The New York Herald Newspaper, April 13, 1874, Page 4

LOW SUNDAY, The Exposition of Christianity in the City and Suburban Churches. TALMAGE'S FIFTH ANNIVERSARY. Dr. Taylor’s Common Sense View a: ye yourseives aiso kuow.” of Religion. BEECHER AND GOD'S KINGDOM. — Dr, Gudworth and the Yearning of Rumanity Towards God. St. REW'S KOMAN CarHoLie Cacncd.—The services at St. Andiew’s church, in Duane street, were appropriate to Low Sunday, and were cen- ducted by its energetic pastor, Rev, Father Curran, CHURCH OF THE Discirt There was a very large congregation at tue Church of the Disciple: Madison avenue and Forty-tith street, yesterds morning. The Rey. George O. Hepworth chose for his subject “Come and See st. John’s Gospel, 1. 46. ApTis? CHUE H,—There was a good aitenday { this church yesterday and a large number o| communicants, Tne Rev. David D, Sutton preached @ simple and efective sermon, full of homely plrase and pious thought, and was listened to wita warked attention. SIXTBENTH STR Freer STREET METHODIST Episcorat CHU BROOKLTN.—The Rev. Mr. Adams delivered farewell sermon before the congregation worshi ping at that tabernacle yesterday torenoon. ‘ihe people were in many instances moved to tears by the parting admonitory words of tie minister. a, 18, FoURTH AVENUE PRFSBYTZRIAN CuvRcH—The pulpit of this churcn was filled by Chancellor How- ard Crosby, the pastor, His text was from Jobn— “Choose you this day whom you will serve.’ The argument of his sermon was thgt every one musi have some god, because it is a characteristic of the + mind to require something to s ve. CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION.—The atiendance at this church was unusually ¢mail yesterday, owing to the death oi Mr. Floyd Smith, Mr. Smith was a leading member of the church. His vacant | pew was tasteiully draped in mourningy The Rev. W. J. Seabury peached an impressive sermon from the text, “Why seek ye the living among the dead ?" ms CHURCH OF THE HEAVENLY KesT,—At this church there was a very large attendance yesterday morn- ing. The sermon, by Rev. Dr. Howland, the rector, Was unusually brief, owing to iis being Communion Sunday. His text was Mark, xii., 20, end the dis- course had reference mainiy to the communion service, A feature, a3 usual, Was the music, which waa unexceptionably fine. Sr. PavL’s MeTHopIst CucncH.—This church contained a very large congregation yesterday morning. Dr. Foss has been transferred to Har- lem, and the pulpit was oceupied by Rev. Mr. Longacre, of Newburg, N. Y. A striking feature here is the fine music. Among the pieces was au anthem from Rossini, The text of the discourse was Ecciesiastics, ix, 10—“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it wits thy might. BARTHOLOMEW's CHhURCH.—At this church | the sermon preached by the rector, Rev. Mr. | Crook, was brief, but eloquent, and based upon | the text, Second Curinthians, iv., 16, “For which cause we famt not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by | day.” Life, he showed, was made up of contrasts, | and this world a theatre of strife, in which evil and good struggle tur the dom!..ancy. . AFRICAN METHODIST EpiscoraL CHURCH, BRooK- LYN.—The Rev. John 8. Inskipp preached at this | church ves\erday alternoon befure a large congre- | gation of colored people. He exhorted his hearers to abandon the ways of sin and turn their hearts | to their Creator beiore it is too late. The flock listened with marked attention to the voice of the | minister and joined in the singing witn great en- , thustasm. | St. PkTER’S UHURCH, BARCLAY STREET.—The divine service oi high mass was celebrated yester- day at St. Peter’s church, in Barciay *trect, by the Rev. Father Corley, and Rev, Father McGlancy preached the sermon, taking for his subject tae awe-inspiring themes ot “Liberty, equality and fraternity.” The church was excessively crowded and the sermon was listened to with projound attention. THE SWEDENBORGIAN Cuourcu.—The Rey. Mr. Keyes, of Philadelpaia, preached yesterday morn. | ing in the Swedenb rgian church, 114 East Thirty- fifth street. His text was from the fourth chapter of St. John’s gospel ald the twelfth and thirteenth verses :—“Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himseif and his children and his cattley Jesus answered | and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again Joan STREET Mersopisr Onvncy.—Tuis, the oldest Methodist church in America, had spectal services yesterday at hal!-past ten o'clock. The Key. Robert Jones, the well known and eloquent divine, from Hartford, preached, and had for his subject, “Temperance and Amusements.” The old gentleman took a very radiant view of the tem- perance cause and made some allusions to the Rev. Howard Crosby snd his conservative views. Mr. Jones aiso theorized in his own fashion about amusements. Scotcd PresnyTeRtaN Cavrca.—in the sermon preached at ti. fourteenth street, near Sixth avenue, the K M. Hamilton took his text from 1 Corinthians, x., 16:—‘The cup of blessing Which we bless, is it not the communion ot the blood of Ch: is it not the commun large crowd of conmusice the edtiying discourse part the sacrament. There was a rist?”? 4 intently to vody of O! CENTRAL MErsO! Rev. Mr. Peters del the morning service were welcomed siderably. Very the venerad; ‘ evening several ¢idicrs Peck. ‘The ordinatio 4 the newly ordained preachers wer inly told their responsibilities in the sermon delivered by the Rev. George 5. Hare, D. 1. Zion Cuvren.—There was a pretty large altend ance at this church yesterday morning. In the absence of Rev. Mr. Gallaher, the rector, the pulpit was occupied by Rev. Mr. Kirkus, who preached from the text—First Corinthians, i., 17—‘Obrist sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel; not with wisdom of words, jest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” He enforced the idea that Paul’s great mission was that of a Gospel preacher, and that he did uot choose to worry himself about spectal rites of baptism. St. ANN’S PROTESTANT Episcopal Cnvnci. crowded and fashionable audience assembled ye verday at St. Ann's to hear the Rector, the Rev. Dr. Gallaudet, He was assisted by the Rey. Mr. Chamberlain in conducting the solemn service. He announced the visit of the Bishop to give confirm. | ation two Sundays from this—Low Sunday—ana exhorted those who were not confirmed or bap- tized to pestir themselves and approach the sources of grace. About sixteen meetings during the coming week, for various religiows and benev- @lent purposes. were mentioned, snd a tonching such a temper and disposition as this one cannot | into bis closet—rather, it wa The bread which we break, | appeal was made by the preacner Deal Mate Asyiam, Sr. PawL’s KprscoraL Cuvaed.—The ordinary morn ng services at tnis church, situated in Olin- | ton street, Brooklyn, were well attended yester- | aay. Some of the relies of last Sunday's dorai dis- play still clung to the chancel and altar, the most notable being the large cross on the altar, on | eicuer side of which were the lilies, with their | three beautifully symbolical blossoms, Dr. | | Drowne chose his text irom the Acts of the | Aposties iL, 22 Ye meo of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, @ man approved of | | Goa among you, by miracles aad wonders and signs, which God did by bim im the midst of you, MacbOVGAL STRERT baptist CHuRCH.—The Rev. William Reed preached from the nineteenth verse | of the thirty-first psalai—Oh, how great is tby goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that tear thee!” He said that ail those who made manifest their fear aud love for God by placing thetr implicit trust and confidence in ali His works would not ful to receive tue highest reward that Heaven could bestow upon man; that all His promises have always been (aifilled, and that the idea of fear and trust in Him and taith in His promises will be fully realized. ‘Tuis goodness is wrought out and made manifesi in the constant development of His sov- ereign providence to those who jear and trust Aum, St. AMBROSE’S ISCOPAL CHURCH.—The rector, the Rey. Frederick Sill, in accordance with his practice heretoiore on the Sunday previous to the adminigtration of the holy rite of confirmation, said he should My aside all formal discourse and seek in a lumtar manner to render the subject as clear as possible, that all, and especialy those who were expecting to Share the blessings OL that apostolic rite, might comprehend fully what 1s meant by the reply made in response to the Bishop. It means as though each one shouid say, “4 do still renounce the devil and all his works; 1 do still believe the ariictes of the faith.” In jail to go on into perfection, | SPRING STxHEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.—The Rey. G. F. McCampbell preached yesterday worn- ing from the text—‘For we are to walk by faith and not by sight.” He opened his suvject by the assertion that “we are to walk by Jaith in the light of the cross of Christ; we must have jaith in the providence of Almighty God; we are to walk by faith in another worla.” Christians, in visiting toreigan lands where the scenes of religious martyr- dom occurred in tue earlier ages of the worid, are forcibly reminded of tie truth of the text by those exampies, for litcrully those Loble standard bear- ers of the cross of Curist walked by faith and not by sight. By its strength they endured fiery ordeals, imprisonment in gloomy dungeons. were thrown as food to the savage beasts, and yet, in the onies of death, Maintained unswerving faith to the end, TALMAGE’S TABERNACLE, BROOKLYN.—Yesterday | being the filth anniversary of Mr. Talmage’s settlement as pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church Society, he preached, ag the morn- jug service, @ sermon narrating the wonderful advancement during the past five years and the complete success of a free church, He was called to the church at a time when it was almost extinct, and only thirteen members could be rallied toa congregational meeting to make the call. He was then preaching to large congregations in Philadel- phia, but he accepted this cull because he thought this wouki be just the place in which to tryona large scale a free church—a life-long project with him. The history of the church for the past five years tells the story of the success he has achieved, The Tabernacle is probably the largest Protestant church edifice in the United States, and is crowded atexch service on the Sabbath by a congregation of 5,000 peopic, while many turn away from the doors, unable to obtain standing room. PRAYER AND BUSINESS. | A Common Sense View of Religion in | Daily Life, by Dr. Taylor, of the Broad- | way Tabernacle. | The services at the Broadway Tabernacle yester- day morning were conducted by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Wiliam H. Taylor, dhe subject of the sermon was foreshadowed in the beautiful hymn, com- , mencing— j Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, which was rendered as a soprano solo, and with exquisite taste and feeling. Dr. Taylor chose for his text two passages from the Book of Daniel; the fourtu verse, ninth chap- ter, and the twenty-seventh verse of the eighth chapter, taken in conection, as follows:—“I prayed unto the Lord, my God. “afterward | Trose up and did the King’s business."’ The Rev. Dr. | Taylor said:—These two texts have been taken by | me out of their imimedtate connection and from aifferent chapters of Daniel's history. But it does not therelore follow that they have no connection with each other. On the contrary, they set before us two leading features of his character which go | far of themselves to account for his extraordinary | career. It was no exceptional thing for him to go | so well known even by his enemies to be his daily habit to commune With God that when they conspired to undermine , him they prevailed upon the King to publisha | proclamation forbidding any one to pray save into | himself. calcniating that Daniel would continue his | devotions even though he should be put to death for doing so. And the issue showed that they were right. And so, his adversaries themsetves being the witnesses, we may fairly speak of Daniel ag a man of prayer. Neither, again, was it an unusual thing for Dan- jel to look carevully after business, He who, under Nebuchadnezzar, was ruler over the whole prov- ince of Babylon, and who, under Darius, was the first president over 120 princes, whose reports were continually made to him, must have been a very busy man. Indeed it may well have been that his personal sapery n of all matters per- . taining to bis office was one of the principal sauses of the envy of his subordinates which cul- inated in the plot to which I have referred. "hey would not have made nis prayers an offence, Jrobably, if only they could have prevailed upon hm to wink hard at their evil deeds, Office with tlem, as with so many In modern times, meant } YUE OPPORTUNITY OF ENRICHING THEMSELVES | atthe public expense or of deirauding innocent | | ant unprotected ones over whom they ruled. And | wemay well believe that just because Daniel | | looced so narrowly after his business as to pre- vem, them from securing these ends, they were provoked to make an outcry about his prayers. | In my case, It is alleged that ne was jatuiful and theycould find no cause against him except in t matter of his God. So we are warranted in afirming that Daniel was just as distingnished for atention to business as he was for devotion | Nowthese two qualitics, both genuine, existing togethr in the same man, must have had a very great kfuence upon each other. In other words, Danielyould carry his busmess habits with him into th eloset, and he would take his devout heart with bm into his business. He went into tis closet » transact business with God: he went into hisoftice to transact business for God, In both plees he was alike the godly and the busi- nees mat He took a business view oi prayer and he took syrayerful view of business. But are not these, myorethren, just the very things which are Most neeial among us to-day? We have great , business men, but, alas! they do think much about the closet, have multitedes aiso who, after @ cer. ort ure men of prayer. But, alas! Yuons are more a fashion than a b vas, for a lack Oo} a union of these ‘wich show so conspicuously in Daniel, our commectal ile is in danger of becoming godless, a0 our reltzious life is apt to degenerate into thin of fossilized forms, or tw become & Atial and dagerons infuence bursting Up at inter- vais into Wil and spasmodic eruptions Of Volcanic | | enthusiasm. It may help, therefore, both to vital- | ize onr devtions and to elevate and purify our | | daily tives, 1 we consider this morning, for a It- the, shoae ‘meides of tne one earnest, religions character, Mmely, the business man 4 ee and the prayrful tan at business nt SY BEADeE ‘TH BUSINESS MAN AY PRAYER. | Looking, thn, first at the business man at | prayer, we 00 in che first place that he had set | times for ils dyotions. When Daniel was watened by hus adversaies it was discovered that he was in the habit tte times a ¢ { praying to God, Now of course do not wean to affirm tat the id | trons of the closet or the /ellowship of | Supper. | atdefiance, disaster must ensue, | servance o1 the duties of the closet. | aid, is book how in his closet he has been reauing out | his prayers he was able to lay hold of God's | | youvh ought to have arrang: | cause we are content, tor the most part. | ness in any religious ufe. é NKW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1874.—TRIPLE SHEET. on penaif of his | rule which he had laid down for himseif*1s » law | little Do ts when he comes to you with a | Jor every one, 30 far at least as the number of | tumes 18 concerned. Some may require more in seli for hours, and asks you to order to keep up their spiritual strength, and some may be able to do with fewer, But I maiutain that itis easential to tue preservation of. high toned re- gious heaith that we should all have some stated seasous consecrated to devotion, And it is the more necessary to insist upon Chis in the present day, because, a8 regards this subject, we are passing through period of reaction which is not without its dangers, Our fathers weie very eXaci in their attention to the duties oO! the clonet, but they somewhat lost sight of the importance of religion in common lite. They arew very (lis- tiuctly and deduitely tue line between the secular, so-called, and the sacred, and they seemed to overiook the fact that there ig worship ol God, a5 real aud as acceptabie, in the periormance of ordi- wry ousiness and the discharge of duily domestic utles out of love to Him as there 1s im the devo- the Lord's The, — to one extreme. aire ed thay we are pow jn danger , into ‘ne oppoaise bit fn 1 lay religious authors are continually tell- ing us that Wwe may continually serve God anywhere, that there 13 worship in working | jor Him, und that we ought to make our entire lives sO many hymus of praise or offerings of prayer to Him. “Now there ts trath in ail that, trutu of the most wholesome and important kind, | too. Yet We must not allow it to overlay this | other truth, that we can only matutain’ con- tinuously that high-toned spirituaiity of daily life by observing stated seasons of commumon With ‘the apostolic precept, “Pray without | ceasing,” must Dot be 30 eXpounded as to explain | away the injunction of the Master himsell, *“knter into thy closet and shut thy door.’’ And the duty of serving God at all times and ou all days shoud hot be sO eniorced as to rule out Of every day tie reaction [fo ol rushing | Sali nour o, the closet or to shut out of every week the special and peculiar blessing o/ the Sabbath. | | Yetir is undeniable that thus is just the tendency of much that 1s said and written On the subject at | | present. @ 1 It is attirmed, for example, that it is not nearly | so important to go into the closet as itis to have | the whole lie prayeriul, and that it 18 not OF 80 | much consequence to give 4n exalted and pecauar cuaracter to the Sabvath as itis to make a Sab- | bath out ot every day. But @ business man, like | Daniel, bringing uis Common sense to bear upon tus macier, brushes away all these specious aud Mhe-spun utterances as easily as one slips from is path the gossam-r of the morning, He sees at oace that the tssue of such @ Course, instead of bringing ali the day up to the level of the cioset | hour, or all the Week up Co the level of the Sab- bath, Will inevitably be to sink the whole into the iopuns of earthmmess and sim, He knows that periodicity is, 19 some ipscrutabie way, tue law oi his being, and that, Wf he set that ‘The tear and wear oi the day has to be repaired by the sleep of the night, and the exhaustion ot lavor necessitates tue regular observance o1 set times lor the taking of vod. Now, itis quite similar in reterence to spiritual things. The matntenance of vigorous religious ile demands the stated enjoyment of the privileges of the closet, We should ruin our phys- ical constitutions if we were to give up our regular Inea's and then gave to preserve our health by carrying im our pockets a supply of ‘ood from which we should keep helping ourselves con- tinuously all through the day, And we cannot but destroy our piety tf, ignoring the cioset, we seek to substitute for it the mere exvempore ejacu- lations Oi prayer which are crushed out of us by the emergencies of business as they arise. The truth, Tather, is that we can only hove to maintain the sprit which will dispose us to such ejacula- tions, when they are required, by the steatly ob- Wien the tide is out you bave iound sometimes, upen tue dry aud naked rock, beneath the warm rays oL the Summer sun, marine creatures in a ytate of vigorous lile, 80 that the moment you touched theim they showed a woudertul activity, But they lived only because when, twice each day, the waves came foaming over them, they opened their | | mouths to drink in Water enough to last them dur- ing the hours ol eob, "Even s0 We can preserve our spiritual strength during the business day, only by seeking at stated seasons to replenish our sous irom the ocean’s mercy that tows so tuily and freely to us through Jesus Christ our Lord, Or, taking an __ illustra- tion irom business itself; during the busy hours Of the forenoon we may have occasion to send fre- | quent telegrams to our partner in a distant cit; But these telegrams can only continue and be i telligibie so long as they are supplemented by the | fuller und more confideatial correspondence of the evening math And so it isthe duty, as it is the privilege of the believer, all through the day to send to his Father briel, telegram-like despatcues, like that which was sent to Nehemiah wiille, he held the King’s cup before the Persian mouarch, But we shall only be sustained in making ali these continuous ejaculations habitual by maintaiming unbroken the tuller and more contidential corre- spondence of the closet. Hence, if the meu on our exchanges and in our stores would oply bring their business sagacity to bear upon the sudject of prayer, they should form Daniel’s habit oi having set times ior devotion. BUSINESS HABITS IN PRAYER. But, I remark, secondly, that the business man takes his business habits with him tnto the closet. Itisa maxim among all commercial men that, Whatever Is worth aoing at ail 1s worth doing well. Now, il tuere be anything in prayer at all, there 1s so much in ti as to deserve the concentration on. | it ior the tme of our whole souls. It there be | notning in prayer at all, then we need not disturb | ourselves in the matter. We need not even do so | muchas to engage in a periunctory and jormal | observance of prayer; but if there be anything m it—and with the Bible in our hands we are bound to believe that itis not only amost sacred duty, but the most exaited privilege of our lives—then, we oaght to make it a real thing by giviug curselves Waoily to it for tne time. Tnis was what Daniel You observe in this ninth chapter of oi the prophecies of Jeremiah, and how his prayer, | which is here given, rises up Out of and 13 founded | upon a study of the Word of God. Moreover, you | sec how he goes directly to the object which he nas set betore him, which is as brief, as pointed and a8 precise as a business letter, He did uot say, as he weat into ois retirement, “I ant so pressed for | loud outcry among us now against corruption in | time to-day and have so many things waiting in | our public officers; and there was a few months | my office sor my attention thati cannot stay to | give much thought to the Word of God or to | prayer.’’ Nay, rather, he bad so arranged his | business as to secure time for the reading of the | Scriptures and for communion with God over that. | And when he went into his closet he periormed | these duties with a8 much energy and thorough- | ess a8 Le displayed in his Official bureau. BUSINESS NOT TO EXCLUDE PRAYER. Now, in all this he was an example for us. We have no right to tii our heads and our hearts so Much with business a8 to crowd out the cluset. We have no right to overlay the Bible with our ledgers and with our order books. We ought to . make a place and to keep it sacred for our private devotions. Otherwise it will be the worse both for our prayers and for our business. When @ theo- | logical student was one morning reproved for coming late into his class he merely replied to the proiessor, “I could only have come in time by | omittimg to engage in my private devotions;” and his teacher rejused to accept the excuse, saying, “That ought you to have doue and not to leave this undone.” And the teacher was right, for the | 1 so that he could have done both. But if it be wiong to negiect tne | duty of business for the duty of prayer, it is no jess wrong to slur over the periormance of our secret devotions on the plea that urgent business is calling us away, Lhe oniy true, methodical pial is 80 to arrange that due and proper attention shall be given by us to both. And, my breturen, if we had anytuung like @ right idea of the benefit which comes to us in our business from the Incon- venience oi the quiet morning hour with God, we would a8 soon think of setting out without our customary meuls as of leaving our homes without prayer. He who, as he leaves his house, goes into his garden and plucks a fragrant flower waica he puts into hts buttonhole, carries with iim all day | the perfume of the conservatory, and ever and anon, in the intervals of jJabor, he becomes con- scious of its sweetuess. So ne who enters into his closet tn the early day carries avout with him | througaout it an odor that comes from the Paradise of God; and evermore, amid the fauguing labors that crowd upon him, its Odor strengthens and reffesnes him. “I could never liave got along,” said a Cn mn merchant to his pastor during the late pani: couid never have got along if it had not nfor prayer.” Ab! if the support Which comes imto the soul through | lellowship with God were more thoroughly be- heved among us we shouid yi seldom hear it said, “1 have no time for pray No time to | Say, rather, no tine to sleep, no time to | Yea, let the hours consecrated to devotion be | the Very jast that you Wiii allow to be iniripged upon. Then, when you are in the cioset, do as | Daniel did; take your ible and read uw with thoughtiui attention, not as a mere piece of task | work, but as you peruse letters brought by the morning mail.” ‘ihink of that, business men; it will | give your bible a pew interest tou you. Go to itas you go to open your !etiers in the morning. Then Jet your petitions biossom up out of your reading even a# your orders to your clerks in your stores grow up oul of your morning letters. Set beiore you adefinite aim, and go the suortest and the | ‘Moat (lirect Way to the attainment of that end. We complain sometimes that devotion is uninteresting to us. But ts not the reason this :—i3 to it aa a form, and not because we have a purpose | as distinct as that which we have beicre our mind | When we go into a neignbor’s oftice for the purpose Of transacting business with himy When blind Bartimeus cried so‘lustily and so importu- | nately for Jesus the Lord commanded him to be | brought unto iim, and as he was beng led up He said to him, “What wilt thou that I shaiido unto thee 7” Barlumens Was at no loss jor a reply. He did not begin a thousand miles away from the suo- ject that was distressing him and ask for a great many things that he carcd ry little about; but he went to the pomt atonce and he said, “ord, that I may receive my sighi.”’ Now, that was busmess like, and it should be the sume with Us m our prayers. Qurdevouions are uninteresting because they are unreal, and they are unreal be- to pre- sent other peopie’s prayers and not our own. Nothing is $0 hurtiui to a young Chrisuan as attempt to run himself into the mould of another man, The idea because this one and that one among emmnent saints have had such and such experiences therefore it is essential that 1 shoud have precisely | the same, Wilt be faial to anytoing like genuine- Nothing tends so much to turn prayer into a hearviess formalism as the | peer use of other people tutions without hinking what ser mean or whether we mean them or not. Teil God what you yoursell really want, Teil it in the simplest and most direct man- nev, and then your prayer will become to you as full of jpterest aa the earnest entreaty of your | them? Shall we not, as we read the precious prophecy o! the Saviour’s advent, piead ior its ful- | | charity Jor a grave. | Wordly promotion, | been done own may such problem over which he haa Ci Gd mds | postnene Jat nh Tint ‘or ftoart ro, e an t, or Walter Powell, the thor- overlayed our devotiops, in the sanctuary | business "| know that youag men are and in the close:, with artificiaitsms, and the M4 olven turned against 9 Christian lite by the asser- to redeem them to le and in'erest is to get b: | ton that if they enter upon it they must lorveit all to nature, tus throw away the stilts of other hope of success in the world. But not tosay that the people’s petitions and present our own. You smile Christian life itself is ihe Lighest sort success otten at the lawyer who keeps talking about | renadenta.” and you are apt to say to him, “Never mind precedents. give me justice. If you have not a precedent make one for the case. We are amazed at the lolly of the urchitect who, forgetful that we are living in tne nineteenth century, will ingist on butldin; churches for us in the beautiful, indeed, yet cold, | tconvenient and dim Lighted Gotnic of the medi- | wval centari We say to him, “My iriend, these | were all very well ior the time in which they ori- ginated and ior the purposes for which they were constructed. Give us something else for to-day.’’ Yet are we not guilty o1 the same absurdity every | day tn our prayers ’ We try to de sincere in using tus Inspired, words of David and Isaiah and even of Paul, oF i in émploying the conventional pett- tons that have pope Caan tous by cy of ecclesi: 8 tradition, bat we cau a . terest in’ tees ings We Ean b8 Wot ulti only in that which to us is real and to be real; that which we say, whether to God or man, must be natural to us. How our correspondents would laugh at us if we were to write our letters to them in the style aud mannerism that is too often ap- parent ip our prayers, bot 1 public and in pri- vate. vu, bretliren, let us reform tals altogetuer, and go to our closets reverentially, indeed, yet sincere and natural to teil the Lord im simple phrase and with earnest directness just what we want that He should do unto us, and that will be a business-like prayer. The business man does not confine his prayers to business matters, Daniel was @ Jew as well 48 @ suDdject Of the Persian Empire; so, while | 1 doubt not he sought God’s heip in alt his | ofticial engagements, le prayed to Him aiso regard- | ing the weliare of bis Kinsmen and their return to their own land. Here, too, we should lnitate him. 1t is our privilege, indeed, to speak to God about pressing matters of personal aud domesiic inter- e8t, and we Shall deprive Ourselves Oi much quiet joy if we neglect to bring those tiings before Him on the plea that they are too trivial lor His atten- tion, Whatever disiresses our souls, whatever Opposes our progres: , Whatever presses down upon our hearts, of sufficient importance for us to | take to Him. But while i urge you to cast ali such | cares upon Him I wouid remind you also for your advantage to take au ampler range. You are Christians a8 well as men, and in so far Jorth | as you are Christians you are interested | in everything that atiects the welfare of tne Church and the progress oi the Redeemer’s cause. Nay. you ave citizens as well as Christians, and in so far iurth as you are citizens you have an in- terest in the affairs of the naiion to which it is your privilege to belong. Daniel prayed for his captive people and besought God for tne iuifiiment of His promise to give them liberty to return to the land of tueir fathers. And, my brethren, how many captives are there now among us who need our sympathy, aad whose very misery 18 itself an | appeal to us jor our prayers! ‘here are the cap- lives Of Mammon, chained like gailey slaves to the oar of business and living only for the acquiremeut of wealth. ‘There. are the captives of intemper- | ance, hela in the chains oi appetite, in the bondage more bitter than Egyptian servitude. ‘‘here are | the captives of tust, bound in the filthy cords of licenuousness to an existence of degrada. | tion that is worse than death. ‘ere | are the captives of ignorance the world over, | who have never knowo the sympathy or the saivation of Jesus. Shall we not, tien, muy brethren, Daniel like, become interested in their behalf When we are with God, and cry to Him jor iiilment unto them, saying, “Come, O Thou an- | oimted One and proclaim liverty tothese captives, | opening the prison doors to those who are thus heid bound. Come and bestow upon them the most glorious of ail emancipations, ‘the Church needs Thy inspiring spirit; the nation needs tay purilying influence; the world needs I'ny great sulvation. come in the majesty of Thy mercy and iutroduce | the jubilee oi the human race, the acceptable year of the Lord.” Ah! triends, if our hearts were thus | to expand In the closet and to overtiow the Churcit | and the race we should hear less among men to- | day ot the feebleness of prayer, aud we should | hear fewer complaints, too, among proijesseu Curis- | Uans of dulness in their devotions, THE PRAYERFUL MAN AT BUSINESS. But I hasten'to look very briedy at tue prayerful man at business. And here I observe. first, that | there 1s a high toned moral excellence in the busi- ness transactions of such @ man. Danici’s ene- mies could find nothing dishonest or disionorable in nis conduct; though they scrutinized it through | | the author of that transformation of the light, of which the human soul is capable, | would affirm, | beyond the possiblity of any win’s contradiction, | that all the avenues to distinction and prosperity | that are honorably open to other men are equally | Open to the Christian, with tis added—that bis Payer eecures ever the viessing of God upon him. do not see, theretore, how either the business ought to hinder the prayer or the prayer to hinder the business. Rather, Penink that if we righty Prosecuted them both they would healthily act an Feact upon each other. In any case the histories of Joseph and Nehemiah and Daniel are conclusive evi- ence to me that the devotions of the closet do not prevent @ man irow the acnievement of honorable success, Prayer, my friends, is not like an anchor, that holds you back irom moving; prayer 18 like & Weight of % clock, that seis and keeps the ma- chinery of @ Christian life in motion. My brother, will you gee to it wu ou never let that weight Tun down?’ Go to your closet-with the prompt ae- cision and energy you show in your business; go to your business with tne devout heart thar filled your closet with its holy aspirations, Be an earn- est map upon your knees, be a godly man upon il ee rgeens Pec you also it shail A 4s to Daniel, “Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days." CHUROH OF THE MESSIAH. Sermon on the Aspiration of Humanity Towards God, by Dr. Cudworth. At the Church of the Measiah, in ‘Thirty-fourth street, Park avenue, the Rev. Dr. Cudworth, of Boston, preached yesterday morning on the aspi- ration of humanity towards God. He selected for his text the first verse of the Forty-second Psaim— “As the hart panteth alter the water brooks, so panteth my soul alterthee, 0 God!” There is an intensity of feeling expressed to us, friends, said the Doctor, m that verse which proves that it is mot the utterance simply ofa spiritual inspiration, but of a common condition, Unless there had been the base of a human condl- tion in David, the inspiration of the Most High would not have called out anything so full of feel- ing as that declaration when le uses the | illustration, “As the hart panteth after | the water brook; so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God!’ It is the expression, on his part, of an instinct which is shared by all the crea- tures which God has called into being, longing for | God. Itis the universal experience of a child; it has existed in every nation from the remotest pe- riod of time, it does exist in every nation at the present time, and we conclude, by proper analogy, thatit will exist to the end of time, and is in itself a demonstration of what St. Paui declares, that “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Take the process of the Christianizing of Southern | Airica—God is the end of it; take the conclusion of the sublimest philosophy—God ts the goal of it. ‘Tyndall says that he can follow a beam of light from the point whence it radiates until it strikes the retina, but no farther, How that light is trans. formed in the consciousness into a tact patent in the brain—this is beyond his reach; it transcends his research; God alone can, explain what God has created, and God is which failing through any substauce upon which it has struck gives to the eye knowledge of form, color, distance, shape, and the characteristics of the observed object. In God alone we live; he comes to the same conclusion that St. Paul does, Amouf the ancient Egyptians there was this instinct, though in ® warped and distorted form. So among the five worshippers, among those who dwelt in Chaldea, among the Greeks avd Romans, among all the cultivated nations of ancient times: und ft is a mistake to suppose that when the Egyptians worshipped birds, beasts and | the keen microscope of their malce, nothing, nothing. He had been faithiul to his trust in the | very least particular, and he had been faithiul no | less to his cquscientious aud religious convictions. | He never hesitated when duty and interest; clashed, put he kept steadily on in the path which | he believed to be right. He reverenced lis con- science as his king; he would die rather than knowingly do wrong; and so he stands out in this | book to this day as one of the noblest exampies of unswerving allegiance to principle. He was the enemy ol all compromise where evil was in the case, and he was utterly | impervious to anything like corruption. Now, | beyond ail doubt, his prayers had a great deai to do with the feature of nis business lie. His daily devotions ‘mellowed and ted the roots of his char- acter,” and nurtured it into such sirength that it was abie to withstand the rndest storms and temptations. His lite was not divided. lke many men’s, into separate compartments, which, like the watertigat buikheads in an iron steamship, are thoroughiy separated from eacn other, and in the one ot which he kept his closet and in the other of which be Kept his business office. Nay, ratuer his life was single; he was the same man when at his desk that he was when on his knees; and as in strength as few men have been abie to do, soin business he was able to drive away all weakness and dishonor from him. Happy the nation which has such men as Danicl for its statesmen ; happy the city which has such incorruptible integrity as his as the characteristics of its business men. There is a ago a great deal said in many of our publications— newspapers, periodicals and the like—about the Superstition of prayer. It 18, to say the least, a very marvellous coincidence, and suggests a some- what intimate relationsiip between the two. May it not be that the contempt into which prayer has falien among us has had something to do with | the dishonesty over which we are all lamenting’? Or probably this may be the fact—that the low | state of religious life in she land is alike the cause of both these things. Now, does not this point out to us the only siple remedy’ You cannot cure this by a change of party. All your political specifics are powerless to reach the seat of this disease, We need u religious revival among us which shall give, the land over, new prayer—a new significance to prayer. When the tide rises it bears up with it everything that floats upon its bosorh, and when, by some effusion of the oly Gnost upon us, there shalicome a great tidal wave of revival over the land, it will carry with it the character of our merchants and of our states- men and purity every department of our social and political life. We cannot have Daniels in our banks and counting houses and custom houses and legisiaturés unless we have them also in the | closet. case. me, this morning. If every one wili sweep betore his‘own door the whole street will be clean; if every citizen who 1s @ hearer of the Gospel will reiorm himself in this regard the work will be ac- complished. I give you this motto—Holiness unto the Lord. May God enable you to stamp it, not in appearance only, but in reality, on everything you do henceforth. PRAYER DOES NOT HINDER WORLDLY PROMOTION. But, finally, | remark nat the prayerful man may Teach the highest success in busin Let me not be misunderstood here. ido not account pecuni- ary success the worthiest result of lie, I think it This is the oniy reform that will meet the | 18 true that sometimes the men who have made the greatest amount of wealth have also, as regards their iives, been the very greatest Jailures the world has ever seen; wiaile those who linve beem struggling to the very close- with disiculties have sometimes attained to the highest success, For it 1s what the man is, not what he has; what @ man has made ot himseli, not what he has made for himself, which marks the true resuit of lite, And he who has made tor himself a character—mark! 1 did not say reputa- tion; I said character—uke that of the Lord Jesus Christ has achieved success, even though at lust he should be nailed to a cross and beholden to But while thus 1s true, it is important to observe that prayer does not hinder Daniel was a man of prayer, ower to | My hearer, let it begin with thee, with | reptiles, and the fire worst.ppers the sun or fire that they stopped with the symboi, they went be- yond the symbol to the invisible power behind. They were far in advance of the common notion of the gross idolatry that considered that the rep- tile in THE MUD OF THE NILE wasagod. It was because that reptile embodied something that could bring them good or could do them harm {that they worshipped it. It was not tne reptile and it was not the bird, and among the | flre worshippers it was not the sun that was wor- shipped; it was the power that gave the sun its | light, its heat to fructiy and vivity the eafth, and making ail that saw the sun glad that the sun iad | come again and the darkness of the night was | Bone. Among the ancient Grecks there was the same | thing—the lon.ing after the divine; and that was | tae reason that Paul found on one of the numerous | altars erected to the Grecian deities, of whom | there were several thousands, ‘To the unknown | God.” Because after sil the forms that had been | embodied; all the attributes that had been de- clared, it was realized that there was something beyond; and in order that 1f might not be with- out recognition an altar was erected to the un- | | known God. And that altar, you’ see, iriends, be- came a link between the instinctive consciousness | of those that had not received the revelation of the | Most High and of those thathad, The altar to the unknown God was the illuminator to the Greeks | of that truth.which Paul would proclaim, that was | the link between instinct and inspiration; and he said, “As I passed by and observed your devotions I saw an altar with tuis inseription:—‘To the Un- | known Gol.’ Whom, theretore, you ignorantly | Worship, Him declare [unto you.” And then fol- lows that marveliously comprehensive declaration of his about the being aud existence of God and our relations to Him, than which you will search ip vain througa ali the declarations of Deity to find | anytuing more c mprehensive, more concise, | anytuing more satisiactocy to the mind or tne {| philosoy nical, the rtof the affectionate and tne | soul oj the aspirational—God, in whom we live and | move anu have our being! How it runs throughjthe | mind, how it dwells in the taougut, how it wartns and cheers the soul—tne thouzht of intimacy of our relations to Him, that in Him we live, that we move in Him, that we have our being in Him; that | an instant’'s consciousness without Him is an utter, | & philosophical impessibility. The yearning for God, then, has been the universal instinct of man- kind; itis the universal instinct of Mankind, and | we Share it with all the members o! the human | family. And, ja the, second piace, I remark taat | we are 80 made, so constituted, that we cannot ail | look at God in the saine way; He 1s not to any two the same being, and we must, then, in the fir place, become reconciled to the diversities wii exist in the religious and spiritual world in regard | to tne views and conceptions of God. These diver- sities exist in every phase and condition of life. If you will go with me into : YOUR ASTOR LIBRARY, | or any other library open to-day, you will see an illustration of this, We wil imagine fifteen or | twemty men sitting around the table, cach with | his chosen book, which has been taken from the saelves, and, walking behind them to observe each book, you will see the first with a volume of poems; the second has a book on religion or philosophy; the third an mstorical work; the fourth a@ book of adventnre or romance, and so | on. In very few libraries will you see the same book in two hands. Constituted and made to dil. | jer m regard to their tastes, men indulge their tasies and preicrences; aud it would be jn: | irrantonat for us to ‘ake from each man his hous and, placing one in their hands, say. ' and yet he rose to be the Prime Minister or the | tinst ail read this book,” as% to exp Persian Kmpire. 1t would be quite uniair to say | sume ileas to exist in every mind r that this advancement was due solely to his gard to the Most High—to expect them | religious and prayertul habits, forhe wasamanofr all to look out of the universal in- high intelectual ability and of good business tact | stinct through the same medium. When summer | as well; and t..ese qualities had some infucnce m | com and the crowded population of this city and securing his position. But it would be just as | Other cities seeks tor rest and refreshment on the fair to affirm that his prayeriol habits and religious | character had nothing to do with his promotion. Many men who are not religious themselves are | eriectly alive to tie value ol godly servants. ban learnea by experience that God haa blessed him tor Jacob’s sake, and proba negzar and Darius could have given similar testl- mony in regard to Daniel. 1 ain certain that nota few in this city who have no regard tor Jesus and | His Gospel have yet discovered the worth of Chris- tian serVants and have set them in places of trust and honor. So it would be keeping quite within the mark jor me to say that prayer and character tend to secure even worldly success. But that I may put the mater on the lowest trovertible ground I will say that at least prayer does not hinder a man from reaching even the highest earthly reward. No doubt Daniel did not reach his elevated posi- | tion 80 8002 48 Many prayeriess men have risen to emimence, and it has to be confessed, also, that more than once during ns career his life was in danger because oi his adherence to principic. Yet, through that adnerence to principle, in tae iong run le rose to the second position in the Empire. | And if you will take a wide enough view of things, even in our own day, you will see the same thing continually occurring. Many get ; & speedy and unprincipled success, and ere jong there comes an exposure and degrada- | tion, and those who spread themselves out like a green bay tree are jound, it may be, pining in some penitentiary or living @ fugitive lie in a foreign country. Bui those who go steadily on, payer ft seeking only to know and do the will if the Lord, though they have many difficulties im their path, do for the most part eventually suc- ceed. ‘it is possibie,” as the late Mr. Binney has conclusively proved, “to make the best of both worlds.” aud tuev who wish to know how that haa ly both Nebuchad- | cone | | Savbatn, you will find that some will seek the shore, sothers will seek the Woods, others will seek th cemeteries and graveyards, others seek the livery Stabje and enjoy tiemselves in driving through tue | streets, strange as it may seem: others will go to | the beautiiul Central park; yet others the satl- boats and steamboats, and toss upon the waves all the summer Sabbath; and it would be just as reasonatie to say to these people, “You must ali | go to the shore, the woods, or the park,” as 1b 1s Lo @xpect ali men to take the same views of God, vo consider Him the same being. The in- stinct is universal, the yearning shared by all, and in response to that imstinct God answers’ that yearning according to the buman concition of each individual. As you will observe to-morrow, shoud you look carly enough out over these streets to see the people going to their daily avocations, some will have books under their arms, otners will have 8, others the implemen ances by means of which they carry on their different trades or | callings, and it would be no more unreasonable for us to take from each man the pecultar implement Jor his daily avocation and put into the hands of every inan the taplement that we prefer, a8 to Say that every man must have the same ideas of God and cousider Him the same being. In the third place we come to the conclusion that we muss all Ue taithit! to our own ideas and be charitable to | the ideas oF others in the mdulgence of this uni- Versai yearning, which is the instinct of mankind, You tay observe in your windows, tricnds, w-day, that there are glasses of various soln, sents va- | rloasly, according to the art of the maker, for the | purpose oj producing precisely the ie effect you | see in the spiritual world. Each glass must be | taithfal to the color it con! each be the me- | “Bul [saved my specimen |’ | and constant influence over others, | be a naturalist, a pletist, a periectionist, and not | dium of the same Nght witon fows through all. {whe light 1 "ancagnged. uy seems to be om ‘another blue, yeiow, a according to the various colors of the glass which the light penetrates, im no two cases pearing the same. And in precisely the same same God over aii 18 good unto all that upon Him, His tender mercies are over all works, But one, ou account Of the coustitauon of bis being regards Him through the attributes of {patioe, another looks upon Him through the at- rivute of mercy, another beholds Him im His wis- dom, snotuer in His attribute 01 love, and so on, acourding. to the constitutton of his individual being, I stood upon the shore of the sea, several years ago, and Ovserved as the moon rose fall and ciear on the waves that 4 line of light shone full upon tue wave directly before me. I saw other eople analy ou the shore and tt seemed as I ‘ooked toward them that they were in the durk- hess, that that live of golden light reacaed my eye alone; it did not seem as if any ray of light were aray a over the waters to their eyes, But if I had gone to the position they occupieu, I could have observed the same line Of light across tne waters. And if that shore had been lined with all wno ed. the surrounding country their eye would have seena ray of light dashing ucross the waves, roving that it lives for hia enjoyment as weil as for the enjoyment oi every One else, So we should be laithiul to our own ideas, beheving in our owt and at the same time be charitable to tne ideas of others, wuo have just the same rizht to their be- lueis, und who look back'and trace tucir origin just gs divine, just as undeniabie as our own, Reflection aud ovservation have convinced me that the umiversal insunct which exists in bu- manity, the yearning aiter God, maps itself out in modern times into five divisiuns, takes five mani- festations. Here isa cinss of people who regard God through His attributes; they are called rad- icals. Here ts @ classy who regard Gou through His works; they are called naturalists. Hee is & wuo regard God turvugh Hs Son; they are ied Christians. Here is aciiss whovezard God through tue constant fMpression His Spirit produces upon tuem; they are called vartously 4 QUAKERS AND SPIRITUALIST, When that spirit is the sptrit of departed friends and pictisis--when it produces nothing bub what may be termed & modal rhapsody) or a riapsody dependent on the mode of muntiestation, as im the Quaker meeting, there ts a spirit of right and youthiul manifestution, It this maniiestation of the spirit is @Xperieneed they have a lively instead of # quiet or silent mecting. And the tlita idea, which i8 Lhac Of the perfectionist, 1s Goi m ourselves, the inner consclousness which enabies us to produce «ood works, to “ict Our lignt so shine betore men that they nay sce our good works and glorily our Father who is in heaven.’ We have various illus- trations 01 LUNE in the world. ‘here are persons who take no part witn chu, ches, who have noth: it 4 to say about the Bible, who take no particular | interest in God's Word, and yet whose lives are | abroiately divine, woo are go pervaded with tl spirit o. Him in whom they live and move au have their being, that ivll their works seem to be Jeavened by His love—a demonstratiou to us of the Sathe spirit working within them as Works in 6! who pro.ess Christianity. Tuese are the five promi- Dent Manifestations of the universyl instincs and yearniag which Gd has piaced in all His creatares @nd tue only crit.cism weich [ would make in ree gura to the first—the longing for God tnrouga his attributes, as maniesied in the radicais—is, that among them there has not been the charity thas there should have been (speaking as a Christian) towards others, Radicalism cannot be charitable. Raaicalism is absolute and must be absojute, just as @ mathematical demonstration muat be jute, There can ve no charity in domonstrating that twice two make four; twice two must be lour; it caunot be anything else; and so the conclusions of radicalism must be absolute. but the radicals can be charitabie to those who ho d diferent views froin theirs, And so, while I tender the utmost sympatny and respect to the. | rad:cal, and white A know that this earning tor God must take 1orm in seeking for God througa His attributes—iis wisdom, His love, His mercy, His gooduess—without any relereuce to the Bible, without any relerence to Christ, which me Quaker and the Periectionists’ idea, Lat the same time say to iy radical fread, “You must be more charitable to those wno differ irom you; yon must not be dictatorial in your spirit while you are ab- solute 10 your conclusions, Be as absolute as you please, it 1s in your nature, put at the same cme Charitavie to taose Who bave not your nature nor the color of your mind, but are compelled tv redect a different ray because constitured in a different way.’ This pnilosoptical view of radicalism, I think, wiil command your respect, however much wo may differ in your coneinsions from theirs, ‘hen you see a cultivated spiritual mind bent ewr- nestly in its SEARCH OF THE TRUTH, ' contemplating the attributes of God—His wisdom, or His holiness, or His mercy—absorbed in the com- templation of that igh, hoiy und giorious theme, whatever it may be, and giviug itself up to the serious and thorough and honest search after all the bearings and relations ol these on their own nature, wittout any reference to the declarations of the Bibie, without any retercnce to tne life of Christ, witnout any reierence to what nature teaches, I think it must command our respect ; and such is the honest, trutntul search atier God through His attributes as with tie radicals. The next mantiescation of this uutversal instinct, the yearning after God, 18 in the study of His works, when a man like our own gifted Agassiz, sees in the heavens an immense reiiection of light; in the ocean an immense aquarium; everything in nature brings to nim a constant consciousness of God in His Works, @ Man Who 1s always busy carrying on experiments in the air, the earth, the sea, will see God in His works, and the more one becomes ab- | sorbed in such things the more will ue be im- | pressed with the goodness oi God. I remember well a circumstance that took place im-the Iife of Agassiz, On Lake Cramplain he had been oat with some friends in a boat, and, @ storm coming up, they were compeiled to seck the shore; but as tney drew near Agassiz iound @ ncw specimer Or the animal creation, which he held in his hands, im order that the liie might not depart from it, AS | the boat was pushed to the shore tather too hurriedly, on account of the Tapia approachin; storm, the voat was capsized and he was precipi- tated into tne water, and as he was fished out by some friends, who were very much disturbed at the unexpected mishap, and begun to Wek their regret at the occurrence, he exciaim Forgetting his and his wet clothes, and caring only that he had saved his specimen. fhat 18 the spirit of the naturalist, That was the spirit of Agassiz in that sublime scene, which I hope wiil yet be painted by some of our great artists, Where, on an isiand, sur- rounded by the young men who coastituted that school of nataral science, he said, “It becomes us first, without tne intervention of any voice of man, to bow ourselves before Him and seek His blessing on our labors, whose works we are now avout to study; and ina silence of four or five minutes the great naturalist of tne world and the students who revered and loved him so much, recommended themselves to Him without whose blessing they felt their labors would amount to little or nothing. ‘thatits the spirit of the naturalist who sees God in His works, Who lees Gou through His works, who realizes the Roodness of the God who cre: the world, The Ubird manifestation of this yearning instinct is ite mavitestation in Christ; God was in Christ mant- festing bimsel: unto men, and I contess to yi friends, that that 1s to me the most moving ani gratifying. The Bible revelation of God addresses MY NATURE in a way the most powertul and the most satisfac. y, and lam not, there.ore, a radicai by preter- Tam not a naturalist, nor a pletist nor ® riectionist: but 1 seek above everything else im my ly Walk and conversation, in the whole of my being, mentally, morally and spiritually, to be a Christian; to get just a3 near as | can to Jesus Christ—as near as my nature will permit; tobe just as large, as sell-sacrificing, as patient, as loving im spirit as it is possible for me to attain or to convey to others. I find it gives tue imost joy and life tomy owasoul. When I take te New Testament it affects me differently from oli other books. When Lread the Sermon om tue Mount | feel au inward giow which no other words contain or convey, and nothing such joy as the pure worus of Christ. 8 | read | them my heart burns within me as did the hearts of the Gisciples when they said to each other, om their way from Emmaus, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us by the way?” It is on account, probably, of the constitation of my nature that Christianity thus addresses me, Ido not say that it is the most absolute form, the best and highest form, of manifestation of God to us because it seems to me tue best. 1 must, in all charity, recoguize those other forms, and I give u ‘the right to play the part they have ed and are piaying in bringing men tnto the Owiledye of truth and into fellowship with God. ristianity has, tomy mind, the most powertul A man may manifest that power over the spirits ol others, No man can be a Ubristian and not be pervaded aud possessed with the forgiving aud loving disposition ot Jesus Christ. And those who have been per- vaded with His spirit and vave made Caristianity a4 reality in the past will make {t such in the tuture, as I beiteve the wisdom of God and the power ot God necessary to the saivation of mankind, In the third place, tt has raised men. Wherever tt has. had THE FREEST SCOPE there has been the purest mora! and national life. L suppose, frieads, that this spiritual condition ts possible to all, and I may prove that supposition by the lilustration of the origin of your suspension bridge that connects two. continents, which began, you remember, in @ kire string. Whether they were men or noys Ido not know, but a kite Was flown above Niagara River, below tle Falls, and dropped on the other shore, and from the tin) thread a cord was drawn across and a rope fol. lowed the cord and a cable followed the rope, and then came the real cables, one alter another, til the suspension bridge was at last erected. And precisely in the same way our spiritual relations to God exist. First is we lest thread of influence which he sends down is or of aspiration which we send up to Aim, and as that tiny thread ta used we are drawn by His hand. Tmay compare man’s opportunity to a current of spiritual inflmence—firs® the thi then the rope, then the cabie of spiritual tn- fluence, and at last the bridge is built over which our aspirations shail rise and across which His mossages come down to us, and we are in con- unnal ‘Adtt d with Him, That is the nighost form of Quaker!sm--the spiritual dea manifesting the yearning for God. For thi very re! pecause it has this stirring, vitaliz- ing influence upon my influence over others 1s clevated. Christiant rf has this in- fluence over mankind, 1 rece bristianity to ratify the yearning for the manifestation of the igh, which Ushare with all the members of it 4 Tha tort manitestatian of the human fam’'« ‘ives me*