The New York Herald Newspaper, June 22, 1874, Page 8

8 RELIGIOUS REFLECTIONS, Frothingham’s Second Sermon | on Human Nature. 0 BLESSEDN —o———_ BEECHER Dr. Warren’s Exposition of the Prayer of the Publican. 1 Hepworth Tells the Story of the | Crucifixion. a Isabella Armstrong and the Lost Sheep. | creation he was good, ALL Saints’? Ertscorar Cm a.—The attend | ance at this church in Scammel street was yester- day worning ubusuaiy larg Rev. Wiltam M. Dunnel), the rector, preache plato but practical discourse from the text, Luke Xxi, 19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.” THrrtTy-FoceTH STRgkT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Rev. Dr. Thomson, pastor of the Thirty-fourth street Presbyterian church, preached yesterday Morming at half-past ten o'clock. The text was taken from the is my command’ Lhave loved y spel of St. John, xv., “This elt, that ye love one another as CHURCH OF THE SEs AND LAND.—At this church, corner of Market and Heury streets, there was quite a large attendance yesterday morning. Rev. Dr. £ ard Hopper, the pastor, preached an | effective discourse [rom the text, Proverbs, Xili., 21—“£vil pursue nners, but to the righteous good shal) be repaid.” BROADWAY TABEBNACL®.—At the Broadway Tab- ernacie yesterday morning a large congregauon was gathered together to listen ior the last time before his departure for Europe to tae pastor, Rev. br. Taylor. A moss effective discourse was preached, the text being taken from Hosea, vi., 4— “Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” Sr. Teresa's Crvkc.—Tbere was avery large | attendance yesterday morning at this church, | corner of Henry and Rutgers streets. An eloquent | and impre hscourse was preached by Father Ward, who was lately ordained, trom Gospel, “ASK, and ye shall receive; see slall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” FREE TABERNACLE OF THE METHODIST Eptsco- PAL CHCRCR.—At the Free Tabernacle of the | Methoaist Episcopal church, Thirty-fourth street, between Seventh and Eignth avenues, the pastor, Rev, L. H. King, preached yesterday morning to a Inrge and fashionably dressed congregation. The subject of the discourse was the choice of Moses, the text being taken trom Hebrews, Xi., 24-26. GERMAN PRESBYTERIAN Cuarecn.—fhe pastor, Rev. Mr, Keusi, preached at this church, corner of Madison and Montgomery streets, yesterday mor- Ning, toa large and attentive congregation, His text comprised the first fourteen verses of the 4sth ebapter of Matthew. He expiained how %o avoid offen bow to deal with those who offend us, and how oft to fprgive them. —Kev. Edward Levi, the corner of Madison and Gouv- East Baptist CHU pastor of this church erneur streets, occ J the pulpit yesterday morn- ing. He preached trom the text, Psalm 15, “The fool ath said in wis heart there is no God.” It was a germon of rare merit and presented in a very forcible manner, the evidences Goa’s exist- tence as well as His omniscience, omnipresence and omnipot p Ho.y CHrRCH OF INNOCENTS.—At the Yhurch of the Holy Innocents, yesterday morning, the pastor, Ri Joun Larkin, said mass at eight o'clock. ceremony was most impres- five, upwards of 200 caildren receiving the sacra- ment of communion jor the first time. At half- past ten Rev. Father Galligan sang high mass, the usual sermon being omitted. In the afternoon the pulpit was graced by the Right Reverend arch- bishop MeCc when the rite of confirmation was conferred upon the children who received the first comusunion in the morning. Mernopisr CuURcH.—There large attendance yesterday A most forcible and im- WILLetr STREET was an unusually morning at this chureh. pressive discourse was preached by Rev. J. V. from the text 1. Timothy, i., Ai saying and worthy of all that Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Christ’s mission was, he urged, to save Siuners—this and notuing More. In tne course of his discourse he read a letter of Bishop Harris, Bow making a tour of the world, drawing a con- trast between heathen aud Christian conntries, and describing his longing to get back to Christian America again. The sermon was listened to wita the ciosest attention. TALMAG! TABERNACLE, BROOKLYN.—The tat Nacie pastor announced yesterday morning that on Sunday next be would preach for the last time previons to taking bis usual summer vacation. During his absence the tabernacle would ve Opened on Sunday mornings, and Chapiain Sun- deriand, of the United States Senate, and other prominent divines would conduct the services there. In his opening prayer Mr. Talmage invoked the blessing of God upon the nation, and in this cunnection said:~ “Lord, deliver us from all our commercial (stresses. To this purpose, bless the Congress of t now at their wits? end, perplex lin no wise helping the nation in its finances, 1y protracted session spend- ing the trea of the land. Oh, Lord, thon who vearts of men im thy hand hoidest the and wr as rivers of water are tare in to a state of prosperit: ou uitering com. merce, $ ag mm ping that haa folded in th and we pray that e May be greatly ncouraged, and gh Thou mayest ha denied them worldly su 1ey may have, through this season of i disaster and pressure, coming to their soul a great spiritual ad Vantage.” Mr, Talmage’s sermon was upon tne folly of setting our adections upon the things of th rid in preference to the things above. The discourse, an and impressive one, was listened to by a« tion of about 5,000, Fine? PLACE Mermopisr Briscopan CHvurou The morn ervice at the First place Methodist Episcopal church, oklyn, which looked qui attractive by lis r + tastelul renovations, was conducted by the Kev. Joho Powal, D. D., of the Southern Methodist churet, who was introduced by the pastor, Ke S. Hunt, as @ warm friend and abettor Of the reconciliation and brotherly feeling now growing up between the Methodist bodies of the North and South. ‘The reverend ge tieman selected for his text the very appropriate passage from Romans, v., 10- or if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life.” The Doctor described Paor's early life of unrighteousness, his conversion and experience in the Uhristian faith, and how throughout aii bis writings he seemed to exercise the power of & master baiider ts the Christian Ife, putting forth the love Of God to man. He also deacribed how persona rom eug ‘he worst enemies of God are brought to 0 He most ardent lovers and devoted servants, inetancing, among others, ypoieon, Who, aiter reading (he New Testament one day, said he would rather dismiss ail other sutje desma © ; also that man who was converted fom one of te most noved blaaphemoug callings, |. | we had design, in the latter result. | reason | we bright banners of victory. fort is predicated of that change which had bejore | This asser- | and talk only of | NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1874.+TRIPLE SHEET. Wan, immortalizing his name by writing that book, second to the Scriptures themselves, “Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress,” And he hoped that now there had come that sweet reconciliation between the North ana South, they mught work better together, unti! that day when the Lord shail come and find ‘em hand im hand working and waiting for the Day o1 Judgment. Ssvenra AVENUE METHODIST EPISCOPAL Cucnen.—Dr. Wild preachea yesterday morning at the Seventh aveaue Methodist Episcopal church, Brooklyn. His text was selected from Romans, XL, 2—For the gilts and calling of God are witn- out repentauce.”’ The Doctor proceeded to show that im the divine economy creation was construc- on and operation was providence, In the first Man in his frst estate was governed by and subject to a preferential providence; now be was under a provisional providence. Inasmuch as good and evil were contained as possibilities in the gilt ana exercises of man’s freedom, God, in His love and wisdom, covered all contingenctes by creating all things in and through Christ, so that should His preferential design fail He could at once establish @ provisional design which would always look towards the prefer- ential. Tue Seripsures taught as that God was love. Before creation he was that; in It reasonably followed that neither in disposition or action was the Divine dependent upon aught without Himself to give Him seek disposition, or render Him good, for He ts naturally good, is done in love and wisdom presents Bim to us as an impartial being. His goodness opened a chan- nel of communication in which the Dtvine can the more freely go forth in consistency. In the matter of repentance God does not wait for manin a sin- ful state to repent and ask salvation, jor itis in the very nature of sip not to ask relief. hold the mother does not wait for the infant to ask the things essential, Love foresees and supplies all its want God, ona higher plane, provides even before we make our wishes known. Men should follow the true instincts of the soul, but taste and frequentiy differ, taste often being the superior, When he was in Rochester last week a prominent jady in the women’s rights question asked him why he did not advocate that doctrine iu the pulpits, it would help the cause so much if all the mimisters would give the subject their at- tention. The doctor repued that it was because his taste could never tolerate seeing @ woman Oc- cupying & man’s position. In his opinion she was less a woman when she mixed in the rougn tur- moi of the world; sue should keep her sphere and not claim what she was Inadequate to fill, and if he spoke upon the question it would have to be on that side, BEECHER ON LIFE WORK. Sony eesti No diminution in numbers could be noted in the attendance at Plymouth church yesterday, every space into which a hearer could be crowded 80 as vo listen to the pastor's voice, even by standing through the morning services, being filled. A beautiul anthem opened the exercises. It com- menced with a contralto solo of supplication, fol- lowed by one for the soprano, Miss Lasar, in which ner clear, rich voice bad scope for some of its best effects, and ended by a glorious choras, in which Mr, Camp’s grand choir all joined must admirably. Mr. Horatio King presided at the organ, in te ab- | sence of John Zundel, who has gone to his oid nome in Switzerland. Mr. Beecher gave notice | that there would be no services iast evening or for the next two Sunday evenings. After next Sunday week he will not occupy his pulpit daring the uot season. Having read, after the invoca- tion, chapter of Matthew, he named as his text elation, Xiv., 13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, ‘rom hence- forth! Yea, saitn the Spirit, that they may rest irom their labors; and their works do follow them.” This 18a venediction. Itis a benediction, | ‘Loo, falling just where we look for something the reverse of telicitation, Waste, decay, bring the nesses wino testified falsely and the veraici of death | natural mind into a condition of grief and agony; but, under the teachings of the New Testament, we are to look upon them with sentiments of con- fident hope and joy. There we are to see waving All cheer and com- been the world’s dread and aversion. uon Of blessedness in death is a proper parallel to the beatitudes pronounced by the Master in the | Sermon on the Mount I have read in your hearing. In it Christ ran counter to the prejudices and con- victions of the world; but the truths which they recognize carry as beyond the present in our es- timates oi the dealings of God with us here. We are tojudge them by tests which are beyond the conditions and limitations of this life. It is de- clared that those who die in the Lord REST FROM THEIR LABORS. Yet, activity is very pleasant. When one is in full strength, even endurance of pain or fatigue gives us pleasure. But in all working in this world there is friction, We are worn by the emery dust of care. We work unsatisfactorily with uncon- genial companions, and the more a man is inspired the more he feels the imperfections and the blem- ishes in Lis work, It would be, indeed, blessed if one could always work in harmony with his asso- clates, and with the general tendencies of the world about us. Uften what we do not do is more important in the estimate of our work than what we do, We snafl rest from all this in death, in that grand transition, for the reason that our work shall follow us inte the realm which hes beyond this state. The tenactty with which we cing to work is one of our binurances, Our work is ouly nature in (ransitu, Men marvel when usetal, active men are taken from the midst of their labors. They ask What captain shall fead that band who fight ior trutu., We forget that dying olten Makes better work than jue. Christ’s work sped aiter mis death. So the Aposties were most jul When, alter their death, throngs arose their places In Spreading the doctrines ‘of salvation by the Redeemer. He that could from the stones raise up Seed unto Abraham is able to take care o( His work. But MEN DO NOT CEASE WORK WHEN THEY DIF. The hindrances are left behind, but the work goes on, He who lives in the spirit of Christ, does work which we can never see. One builds his house of enduring materials and constructs with skill and beauty to chal- lenge the admiration of all. His neighbor iay Ouild only in \otiuence on the lite and charac- ter of those around. yet his Work shali last when the stones are crumbled with age, the beauty of architecture perished. A good man’s lile is a seed- sower, and is constantly throwing out the germs of goodness in others. The air is filled, as the bot- apists tell us, with spores of fungi too ‘minate for our sight, yet their organizauon is as periect as tat of the rose or dahlia. so of character. We see not the iruits, but the simple being good carries untold usefulness and powe What do chtidren know of the character in tl parents which influences the formution of th young aracter. We remember the mother's care or the restrictions of Sunday and, perhaps, the religious teaching; but itis their actual good- ness and gentleness, the difused tniuence of their inmost Itfe and nature which stamps ifself upon alJ. The humblest mau, poked away in an obscure shop, Seeing Bot & &Core Of persons iN a week, is not a useless worker. The influence of his silent example of patient worth and fidelity iu his sia- tion may shed its Influence wider than the most noisy deeds of worldly greatness. WE LIVE IN OUR CHILDREN and beyond them in theirs continually, and in | multitudes whom we know not, When the Rhode jsiand Greening was found to be @ good apple, sions cut irom the parent tree and pianted into ors apread it wide, till now no well regulated Td {8 without it; and countless markets and bins of the fine favored fruit, throagh these slight sticks, trace their origin to the original seeding tree, long after tt has passed away and its place been forgotten. One humbie man or notable wo- man Casts ab ufinence invo the iives of thousands. You works folow, i go on alter you anu your deeds are forgotten, This source of unconscious power bas sirange maniiestations, When the Hmperor William was overwhelmed by Napoleou, his queen, Louise, sunk under we blow. A sculptor has carved fer monument ta marble, representing ber finding rest in death, it‘is & triamph of the senipter’s skill. unmoved upon that pictare, That dead Queen, figured in marble, exerts a cheering power on all who see it, 1 have the photograph bang- ing in y study, and many @ it has buoyed me up with hope when oppressed by discouragements, [f such power resides in a cold marble, How much more ‘in a warm, sympathetic soul’ Such influence comes to as trom father, mother, wile, (read, The example of parenis is jelt in their children through generations. We are what We ure Irom the transmitted character of OUR STURDY OLD ENGLISH FOREPATHERS. You cannot tell how much yoo are indebted to forgovven ancestors for your character. Nor is our infuence confined only wo those who respond pop ged Seeds do not always spring up at once. me must lie Over Winter, Some may remain torough jong years before they amring wy bearing sc! ot ore The view that whatever He does | In the house- | the Sermon on the Mount, from the fifth | Noman Can 100K | time | Ramely, an English tinker, to an almost saintly | beauti(ul harvests, ‘There are those now before us, | ges as close to Christ as we can. He | Bo doubt, who trace the influence upon them | Of compauions or instructors io! ago On ; the farm or in the shop. can see in my school teacher. She came to j Pipatee schoolhouse when I was eight years 0! } | Rot learning what was not taught. | one summer there. I Know not her naue or woat | became of her; yet bas she so mixed hersel! in mY ive that you hear her preach every Sunday, and | others through me have spread her unconscious influence wide, and its effects will continue through | generations yet unborn. | Our New England fathers, in founding Harvard and Yale, are now represented by thousanis of | men throughout all the world whose character has been influenced by those schools, Cardinal Wol- | | Sey ruled England, controlling her monarch. He | founded Christ's College at Cambridge, and in that , Seeminy trivial act he has diffused more infucuce | and exerted more power chan in all the triumpus | ot his statecratt. We all feel the results of tlat | work to this day, | PETER COOPER WILL DIE SOON. | His Cooper Union has a foundation of unmortality. ‘The walis of that solid structure may turn to dust, hur the effect of his noble work can never pass away. Lennox and Astor, with all their meney, will be | | forgotten, but the lioraries they have estabiisted | for the public will preserve their power longer | | than any wealth can enaduré. So they who benefit | the pubiic by tue endowment of asylums, intirma- | ries, hospitais, shall live for centuries in beneiac: | tions to their race. He who ina village founds 4 | | free reading room opens a fountain of tight wich | no time can hide. In ike manner they work for | the ages Who benefit the community by es\abiisn- ing savings banks and insurance societies. Men working for the public good are working for ages | | after their bodies die. It ww ever tcesn and par- takes somewhat of immortality. So those who ) sing in noble thoughts. Architects, with loity as- | Pirations after the fitting and the beautifni, beara | down upon us jong after they have leit us. Five | men built the old Cathedral of Winchester; Bot | the most celebrated of those old edifices, but one | | which most impressed me. They have in it repre- | sented all successive stazes of architectural rt. | They all sleep beneath its roof, beside royalty, ) abbots and various martyrs. That historic rool Shed lummouspess upon me asl wandered through | its aisies and looked upon its treasures. 1 tanked | the men who built it jor me, an unknown citizen | olacontinent not yet discovered, Shakespeare, | Milton, Dante, Watts. Wordsworth, Homer, Clau- cer, Virgil; their works had not half tne power in | their lives as to-day, Blessed are the dead. Their works follow them, so the teachers shall jive. All | who humbly teach in the coiored schoois of the | South, in the rude log cabins o1 the West—ieeble women worrying mto consumption, fast falling | into the grave—can they die ¢ | GONE BEFORE 10 GREET Us, | var works not only follow us into the other tife. | | We are constantly throwing ourselves forward. | Many of those on whom we exert influence go be- fore us. As in a shipwreck, we send 4 line ashore, then make both ends secure, and we stand by it | on the wreck till every human being, and even the | poor dog, have salely gone ashore on the trembling rope. Tuus we follow them to secure their bene- dictions when they stand safe before us. This should be @ comfort to those who seem confined ip humble spheres. None of their work can perish. | i with small means and poor opportunities they do their work well, so much the greater will be | tueir reward. When the time comes for your death the angels shall wait for you, culling, “Come up hither. Blessed are the dead.” And | far away think i hear, “Blessed are tne dead, | | they rest from care and their work goes on and | | toliows them.’’ H } Sema | | CEURCH OF THE DISCIPLES, | | ce The Story of the Crucifixion and Re- | surrection—The Darkest Night the | Precursor of Brighter Days. | There was a fair attendance at the Church of tne | Disciples yesterday morning. Mr. Hepworth se- — lected lus text trom St. Luke, twenty-fourth chap- | | ter and tnirty-tourth verse—“The Lord ts risen in- | deed, and hath appearea to Simon.” I suppose, | | Said the preacher, the darkest night that ever | | shrouded the earth was that Jollowing the cruci- | fixion, and I am sure the brightest day that ever | shone was that which began with the folowing | | Sunday morning. The whole scene, which is de- | | scribed in the last chapters of Paul's epistles, is | | one of exceeding interest and pathos; one can hardly read the closing chapters in the earthly life | Of the Master without following his footsteps with | | tears. There were three classes of persons who looked at that event, each in its own peculiar way and trom its own characteristic standpoint, The Phar- | isees were exultant; their efforts had been crowned with victory; they had tried and fatled | many times, but after three years of unsuccessful | plotting they had succeeded in enmesuing the Lor When it was impossible to condemn him py proceedings legally carried on, they suborned wit- | Came not from judicial lips, put from the hot tem- | pered passion of a mob which had prejudged the case and determined on the penalty before ihe end oi the proceedings had been reached. The Pharisees then jooked upon themselves as WORTHY WARRIORS, who hada won a signa! victory. The disciples, on the other hand, were in a grievous plight; their fondest hopes had been blighted, tueir ambitions thrown to the ground. 1 don’t say that doubt concerning Jesus crossed | their minds, but yet their faith was not quite per- | fect—the end was so unexpected, so different from What tuey had looked for. Knowing, as they did, that Jesus had thus far escaped the piots laid for | Him, they thought He would stand forth victorious | tothe end. They did not know that His death | was part of the apliting of His cause, {t seemed | to them only a GLOOMY PROPHECY that His kingdom was to be razed to the ground. They went to their homes in the deepest grief and much bewlidered concerning the iuture. Next we look at the common people, those whom Jesus had biessed, in whose souis He bad | stirred up hope, whose inward eye He had opened, | and whose understanding He had uplifted. They too were disappointed. Pernaps they said, “Well, this 18 just what might have been expected in the beginning; He was wrong, poor man: we are life the character of a pale, modest | the old, dreary | had been pinched and scolded there before for | She was bat | | spirit-bearing witness tn them that they are the ' children of God—not the rest. hes a promised hear our prayers and that God shall answer | those prayers, We can come boldly, then, to the | throne of grace and veseech the Father until He shail answer our prayer. Oh, you that are troubled, you that have little faith, come one and ail to tte foot of the cross; bring your prayer to Him who died thereon and there shail come, not only a peace, but a strength | in your soul that shall give you victory in this lie | 4nd immortality in the world to come, LYRIC HALL | Mr. Prothingham’s Seeond Sermon on | Human Nature—His Review of Mr. | Beecher's Recent Discourse. uyric Hall was filed with an attentive audience yesterday morning, who, alter listening to the musical selections so finely rendered by the ac- | complisned cboir and the reading from ‘various | aucent Scriptures” by Mr. Frothingham, were led | tothe same generai grounds of thought and dis- cussion occupied by that preacher on last Sabbath morning. Mr. Frothingham chose for his text the same words, or part of them, that had formed the basis of the stirring and eloquent sermon by Mr. Beecher a couple of weeks ago—‘“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.’ Mr, Frothingham, how- ever, quoted no more of the passage, but went on to say:—These are the words of the apostle John. They are addressed to Christian believers, and to Christian behevers they bave all their ap- plication. They are not spoken to tue world outside of the limited company of the faithtul, not to the Gentiles or Greeks or Romans or barbarians, but only to those who have the fatth in the Christ. These are privileged to call themselves the sons of God; these are privileged to say “Abba Father;’ these have the | It 13.4 mistake to read these words as if they applied to human na- ture as such; they apply, in the intention of the apostle, to those who are emancipated from the law of human nature, and who, by faith in the re- deeming Christ, are raised above the natural ecreature; for the faith of this apostie in uttering these great words is that human natore 1s sintul; that the human race is bound under sin, As THE GREAT BROOKLYN PREACHER says, “The whoie world lies in wickedness." Of | that were can be no doubt. This was the cardinal faith, not of John alone, but of Paul and ali other sposties, that human nature in itself being onder the law of Sin, was essentially depraved and could of itself do nothing. This, I say, was the cardinal faith of every one of the apostles: it is the cardi. nal faith of the literature of the New Testament alter the Gospel; 11 has been the cardinal faith of the Cpurch ever since—sirong in some cases, feeble and vague in others, but never wholiy lost, because this 13 the corner stone of the whoie mediatorial system. According to the depth of the fali is the height of the rise; aceording to the amount that is lost in Adain is the amount that is gained in Christ; according to the utter inability of human nature is the promised ability of the re- deemed man, And so we will find in the history of the Christian Church, from the beginning until this day,in every sect the corner stone of aj! doctrine is the doctrine of human depravity. If the doctrine isthe doctrine of total depravity, then the ofiice of the Redeemer becomes 80 much more exalted, because the need of the Redeemer is so much more crying. If the depravity consists simply in weakness, in want of development, then tne office of the Redeemer is stripped of some of its chief dignity and the Redeemer becomes merely a teacner and exemplar. But, observe, the cardinal doctrine of the whole Christian scheme is the de- prayity. more or less pronounced, more or less in- curavie, of human nature. Now, friends, it is simply impossible that a doctrine lke this of total depravity or of depravity not total, but essential, of a depraved nature, shoula be preached, gener- ation after generation, tO men Of all conditions and all degrees without vehement reaction and | earnest protest. There will be the reaction, though it is not coniessed ; there will be @ protest. though it 18 not spoken; but it will be professed, it will be spoken. The voice out of human nature itsell wil) say, “It is not and cannot be true that human na- ture 1s essentially evil, that it hag | ing irom his Holiness the apostolic benediction. A DEPRAVED AND CORRUPT ROOT. Now the voice of this protest broke out firstin | Christian dominion at about the fourth century, | and curiously but significantly enough it was the | voice of a Briton who spoke—a British monk who | | felt within himself then*the essential qualities | that characterize Englishmen to-day—the quality | of @ sturdy manliness, a reliance on the natural powers of the mind, saith in wil, faith in human purpose, faith in character, And this British monk, jour centuries after Christ, ilted up a loud | and earnest protest in behalf of character against the doctrine of depravity. He said:—“L numan nature is depraved then there are no men and | women; if there 18 no free will then there is no | résponsivility; if there 1s no responsibility then | thére is no mora) worth; tf there is no moral worth | then there is no such thing as judgment or con- | demnation, there is no such thing either as praise | or rebuke; and if there iy no such thing as right or | wrong, praise or blame, then what becomes of char- acter? Character depends upon its being possible to be virtuous, and if @ man’s character is given beforehand it is not character; because his char- | acter is his own. Adam cannot be character for | me; no person who lived in another continent, in | | another uge of the world, however good, however | able, can be anything to me. 1 stand for mysell, ; Every tudividual being 1s an individual, ana his | own qualities he i answerable for. And if you say that we all fell in Adam then you teach that | each one of us is not an individnal, but a solitar, brick lying atong the line which is doomed to Iall when the first one 1s toppled over, We are noth- tng—our qualities are nothing. We are simply the | UB upon which providential acts are done, | ut we dre NOt free agents, not personal agents, We count for nothing.” Now, the man who spoke | out intuis great way was not a philosopher; he was not a great theologian; he was nota Keen | and subtle thinker; he was not @ man largely studied in past history; he was not a seer into { divine principles at all. He was a plain, solid, sub- | stantial COMMON-SENSE ENGLISHMAN, sorry, but 1t Couid not be helped; we loved Him, and His enthusiasm stirred our mmost depths; | He was @ wonderiul man, but the Pharisees re- | | garded Him asa traitor and punished Him, and He is dead.” | And yet overall this there hung a j ) VAGUE, CURIOUS PROPHECY | to this effect—that Jesus would rise again and | finish His work on this eartt. It was a wonderful prophecy, but He had kept His word up to the moment of His death, and perhaps He | migat keep it stil. The common people | had heard of this and were curious con- | cerning the result. The disciples treasured | the prophecy and Jooked forward to the end of the | three days with a dita aud vague hope. The Puart: | sees remembered His promise and put a guard of | Roman soldiers at the sepuicire, lest the victory | so hardly obtained should slip irom their grasp, They were governed in this act by bitter hatred; | they had crushed His body and now they hoped to | crusa bis soul. | | "The third day came, and it was announced that | the sepuictire was empty. No one knew who had | rolled tae stone away. The angels had leit the Inelody Oj their presence there. Aji was calm and | still, No Christ was there. { Two of the disciples, very much troubled in | mind, determined to go home to Emmaus, a few | miles from Jerusalem. It was natural that they should do so. They wanted time to think of the past sud make plans for the future, and so tiey started. it Was over a rough | road, and they journeyed on talking to each other | concerning what had happened; not able to solve the problem they simply wondered, and alter they had gone some distance they saw a stranger coming up behind them; soon he caught up with them aud walked by their side, When asked wnat iney Were talking about they said, “Of what could talk about butte one thiag? Have ye come m Jerusalem and do not know of Jesus? crucitix+ and now He is risen and we do not know where He is?” And the stranger ed the Seriptures, | beginning with the Olid i and explained | tu Lory. OF Gods prese world until at last they lookea on him as a Wonder, and when th arrived at Emibaus he would have lett them, but they invited lim to their home and he went, and ne broke bread with them and asked a blessing, and tey Were thunderstruck, for there were the red prints of th alls Which Koman cruelty had driven, and they cried, “It is the Lord,” and would have fallen down to worslip Him, but He vanished out of Laelr sight. So Tar the plotare is perfect; let us follow it to the end. disciples were too excited by what they had to sleep or eat, and they started back to Jerusalem to communicate the giorlous tidings. ‘Through the jong night their weary steps ; hastened, und at last, worn out in body bat test , | in heart, they entered the eastern gate of the cit | and knocked at we door of that house in whic! the Lord had eaten wita them the last supper; they | | knoe but ail were asicep, but im a@ few | minutes they were awakened and the discipie gathered inside, and the first words they use: were the words oi my text—“The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon.” Glorious news it was, like sunlight bursting unexpectedly | op their grief, snd then, wile they Were ali Won dering, the doors belug shut, unis MYSTERIOUS STRANGER stood in their midst, and, holding out his hands a second time, said, “Peace be unto you.” Yes, ib | was indeed Christ; He kad kept His promise, Brethren, tat is the story. Let me speak for a | few moments concerping the improvement of the | text, Let me say, in the first place, | learn that it is not always darkest when it seems so. There are | | times in our eXpertence when we almost | | abandon hope. Remember, Christ always keeps His promises, and if we trast we shail be jusutied | in the end and our Course vindicated by that God | who never changes; third and iastly, please re- member that the Lora appears to us as He did to the disciples. JESUS LIVES NOW and can make Himseli manifest unto as at all times. ‘There ts but one thing for us 0.49. 404 that Js ta, | In all morai and noble directions, with an earnest | very consistent, for he was not a great theologian | tense force of feeling, and from that point alone oldest evils OF the world, two great inveterate | j | ead and expounded simply and tenderly. and in the name of human nature of the dignity of and he stood on the English faculty of common sense, and he said tu the theologians, “What you say ts absurd. It may be very good in theology; 1 be blameless in philosophy ; but it 1s absurd m reason.” He was put down; his voice was hardly heard. He was obliged to flee from one land to another to escape from persecution. His doctrine was pronounced « heresy, was overruled, was cast out, and the old sect of be i went on withonta ripple visible on ita suriace. It was @ thousand years before another great protest in the same naine, of the human conscience and the Treason, ran through Europe—a thousand years— and tis time it was an Italtan. not an Oriental, not @ Greek, not a subtle, speculative theologian, but an Italian, who, like all the Italians, petteved in institutions, in Jaws, in the power of the idividual ‘conscience, 10 external and sensuous tilings. His name was Soci nius, He lifted up @ powerful voice. He was more of a scholar than the other—more a siudent of history and had a larger acquaintance with men, He was better born, he entered upon & higher plane of human development, put he said essentially the same thing. It was a long time be- jore the grander idea of human natare loomed up jrom Germany. His idea was that Man was a spirituai being, tuat his nature wus divine, that the essential quality that made the man or the woman Was in itself supernatural and in ttself in- tmates a conception of man a8 a being whorather descended (rom above than worked up from below. The very idea of depravity was utterly abhorrent to the person who held this great conception. They thought of man as a being who had a relig- ious nature—wiho was the autaor of religions, who wrote himself the bibies, who sanctifiea the priest, Who covgecrated the ministers, who built the temples, Wao formed the cymbals, who created the | music. Ine creeds were this man thinking, the wor- ships Were (ais man praying, the coniessions were this man, fumble on bis kuees, the temples were thus man’s building of a house that | corresponded with his idea of the infinite. THE APOSTLE IN AMERICA of rhis great mith Was Channing, and in Channing standing as he did nominally in @ thin and dry technical sou, for he was a Unitarian by protes- sion, the prophet of this sublime dignity in human nature found voice. A pure minued man, simple, sincere, earnest, devoui, with a great sense of the reality of divine things, with an active enthustasm love of his fehow men, without intellectual preju- dices, without moral limitations, free emanci- pated, sincere, Channing preached this great doctrine oF the essential dignity of human nature. fis theory of Mankind was Bot very complete or nor @ profound philosopher; be was simply @ pure ardent soui Of mtense power of conviction, of in- at luman nature and human life. he looked reat evils of his time, two of the Against two srimes Of the race Chanuing especially protested, If the doctrine of TOTAL DEPRAVITY | magnifies and darkens too mach the effectsof evil | \an the world, the doctrine of human dignity | makes too iittie of them. How ts it possible, we | say, If man is @ spiritual being, thus superbly en- , dowed, if from the supernatural power itself | come these high faculties, we discern truth, we | love excellence, we long for perfection; how |s it | possible that the world lies in such misery as it | does? Why aii this iniquity, this error, this vio- jence, this falsehood and buseness? How comes it aboutethat there are no more transfigurations ? | Why does not the sonl, a divine being, break | through these Cinay limitations of matter and | map. circumstance and at once show himself what he | is? How ts it that it Is so hard to be good that the | progress of the race is so very, very slow? What arag, abont us when we would make the world better than itis? There is no answer from this His haga is in that o1 a guide, The goodly hand is ¢ | pa No word in the Scripturai voc: 1s this weight that has settled upon us all, that we theory of the dignity of human nature; Channing bad DME; bat she Dobienesa of the doctrine waa | unto Him, itself instanced in the dignity of reaso! grandeug of the heart, on the supremacy of virtue. 8T. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. The Reward of Obedience to the Divi: Commands—Anniversary of the Pop Coronation, The propitious weather yesterday forenoon at- tracted @ large congregation to St. Patrick's Cathedral. After the first Gospel the Rev. Father Kearney ascended the pulpit and took for nis text St. Luke v., 5—‘‘And Simon answering said anto Him, Master, we have totled all the night and have taken nothing, nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.” whe Rev. Father drew from this the necessity of divine obe- dience to the attainment of heavenly reward, ‘fo atta garthjy success, experience teaches us that our whole energies must be thrown into our work, The hope of Divine reward, so far su- perior to any earthly recompense, should cer- tainly urge mankind to a greater amount of Jervor and intensity of trial Three questions shonid be daily put by tne Christian w himself{—khave L done anything to-day displeasing to the Al- mighty?” next, “Have I omitted to perform any act that would please Him ¥’ and lastly, “Have L acted in God's spirit?’ He defined ood acuions a8 being composed essentially of good intentions. Jn everything we do obedience to Divine mandates is the first requisite. A beautiful lesson of obedience was contained in the text. Although Simon Peter had worked all the night im Vain, yet when the Saviour’s com- mand was given he complied therewith, and the resuit was reward, He concluded by reiterating the avsolute necessity of obedience, and the cer- tainty of Divine reward to those who obeyed, and urging all to follow the example of impilicit obedience set forth by Peter, as exempiiged in the text, The reverend gentieman then stated that he had been requested by the hight Rey, Archbishop McUloskey to announce tuat @ cable message had been forwarded yesterday Irom the archdiocese of New York to the Holy Father at Kome congratulating bim, In behalf Of the faithful of New York, on this ‘the Uwenty-eightn anniversary of bis coronation, to which a reply was received last evening, convey- The reverend father then requested the congrega- | tion Lo unite with him in Sorte up five Paters | and Aves for the conttunance in health and happi- hess of the Pope, watch was done with apparent | deep fervor by all. The music, uncer the direction o1 Mr. Schmiiz, both vocal and imsirumeyial, Was exceedingly well rendered, CHURUH OF THE HOLY TRINITY. Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., D. D., on the Goodness of God and Repentance. A large and select congregation atiended divine service in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Madison avenue and Forty-second street, yesterday. Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., D. D., preached an earnest | aud tmpressive discourse, taking for his text the words, “The goodness of God leadeth thee to re- pentance.”” He said:—The word God 1s a contrac- tion of good. It expresses the highest advance of our race 1n the comprehension of the Infinite One, It introduces all that by revelation He has taught man about His own perfections and saving plana, The goodness of God 1s not a single attribute, like omnipotence or justice. It 1s the character which every act bears, the disposition which every word | imphes, the wholeness and the halo which belong to every manifestation that God makes of His own motive. Heis good in what He Is and is not;in what He bestows and withholds, when He speaks and is silent, God is good. Whatsoever 1s the no- tton of God or His revelations to man this is the culmination of ail true thought and the divine conviction of all persuasions. Only the good can know God. Our conceptions of the Divine ature can never oatgrow our consciousness and possession of that which 1s its all-descriptive char- acteristic, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” The Jast remnant o/ moral taint in the soul must give a partial apprebension. But how, then, shall any liv- | ing man attain? Paul says to their shame, “Some | men have not the knowledge of God.” Might he | not have said all? The highest aspiration of the highest mind istoknow God. The truesc wisdom is to develop goodness as the means by which we “nd | attain it. ‘Lhe design and tendency of the reveale goodness of God are to lead men torepentance. The | supposed ligure 1s that of a avelier, He 1s scek- | ingacountry. He supmites to be led. more misrepresented or more musunders! Cal is ever associated with tears—too often regarded as ‘@n inevitable act. There are valleys of humiliation to pass through, and there are dark mountains in this valley. But rivers of comfort flow through them, David was refreshed by the side of their | still waters. What promises of exultation, what reminders of love, what recollections of the Hum. | bled One have we here to console us! tains of | peace stretch far out as, by the river's side, the | soul mMaintamms its journey. The earth is black- | ened evi now and then With shadows, but sun- shine is here the souls portion. How cain the face of heaven to such a really repenting man! What peace rules his heart and silences his tears! Fair is everything about him. What mountains of privilege stand about him! Here ure the relugeg of righteousness, coverts from the wind, shadows | Irom the heat; from their tops, hope in the slopes | and the sungnine of the far-off, In cities of strug- gie is the traveller often to test his purposes; among men is he to mect seductions to sin, often most insidious, The repenwing life ts fuil of con- ficts with the remainder of the old Adam who is in us and the sin im the world. But cities are full of houses of rest. What hours are those which ube repentant soul enjoys in the family of grace! How sweet the tellowship with the father to him who has deliberately turned his back upon sin! It ig an experience which is ,beyond all pleasures of sin. The goodness of God to us is re- veaied continually to us. 1t consists in His mani- | fold mercies; in His suffering and forbearance, Did His patience weary of our transgressions?” Was His justice not restraimed? Let such consid- erations lead us to @ true turning ‘rom the things that He hates. Many have a knowledge of tnis Guide ; So a true estimate of the goodness of God. Memory has no bitterness, conscience no remorse, heart no sadness, which this Guide does not cheer and drive away. For every loss there ts sweet compensation. Faith perceives more in a good God than all earthly possessions or relations, We can have all faith in His promises, for He has said that not one jotor tittle shall pass away. i Guide is our God, Never loose the possession of this | Guiding Hand. Keep yourselves in love. Be con- tent to bea pilgrim in the ony hand of repent. gnace until you enter th triumph the city where there is no more sin. Previous wo the sermon the rector announced that during the months of July and August services would be held in the church every Sunday morning at hall-past ten and Sunday aiternoons at five o’clock. FLEET STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL OHUROH. A Woman in the Pulpit—The Qualific — on the [ of tie wora | love and “publican” to-day and what it was 1,800 years ago, Miss Armstrong remarked that in Great Britain dealers in alcoholic spirits are called and they are the greatest tax collectors in the Kingdom, for more than one-half the government revenue 16. derived frow the manu- facture and sale of spirits and beer. The Pharisees in those days could not understand Corist nor bis work, and the Pharisees of our day are very much like them. They don’t love the Cnurch nor its work. seer nave the sympathy with suffering humanity which says, Be ye warmed and fed, but which gt' ae towards resieving the wants of the suffering. Her exposition of the parable was continned to show the great love of God for human souls and the value that He sets upon them; that great joy, like great grief, needs an outlet, and that there is, therelore, joy in heaven as weil as on earth over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety-and-rine just persons that need no repentance, ‘rhe evening service was of a miscellaneous ehar- acter—a sermon by Miss Armstrong, an exhorta- tion by Kev. Mr. Steel, and singing, by Phiip Phillips and the congregation. To-day Miss Arm- strong will speek before the temperance ladies im Association Hail, Brooklyn. 8T, JOHN’S METHODIST OHUROH, The Prayer ot the Publican—Sermon by Rev. Dr. Warren. Yesterday morning St. John’s Methodist Epis- | copal church on Bedford avenue, which is one of the most spacious and elegant houses of worship in Brooklyn, was well filled. Rev. Henry W. War- ren, D. D., who has recently come from Philade- phia to occupy the pulpit, preached an original discourse, his theme being the publican’s prayer, ‘diod be merciful to me a sinner.” He read the parable with admirable elocutionary effect, and in his introductory remarks said that language was one of the most beggarly institutions in the world. Its feeble power could not carry the weignt and siguiticance of emotional things. Whoever put @ battle into words, which, aiter all, were but figures drawn irom mavertal things,and when lilted into the Tange of mental and spiritual subjects were wood- en things undertaking to portray feelings. Paul, when caught up into the third heavens, said of his experiences and visions, that it was Dot possible to word them, and so when & man experienced conversion by the Holy Ghost he felt “the naif had not been told nm.” So that when he (tne speaker) undertook to depict the transition of a soul from a Sinful to a justified state he asked them not to de- pend upon his words, but to ask the infinite power of the Holy Spirit to sweep down upon them with grace and energy. In explaining the word “sin- ner,” Dr, Warren remarked tuat the condition of existence for ice was a temperature of thirty-two egrees, but if It rose up another aegree it was no more ice; that the condition for rock was cohesion, which, if taken alway, be- came sand; that the conditions of animal life required air, food and water, and for the ani- mal called man, society and communion was a necessity. Man, in bis varied reiations to the things of earth, to angels and to God, had muiti- lied conditions, aud every throb of tis being inked him to a divine lie; bat let him vreak any one of those conditions of his best existence, and go much death came into tus being. If a man broke # physical law in the line of temperance, headache was the result; if he broke the law of chastity, & greater punishment eusued; if he broke & commandment of God, the punishment was death beyond conception. The relations of God to human belags were the tenderest and the hignest. 1t was in the range of the hizhest pogsi- biliaes Where al the heroisms of the world bad been manuested and all the martyrdoms of past centuries endured; so that wherever a man was faise in his relations to God be was @ giant sinner. This thought was amplified and ably enlorced. ‘the publican came to God with the consciousness that he uad violated the con- Qitions of his best existence, and that his poast- bilities for good were diminished and said, “Lord, have mercy.” What did that mean? Men spoke | of the power of tne law of gravitation, which, though a potent jorce, was subject to higher forces, for the power 0/ sunsbive lifted up the water into the wreathing mists of the morning. The question was, Whether there was @ law above that which man had broken that couki come in tou help him? The publican knew that God was above his sin and greater than the law he had violated, and tf he had adopted our modern phraseology he would have ed, “0, God, let the Jaw of Thy love sweep down into the law of my sin; let the law of Thy ufe come into the being of my death and put me vack where 1 may enjoy the pevieees I once had.” It always cost a gher force something to get out of a lower; and e0 God in bringing in the highest law of the universe to overcome the law of sin laid the guilt of the world upon Christ, who took the revel’s place. The speaker then passed on to speak of the circumstances attending the utterance of the Pub+ lican’s prayer. He was in a pubiic place, and, smiting velementiy upon his breast, he was not in the estimation of some very decorous; but by the frankness of his confession Le showed he was ap honest man. Alter the capture of Richmond Lincoln wrote to Grant:—“I owe you an apology. When you cut loose from your base of supplies and swept round to the south ot Vicksburg £ thought you made @ great mistake. 1 Jelt sure fee would be defeated, cut of in tuat way, but sou ave done it and 1 am glad of it. give you this apology for having wronged you in my thought.” It was no wonder cad called him ‘“Houest Abe.” Lord multiply sucl men, exclaimed the preacher. ‘he pubucan was there to confess, which reminded thé speaker of a Scene that transpired in a Western town many years ago, when the pel was veing preacned iim @ Methodist churca. ‘'wo law students were seated in the rear of the builaing, one of whom was powerfully moved under the appeal to respond to the invitations of Christ, which led his companion to inquire, “What is the matter, and where are you going’” The response was, “i am go! to Heaven by way of that Methodist altar.” 7 oung man aiterwards became Chief Justice cl who maullested the sincerity of his pur- pose in a long life of honor, PP Aa and worth, The publican, to use a modern p! ie, “went forward Jor prayers,” and the result was he went down to bis house justified, or literally inter- reted, ‘made night,” not by his own power, but yy the creative energy of the ininite God. CHUBOH OP THE MEDIATOR, Mr. Page on the Training of Children. The Ohurch of tue Mediator, corner of Jefferson street and Ormond place, Brooklyn, was, as usual well filled yesterday morning. Mr. Page, of South Brooklyn, occapied the pulpit. The reverend gentleman’s subject Was the training of children,. His text was Proverbs xxiL, 6—Train up a child im the way be should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The speaker commenced by saying there was no greater injunction upon @ parent than that which was to be found in this text, Where can parente find more comfort tham in seeing their children growing op in om? Or, On the other hand, where can parents find more sorrow than in seeing tueir children growing ap ip wickedness and folly? Yet the wickedness of out- side fluence has much to do with the training of many children. The mere telling a child what to tions for a Methodist Preacher—Miss Isabella Armstrong cn the Lost Sheep. The Good Templars of Great Britain have sent as 8 delegate to their prethren of America an eminent English Quakeresa, Miss Isabella T. Armstrong, well known in temperance and religious circles in her own country and who has already addressed large audiences in Boston. Yesterday morning and evening she occupied the puipit of the Fleet street Methodist Episcopal church, Brooklyn, where also she is to preach next Sabvath evening. Miss Arm- strong is tall and thin, of delicate build and fea- | tures, and Jooks much more Itke the frail American | than the proverbial Insty English woman. She wears glasses and dresses in black, with thav faultless taste for which modern Quakeresses are so remarkable. Her | VOICE LACKS VOLUME AND ROUNDNESS, but the evenness of its “pitch"’ and, the e and deliberateness with which she utters every word make up for the feebleness of voice, 80 that she can be easily beard and understood even in a large place, The pastor of the church, Rev. W. 0. Steel, in introducing her yesterday said that she possessed al) the qualifications that Wesiey de- manded of hus preachers—namely—gists, pies | and iruit, There was no qualification of sex de- manded, and he (Mr. Steel) cordially welcomed an eloquent and Christian woman into his pulpit. Miss Armstrong, in opening the service, read the Twenty-third Psaim with @ remarkable em- | phasis, which Seemed to give new meaning to the old truths, A short prayer followed, then the hymn, “Jesus, Jover of my soul,” &c., after which part of Isaiah, iit, and ali of chapter ili, were An- otner hymn Was sung, and the good lady took for the basis oi her sermon the first’ parabie in Luke, xv.—the lost sheep, There are certain por- Hons of the Bible, she remarked, that enter more Into the hearts and/ives and thoughts of people than others. And this is one of them. Christ's Words are always rich and good and they impart life im its truest sense—life here and life here- alter, But the parables in this chapter are the finest and best. They are like jewels set in & casket. Miss Armstrong briefly referred to the occasion of the utterance of this parable and said that Christ was a perplexity to the men of His age. He began at the wrong end of society and tried to reconstract it from the lowest phases of humanity. The stones rejected by other builders were taken by Christ and made foundation and top stones for His spiritual building, Hence the self-righteous Pharisees murmured against Him, but the pubitcans and SINNERS GATHERED AROUND TIM. with @ feit want in their natare: ri Inexplauning the aiderence | tions, What care and do was not its training; @ Chiid wanted that tell- ing, united to a good practical example. Our faculties become perfect by a constant training. To train @ child 18 to educate its body and min together and thus develope both, The laws of health should be studied, strengthened and not overworked in childhood. The public schools of the present day are, in a measure, a tallure. The children are crowded and overworked, their are crammed and stuffed with knowledge that will never be of any food to them and their minds are thus crippled and dwaried. The school ta 4 machine without personal interest. Waere is the remedy? Is it in the church? No, for there is. not always love and goodnes® where there is learning and ability, The remedy 18 im the home-—the Sunday school Where, then, is the mother, {fa natural parent, who will not first teach her caild love to its parent, then to its God? | Achild is @ constant care; every action and jac- ulty watched and guarded; Watened against loose thoughts, for loose thoughts vring loose ac- responsibility devolves upon a mother to train children that when they grow old they will not depart from it. ‘(he Sun« day school siouid be more careful in the selection of its teachers. Every teacher should feel her or hunsell a mtssionary training the young (or God— for Him who satd “Suffer little children to come onto me and forbid them not.” ‘Train the heart, strengthen the love, and, with the help of the pa- rent, society will be elevated to 4 Christian stand. ard, Chriauian in reality, not merely in name, THE SOUTH BAPTIST CHURCH. The Rey, A. C. Osborn, D. D., preached at the South Baptist church, in Twenty-fiith street, be- tween Seventh and Eighth avenues, morning and evening, yesterday. The sultry weather probably accounted for the somewhat slim congregations. But the rapid speaker, Closely shaved, bronzed and earnest, was in no way disconraged, and thundered out uncompromising doctrine from the piatform, with @ reredos and f[rescoed imitation Gothic chancel behind. The Doctor selected his text from the second chapter of Jonah, and divided it into almost as many “thoughts” as it nas verses. The first thonzht was that none are ever 80 far from God or under so adverse circumstances bus that prayer, penitence and faith will roack the throne of mercy and grace, There 18 no place on eurto or ocean or above or beneath either or both where the penitent human being may Dot establish an oratory, Jonah was tmprisoned In & fish and Paul and Silas ina dungeon by eect. tors, but walls and fish 6kin were not proot $3 ae r parates as from Ths spirit calls us. No one aoa coc aene? ne memsage of Vie service, elity, to spr Lord, ‘Weare recreant when we do not respoud, penitence and unbelief, aloni in Aging | or yield te we