The New York Herald Newspaper, February 8, 1875, Page 8

8 GOD'S KINGDOM Mr. Hepworth on Christ as a Friend of Sinners. THE ROCK OF DEFENCE. Dr. Frothingham on New Thought and True Thought. IS THERE A HELLP Dr. McGlynn on the Observ- ance of Lent. The Christian’s Reliance on God's Promises. CHURCH OF THE DISCIPLES. CHRIST AS THE FRIEND AND ADVOCATE OF THE PEOPLE. Tie bitter cold of yesterday morning nad a very | perceptible effect upon the congregation which usually gathers at the Church of the Disciples, Madison avenue and Forty-fifth street, and as the pastor, Mr. Hepworth, seated himself at his small taple and cast bis usua! rapid glance over nis audience the unusual spectacle of an occa- sional vacant seat in the vast ampbitheatre before im met his eyes. The preliminary religious scr vices, conducted by the assistant, were followed by an earnest prayer from the pastor, having tm- | Mediate relation to the subject of his discourse, Which he announced as “A Friend of Sinners,” THE SERMON. Mr. Hepworth said:—My dear friends, the text wWoich I have selected as the base of my remarks thts moraing may be found in the eleventh chap- ter of Matthew and nineteenth verse:—“A wiend of publicans and sinners.” That was the fashion able criticism of the day upon tne ilfe and methods of the Lord Jesus Christ. The words were intended to indicate the scorn and reproach with whica they were regarded. But the magic of time has changed them into a eulogy. Tuey were a chain which He slowly dragged along | through all His earthiy career trom Nazareth to Jerusalem; they have been changed through the | lapse of ages Into a goiden crown, which fits the Jair brow of Viviuity itsell, They were spoken as an unanswerabie argument in favor of the worth- lessness of the new reform, but, in the course of time, they have become the strongest proof of the sagacity’and miracu!ous prescience of Him who spoke them. Such are the changes in estimating the deeds of men whico time brings about. The Pharisees saw Him as a slave; we look upon Him as God. At the best they regarded Him as an honest fanatic, whom 1t Was unsale to follow; to us He 18 the adorabie, the Mighty One, who sits upon a turone, the Judge of ali the world. Though we pity their shortsighted- ness, it iS probable, bad we been present, we should bave seen uo further. Perhaps we too Would have picked up the stove to cast at Him and utter the words which would recoil on own souls while doing no harm to Him, I pity that Hebrew crowd. Humanity has always been the same and always will be. Were Christ among us to-day we would be ready to place tne cross upon Him dia He preach doctrines 69 strougly in contrast to our institutions as Ge aid to those eXistuung then. We wou'd lead Him through the cus: or Jerusaiem to the summit of Calvary aud bot rest uatll we had piaced tbe stone veiore the sepuichre and sealed it with that seal which BO Man Couid steal away. Manis ever Oue aud the same and wili be to the end. Pas- sions apd Superstiiiens Change, but they are eel- dom uprooted. Look upon tis picture and see If itis Rot true. Look upon this Man, First, what are His claims? He asseris that He is a kiug. oes He look like one? Not at ail. Does He dress like one? Assurediy not. Does He advance from oue country Lo another like a king? No, it Is sel- dom vat His feet are free irom the dust of the | road, He says that He will ould up j A KINGDOM WITHOUT END; that the lordly strutcures around shall tumble into Gust; that the very temple snail fali and not one stone be left standing upon anctier, while irom its ruins His power shall gu forth, jar and wide, uotil at the mention of Mis name every knee stall bow. it 18 true those magic Words came from His lips, atteaued by @ simplicity and eloquence which ap- peaied to the emotion, if not (o the understand- ing, but the course pursued by Him gave no au- thenticity to His claims; He ascended the steps of bo marble paiace; He never courted greatness or power, but, vacked by the tnunders of God’s in- aignation, He warned (he rulers against their op- pression Oo: the peupie. He tuustrated Mis sympa- thy for the people by sitting at the Lavie with pub- licans aud sinners. At one end was ap extor- toner, at ihe other @ harlot, ana in the midst the King of Kings, ciethed im peasant’s garb. To have seen Him tiuus laying claim to sit pon the turone 0: a Settle the destinies 01 eternity would strange to you had you been there. secs, Lot unacquaiited with His claims, regarded Him 4s insave; but He turned His back on them and His face to the poor, And yet, iooking back through the aunals of history we find that He had complied With all the conditions of royaity. Did He not have 4 wer id Speaking trom the biil- tops of His coming’ Did not Moses say that tne comtisncuments engraven On stoue should in Him be written upon buman ive? Did not David, siting alone With his heart and his God, sing in anthems of the coming time? Aud more than that, did not Jesus have a heraid immediately pre- ceaing Him’—one who wore upon his, shoulders tne gilt of no imperial mas- | ter, but woose rugged, stalwart body was | robed in camels’ hair? He did uot sit down at the King’s tavie, but jound in the locusts ana wild honey his only 1ood, The words he spoke were fuUcn a8 are never utiered in tne presence of kings:—‘“itepent ve, for the kingdom of heaven is at band.” ither was He unaccompanied with the pomp and pageautry of rovaity. True, it was imvisiole, apd yet it was there, Methinks I can see the Old picture where troops and pha‘anxes of angels, invisible to man, accompany tim on His way ‘rom Becblehem to the cross, singing songs of victory uuheard by mortal ear. 1 iancy Jesus Ustening to the rusting of their white wings as they jollow Him throu,n the dustto the sum- ait of Caivary. And here | want to make another vila IL want to jook at the state of society when these words were spoken to prove that Jesus saw into toe future and that the Scrives and Pharisees, ns politic.l econo mists, a8 wive philosophers, jell far short of Him upon whose pullosophy they poured scorn and contempt, “uh! Pharisees, It seems not so to you: but my words siali prove true when the Roman has overthrown your proud temple and time’s corroding chemistry has viotted your names and your lives from the annais 0! history.” Say tfaiong down these annals has ot been developed the plans of the Father written in words of living gut. The political ecouomy of that age all tended toward a0 aristocracy which had for its objec: tne advancement of rulers, Thrones were everyibing. Man notuing. In tue providence of God turones have become nothing, humanity everything. The Christian religion is useless unless applied to the individual, A king io the sight of God 18 nO more than tue meanest peasant. And so CHRIST WENT TO THE PEOPLE and turned ilis back on principalities and powers, and bas not time proved Hun right? kvery age has beea dotied by revolutions, aud througd them all the people bave struggied toward the top. And now What are thrones? Orpaments; costly ones, to be sure, bul Without stability, save as they rest upon the masses, When amid the years I see tne SMOKG,O! battle ascending | know above it will float the banner, having inscribed thereon, Liverty, Equality, Frateroity—tne magic words wh tudie cate the progress of the people. My brethien, every one that suffers, bend your ear to the field and you Will hear the chains dro) ping one vy one, and more than (his, the voices o| the angels, sing- ing ‘Peace on earta and good wii to man.” it is only through the crashing of hosts that pea ever com Jesus, with prophetic eye, Thiux aoe aati aM Come tO send peace earth. Lcame not to send peace, but @ # Christ, who loved the people, saw the tri through which the people suouid rise. Aud now 1 want to make A PERSONAL APPLICATION, Christ is no more the friend of the peo: e than of the individual, We all wanta true frie .aship; ‘we want to lear words of advice, Gud insctuted the mystery through Which we are formed Into little ciques. The strength of the one is the streagth o/ the other, In looking ou the picture of life the frat thing which strikes us ts the falsity apparent. A word, @ look, and tne pond of sym) thy is broken; a shadow is thrown on tue land. ape. No matter how muck we love, Bo one can | what cold circumstauce may come between on you and me, We yearn ior friendship, and yet how seidom we get it Here have @ true friend, one who bears t burdens of ie for us; one who has promised not to leave us until we emerge irom darkne into iiget. When I look upon God's iove | see sychoiogical probiem I caunos comprenend, tuota myste:y that Me should love us when we ere im Oven febwiliom to Luu? Human poiley | tut from ite ug course, | tered, shipwrecke to crush the rebellion, would be to send troo| rei Hum, His love for us but, though by is a8 boundless as the ocean, The love of rT mighty river noving. from the past into the present and thence into the great ocean of eter- uit, @ been baptized and purified for from ite waters we have drank; into it cast wet our culture, our education, our hopes for th Ite and that which Is to come. Go not a thei Go alwars with the consciousness that Ubrist’s outstretched hand ts close to you, Take hold of it and be lifted up from hill top to mountain top and at last (rom tne last mountuin to the threshold of the New Jerusulem. FOURTH UNIVERSALIST CHURCH. REV. DR. CHAPIN ON THE ROCK OF DEFENCE. Dr. Chapin preached in his church yesterday morning irom the text, “For thou art my rock and my fortress,” found in the 76th Psalm, third verse, The psaim, sald the Doctor, trom which these words are taken may be truly called “a jsalm of life.” Itis the utterance of one who had known deep experlences and worldly vicissi- tudes, Who was familiar with pertls and delive: ances and Who, as it seems, In exlie and advanced in age, found himself pressed and threatened by enemles, But they are aiso the words of one who had no real fear o: earthly danger, and who had @ resource that cannot fail, But while, doubtless, these experiences were pecultarly fitted to the circumstances of the psaimist who ased them thousands of years ago, 1 need not say that they Are also fitted to every man and to every ago. They pertain to that part of OUR HCMANITY, which transcends all local and temporal condi- | tions. They express the final strength and as- surance of the human sou). The figure which is employed here isa very striking and noble one, It occurs frequently throughout the Psalms. These images of @ rock and fortress suggest the | scenery and the conditions of ‘some Eastern land, in which war was chronic or where at least revalent hostilities forced men to seek ‘the pro- ection Of previpitous heigits and towers of de- . fence; @ condition, alas! which is not utterly NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1875—WI1TH SUPPLEMENT. introducing the worship of personified ideas. Catholicism, Protestantism a3d, nally, Universal- tam, ‘came. But so much water was mixed with MILK OF THE WORD ’ that it turned biue. At last what ts left? Nothing but @ sentimental aroma. The pure, sweet reil- gion is all run out. The sacrifices, the peculiar Tites apd the solempities have taken its place. Everything that is old becomes venerable. Trey | bow to and reverence thiugs simpiy vecause they are antique, not tor philosophical reasons, That they should understand them iv impossible, and Woul? not presume to uoderstand them, The more unintelligible certain things are the more imterest attaches to them, ana tie niore mysterious they become. This is what we call testing truth by antiquity, Revelation was | given in germ, not in iorm. It was not given @ full grown tree, but a sed in the mind, a principle | inthe heart. True ideas and grand aspiratious ; began to take form. ‘Ihe Greek mind added its | hoon and the Asiatic mind brought its addition, Tins little stream of religion, trickling out in dew | | drops, as it were, began to spread and gather to | itself the feeiings, ha, aims and ambitions ofa whole world. How wonderiul to the people 13 vhe Catholic Church, with its great caibedrals, its gees priests and graud music! Then com:s j rolestap tia With 1t8 pure thoughts. A lune | dred sects taxe up the Protestant idea ; but, ditter- | Ing in particulars, they separate. What tiey ure j giving as simply a juller eXpression oi the truth, | Then comes Universalism, teacaing that God is love, and Unitartanisin, teaching the dignity of human nature. The further you get irom tie Stream the nearer you get to the truth. We must disregard the notion entirely that anytning {3 true pecause itis new. Every doctrine will be old semetime, just as bygone doctrines are old to us now. Did men believe in the doctrine of their total depravity because it was pleasant to them ? Some cling to doctrines because they cannot get away irom them. Was tnere ever s mother who | chose to think that her babe would he consigned | to everlasting fire if it were not baptized? ney must have entertained this doctrine with bitter. | ness of heart, because they were human. But the | priests and preachers said so, and they supposed they had every reason for believing it. Itis pot true that a pew doctrine is truer than an gid doc- trine, siniply because itis new. ‘The goctrine of 8 simple and pure theism was entertained by Intel- ligent Jews beiore Christianity was born. Thls Apa, vastly more simple and far more true to us | Ey | both ways, | events of His life were yet das news in the | world, and men who taught could tell them how He looked—the color of eyes, the form of His & great deal of from books and eral Hancock Ge- | ascribed som: of the events of the battle of Gettys- burg tome. I had read them, I had studied them on the ei but here was tne man who com- manded aod ea@# the terrible charge, and | there was in his description a lie power 1 canaot get from books, Tnen, besides, there was an cmorive ethereal atsposition. Christ said, “Be ye like me.’? Their fait included a whole new lite, If f were to give uneir iaith a general designation, I shouid say, living by the power of a | living God, Now, as to the trials, what were they? Here were these men endeavoring | TO BE LIke CHRIST, ; all training, like a sqaad ot soidiers being drilled in expectation 0: their generat coming every day. | They were in drill spiritualiy, What was the trial ol their iaith? There were, in ‘the first place, great trials of faith on the part of the Jews. .tney were trials consequent upoa transition, They wenk trom a iife filled with provisions for right conduct to @ ilfe where all they were | tauzhy was to follow Jesus Christ. How | Strange for them! Are consecrations nothing ? Is _ Meat offered to idols nothing ? Some people don’t | take things very hard; they are piysically and mentally adipose; they take on and give up very | easy; it don’t hurt them any; but tlere are ine | tease natares, which believe through and through; it colons their whole iife, and when in aiter lie the imperieciion of earty teaching is made manti- lest “it tears the whole structure of the mind, There is #8 much suffering in wbandoning old sys- tems of faith and venturing in the great unex- plored. We sec the same tying going on to-da: and strugyling men meet on the road—John H, Newman traveiting toward an organized symbolic and on the road Pere Hyacinth com- ing down trom Rome, and so they are going ‘The primitive Church had this trial of transposition, As loug as it 1s summer I care not bow sneltered the lake is; ils suriace will be rippled, aud the only thing that gives it "peace is ice; . DEATH GIVE? PEACE. Many eas, “Why are not tru:is made so plain that we can see at once?” Why were not straw- berries made to grow with sugar tn the middle and cream allrounay Why was che world made as it is? It was made to make men wake up. You THE DOCTRINE OF MEDIATION, remote {rom the experience o! our time, But Whatever may be the objecte of tne world at large, Whether there be peace or war, tne presence of immediate peril or the Most serene prosperity, it 1s certam that meno will always need a refuge—a rock, @ fortress; In other words, something that Will prove a ground of support and a sure deleace; even in the most worldly pursuita, even in tue most mercenary estimates, a basis of assurance. + For instance, in the conduct of busiuess nothing ig more depiorable than uncertainty, LACK OF CONFIDENCE, the want of some reliable standard, Again, in the Seld of intellectual action, how variable ts the condition of a wandering, eccentric mind that has Do basis Of certainty, BO undoubted foothold, but which in the impotence of scepucism is driven ri poses to point, from sunsbiae to shadow like a bird through tne rocking ofa tempest. And the heart, ah, the human heart! must have scome- thing to rest upon, or it ts @ poor, shat- heart indeed. Some object of love it must have to which it clings, some point of | hope toward which at last it 1s bearing up and struggling oo. You are familiar with the touch- urge In which the poet has described such in; lang | @ hope in the home of his remembrance and bia affections :— In all my wanderings around this world of care; In all my griefs, and God hay civen my share, Tstill had bowers to lay me dow: . . * ° And asa hare, whom hounds and horses pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first he te w, T still had hopes, my long vexatious past, Here to return and dic at home at last There is a scene in which such a support, such a retreat irom the tronhies of the world, may be called a rock or fortress. Even tn desperate cuses Wien one’s Itfe has driited into ill-repute and his priuc.ples seem general'y dilapidatea, there may Sal be something which Stands like a tower amid the ruins of bis character and which constitutes the last trace of some redeeming sentiment, 8T. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL. SERMON BY THE REV. FATHER KEARNEY—THE SEASON OF LENT. The Rev. Father Kearney delivered the sermon | at the high mass services at the Cathedral yester- | day. There was a very large congregation in attendance and the musical part of the services ‘Was, as usual, excellent. course treated of the season of Lent and its im- portance @3 a time during which every good Catholic should devote himself in an especial manner to prayer and to the mortification of his body. It was, be sald, @speciai season when God, agit were, was more than ever earnestly calling upon those who had been negligent in the per- | formance of their duties to return to Him. It was atime when our thoughts should be turned in- Ward upcn ourselves, when We should prepare ourselves thoroughly to begin our.career anew, to TURN OVER A NEW PAGE | 1m the history of our lives, God was a God full of mercies, and He des red that the sinner should be saved. In the turmoil and excitements of our every day life in tue worid we were apt to forget, or at Many O/ ns curing the year too- often gave up our thoughts to the things of tne world, to the utter exclusion of our eternal salvation, and the season of Lent was, therefore, @ time to ve taken advan- tage of by every Ove. It was the acce ‘ole time, the day of salvation, it reminded us t we had somethin; more to battie forin this life than the mere possession of woridly goods, of ricies; that we im dying could not t. away wilh us fatne and giory that were evanescent, The salvation of our eternal souls was the chief aim in lute, If we gained all else and lost that, of what avail would it bey When on Asi Wednes- day, tnen, the priest would put the ashes on our foreneads, we stiouid meditate that we were but mortal, that sooaer or Jater we must return to our motuer earyi. We knew not the day nor the hour when we would be calied ibe It might be when We w re the least prepared; if so, we would | have only ourselves to biame. We should then auring Lent devote ourselves to prayer and the fasting prescribed vy the Church, aud by a thor- ough repentance start again tn ile, firmly ceter- mined never more to fall into our bad ways, but, jorufied by the grace of God, so act that when we were summoned away from this world we would be sure Of enjoying a Ife of evernal happiness with God through ail eternity. LYRIC HALL. FROTHINGHAM ON “NEW THOUGET AND TRUE THOUGHT.” There was the usuai large and attentive congre- gation at Lyric Hall, on Sixth avenue, near Forty- second street, yesterday morning. Mr. Frothing- ham commenced the exercises by reading some selections from the Talmud. He announced aa the subject of his discourse, ‘New Thought aud True Thought.” The author of the Book oi Ecclesiastes (said he) commences his iamenut over the world by saying that everything new has been exhausted, and that there is nothing more to be discovered, The author of the Apocalypse writes that all things will be changed and vecome new. The frst writer was a sceptic, in whose mouth all things had turned to ashes. To him life vanisnes away and comes to nothing. Itisall the old, old story, the same sorrows, the same sufferings, and, finally, death, The Other writer was all alive, keen and eager. His eye was not fixed upon the wretchedness of the world, but upon a method for alleviating It. These two orders of thinkers are represented to-day. There are always men who look upon iife without zest or enjoyment. They c!lng to old customs, old clothing, old furniture, old piintings and musty, worm-caten books, Anything in the shape of tm- provement Cisappoints and displeases their STATIONARY IDEAS, There are other men with fresh minds, keen ex- pectation and bright dispositions, who wish to glia everything afresh. ibeir faroiture must be bright, airy and moderp, and everythiog avout them must indicate the progress of the present. s REY. 0. B. Some of these people who are cous?rvative in | their feelings are radical in their thoughts, and Some Of these people who are not conservative in their feelings are conservative in their thoughts, Few people are 80 entirely earthly and grovel ling that they wish for nothing pew; but some cling unconsciously to the old philosophy, There are people, on the other hand, Who assume the philosophy of progress, They believe that things must get betver, for the more people live the more they know. They pro- ject their lives on the theory that the world is always improving, and they are continually grasping after something newer and higher. How far does the novelty of an idea guarantee its truth? is the question to which I wish to direct my attention. They say that @ certain revelation was made to Jesus and the aposties, which they understood and enshrined in their hearts, They believed that between the covers of the Bible was the very essence of truth. But after tnis period other ideas flowed in like fittie streams, and pol- juted tne main current, Corruptions heaped upon corruptions and errors multiplied upon errors, and every kind of ingenious invention perverted the Fives cue pagaview, Father Kearney’s dis- | least neglect, our duties as Christians. | I could read to you irom the Hebrew Talmud before the spread of Christianity that God is forgiveness and that there ts no hell. The older laith 1s truer than the newer one that be- licves if a soul does not repent besore death it bas no hope alterward, and 13 plunged into the consuming fire. It seems vastly | more true that death is only a briuge, | and that our progression 18 conunued on | the other side, Tue test of a belief, in | the first piace, 18 that 1$ must correspond with | such facts as there are. There are ‘two | | derivations for the word truth. The mean- | ing of the Anglo-Saxon word from which | it is derivea is what people think it is or | choose to fancy; but since men have known | | Sanscrit @ better meaning bas been established, | lt meaps what God things, or the living faith. | When we speak of truth we speak of the Rock of Ages. You are looking after a just belief of the | perfect mind. Will you consult the doctors and | the theologians ? The other metuod ts to listen to — the music of the stars, unroll the pages of creation | and open your ears and eyes to What truth must be. I Universalism can move ttseif and show tnat God works upon principles of love, and } rove that | there ts LO wrath in the breast of the Eternal and that THERE 13 NO [EL it plante itself upon the (rath, and needs no Bible. We woula say to Bro her taimage, “Perhaps you have not examined all the lacts before you stated your opinion.” One thing is characteristic of the new thought, it 1s founded upon trath, Even be- het should, correspond with things, and not with fancies about tings. WV Ld system of religion can show a peaceful, beautiful would accept it. If tts members live wituout su- perstition and unhappiness, i their childrea are weil nurtured and the women loving, happy and inde pendent, the men Irugal, imteuectual and contented, we should call that the true religion. ST. STEPHEN'S CHURCH. REV. DR. M’GLYNN ON THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT. The high mass in St. Stephen's yesterday morn- ing was ceiebrated by the Rev. Father McCready. Weber's mass In G was finely rendered by the choir. The offertory, Mercadante’s ‘ Salve Maria,’? was civep with great eifect by Signor Buongiorno, the new basso. After the first gospel the Rev. Dr. McGlynn preached a timely and instructive dis- course on the dispositions with which his hearers | should spend the approaching season of praser and fasting. Before reading the cospel of Quin- quagesima Sunday—Luke xvill., 31, 43—the Doctor announced that the Right Rev. Dr. Vaugian, Bishop of Salford, England, would lecture in St. Stephen's church on Wednesday, the 17th Inst., ' on “The Gladstone Controversy,” the proc2eds of the lecture to go tothe charities of the parish, He then explained the Gospel in which our Lord lorcteils His passion and death and cures the blind near Jericho, aud said :— The b.ind man, ol whose cure we read, is a typo of those Christians wilo do not see the enormity of Bin, Lhe misery Of Cuncupiscence, the littleness of | p'ea-ure, the beauty of virtue and the wortniess- ness of all sensual delignts. He had the happiness | to be conscious of Ms mis.ortune and souzht help | at the hands of Him who is “ihe lie and the light,” and heard the eonsoling words of omni- potence, “Receive thy sight; thy teith hath made tnee whole.” If we would remove the sziritnal blindness which prevents our seeing the heavenly beauty of virtue we must enter into the spirit of | the Church and comply with the regulations | which she has given for our guidance during the | penitentiai season which approacies, | Fasting ought never to go alone, It must be | jolued as much as possible with alms deeds and prayer and all other goud works. Triere is one Jorm o! jasting which I would specia'ly recom- mend to the members of this congrvegation—!I | mean total abstinence from intoxicating liquors, | itis well Known that intemperance is the fruitful source of nearly ail the misery and crime which stand in the way aud oppose the work of God and His Church. I wou:d, therefore, ech every one in this parigh to abstain not merely trom the abuse but trom the use of intoxicating liquors during the coming Lent, and thus give good ex. ampie to thelr own ijaimilies, their neignbors and their friends. PLYMOUTH CHURCH. | THE TRIALS OF THE EARLY CHURCH—HOW TO USE OUR TRIALS, Gj | Plymouth churcn was so crowded yesterday | morning that Mr. Beecher, who came ina little jate, could scarcely effect an entrance. Some memopers of the band of Jubliee Singers were present and Mr. Beecher asked them to sing after the sermon, which they Cid, bringing tears to the | eyes of many by their peculiar, plaintive music. Mr. Beecher announced that the Rey. Dr. Bacon, of the Orange Valley church, would occupy his place in the evening. He chose nis text from the First Epistle of Peter, 1., 7—That the trial of sour faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor ana glory at the ap- pearing of Jesus Christ.” Peter calied himself apostle to the Gentiles. Paul regarded him- self in tbe same light, and the epis‘le is addressed to the strangers scattered througbout Pontas, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynta, By strangers, doubtless, were meant exiled Jews, his own countrymen, who had wandered into every part of the world and to whom, first, ai- Ways the Gospel of Christ was preached and to whom, eneraliy, the Gentile converts were Joined; 80 every Gentile Caur’h was at the ceatre Jewish and round about it a fringe of Gentile con- verts, The general character of the epistles written by Paut and other aposties snows that they were affected by the thought of the Jews, but when, as at Corinth, a large part of the Church were Greeks, the letters had a constant regard to Greek thoughts and Ideas; so every one of the letters bears not only the personal character of the writer, but reveals something of the Church to which it was addressed. What are | we to understand, then, by the trials they were going through ? Firsi, as to faith, we are to bear in miad in the earliest period of Christian teaching they taught a personal Christ. Peter goes before an audience and says:—“I am the man thar was called by Jesus Christ; this is His history, tnese are His words; 1 was with Wim when [le was ar- rested; I saw Him crucified; I was among those who went earliest to the tomb when I heard He had risen; I talked with Him; these are His words.” No man can say that to us, The truth of Christ then the living Saviour presented. This was the early faith, We have to take Him by an | historical intervention. They knew Him not only as having lived but to come again. The power of the expectation of seeing Christ was inconceiva- bie. So there was a personal enthusiasm in this faith for the Lord Jesus Christ, who had gone up to prepare and Wes coming back Systems of truth aa they prevent themseives to you and mo were not born then; not for 300 or 400 years was there any Onristianity. The primitive (orm was an ardent and enthusiastig belief jn a living person cafléd Jestid Christ, and it was the enthusiasm of personal ad- hesion to Jesus; He was their hero, and they taught the highest jorms of Lero-worship., It A PERSONAL WORSHIP of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were living clo: by the days in which He had suffered, and we ar living 2,000 years away; they s.ood where the: | Could aimost hear the Jovtsteps of Jesus: the | aposties. | mankind. stem of doctrinal | must think, you must doubt; it 1s part and parcel of the discipline, The Gentile part of tne early Churen hed an eguivalent with wiicn we have less sympatty, When tuey came to Christ tuey leit temples end priests aya gods and ethical religious duties. They had been taught that every custom had some rellzioa3 meaning. Now when a heathan became Christian he was conscientious, he could not take this ki d Of food, for it meant a certain re- ligious rite; be could not take this fluwer, for that meant something else, aud so at every step he iound himseli rushing against reiigious cus- tom; he felt himself to be an infidel, and so nis beighbors thought him. But both Jews and Gen- tiles suffered from their iaith in ousiness hinder- ances, Suppose a shrine maker became a Chris- tian, He wasearving his dollar aday, and his eider in the church says, “You must give up this business; you cap po longer make iduls,” So he tells bis employer he must leave. not satisfied with the wages ft “Yes; bu- Ihave Joined the Christian Church, ana that won't allow me to make idols.” “Joined tue Christian Courch, | have you, and that makes you give up your business? Go, if you have joimed that accursed heresy.” So he ts thrown out | of employment, and cannot get any more, Everybody looks askance gud says, “On, you are one ol the Christians.” A man who undertook to be a Christian in those days had to set himself against cocial feeiing. To-day human pature 1s | just as mantiest in the divisions oi the Christian charches; but with what intensity it must have | been seltin those early times, without any public | law, witnout any churches, without anything but | therrowa belief iu Jesus; but the greatest tri- right spirit. Here was the charter ol their faith, LOVE YOUR ENEMY. They had ro thirty-nme articles, they had no gospel.. Matthew, Mark, Luke and Join were not yet written, They had the imspiration of the Di- Vine spirit. God died to save you, and youare ; to show such disposition as to love them use you. Take these simple-minued men, women and children, attempting througp all perplexities trial o} their faith? The Aposties exhorted the early Christians to take all tocir troubles in such | Way that they b.ougnt them up higher. There is DO virtne in being good where there is fio temptation; but when we ure tried and harrassed | &ud ubooyed and are able to rise invo a higher Jorm Oo! life, to feel tuts World is not our nome, the | Irue ene, is above all this, Christian breturen, Re- member the liie we sec is nut the real life. COLLEGIATE REFORMED CHURCH. | DR. ORMISTON ON CHRIST'S MEANING OF THE SACRAMENTS. Rey. Dr. Ormiston preached yesterday morning at the Collegiate Datch church’ on Fifth avenue, > He took ior his text the passage from Luke xxi.., | 19—“And he tovk bread, ana gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, Tms is my body which Is given for you; this do 1n remembrance | of me.” The preacher said, The wondeitul, event- 1ul and catholic lie of Christ was drawing to a ciose and H2 knew himgelf that its end was near. In tiese terms did He first totimate it to His ‘There had come a time when the Saviour could no more go about Judea and Galilea preaching doctrines which were in themselves revuiutionary to the t mes. He had made enemies of those most powerlul in the land—the priesthood. He had never lost an occasion to Genounce the Pharisees, so much so that the mere word has become a proverd, and many use it perbaps who do not Know its exact meaning. These were bent upon the de- struction or taking away of that man | who went about the land mocking them and drawing great crowds after Him, knew this aad was aware that their enmity would consummate the sacrifice of His life, He was about then to suffar and depart for the good of During this Jewish passover the bread was to be broxen Jor the last time and thus He took the bread and the cup and blessed toem and handed to those abvut Him—His apostles—and said, “This do in remembrance of me. It is a ledve of my presence ever with you.” The ord’s death is the most wonderiul aud mys- terious that ever transpire’ in the history of the universe. in the deati and life of the Lord Jesus Ubrist We ond the inost beautiiul example jor a | Christian, Some deaths are eminently fitted to | show us the way of God. What a solemn thing it 1s to tell us that “She wages of gin is | geath? tt an awiul thing to sn against God. look iorwerd to deata im Ways 48 various as their characters, is Peopie Some look forward to a hero’s Geath on the battle | fiela; others to a martyr’s death, and stil others to the death of the meek and lowiy Caristian, | without peril, without any sensational effect. Parents pass away, coildreo die, but Cnrist laid down a ilie which others than Christ are obiiged | togive up. He could keep His lile, and we can- not. With Christ le sought death. To save us | He had no sin. If it were sin which had produced | His death tt would have been an atrocious crime, because the metnod was most barbarous, Butit Was sip in others; it Was ior si that was not His own. I like these monosyliabies--Curist dicd to save us. Goi kuows how many yray-haired fathers and mothers have gune to the grave be- cause Cf tieir children’s sins. We have redemp- tion, but it is turough tue vived of Christ that we live, After a nignot 1 terror and torture ile 18 de- livered over to His ,ersecu‘ors, and scourged untiu furrows are made wron His back. crown of thorns Was placed upon lis head, aud, with the blood trickling down His face, He was led to that dread and now sadly historical spot, Mount Caivary, Whereou Was Ue cross which has become an em- Diem Of the doctrine He preached ever since. Ue died traly arignteous man. He was buried, aod afew mourners watched over i's tomb, ‘his tact affirms that He was vuried, Come, saints, drop & fear tor Him who gave His blood for you. Do this in remembrance of His life, Partake of these sacraments, Do not iorget, as we look at the broken bread, crushed, that He was bruised for | Painful and shameful was the our iniquities. death of Curist. 1 cannot but feel always there is asomething of human eg Ao vhis_sacra- meut, He lived jor us; He died for-us. He rose for us; Ho reigns for us. The Lord give us grace that Whatever we do, that this and things in everyday life, todo them io rememrauceo Him, It is Dot suiicieut to have an hour or two of yrace | here, and go away and lorget all about it. We must not simply come to tis church, hear the Word of God spoken, to the songs which we sing in praise aod partake of the holy sacrament wiich He left ust» remember Him by. We must carry this remembrance with us everywihere—‘n our dally vocations, in joys, in our pleasures a6 Well a3 | in our grieis, We should bear tat God who has done s0 much for us constantly in our minds and in the most secret recesses of our hearts. We are oo apt to think of Him but once a week and then © dismiss Him from our minds. ‘This will not satisty, however; it 1s uo! enough. God demands from His children whatever we can give in retarn for His great goodness tous. Let us think more of Hin and bear Him in affectionate remembrance, Let us bear our cross through ile, blessing Him who gave It us to bear, until that final day wh being translated, we shali meet tn that place wi the wicked cease irom troubling andthe weary are at rest, CHURCH OF THE COVENANT. THE CHRIS$IAN'S RELIANCE IN GOD'S PROMISES. “And [ sald, This y infirmity, bat I will re, member the years of tie rigut hand of the Most High, I will remember the’ works 01 the Lord, | surely I will remember thy wonders of old. 1 wil, meditate also of ali thy works, and talk of thy do- ings."—Psalm Ixxvil., verses 10,11 and 12, From the above text Dr. Marvin R. Vincent preached an eloguent sermon, Of which the folowing wen ex “What, are you | set of people, we | Umph is under all these circumstances to keep the | that hate you, pray ior them that despitefully | to keep temper and live Joyiully, Was this no | Curist | ‘A | leges were cut off in thls world, tract:—This psalm commences witn s painfa} record of weariness, suffering and sorrow for sin which cannot be excelled, The words in the second verse, “My sore ran in the night,” signify terally, “My hand lay slack and open.” Whet an inage of powerlessness; the firm, strong hand lying unclosed and nerveless, while the soul was comfortless and the waking eye starin, to vacancy through the long bours, ‘The words ‘but ; 1 will remember,” in the teath yerse, have been introduced by the trausiators and tbe thirteenth and uineceenth vers: would be read together. Notlong ago I was taiking with a minister who told me of & young brother who hud come to bis siudy @ lew years previous, broken down with bard work, Worn out, and, us he sald, dying, ine doctor nursed him and comforted him and sent him back prepared for five years myvre of hard, atient work, and then the end came and God ok him. Once during those days of despondency and trouble he had given him this text fora OnEHOIG, and on looking over his manuscripts aiter his deatn there lay a sermon sketched and pisnoed from ties’ very words, The weak hand ad found tie strong righthand’ and all was well. ‘The psalm speaks Also of meditating. Some active Christian whose duty lay all in active, earnest work might have had but little time for this until God called him aside to a place of rest and quiet where he could find how profitable was Meditation. Or the reverse might happen, Some | are apt to brood and meditate too much, and presently they find themselves in ‘some sphere ol work requiring entire forgetiuiness of selt. Every one o1 us has some close acquaintance with our own infirmity, Almost everyone understands well bis own besetting sin, With some itis an Irritable, seifish temper; with otbers it 18 covet- ousness; with others vanity, and you think you have overcome It when suddenly God makes you Jace some trial or circumstance to draw it out, and there is stiil your “iniimity.’? But there, too, are ‘the years of the right hand of the Most High,”? and “iis Way Oo! the sanctuary,” resistiess as the Of the sea {or your sure help. “God never 18 before His time and never 18 benind.” A communion service was heid in the afternoon at balf-past three. ZION CHURCH. SERMON BY THE REV. JOHN N. GALLEGHER. Ai Zion church, Macison avenue, corner of Thirty-eightn street, service was conducted yesterday morning by the rector, Rev. John N, Gallegher, After the preliminary prayers the first chapter of Jeremian and the sixth chapter of Mark Were read as the lessons of the day, some excels | lent singing by the choir intervening. Then was , sung the thirty-fourth hymn, followea by the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul ag the epistie and a | chapier irom Luke as the Gospel. The usual. | Prayers and Ittany were recited with marked | fervor by a very large congregation, The prozgramme of music was as follows:—Vol- untary, Bristow; “Vérite,” Mandel; ‘Te Deum,” | in G, Thomas; “Benedictus,” in F, Winter; “Gloria | Tibi,” Greatorex; offertory, “God is a Spirit,” | Bennett; Voluntary, Mozart, i THE SERMON, which was a brief one, was preached by the pas- tor, the text being from the seventeenth chapter of Luke, “Behold.the Kingdom of God is within me." The preacher expiained the text in an clo- | quent analysis of the Kingdom of God as the tnuer , We of man and the kingdom of the world, which was the outer world. From the inner 1ife pro- | ceeded that stamp upoa the outer which showea the Christian man. There was a struggle between both, God's law was written on the heart, and It | desires that a man’s life approached pertection or | sank 1nco mere worldiiness. Having elaborated | this idea, the preacher proceeded to say tnat at | the present time the world was engaged in the ; consideration of tremendous questions, it was, | what security is there for existing matitutios ¢ | There was no security. The law had lost jis spell | to check murmurs of discontent: the prestige of | Centuries vanished in one night of persecu- | tion; no Jonger did divinity hedge round a | king, ven in repubiican imstitutions there Was a trembling for vast questions were in agita- | tion, The night was coming, but what did they | Propose who were to control the nations?, W' barriers were they to raise? Torce and secular | education had been tried and had miseratly failed. | Armies were the enemies of society; they had neither homes nor families and had nothing to lose. Secular education had taught the people | their condition, and, having shaipened their 1a- | cult:es, imparted a poison tor evil as wel! as for | Tne rea'm oO} cuture did not touch the For eightcen centuries the Church of God | had been preaching that the more a Christian a | man Was the more just he was. But it was given | no recognition—no churches, no schoois, and | God?’a hame Was taken from the schools aud the | statute books. The world migit well vow appeal | to Christianity for aid, while it trembies before | impending ruin, but would Goa mock tne appeal? TALMAGE'S TABERNACLE. 18 THERE A HELL?—REV. T. DE WITT TAL- [" MAGE'S VERDICT AGAINST THE UNIVERSAL- | IsTs. | Yesterday Mr. Talmage preacted a sermon in re- | | ply to the claims of Universalism. He took for his | | text the words of Ezekiel, xii, 1s—“Woe to the Women that sew pillows to all armholes.” Alter | prefixing his discourse the reverend gentleman | | said:—There are two branches of Untversali:m— ' one made up of the Restorationists, who, while they admit there may be some punishment in the future world, say it will come to an end, and the soul, through a process of reiormation, will come up at last into light, joy, peace and victory; but the vast majority of the Universalists believe that there is mo future panisbment at all, and that, whatever may have been our character in this world, the moment | |we step across the line into the future | | world we are completely happy. People need not | , vell me that is not Universalism. I take it not | from books, 1 take it from my own onservation | and my frequent and constant converee with men | | who have adopted sucn theories, All Universal- | ists agree in saying that the human race will all | | eventually be happy. I shall show you that under | any shape, | UNIVERSALISM IS UNSCRIPTURAL, UNREASONABLE, | DESTRUCTIVE OF GOOD MORALS, | withering to all earnestness and soul saving, and | the means of eternal catastrophe to a great many. ;*: * ® I solemnly empannel all this audience as a jury in tne case, and I shall proceed to open | the case and to cail the wituesses. To prove that there is such a thing as future punishment, I first | | call upon “Dives, the Lost.” Let him pe sworn, | He was @ man of great influence in the worid, | There is no reason why he shouid falsify. “Hives, is there a perdition?” He say: “Yes, I nave just come from it. It is @ torment. I can’t get anything there to cool my tongue, I wanta drop of water, but I can’t get it. Do send word to my five brothers, that they come not into that suffering.” Universalism tries to impeach this witness by saving that it is all allegory. Lazirus the saved is the Gentile com- forted, and Dives, who liited up his eyes in hell, , being in torment, 13 the Jew whose spiritual privi- Preposterous! | If Christ was going to make an allegory He would not make one so imbecile as tnat. 1 don’t wonder that Universalists have wren:hed that passage until they gotred in the face to make it mean something clse; butio all ages of the past and in all ages O| the future the common sense reading of that ser.pture is that Lazarus went to heaven and that Dives went to hell, and tere was a gulf fixed between them they could never cross over. | THE NEXT WITNESS 1 CALL | in the case ts an old bent over man. It is Paul, the Apostle. ‘Paul, 18 there @ perdition?” He an- swere:—‘‘In flaming fire, taking vengeance upon those who know not God.” Tue next witness is a ray-bearded man, Clothed in rough hair cloth, It is Igaiat, the propiet. “Isatab, 18 taere suco a place as perdition?” He answers:—‘There the | worm dieth not, and their fre-is not quenched.” The next Witness 1ooks as though he may have been very ruddy anu beautilul once, but he has lost his beauty and ruddiness through mucn family trouble, It is David, the psalmist. “David, 1s there any perdition?” He answers:—“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and ali the nations that | forget God.” The next witness is a very mild and lovable man. Itis John, the inspired. “John, is there | any sucii place 48 perdition?’” He answers, “They shail drink Of the wine of the wrath of Almighty God, poured with mixture into the cup of Hts in- ' dignation ;” and He stops a moment to take breath, and then he says, “hey shali be tormented in fire and vrimstone in the presence of the angels ;”” and He stops again to take vreath and then says, “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up tor- | ever and ever."’ But the most important witness is to come. He coines with icet bilstered by the Jong way, with sickiy looks from sleeplessness and | exposure. It is the Son of God, beloie whom we vow down, not worthy even to kiss His feet, ana we say in all reverence, “Oh, Jesus, ts there a per- dition? And He answers, “atthe end of the world the angels shall come forth and separate the righteous from the wicked, and the wicked | shallte cast into furnace of fire where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing | wetn.” And aiter stopping ® moment fle says, “The children of the kinsdom shall be cast into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and | gnashing of teeth.” Then He stops @ moment | and He resumes:—“Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting Ore, prepared for the devil and his angels.” “ENOUGH,” YOU SAY. Isaiah, David, Paul, John and Corist are enough, * * * You rememver in the parable of the tares the tares were thrown Inco the furnace of fire, while it says the righteous sline (orth forever in their Was in proportion to its accord with the spiritual | « | they had to re Fathers kingaom. The Universalists have squeezed and distorted that passage. They hi made tne furnace to the Jerusalem, and those who are to shine forth forever in their Father’s king- dom are the Jews, who did not bappen to get killed in the war at the time the city was taken— an interpretation that would throw any audience into convulsions of laughter, if awfulnes3s of tho theme did not forbid merriment. You said you Would take the Bible for the standard of the trial. GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY, now I hold you to your word and I demand that you admit the awful tru:n that there is a iuture ‘upishment. But, say the Kestorationists, that rancn of Universalists, ‘we admit there is @ future punishment, but {tcomes to anend.” M 00d iriends, when will it come to an end? I thin! we shall have to call back some o! the witnesses we have sworn in this case, “Jonn the inspired, what is the duration o! that punishment?” He answers, “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever aad ever.” How long is that? [call up Isaiah again. alah, how long does this punishment last??? “Their worm ateth not and thelr fire 1s not quenched.” Paul says, “they shall be punished with everiasting destruction in the presence of the Lord. Christ sayq “These shall go away into eveilasting punishment,” “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.’ I leave it to your common sense, what that means, what it must mean, * * On, my frienus, either tnrow overboard your Bible or throw overoourd Universalism! 1 press you to that chotce to-day, and you must make it. The whole Bible {8 against Universalism. Ifthe Bible 1s right, then Universalism is wrong, awfully, everlastingly wrong. Universalism 18 unreasonable. * ¥ * Here are two roads for the soul's travel—the one is faith in Christ, helptul services to others, a struggle jor consecration and doing better all the up; that is one road. Howard, Wilberforce and Paul went that. road. Ten tuousand times ten thousand’ went that road. Here is the other road: It starts with the rejection of Jesus Christ; it Keeps on in sin ana in rebellion against God all the way through. Robespierre and Nero went that road, All the bad people that have ever lived and died have gone on that road, and, the two roads being in op- Posite directions, they must come out at opposite termini, Nothing but oral insanity can make vou Unk any diferentiy, * * * But, say the Res. torationists, “lhe punishment in the lost world which we admit ts reformatory, and the sou!s that go toere will gradually struggle up into the light and peace and 12%; ana come to per/ect Jehicity.” Avsardity infinite! You try to make me believe that m that world where all the desperadoes and abandoned have gone the soul 4s going to get bet+ ter! Wilt the thieves make it honest? Wil the Hoertines make it pure? Will the blasphemers make it holy? Tne perdition of prgonly men is a very poor relorm scuool. * * Will Robespterre bein heaven in the time to welcome tie grand> children 0: the men he butchered ? WILL JAMES FISK BE IN HEAVEN to welcothe the widows and orphans whose prop- erty he swamped in a Wall street panic? On, what a delicious, savory place heaven would be if the wretches who went down into their graves unwashed got there! HM, as the majority of the Universalists argue, there Ls no hell, teli me, then, where the people of Sodom and Gomorrah weut? If ali is iair beyond the line o1 this world, irre- spective of your character, then the men wh stole Charley Ross and who were sh:t tor there crimes are hetter off to-day than tne pareats who sit, Irenzied wiih grief, Waiting for the patiering of the feet of the little captive; then Anauias was better off than Sapphira, for he lied rat and be Tees his ie threw or sour minutes inte giory. Laughter. The reverend gentleman next charged that Universalism is the uocttor of bad mera's, It 13. the high pricst of suic.de. How many people there have been who have said, “Here, We must fet Out Of these troubles. We will just take our own ltle, then we Will be all ree, Theve is notn- ing between us and glory bat a phial of laadunum or a revolver.” And'so men swailowed the laudanum or cocked the revoiver, and that has been the end of it. é He dwelt at length and in specific and geberal terms 1n denunciation of the Universalist ductrine as being iInimicul to eurnestuess and soul saving, and claimed that tt was un apathetic creed, because they believed themselves a.ready saved, and that there was no use of further ex- ertion. He concluded by cailing upon his hearers tv bear witness to the falsity of the teachings of Universalism, THE UNION TEMPERANCE PRAYER MEETING. THE SEGOND ANNIVERSARY EXERCISES YESTER- DAY—STATISTIOS OF THE WORK. The second anniversary of the society knowa a2 the “Crusaders” was celebrated yesterday tn ths Washington square Methodist Episcopal church, a@ large audience being present, President Mc- Mullen announced that although all the ministers had been requested by circular to participate, the only one wio responded was Mathew Hale Smith, who made an address. The report of the President was very long, giving a history of the organization of the society here in the lecture room of the Church of the Strangers on Feoruary 2, 1873, Ac- cording to this report the general results of the first year’s work, ending February 8, 1874, wero 53 meetings held, 269 hymns sung, 201 prayers of- Jered, 221 addresses made, 91 requests for prayer, 444 signatures to the pledge, 3,366 persons who atteaded, 37 meetings led by the President, 16 lea by others, 127 situa- tions furnished, seven persons assisted to return to their homes, $199 received from col- lections and coptripbutors, and the amount ex- pended $388. The report details tLe aifficulty ex perienced in securing a church alter they had been re‘used the lecture room of the Church of the | Strangers, which resulted in the offer of the Sev- enth strect Methodist Episcopal church and the Washington square Methodist Episcopal church, ‘The first neeting in the lattér wus held June 10, ‘The report details.the work accomplished at all the meetings, reviews the work at Harry Hill's, where, to uve the language of the report, ‘God bad in- deed opened to us the very gates of hell,” aud ree cords the following statistics as the results of the attempt to convert Harry and the audiences:— Hymns sung, 24; prayers offered, 7; addresses Made, 19; attendance, 3,700; signed the pledge, 57. Mr. McMullen alleges as the reason that he discontinued to labor at Harry’s, that members of the Church of the Strangers objected, and finally the Fimance Committee and Dr. Deems requested him to discontinue them. He was cone sequently obliged to do go rather than lose the use of the lecture room of Dr. Deems’ church, ; Thereport then reviews the financial difficulties experienced in establishing be aa in other por- tions of the city and in Brooklyn. | these meet- ings were largely attended; but, without money, 2 abandoned, and only the usual work was attempted. The general results for tlie past year are given as follows:—Hymns sung, 531; prayers offered, 180; adaresses made, 608; requests lor prayer, 201; signed the pledge, 3,883; total at- tendance, 10,817. Taere have been held since the last anniversary 62 meetings, 50 of them at the Church of the Strangers, 2 at the Second Baptist church in Hariem, 4 in the Washinzton square Methodist Episcopal cnurch, 5 at Harry Atll'’s and wee Hall, The present indebtedness 8 CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH. SERMON OF REV. WILLIAM H. ALGER—‘‘A LITTLE CHILD.” Despite the cold weather yesterday morning the Unitarian church at the corner of Tuirty-tourth strect and Park avenue was largely attended, the pastor, Rev. William H. Alger, having announced for repetition his beautiial sermon, “A Little Child.” The musical services in this church are of a high order, and those yesterday were of a de- scription to cali forth deserved praise, the anthem sung by the quartet, ‘‘Cnildren of the Heavenly King,” being especially well rendered, Alter an eloquent prayer the pastor took as his text that portion of the Gospel of St. Matthew which reaas thus:—‘Jesus called a@ little child unto him ‘and set him in the midst of tnem,” and continued:—By this act of sitting a little id among the learned disputants in the Temple Jesus meant to convey that even a littlé soul should bave the loftiest place in heaven, In humble imitation of the example of the Great Teacher let us Call a little child unto ourselves, and set him in the midst of us and see what lessons he Will teach, He is @ new revelation of God—a clear demonstration oi the Creator, His birth isan every day miracle, a periect proo! of God, no less than the construction of the solar system in | space—a work of the marvellous Artist who builds all tuings. Called trom the 1ofint:e possibilities to euter 01 @ career Of conscious experience, he emerges on taese morial shores, living, thinking, moving, a reflection of the induite God who mace hia, @ machine for the habitation of an luvisivlé spirit, an immortal soul. By an absolute negation of Himself the child 1s cre- ated from His own being, and in ls own resemblance, This being the only ration il idea of the origin of the human race, the only rational ex~ piaua: ion of its purpose is that they are to receive dis love forever and forever. The old word ap- plied to Christ, “emmanuel,” means “God with us,” and every child {san “eiomanuel.” When a little being comes into our dwelling. a living piece of poetry, God draws nigh to us iM blessing, For these little ones He has set LOVE IN EVERY BREAST, 80 that the mercy they co aman. is the sirongost: proot and illustration of Providence, Leit to hime self a Cuild is the embodied picture of heipiessness, and yet behold this poor little pensioner upon human pity; no Eastern monarca ever wielded a more aespotic sceptre chan that placed ip his tiny hands, He 1849 safe trom cruelty and blows as if sheathed in adamant. “As @ father pi icth his children 60 the Lord pitieth them that fear Him,?? ‘Ihe most monstrous doctrine ever incu'cated on eartn is the doctrine of the total depravity of litte mfants. Milions of people are listening toe | day—not knowing tt—to this heresy in prosperous churches, while tae churches wit are preaching tue love of God are leit to straggic on as they may. Now can children be wholly evil unless it hag pleased tue Almighty (o convert a part of bimself Auto evil; If 80, every little chiid 18 a demon, preg» (CONTINUED ON NINTH PAGE]