indefinitely and superficially to tue entertainment of ali sorts of questions and doubdtiul disputations, but give himself, with all his capabilities, under a tuil sense of all the responsibill- | ties that God has laid upon fim, with a! faithfu: and conscientious use of all sources of | light and all means and tests of knowledge, to the investigation of just that point—to search out the ‘ound of his doubt and determine the worth of evidence; aud it is possible that, in the pro- | cess, the old truth may become to him a demon- strated falsehood. But be must be an exceedingly yaiu and presumptuous person who does not shrink | from such a position, or who can enter into it | without most profound deference tu the over- | Whelming presumpuon of prescript authority which stands against him, The true spirit, then, the spirit which sor the attainment of both truth | and Jappiness we should all cherish, is not that of Puate, Which puts one continually in a questioning | and doubting attitude, but it is that of the modest | and deferential diseiple, quick to receive, apt to | believe and predisposed to implicit faith in all | legitimately established authorities. It 1s a gloomy | and a wretched tning to lose this faith or to have | it unsettled. There is 4 conceit which young men | @ apt, especially, to entertain, and which there | are peculiar influences at work in our time to foster, tat scepticism 18 @ proof of strong minded- ness, something that they may be proud of But it i8 @ miserable delusion—a delusion which | @ larger knowledge and a deeper experience | ot life reveals to be miserable tn its character and | its effects. It is no proot of tutellectual strength; | it 18 but surface work to doubt, ‘To on irom | doubt to disbelief is to go somewhat deeper; but | disbeliei may require no real thought, no knowk | edge, no honest judgment—nothing but an untrue Conscience, a depraved taste ana @ perverse will. These are quite sufficient to lead any one who sub- mits himself to their guidance into the lowest depths of religious unbelief. But to have a well gtvuunded faith; to have proved the worthlessness and futility of sceptical speculations; to have come to @ clear apprehension of the facts and the re- sponsibilities pertaining Zo ail our relations, both temporal and eternal; recognize and duly preciate the evidences of history, of propuecy, of Iniracie, of natural analogies, of divinely estab- | manifestations ; Council, which had ¢losed its labors in the smail hours of the morning, Some brought their HERALDS with them and were reading its re- port and the editorial comments, and ail who oc- cupied the already mostly filled pews were dis- cussing 1n an excited way the acts and counsels of the ecclesiastical body which they seemed to con- sider as convened to squelch the Plymouth pastor and throw discredit on the discipline and morale of their church. Little of the conventional awe ef a house of worship appeared to check the Plymouth flock in their free criticism tn the meeting house upon what they consider as unwarranted meddling in their affairs, They havingseen fit to quietly drop from the church rolls a person who had voluntarily severed his church connection four years before, without bringing him before the Con- gregational bar and thrusting him from the pale | with the anathemas of excommunication, they hold — that under their form of organization they alone are competent to decide upon such action, and ask neither consent, indorsement or counsel of sister churches in the matter, especially as it is under- stood that tne churches which now seek to impugn their action have in many cases done precisely the Same thing, without doubt or question of its pro- | priety or their right. So far as the Council exoner- | ated Plymouth church from censure in the matter | at issue the verdict was accepted as well enough by its critica in Plymouth church assembled; but | where the conclave assumed to advise the garrison | of the rock as to their future course, it was plain to see and easy enough to hear irom all portions of | the throng in the body of the sanctuary and its wide galleries a decided expression of dissent and | disapproval. Mr. Beecher came in, as usual, at the rear en- trance, threw his soft hat upon the floor, and, glanc- ing upon the floral weaith arranged upon eituer | hand, threw his cloak coat into the pastoral cbair and sat upon it, busying himself tlaainy his hymns and turning down the leaves in the New Testament where he mtended to read his text and the morn- | | ing lesson. As the clock opposite the choir pointed | to half-past ten, John Zundie, the gray-haired old | Swiss, who for so many years has presided-at the noble organ, commenced a prelude which seemed ® masical rendering of the spirit of Piymouth ebureh, and its ANSWER TO THE ECCLBSIASTIC CHALLENGE. He played what resembied a bugie call to action, | changing sweetly and grandly into a triumpnal March and a pean of victory; the whole framed | on an air of touchingly melodious love and har- mony. Then followed the grand anthem bythe | fuil choir —‘‘Blessed be God and the Father of our | Lord Jesus Christ,” Miss Lazar, sioging the solos—in which Christians are bidden to “love | one another.” No distinct mention was made of | tae Counci in Mr. Beecner’s prayers; bat when he | read the thirteenth chapter of Firs: Corinthians, | Which he termed the “oharter of | the Christian | Church,” substituting the word ‘ove’ for ‘‘char- ity’ through the chapter, it was evident enough | what was in his mind. He named as his text Ll. | Corinthians, 1., 18-25, inciusive, in which Paui states that the preac! of the cross is, to them tiat perish, foolishness; but unto the saved, the wisdom of God. He contmues to state that God’s plan of salvation was based not upon Greek philosophy or Hebrew scholarship nor the learning 0! the dia- | lecticlans who disputed and taught in the streets of the various cities, but upon the wisdom and power of God. Paul, said Mr. Beecher, seems, in the opening of this letter to the Corinthians, to hurl a defiance against all intellectual excelience, He enumerates the several ciusscs of learned men of the time, and says explicitly that salvation comes not through — their wisdom—it comes by the power of divine Jove. God makes the worldly wise seem foolish by the presentation of salvation by Christ. He does notin this undervalue the uses of science. He don’t touch that question. He simply announces that the spirit of the New Testament is the superior Value of the power of the heart. It gives | the disposition, the emotions, the primacy over the inteliect and knowledge. Men are trans- formed into the Divine image by heart life. We are not called to choose between the heart and the intellect, but to use the one before the other, to use the intellect in mcreasing our power of loving. | We are to construe tie bet a) of history as | enforcing the duty of love to God and man. The | Iruit Of the Spirit ts love, joy, peace. Without love | all faith, zeal, fidelity to party or doctrines is only | relative. The great tragedy of truth is based on rock, Love, which would sacrifice self for another’s good, is the foundation of the divine system taught by Paul, “When I was a clitld,” he “I thought as a child,’’? but the love of Christ has taught me a higher wisdom, Could Newton, alter fathoming the motions of the planets and weighing worlds, have been induced to go back into the nursery and be amused with @ string and @ top? } LOVE ABIDRTH. | Faith, hope, love—these wiil endare till eternity. | The heart remains. The intellect and its knowl- edge ‘pass away and change. We are to develop in this life Christ’s disposition, He came not to the great, the wise; He came to call men from the Mesh life to the lise of the spirit which exaiteth itself in love; to work out with justice liberty. Love is the great architect of the world’s recon- | struction, not wisdum. Love evolves ali with jus- tice, liberty. This great truth of divine love in | the human soul ts to lt us up to sympathy with | God. It must be developed with fervor. ‘Love God with ali thy strength and thy neighbor as thy- setl.”? This is to be the rule. Every household on earth says amen to this gommand. What so sa- | cred as father, mother? “The household was the primitive Church and is the model of the Chareh, All its ministrations are based on the foundation | of love. To call all the world to love is different trom calling tt to orthodoxy, To plough the gr simply to raise op of weeds would be poor farming. Yhe proper evidence of Christian expe- | rience 18 love. The new birth requires love. One may exhibit faith, zeal, orthodoxy; but without love there is but a mascarriage. It is not enough tw creep; one must iearn to walk, to fly, to love his-neighbor as himself. Only love has a right to say 1 AM SOVEREIGN. It has the right to be the vicegerent of God, This spirit must come with power. it has had sporadic itmust become prevalent as the | atmosphere of our Christian life, It must be con+ stant and spontaneous, Pride reacnes for the sceptre, saying to love get thee behind me; and yanity und reverence ior authority says w love, | “put off thy shoes, this is holy ground.’ Beauty, with quick appreciation of harmless joys, claims | to be supreme tw the soul; yet God exalts love to rule the earth. No joy alone is like the joy of a thousand hearts; no voice like the voice of & multitude, So churches are most powerful when they have the consciousness of love pervading all, the voice o! love rising from each in concert, 18 this she atmosphere of churches now? When such @ spirit reigns ali quarrels are forgotten, old disputes and differences of doctrines disappear like the snow before the April sun, which not all March winds could blow away. All churches have this evidence of their 1aith if they love each ba Orthodoxy is nothing if there is not love in Ihe heart. When church pine to church in the sr/irit of love the element of humanity, will be led tito » life of higher moral goalies, ia part of the plan of God’s providence. | cme | In the evening, | being visible at the into spirit men, We recognize 11s vame, but the intellect should be the servant, not the maste Tue heart should ruie. 1 hold the reverse of Buckle’s proposition. Intellect may be the head- light; but the propelling power which moves the rushing train is the loving heart. Jacob and Esau struggled in their mother’s womb, So in the churches we have the party of liberty and the one of authority, In the Romish Church there is the Old Catholic party, with Pere Hyacinthe and bis German associates contending for liberty in exter- nal forms and usages, In the Englisin Church are four divisions, only waiting tor the bursting of a hoop or two to form four churenes. There was a time when English Preshatarnae and Congregationalists had their disputes and the sleepy old State Church said, “Come in to me I will give you rest.” Yes, the rest of slumber. But now she ts quaking with contention, In France ail inti men are ransacking the pages of history to Ond the true functions of church and priest and teacher. So everywhere CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS ARE ON TRIAL. They squabble together like a menagerie of wild animals let loose to prey upon each other, as though love aud purity ana sympathy were not the crown of all spiritual, all proper churen life. From these are to sprout and grow all Chrisuan graces. When churches are pervaded with this sympathetic affection they care little for differences oi forms or creeds, recog- nizing a8 brothers all who ure imbued with this divine spirit of charity, this love which endureth ail hardship for the beloved, which sacrifices even lle itseli to save another. If you have this you will not need to stickie about orthodoxy, But the true power oi the Church is not in orders or ordinances, 1t is within you, It is love. We may build cathedral spires to kiss the sky, and array our priesthood in radiant majesty, like the boy’s bubbies, on which are painted all forms of loveliness, but with a touch of the hand, in tne twinkling’ of an eye, they vanish, never to return, For 2,000 years the example of Christ has been held up, teaching this world to suger and conquer. O world that will not see it! We send missioi aries to the heathen and quarre! at home, (Ap: plause.) Yes, you enjoy me when I lay it on others, but you are just as bad, (Another round of hand clapping.) In the naine of religion men have been burned and tortured, We have not learned Christ's les- son of love which He taught by dying for man while he was yet a sinner, We trouvie ourselves in tightening the hoops on an empty barrel or whose contents have turned into vinegar. This is the sin of the age. Love tas the power to rectily all errors. It is the helm of the soul—the pilot 0} which God will briag us into the haven of rest We mistake the power of church organizations, When you dip a buckes of water trom the ocean it is still just as salt and as defiled as the ocean irom which {t lg taken, 50 in the Church you are just ag greedy, a8 proud, as vain as out of it. hat is knowledge, eloqnence, reason, compared to love t What are the questions that perplex ust How shall we serve Christ’ Who shall best imitate Him? He thatis meekest and smailest. He that can lay down his lite for his feliow. They shall sing as birds which greet the morning with glad music. ‘rneir voices shall rise as the song of a mighty rushing water in the last day. The possibility af a new issue of inconvertidle paper Iregara with amazement and anzxtety, and, in my judgment, such an issue would be a detrt ment and a sham¢.—CHARLES SUMNER. RUSSO-GREEK CHAPEL, Rev. Father Bjerring on Repentance and Self-Denial. ~ Yesterday the little Greek chapel on Second avenue was filled with worshippers, to wiom Father Bjerring discoursed on the duties and obligations of repentance and self-denial, These, be remarked, are Christian virtues which men do not love, but which yet are necessary to unite us to Christ eternally. When Christ said to the fisher- men of Gulilee, “follow me,’ they left all and fol- lowed Him. You, said Father Bjerring, should have like resolution. And now is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation. The season of Lent is designed to lead our minds to a recon- Ciliation with God by the contemplation of the suf- ferings of the Lord Jesus Christ for us, We should therefore examine our hearts and find whether we are sincere, for without the knowledge of ourselves and of the merciful God there can be no true re- pentance and conversion, Nothing ts more difil- cult than to root out the seli-love that lies deep in every soul. It is therefore necessary to insure a proper contemplation and appreciation of these | taings that we withdraw ourselves irom the pleas- ures und distractions oi the world. Thas oniy can we hold intercourse with God. Tue hoiy saints of oid, Father Bjerring said, shut themselves up irom the world in the holy season of Leat. We should do tie same; for only in tie hour of quietade can we bear the blessed voice oi the Savionr, and in his communion only can we find peice such as the world can neither give nor take away. WK MUST FORGET THE WORLD if we would think or God. How often is it, he asked, that the ouly result gained by the atrend- ance on the public worship 1s a rebearsal of what has been witnessed by the senses, and not amant- festation of a renewed spirit and converted heart by peniient prayers and resolutions to become better and more holy. It is not customary in the orthodox Charch for the priest to deliver sensa- tional discourses or preach on boiler explosions, gold panics and "ig er corruptions, It would be a fraud aguinst the Christian family, who, instead of being nourished with the Word of God, find only an agreeable diversion of mind and deception in the idea of having taken part ina real Christian divine service, when in reality they were present only ata secular entertainment. Let us all exclaim with the publican, from the deepest convictions of | our guilt:—‘O God! be merciful to me, a sinner.’? | But the acknowiedgment of sin alone 13 not sam. cient. A sincere repentance must be united with it. For repentance is the real conversion of tae heart to God, without which all examination and all conviction can avail notuing, and without which no one can receive irom God remission of sins, Whoaml? Whatis my origin? What will be my end? The consideration oi these questions the Church of Christ imposes upon us more partic- ularly at the solemn time of Lent. ‘The eternal union with God in His infinite glory—that giory of which the great apostle says, “No eye hath seen nor ear heard’’—that ts to be OUR FINAL DESTINY. To this end have we been created, and the life of this mortal state is to be a preparation for tmmor- tality. The greater the patience with which thou bearest thy cross, the nearer art thou to eternal felicity; the less thou carest for its load, the fur- ther doest thou recede from it. Let us, then, work while it 18 calied to-day; the night cometh, when no man can work. Time is short, but eternity hath noend, Who among us here present, he asked, may uot before the end of this year have to appear be.ore the judgment seat of Christ? How many of us will live on earth ten years hence? Perhaps not one. ‘Ory |? said a voice to the prophet Isaiah, and he said, “What soail I cry” and the answer was:—‘‘All flesh is grass, and all the good- liness thereot is as the flower of the field, The | grass withereth; the fower fadeth; but the word Of our God snall stand forever.’’ One trusts in his money, the other in his reputation in society, the third in his skill; but whosoever will find his con- solation, his joy in anything else but alone in the dear saviour, 18 a poor misguided mortal in CONSTANT ANXIETY AND FEAR. O1 course, as long as it fares well with them, most men think they need no Saviour; but when the ordinary pillars shake; when the fore tune 1s being lost and friends forsake us; when the Jord takes from us our dearest one: when death comes upou us, and must leave all, what shall we do’ Then must we leave associations not one of which would we give up for Jesus’ sake. That hour may come sooner than we anticipate. But M our trustis in the Redeemer, He will go with us. Do not post- pone thy conversion till to-morrow, said the preacher in his exhortation, thou knowest not whether thou shalt Itve till to-morrow. Even now say—‘Father, I have stunned against heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son,’ and thy Father and Creator will receive thee again as His child for the Redeemer’s sake, and thy soul shali be filled with unspeakable joy and bliss. . | 81, STEPHEN'S ROMAN OATHOLIC CHUROH. The Illuminated Cross in the Heavens— Termination of the Mission by the Dominican Fathers Yesterday. At the principal services held yesterday forenoon at the new and splendid edifice of the parish of St. Stephen, corner of Summit and Hicks streets, | South Brooklyn, mass was celebrated by Rev. Father Byrnes, and the sermon was delivered by Rey. Father Powers, of the Order of Dominicans, The regular choir was assisted by the O'Reilly Band, the musio being very fine. The clergyman prefaced his sermon by alluding to the fact thas brought to a close at vespers frencever age the Papal benediction would would convey a plenary induigence to all who had properly complied with the reguia- tions of the mission. The occasion would also be signalized by lighting up the tlluminated cross Which adorned the lofty spire of St, Stephen's church. SCRIPTION OF THE U.LUMINATED CROSS, me *rO8s above alluded to and which has at~ tracted widespread attention in the city and bay, Narrows, was lighted for the It is the invention of Rev. Father O’Rielly, pastor of the church, and was made by Messrs. McLeese & Kitchen, of New York. The pastor conceived the idea of forming this cress from the “Pilot light,” and after months of experimenting With various kinds of glass per- fection was attained, The cross, which stands upon 4 gilt bail at the summit of the ee feet ‘above the sidewalk, is two and a halfieet in height and four feet in width. It is formed of 760 diamond shaped glasses, imported trom Bohemis, ass are set in a framework of galvanized tron. In the Anterior are a series of gas jets, which are lit 4 ‘by yada The cross was set in position by Ir the sexton, Peter J. Oouveny. af inconvertidle The posstditity of a new wssue paper [regard with amazement and anciety, and, be given, which first time last week. THE IN ‘ in society will help this, It tends to bu‘4dap the against Ughed apd providentialy pexpetuated instituyans; ternal barriers vioe wroag. Knowl- sdaa anew not change mea jesh men in my judgment, such an issue would be @ detrin ment and a shamne,—CHARLES SUMNER