The New York Herald Newspaper, December 2, 1878, Page 10

8 “WILL GIVE YOU REST" Divine Services Yesterday in the Churches. A JOYFUL RELIGION. Te The Different Conceptions of God and the True One. Piacoa ell DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. CHURCH OF THE DISCIPLES. THE DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE—SERMON BY THE REV. GEORGE HEPWORTH. “The Bible is at the same time the most depressing and the most hopeful of books,” said Mr. Hepworth yesterday morning, in commencing a sermon on “The Depravity of Human Nature,” the text of which was Ephesians, iv., 22, 24—“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is cor- rupt according to the deceitful Insts; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in right- eousness and true, holiness."" The preacher proceeded to amplify the declaration as to the Bible, and said :— It is depressing when it states what man is and what he will inevitably become, unless some intervening force interferes, It is hopeful when it tells us what man may become when he accepts the conditions of salvation. The first facts that the Bible acquaints us with are those relating to our fallen condition, and which during the ages have crystallized themselves into the convenient shape of the doctrine of total depravity. The next series og facts with which the Bible acquaints us contain ‘within themselves the means of escape from dark- ness; the secret of acquiring spiritual health; the way in which heaven can be reached with the smile of the everlasting Father of Peace. During the ages these facts have been crystallized into what has been termed the plan of salvation. The Bible states the difficulty and then gives the remedy; it paints on the background our human depravity and sinfulness, and then faces upon it the luminous cross of Calvary, the symbol of ourgreat hope. ‘This doctrine of depravity has been the stumbling block of many thoughtful minds, but only because it has been misunderstood. | It is the assertion of a plain, unweleome and indis- putable fact. The depravity in our own heart resents the doctrine as a personal insult. It is never- theless true. If we will measure ourselves, our ambition, our peace, our actual lives, by our pattern, Christ Jesus, we shall find we have fallen far short of what is possible. We have hidden be- hind excuses which will be of no avail. We" have pleaded ayain and again that circumstances are against us, when we knew that a strong will could trample on such circumstances and tread them under foot. Now, brethren, if we want to be mankind, or it we want to make any chan, own mode of life, we must begin by first finding c how deep down’ it is necessary to dig when we the first stone of reformation. ‘Observation and ex- perience tell us in stern, relentless tones that we must dig down to the very bottom. The Bible puts this better than Ican. So radical is its assertion that | you and I start back upon ourselves with something like dread and fear, until we insist upon knowing the whole truth, and in that partly lies our faith in all good and our life in God. ‘The mind before it reaches the truth always passes through a region of doubt. NEW BIRTH. The Bible tells us in akind of picturesque com- mand that we must be born again; and in that word is hidden strong probabilities. If we are to be born again we must die first. Death must kill everything in our nature. Yet, if we consider for a moment, we shall find it true, nevertheless. Out of this will come resurrection, a new birth, and the “whole conversa- tion” and “the old man” are to be put aside. A new man, which ix the gift of God, must be brought for- ward, The Bible, then, is very like the physician who plies a heroic remedy. Some of you are in doubt about this matter. You are very thoughttul men and women, and you have found it exceedingly difficult to accept the doctrine of total depravity, and whenever it has been preached you have glossed it over as best you could. “Many and many a ‘ime you have thought it a mistake of the Church to insist upon it; aud, because you have tho-ight it was not exactly true, you have looked upon it as a doctrine taken out of the Scriptures by a method of misinterpretstion. The doctrine of total depravity is not a Bible doctrine alone. It is a very curious fact that to-day it ix preached by the two opposing elements of our modern society. “The man of Christian feeling believes in it with tears in his eyes and with a bieeding heart. The Communist, whose end is to reform society and to make all men | brethren in some magical and mysterious way, and who shakes the red flay of revolution in the face of the Bineteenth century, stands upon the doctrine of total depravity ‘as his fundamental fact. He fs an infide, to be sure, and does not believe im mild methods of the New Testament. This makes no difference; he did Bot get his facts ont of the Scriptures. He got them ts being ground between the upper and lower mill- stones of human existe He yot them by looking into human his own bi experience have been put three or four for this disease, The s not mean that the ertain extent good is natural to man. Hof us have generous impulses and give way to t The doctrine says to ux that the man who lives to himself alone will lose the high- est good. There is only one way of solving this enigma, and that way is through the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Christ is in every man’s life a controlling farce. PLYMOUTH CHURCH. THE DIFFERENT EXTANT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD— SERMON BY REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER. I have sometimes thought, said Mr. Beecher, thet there is in spiritual matters some such w: as extends, we know not how, in light, in electricity and in heat, so that, for instance, when the faculty of mirth exerts itself in me it sends an electric wave to every man who has acorresponding endowment of mirthfulness, and he feels that wave from my so vibrate upon his. And how do we know, he con- -d, with great enthusiasm, but this is the great law of the universe—that the heart of God is the great battery of the universe, shooting out power through space, and that every sentient being that has a cor responding chord is sensitive te that wave and re, sponds to it? Ido not say it is so, but that it is per- fectly thinkable and that there are analogies for it, MORAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND INTELLECT. Mr. Beecher advanced the theory in the opening of his sermon, which was based upon the passage in St. John wherein the Saviour says He will no longer call His disciples servants, but friends. He began by defining the meaning of the word dolor in the original, and explaining the altered relation in which the dis- ciples then stood to Jesus through their foregoing spiritual elevation, What God was in all the fulness of ould know, He what his moral development enabled him to see and to feel, It was not by the intellect but by moral se {ment that men could appreciate the Divine nature, He feit first, and interpreted the feeling by the intel- was to cach one lect afterward. There no sch complete cere tainty ax that which fiae! on the moral c Sciouisness without logic. It was the conv of the nnderstanding in view of evidence which satis- fies the moral sense, It was absurd for men in searching for God to apply the same teste used in respect to material things. went on to disenss the varions con put forth at the present time right from of God were retigions, b Christians, and the great bulk of pro’ 1 ; men who did t were not Christians Th ot reached any | d than one of fear, power and | men came down here from New England without any Christ? They believe in the divinity of Christ, and that is all. A God who is universal love has not yet dawned upon their minds, They are not let out yet. They are in enges. y are God's servants yet, not his friends, and they are afraid eve that they are going to do wrong, and they go every ] a 4 whining to God and talking about ing worms and all these viliating, ving images, It ix pertectly per fora man to use sich an expression as that once or twice in a lifetime; but that w | sion of an extraordinary and intense ontburst of feel- | ing would be abominable if used every day, There are hours in which the conception of God ix so over powering that in the contrast a man docs feel like a | ure worm, but this, ax [ said, don't come to a man 1 than once in a lifetime SOME KINDS OF P The deacon every morning [a with nnconscions mimicry lengt and spoke through bix nose| * What kin ims “We are all betore Thee of religion is that? If my child came crawling to me I I'd make him crawl nore. (Smiles), They adduce texts to prove how Daniel prayed. are not Daniel, not in & lie Nevertheless hear us! Ob, Lord God of id us poor shrivelled worms of the dust he lies! (with great warmth). He knows he ix not any sach thing as that, and it would | Bot be safe for you to tell Lim he was after prayers. (Laughter). Itisasham,a falsehood, and yet how many are those who talk so! There is more of God upstairs, if you will only go after it, said Mr. Beecher in the came connection. If Jacob had only seen ax much of God as he felt when he laid his head upon the pile of stones he would have been a brute; but he saw steps leading up. Now, you must go up if you would know God truly, and as you do so God will go up with you. ‘The theologies of old were admirable things in their time, but in our time el that we are standing on the eve of great dis- closures. I believe we are having much torn away nd about us which we could ill afford to Ithough many men are crying over it as they cried of old that their gods were stolen away from them. But I see how men are growing up in breadth of conception and depth of sentiment, and, above all, Lcannot but see the surtace that is begin- ning to be polished until it can reflect like a very mirror the image of God; and if the waves from the Great Heart are beginning to flow in, and if in us there are corresponding sentiments, who can tell what will be in the days that are to come? FIFTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH. DR. JOYFUL RELIGION--SERMON BY REY. ARMITAGE. ‘The Rey. Dr. Armitage preached on “A Joyful Re- ligion,” taking bis text from Philippians, iv., 4— “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I sa; rejoi Probably the chief defect in our experi- mental Christianity to-day, said the Doctor, is the want of Christian joy. Evidently God intended the whole Christian system to promote a Bfe of happi- ness, both in this world and that which is to come; but men have clothed it in gloom and sentimental superstition, You can read the true feelings of an army or a nation by their devices in symbol A and heraldry, their ensigns and standards. As they are brave and heroic or craven and weak so there will be a sort of visible and mechanical poetry, which expresses their metal and emotions of the eye. On the Continent of Europe you are greeted everywhere by Christian symbols. Painting and sculpture are employed, with other scenic productions of every kind, accompanied by poetry, music and oratory, even to profuse weariness, but it is all on the minor plain, ‘There is no imagery of joy, or next to none. The happy and entwining emotions are seldom appealed to. The tones of the grandest organs, the scale of the highest melody and the voice of the most sonorous song are all set in a deeply pensive key. Everything is so arranged as to inspire reverence, fear and even awe, as though some hidden abstract mystic power commanded a trembling homage in worship. Everything impels to dread; nothing awakens courage, confidence and joy, And if we look at practical Christianity in our own churches how much _ fuller, brighter and more jubilant do we find our religion, Have we a deeper, rounder and more abounding joy in the Lord? Commonly, real joy is looked upon as but little short of positive sin, while the chief aim of Christianity is regarded as being met when men are put under stern restraint on carth and think them- selves prepared for another world. The average view of Christians seems to be that the chief end of being born is to die and the chief purpose of passing through this life to get well out of it. As to the grandeur of torming eternal character, of perfecting manhood on the sublimest standard here and here- after, of lifting up others into the same nobility, of maintaining and displaying all the glorious princi- ples of the Gospel, and of honoring our Maker and Kedeemer in their divine claims and rights—as to these momentous vitulities they are generally treated lightly, it they are regarded at all. FIOICE AND BE EXCEEDING GLAD. And when men serve God, consciously or uncon- sciously from slavish fear, from dread of punishment or froni superstitions bondage of any sort, they must be unhappy. Superstition makes her home with the horrible, but man with the happy. When you come to the Christian religion, Christ himself, its founder, ex- pressly repudiates the thought that His disciples should be sad in His presence. He was reminded that the Pharisees and John’s disciples fasted often, but His disciples fasted not. He said “Can the chil- dren of the bridegroom mourn when the bridegroom is with them?” This He followed with the promise, ‘My joy shall be in you, and your joy shall be full,” and ratified the hole with the exhortation, “Rejoice and be exceeding glad""—language so strong that it would have been deemed extravagant if other lips had spoken it. “Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” It is not here to attempt any definition of that simple emotion which the Lord Jesus called ‘‘joy.” It is a state of feeling which cannot be represented adequately in language, tor the man who experiences it cannot analyze its elements. A man who had never telt it would get no idea of its nature by all the words which poet or philosopher could command. Each man who has felt joy must define it to himself and for himself, and each man’s definition will differ ac- cording to the intensity and duration of his experi- ence, Frequently those who think that men can b too happy in their religion, and are afraid that they oul bx attempt to tone down the thought whic: the Word is intended to convey to the idea of mere cheerfulness or some kindred emotion, taming down the tull, bold sense of the Redeemer in its use, from an exciting delight and exultation to a common place felicity. Perhaps it would be impossible for us to obtain a clearer sense of our Lord’s meaning in the use of the words “joy” and “rejoice’’ than as it is illustrated in the injunctions and experience of Paul, his chief apostle in labor and sufferings, and perhaps also in personal happiness. His epistle to the Philippians iuay properly be called a treatise on Christian joy. In ho part of his writings does he lay such a stress upon the subject, as if joy were a cardinal grace in Christian life and character. The words “joy” and “rejoice” are repeated again and again in this short letter in their application to others, while he also at- tests, “I rejoice in the Lord greatly. MASONIC HALL. WHAT WE HAVE TO BE THANKFUL FOR—SERMON BY MR. 0. B. FROTHINGHAM. During his discourse at Masonic Hall Rev. 0. B. Frothingham said:—The President has issued bis proclamation for Thanksgiving; but in the chureh universal the custom has lost its religious element and is now regarded as only @ social event. The churches ou Thanksgiving Day are no longer largely attended, and the preachers, instead of dixcoursing on religions topics, discuss in a tender manner political affairs. The first idea that prompted aday of thanksgiving was the recognition of an all- merciful God, who gives everything to those who wait and hope and pray. ‘The second idea which it was intended to represent was that the Inbor of the year, in producing and gathering the fruits of the soil, was ended, as symbolical of our treading on the portals of the life everlasting. These two ideas were worked into the blood and bone of the New England people. They were living realities, controlling — faiths—not to bear the ills they had, but to 1 and diminish them in the modern philosoph: In this age the rgies of man have been stirred to their very foundations, and the result is that for the first time in the world there is seen something like a steady production of food. It ix wu tnet that, owing to our improved methods of agriculture, if we cannot yet say — that famine can never come here, we can assert that it is farther off from us than ever before; and the time is ontinent of America, we will hi When that time comes, it will be an for it will mean that every one has enough, and when every one has enough the gates of heaven will begin turning on their golden hinges. HELP THE POOR, When food shall be more plentiful the poor will be lifted up, their tives will be longer and their chil- dren will bi a chance to grow up to be men and women, What * the poor man do when comes to your door? He does not ask for bread, but for something to do th Tivilege of work- ing. Socialism and Communisin are dreadful things if prompted by ignorance, but I believe that in some hearts they are prompted by aspirations to live, to labor and even to suffer as rational beings and not as brutes. There 1s something touching to me in the ery that comes from the po rmany- it is @ cry for food, for the privileye to live. Itisaery which certainly onght to be met with something more than scorn and from those in who, instead of speaking ot bay i should speak of just he p 1 from day to day that people who have nothing are contented at ail; that they do not band together and arm. Is not this something tor us to congratulate ourselves upon, The great workers for the eleva- tion of the masses in Germany and claewhere are liberals who have outlived dogmas and creeds, and the are now working f red The promise ot the coming tune glorious beyond hope. ALL SOULS’ CHURCH. DERIVED VIEWS AND OPEN VISION—SERMON BY REV. DR, BELLOWS, Rev. Dr. Bellows preached at All Souls’ Chnreh on the aubject of “Derived Views and Open Vision,” the text being from I. Samuel, iii, 1—“And the Word of the Lord was precious in those gaye; there was no ‘The Word of the Lord in the earlier and indesd in the youth of scoaxarily @ precious thing. open vision.” days of the world’s Ii every individual lite, It is commit ie to official and priestly custody, only to be reached by certain avenues and received under special conditions and in carefully preseribed form By a most natural modesty in the human race God is omimnunicate with men, unless with some exceptionally exalted personage. It may bea great man like Abraham, owner of myriad flocks and a natural ruler among bis people. Again, th is Mowes, al nthe summit of Sinai, or the high priest in the Holy of Holies which he alone is allowed to enter. He speaks, too, not only to wholly exceptional persons, but even then on very rare occa supposed to be unwilling t sions. When He has spoken, it may be once in a. thousand years, the words are written down on tab- lets of stone or costly vellum and become the most direct means of communication. The precious rec- is were kept in a sacred tabernacle or a splendid temple wrapped in golden cloths or shut in jews elled chests. They could be read only by priests anointed for the affice. All nations have a tradition of a time when God directly communicated with their founders and sages and saints. There is no possible-| beginning of a worship or a common faith, a national religion, except in the tradition of some direct word of God, spoken to the ear of a favored prophet, who from that time becomes the channel one intercourse between God and man. In his name temples are built, scriptures are written, sacrifices are offered and prayers made, and all spiritual or religious blessings ribed to his influence with an unseen and silent God, too great, holy and high to be known di- rectly or seen or heard by common men, SYMBOLS OF POWER. It is no wonder that the great So of the Universe, the Almighty King of Kings, should have been regarded in the past as an almost inaccessible being. Such conceptions of God's majesty and awful dignity were the pratining , the foreshadowings of the real truth and faith. e and self-huniiliation, even before & power, are the elements of for a being whose real glory is after- rd recognized in moral beauty and spiritual ex- cellence. The gold of the altar the eye before the sacrifice on it touches the heart. It nec sary to denote the glory and beanty of Him who dwelleth in temples made by hands by the erection of magnificent churches. Millions can look up at the vault of the sky, can be- hold the enamelled floor of the flowery earth, the altar lights of the ever burning stars, the baptismal sighing woods and the supplicating cry of all ani- mated nature, yet they experience no feeling that they are in God's self-erected temple. ‘They will go into a cathedral and imagine that they are vonse- quently nearer to Him. ‘Still, it we cannot con- secrate the whole world, let us be glad that can make holy ground of a few acresthere and there. The congregation should not forget that one-of the reasons given why the Word of the Lord was pre- cious in Samuel's time was because there was no open vision, Open vision is that first and direct view ot God and spiritual realities on which all prophets have founded traditional religions. No man need wholly base his faith in religion at second hand. God is known and seen and trusted by thousands of souls who need no other evidence of His Being or His jvill than what is directly revealed to their ‘hearts. There is that within us more sacred than cathedral altar or maior window or sacred writing. ‘It is the soul twelf. ST. "ROMAN CHURCH. THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION—SERMON BY REY. FATHER PRESTON. A congregation, that crowded every parttof St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church listened to the first of Dr. Preston's Advent sermons on ‘The/Protestsnt Reform- ation.” His remarks were based-on II. John, i., 9— “Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God.” The Doctor laid down the proposition that: this movement ANN’S , CATHOLIC font of the sea, and hear the eternal litany of the | NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1878.—WITH SUPPLEMENT. approaching completion, and you will take courage to rear the new and majestic monument to your faith—the Cathedral which you have begun.” ‘The reverend prelate complimented the people of the district, the generous hearts who had made such great sacrifices to bring the present edifice to com- pletion, and proceeded to 8; of the Chureh spiri- tual, of which Christ is the head, Is there to-day, he said, a competent witness of Divine revelation ? Yes. ‘This,wituess, the Gospel tells us, is to remain to the last day, und then is to surrender only to God, This witness is the Church. Her affirmation is truth. All over the earth she is summoned as a witness, and bears irrefutable testimony to her divine origin and mission to human society, Years bow not her head nor does time delve wrinkles in her brow. From Peter to Leo the continuity of her life. is unbroken. She is ever the same as when her Divine Master was on earth. Partial failing these may have been at times in the Church; general decay never. She is ever ready to root out error wherever it may arise, She is founded on two virtues which must ever animate her— mamely, love of God and the love of our neighbor. A SPIRITUAL TEMPLE. Bishop Shannahan held the attention of the congre- gation for an hour and twenty-minutes, and in his peroration urged his hearers not to lot their works end with rearing @ material house of worship, but to build up aliving temple of the soul, to which the material temple 4 inferior, At the conclusion of the mass the benediction of the bi sacrament and the pontifical benediction were given by Bisho} Loughlin, after which the congregation Conant The services lasted from quarter-past ten A. M. to quarter to two P. M. In the afternoon there was a grand parade of the St. Patrick’s Mutual Alliance, Hi- bernian and Temperence societies in honor of the oc- seni: and contributions were made by them to the church, STANDARD HALL. et LECTURE BY PROFESSOR FELIX ADLER ON THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSCIENCE. A large audience assembled in Standard Hall to listen to Professor Adler, who spoke substantially as follows :—It is one thing to see, it is another thing to explain the theory of vision; itis one thing to do what is right, it is another thing to understand the theory of conscience, So long as an organ is sound we may use it instinctively; but when it is sick the physician alone can cure it—that is, he who under- stands the laws upon which its action de- pends, The conscience of -the age is sick; to doctor it we must understand the laws of conscience. We have considered in pre- vious discourses at some length what the principle of conscience is not; it is not divine will, it is not man’s pleasure, it is not sympathy. What, then, is it? We seek to range ourselves, as individuals, under larger and larger groups of our tellow beings, and uc- cept the laws of these groups as binding upon our souls, Morality develops in- concentric _cir- cles, outward, As we pass from circle to ‘circle we find ourselves to be parts of wider and wider groups of men. Not only do we ascend from the lesser to the larger groupy, but in all cases the conflict of moral law, ac- cording to our deduction, provides that the interests of the larger must predominate over those of the must have been of God or of the devil. He proceeded to show them that it could not have been of God, be- cause it altogether subverted the+doctrines of the Gospel and broke up Christianity as:it had been re- ceived by the world for eighteen centuries. If the movement was of God, then the-reformers were right and were justified in calling the Catholic Church and the Vicar of Christ anti-Christ. Dr. Preston elaborated his subject, which, however,hecon- fined to the reformation on the Continent, under four heads—namely, the canses which lea to this move- iment; its beginning with the reformers; the character of those reformers, and the causesewhich have made this movement so successful as to have overrun Western and Northern Europe. ‘Thhe first cause that the Doctor named was the long struggle between the civil and ecclesiastical powers | which lasted for three centuries until the Church trinmphed. Then she set about reforming and convert- ing the nations, and in this work met with opposition everywhere. The preacher described the work of transforming and elevating society which the Church accomplished after she came into power, and then passed on to show how Luther took advan- tage of the condition of Europe to preach not against the sale of indulgences, tor these cannot be sold—they are based upon good works, which are not saleable merchandise—but against indulgences them- selves, And his motive was je@ousy. He was an Augustinian monk, while Tetzel was a Dominican. The latter received the proclamation of indulgences, and this enraged Luther. Dr. Preston quoted from varieus authors con- temporary with and later than Luther, and also from the latter's own writings, to show that he declared himself not called of God to his work, and that he was a glutton, a drunkard and a licentious man, and the irresistible conclusion was that God would not employ a man of such immoral character to reform His Church, The character and work of Zuingle and Calvin were also passed in review, and it was shown that the former was compelled to resign his eure because of immoralities, and the latter, while studying for the priesthood, ‘was expelled for like causes, But it was neces: to account for the suc- cess of a movement thus inaugurated by men in the Church, and this the Doctor did by assigning it to three causes, namely—the natural desire of the human heart to be free; the struggle between the temporal and spiritual power—in which the reform- ers aided the former and carried their work on as did Mohammed with fire and sword—and the appeal of the reform movement to the worst passions of the human heart. Dr. Preston will take up the “Reformation in Eng- land” next Sunday evening. SPRING STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. LESSONS DRAWN FROM THE WRECK POMMERANIA—SERMON BY MR. MO- PRACTICAL OF THE MENT. The Rev. Mr. Moment, pastor of the Spring Street Presbyterian Church, took for his subject, “Lessons from the Wreck of the Steamship Pommerania.” After relating the facts of the disaster and referring to others of a similar character he proceeded, in the first place, to praise the heroic conduct of captain Schwensen in refusing to leave his ship until, as he presumed, all the others had been cared for, and drew from that act a lesson of cour- age, showing the necessity of standing at the post of duty under all circumstances—to exhibit courage in business, in politics and, above all, in religion. He then turned the attenti ngreyation to the fact that the Pu ship, well manned, well equipped—good in every way; yet it The reverend yentleman drew from this the kwon that man, in his lost and unre- claimed condition, ix’ sailing over the sea of life in just such a frail bark, liable any day or night to be wrecked and overridden by the waves of destruction, Everything may appear calm and seem to be secure, but suddenly the collision comes and man is lost. was lost. LIFEDOATS AND BELTS, The preacher related how many had been saved from the Pommersnia by the lifeboats, and claimed that rist is the Christian's lifeboat—the Christian's faith. Mr. Moment referred to the statement that in some cases the life belts had been placed wrong side up, by which the heads of the struggling passengers were submerged in water and their feet elevated. From this he went on to show that many had the gospel life belt put on wrongfully, by which he meant that they had good works firat and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ second. We, said the preacher, must put on the gospel life belt by having the cross of Jesus Christ first and good works second. CHURCH OF THE VISITATION. GRAND DEDICATORY SERVICES IN SOUTH BROOK- LYN—SERMON BY BSOHOP SHANNAHAN, OF HARRISBURG—-PARADE OF SOCIETIES, The new and magnificent Church of the Visitation, ¥urona street, near Richard, South Brooklyn, wae consecrated in the presence SP a congregation num- bering about two thousand people yesterday, Three bishops of the Catholic Church and fifty prieata of the diocese took part in the services, A description of the ouilding, which cost $130,000 and will seat 1,500 persons, appeared in the Henan yesterday, The dedicatory services were performed by Right Rey, John Laughlin, Bishop of Brooklyn, thirty priests accompanying him in the procession about the church, The musical programme was exeented in a most artistic manner. Right Rev. Bishop Corri- gan, of New Jersey, celebrated the grand pontifical high mass, aesisted by Rev, Father O'Beirne, of St, John's Church, ax assist riewt; Rev. Father Gar- roll, of Williamsburg, deacon; Kev, Daniel J, Sheehy, of St. Augnatin’s Chureh, as «nb-deacon, and Rev, Father O'Hare as master of ceremonies, THY. SERMON, The sermon was preached by Right Rev, Bishop Shannahen, of Harrisburg, Pa., who took for his text words the found in I. Paralipomenon, rd appeared to him by night n yer; and I vit.— of him th xaid that God «poke these words on the oceasion of the dedication of the ancient covenant, and He speaks these same words to is in a special manner in the Dlessing of this temple, The old temple was aymbolic of the new, ‘The temple of worship is the house of God and of society, Though God accepts, with equal he homage of fervent hearts in doing an to m in His maj we know expects an to 18 efforts slory. The Catholic hes = fore wn animated with @ desire to ercet te of His holiness. World by the sp nples worthy of His goodness and This is made manifest in the New ndor of its edifices, which show that the spirit which animated the Chureh in the early days has not been forgotten, ave only ty look around you,” «aid the preac 10 wee the fine churches of your diocese, and to look beyond the river and see the substential Cathedral which is now lesser. Conscience is essentially unselfishness. The law of generalization is the law of disinterestedness, Who does not understand this, that we shall prefer higher interests to the lower, and act accordingly ? RIGHT I8 REAKON. To-day I desire to indicate that right is only an- other form of reason, and that it is, therefore, logic- ally absurd to question it, to doubt conscience. And since reason is founded not only in the human mind, but in the very nature of things, righteousness, alsc is not only a xubjective element of human nature, but is t of the eternal order of the universe. The highest law of morality is the law of humanity. It says that every man must be vected for his humanity, and that the humanity in every man must be held sacred. It in easy to say humanity, but hard to understand the fulness of its meaning. Aristotle also seid humanity meant only his fellow citizens. The feudal lords said humanity, but meant only their fellow aristocrats. The Southern slaveholders did not recognize the human in the black msn, and their humanity toward themselves was turned into inhu- manity toward him. We in our time do not fully recognize the rights of humanity that belong to the great bulk of the people. We are kind toward the poor, but kindness is not what is needed. Kindness im plies itself a sort of mastership; we are kind even to dumb brutes when they suffer. Not to be kind, but to be just is what is required. The phrase, “We are brothers,” so often lightly used, with no sense of the immensity of its meaning, expresses the su- preme law of ethics. A SILENT SERMON. PREACHING TO AND ABOUT DEAF MUTES—DR. GALLAUDET'S NOISELESS MINISTRATIONS. The impressiveness of silence can scarcely be better realized than at a visit to a deaf mutes’ church. Yes- terday afternoon a HERALD reporter entered St. Ann’s Church, in Eighteenth street, which was about half filled with an attentive congregation. Silence sur- rounded him on every side. The Rev. Dr. Gallaudet occupied the pulpit and was evidently preaching, but not ® sound escaped his lips. His hands, however, moved with speaking gesture. The reporter seated himself near the middle of the church and gazed at- tentively. He could almost understand the dumb eloquence that flowed from the preacher's fingers. Up in the front seats sat the inmates of the Home for Aged and Infirm Deaf Mutes. How reverend was the view of theeo hnsh'd heads Looking tranquillity Down by the door sat some dozen or more boys carrying on a lively, though silent conversation. Boys will be boys, even under such trying cireum- stances. They were just as happy as though they had been blessed with the gift of speech. At times they got quite excited in their arguments, and again something funny, told by a mischievous mu: raise a repressed Inugh. Here and there, a1 older members of the congregation, a hand seen communicating some bit of news to a comrade on the other side of thechurch. But nota note of speech broke the silence, Now and then a late arrival with creaking boots tip-toed up the aisle, and here the dif- ‘ference between this and other congregations was snarked, for not a head was turned in the direction of the sounds. The constant banging of the large door and the laughter of some young men in the vestibule of the church, though it annoyed the reporter ex- ceedingly, was unheeded by the congregation, After the benediction was pronounced the worshippers knelt in prayer, but, instead of closing their eyes, fixed them on’ the pastor, who prayed ax he had | some There was no music, for it would have ven wasted upon this audience. CHURCH WORK AMONG DEAF MUTES, In the evening Dr. Gallaudet preached at Holy Trinity Epise hurch, in Madison avenue, on the subject ne: his heart—“Church Work ‘Among Deaf Mutes."” He referred to the opening of the first inatitution for deaf mutes in this country, sixty-one years ago. Now there are nearly fifty institutions in our country imparting light and knowledge to thou- sands of children and young men and ma:dens who without them would be passing through this earthly pilgrimage in afar sadder and more pitiable -condi- tion. In September, 1850, Dr. Gallandet commenced a Bible ciass for deat ‘mutes in the vestry room of SI Stephen's Charch, in this city. It was intended f thoxe who had graduated at various institutions and settled in this city to support themselves and their families. The class was «mall at first, but the growth came so rapidly that they were compelled to Femove to No. 59 Bond street, where they met every ‘Thursday evening for many years. Early in the spring of 1452 Dr. Gallaudet felt that there should be one church in the city of New York having a special mission for deaf mutes. Accordingly, with those who were in sympathy with him, he engaged the 1 of the New York Uni- ‘ashington square, and on Sunday October, 1852, the first services were held in the sign language. Finally St. Ann’s Church was purchased. With free seats and free will offerings at the very beginning St. Ann's Church proved to be the gracious giver of spiritual Diessings to all sorts and conditions of men. Durin the past twenty-six years the parish haw ministered to people of almost every race and color, to deat mutes, to the blind, and to those suffering from other physical deprivations. They began their parish life with a plain baptismal bow! and without a com- miunion set; but before one year had passed they were presented with the solid silver service now in tise, For several years much earnest work has been done for the poor and needy of this parish. In the chapel, besides the Sunday schools, there have been a di school, @ sewing school, a tothers’ meeting and a social week-nignht gathering. Forty or fitty deat utes are confirmed annually, ‘The Church Mission to Deaf Mutex has established some twenty-five mis- sions for adult deaf mutes in different parts of the country, reachin, thousand persons. ‘The society also sup ed and Infirm Deat Mutes in East twentieth street, The aim of the mission hax been to make deat mutes happy and useful in this life and to prepare them, as sincere Christians, to enter upon the glories of the life which is to come, CONGREGATION SHAARAI TEPHILA. At a secret meeting of the clectors and seatholders of the neregation of Shaarai Tephila, which was held at the synagogue, No. 127 West Forty-fourth street, on day, November 22, a committee of ten was appointed to yr with Dr, Mendes and report a reformed system of worship. A committee was also appointed to collect funds to liqnidate the church debt, which is said to be $46,000, of which $64,000 is held by the Union Di: Savings Bank, secured by a mortguge on the synagogue. As the interest is over- due it is fer eclosure will take place w terest ix paid immediately. The the property ix estimated at $200,000, tion of the offi to raise $15,000 to pay off the ft Wand reduce the thortyage. At iM was kubseribed. © 1s and also the committee on met yesterday at the ‘The committee on im- failed to confer with L id not hand in their re the 0 improving the Synagogue at three o'clo provinw the form of servi ndes, and consequently aod port, the matter was laid over until next meeting. The committee on funds con- tinued in session about two hours, during which the question as to the best means for wiping out the church debt was discussed; but they arrived at no definite conclusion. Before the committee ad- journed contributions were again solicited, and were raised, making in all $4,275, besides promises of two subscriptions of $1,000 each as soon as $5,000 are raised from other sources, CLUB HOUSES. THEIR LEGITIMACY DISCUSSED BY DR. TAL- MAGE—SOME GOOD ONES AND SOME VERY BAD—THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE HOME CIR- cL The Brooklyn Tabernacle was very crowded yester- day morning, the fine weather allowing many to attend who had been absent on the preceding Sun- day, Mr. Talmage’s sermon was upon “Club Houses,”” and his text was taken from IL, Samuel, ii., 1 the young men now arise and play before us.” ‘That which is innocent, said Mr. Talmage, may be made destructive. There is a legitimate and illegiti- mate use of the club house. Iam chiefly to speak of those club houses like the Union League, with its 1,300 members and its $100 initiation fee, established during the war for patriotic purposes, and now the headquarters of republicanism; like the Manhattan Club, with 400 members, the headquarters of the democracy ; like the Union Club, established in 1836, when New York had only a little oyer three hundred thousand inhabitants, its head- quarters costing $250,000 and a membership of nearly eight or nine hundred, with its long roll of merchant princes; like the Lotos Club and its rival, the Arca- dian Club, where journalists, painters, sculptors, musicians, dramatists congregate to discuss pictures, newspapers, theatres and elaborate art; like the Americus, which in summer time camps out, dim- pling the ponds with their hooks and making the woods resound with the stag hunt; like the Century Club, famous for its venerable group of lawyers and poets; like the Army and Navy Club, where men who have seen warlike service on land and sea come to talk over the days of carnage; like the New York Yacht Club, with its floating palaces of bewitching beauty, upholstered with vel- vet and panelled with ebony, and ablaze with mir- rors, and having all the advantage of electric bells and gaslight, and a king’s pantry, one of their craft having cost $15,000, another $30,000 and another $65,000, the entire fleet of the clad worth more than $2,00),000; like the American Jockey Club, made uj of men who have a passion for a fine horse, as Jol had when he gave in the Scriptures 4 picture of that king of beasts—the arch of his neck, the nervousness ot his foot, the majesty of his gait, the whirlwind of his power; like the ‘Travellers’ Club, the Blossom Club, the Palette Club, the Woman's Club, the Com- mercial Club, the Liberal Club, the Stable-Gang Club, the Amateur Boat Club, gambling clubs, wine clubs, clubs of all sizes, clubs of all morals, clubs good as good can be, clubs bad as bed can be, clubs innumer- able. MUST NOT DETRACT FROM HOMF. A series of sermons on the night side of city life would be incomplete without a sketch of the club houses, for they are in full blast after dark. I make & wide difference between club houses. I lay down three principles by which you may decide between the legitimate or illegitimate club house, whether social, literary, arfistic or political, First, you must see that it does not interfere with your nome, incase you have a home. I know of a cave in this church here a wife thought her husband was devoting too much time to religious dutics, and she systematically decoyed him away until now he is on the road to destruction—his morals gone, his money one and, I fear, his soul gone. A wife loses er influence over her husband when she unreasonably objects to all evening absence as an assault on domesticity. ‘There are a As multitude of men genial as angels in the club jouses and ugly as sin at home. (Luughter.) There are thousands of beautiful homes every year clubbed to death. (Great laughter.) When a man says “I will give three nights out of six to the club,” I trem- ble, When he spends five nights out of six at the club and one at home, looking like a March squall, and wishing he had spent it where he spent the other five (laughter), his obituary is written. Another teat by which you can decide whether a club is legitimate or illegitimate is its effect upon your secular occupa- tion. The right kind of a club house can introduce one into commercial success. If it has advantaged ‘ou in your honorable calling it is # legitimate club ouse. But you and I hear every day of some com- mercial house ruined by social excesses. Their club house was ‘Lochearn” and their business house a “Ville de Havre.” They struck and the “‘Ville de Havre" went down. A MORAL DISCRIMINATION. Again, distinguish between legitimate and illegiti- mate club houses by your sense of moral and relig. ious responsibility. “Anything that makes one reck- less as to his clernity is wrong. Any institution which contuses one as to which road he should choose is a rather e in your hand when you die—e pack of cards or a Bible? Ium going to make a stout rope out of delicate threads, Ituke of ull the memories of the agroaies day a thread of laughter, a thread of light, » thi of music, a thread of banqueting, a thread of coagratulation, and I twist them together and I have one strand. Then I take a thread of the woe of the first advent into your house- hold, a thread of the darkness that — pre- ceded it and of the light that followed it, and a thread of the beautiful scarf that little child used to wear when it bounded out at eventide to greet you, and a thread of the beautiful dress in which you laid her away for the resurrection. Then I twist all these threads together and have another strand. Then I take athread ot the scarlet robe of the suffering Christ and a thread of the white raiment of your loved ones before the Throne, and a string of the harp cherubic and a string of the harp seraphic. I twist them together and 1 have a third strand. Then I will take the three strands and twist them together, and one end of that rope I will throw round the cross of a pardoning, sympathizing Christ; and having tastened it to the cross, 1 throw the other end to you, Lay hold of it! Pull for your lite! Pull for heaven! A BRUTAL MOTHER. Carrie Dyer, a child twelve years of age, was found early yesterday morning by Officer Coddington, of the Second police precinct, Brooklyn, lying in a help- leas condition in the hallway of her residence, No. 12 Vine street. She was completely covered with bruises and could hardly speak. The officer, upon making inquiries, was informed by a number of per- sons in the house that the injured child had done xomething which provoked her mother, who had beaten her in a terrible manner, dragging her through the hall by her hair, Ambulance Surgeon Cochran, who was summoned, made an examination of the child's injuries, and stated that she was suffering from several severe contusions and that her back- bone was probably injured, Her condition, he said, was critical. The child was removed to the Lon, Inland College Hospital, and her mother was arrested and held to await the result of her injuries, Carrie, who is a pale, delicate looking girl, stated that her mother beat her because she had no whiskey in the house to drink. She will probably recover under the treatment which she is now receiving at the hos- pital. EVIDENCE. Ex-Senator Prince sat on Saturday as referee taking testimony in the action brought by William H. Ritchie, of Port Washington, L. 1, against his wife for divorce, on the ground of infidelity, The plain- tiff expected to prove his case on the testimony of Dr. Hutchinson, who on one occasion attended Mrs. Ritchie. When the physician's testimony reached a serious point an objection was interposed and he was not allowed to proceed, The ob- jection was made on the ground that the witness was unable to testify, under section 84 of the Code, which prohibits 0 hysician from testify- ing to facts obtained whi ating a person profes: sionally or by the patient's confession, Other tions apply in a similar manner to clergymen and lawyers. The referee thought the point a strong one, and adjourned the cas: for the purpose of consider: ing the objection raised, Without the physician's testimony it is thought that the plaintitt will be un- able to make out his case, STRIKING A DEPUTY SHERIFF. PROFESSIONAL Two men name ans and Schwab were arraigned before Judge Duffy yesterday in the Easex Market Police Court under two charges. by Mrs. Anna Wood, who keeps a saloon, and who stated that the two men entered her place and demanded drinka; that it wae after hours and she retus both men attacked her,throwing her into the street and inagy he Th charge was made by Mr. Fish, a rift, was culled on for assistance, and, in making the ari was struck and kicked by both men, Each was put under bonds of $400 to keep the peace for six months and fined $10, to stand conmit- ted for ten days, A TENEMENT HOUSE IN FLAMES. A fire broke out ina tenement house in South Pat erson yesterday morning at about two o'clock, The house was inhabited by several families, and for some time it was supposed that a woman residing in one of the upper rooms had perished in the flames. She was found, however, in the house of & neigh- bor, The building was almost wholly destroyed several §=poor families left — shelterless, men who were the first to notice the relared that it broke through the roof at both ends of the building at om Astory attributing ite origin to ainan who wanted to commit suicide and destroy hit family atthe same time with himself, as thi holly dependent on him for support, was ont any apparent foundation property was owned by Joun MeMahon, » renidont of exington, Ky., and wag insured for two-thirds of its value, OUR COMPLAINT BOOK. (Norr.—Letters intended for this column must be accompanied by the writer's full name and address to insure attention. Complainants who are unwilling to comply with this rule simply waste time in writing, Write only on one side of the paper.—Eb. HERALD.) WANTED A DIVIDEND. To Tur Eprror or THe Heranp:— When will the receiver of the Continental Life Im surance Company of New York make his first distrt- bution ? It has been two years since a receiver was appointed. POLICY HOLDER, A NEW JERSEY COMPLAINT. To THE Epiror or THE HERALD :— Please allow me to enter a protest in behalf of hune dreds of commuters from Plainfield, on the New Jersey Central Railroad, against the recent with- drawal of the morning express, which for nearly six months has left Plainfield at thirteen minutes past eight A. M. ven from a purely business stand- point, no poticy could be more injurious to the growth and best interests of the road than to dimin- ish its most important facilities, or to remand so many of its most desirable patrons to slow way trains, RETRORSUM, CHANGE ON THE BROADWAY STAGES. To tHe Eprror or THE HERaLp:— Some time ago the proprietors of the Broadway stages instituted a system to protect themselves against the dishonesty of their drivers. It has now become necessary for the public to protect themselves in some way against the carelessness (to use a mild term) of the stage companies. A few days ago, while riding in a stage of the Twenty-third Street and Ninth Avenue line a Jady handed me fifty cents, which I passed to the driver, who in exchenge gaye me an en- velope, supposed to contain fifty cents. Upon open- ing it the lady found it contained but forty cents, The driver, of course, expected ten cents in the box, which was put in, but the lady was defrauded out of ten cents. On speaking to the driver and the starter at the ferry I found nothing could be done unless the lady spent twenty cents more to go to the office at Thirtieth strect and Ninth avenue, in order to recover what had been unlawfully withheld from_her. ANSWER. AUCTIONEERS’ ORDERS. To THE Eprror or THE HERALD: Your correspondent, ‘‘Manhattan,”” makes what he calls an exposure of the manner in which cer- tain book auctions are conducted, and complains that having given an auctioneer an order to purchase acertain “lot” at a given price the opportunity was not afforded to him by the auctioneer to obtain the “lot” at a less sum. ‘As an auctioneer who prasticed for twenty years, and at present unconnected with the business, I may pretend to a knowledge of the rules which should with equity govern this question and yet do so with perfect impartiality. Let me remind “Manhattan” that the business of an auctioneer is to sell, and not to buy, and when he mounts the rostrum he stands there the accepted and recognized agent of the vender, bound by a’contrac expressed or understood, that, in consideration of @ certain commission agreed to be paid, the said auc- tioncer will obtain the very best price for the prop- erty submitted to public auction under all and every circumstance of the It stands to reason, there- fore, that if the enters into a secret under- standing with any buyer to knock down the property fora less sum than has been avowedly offered it must be # fraudulent act jainst the vender, This rule applies to all “lots,” without regard to value, let it be a three-dollar book or a five-thousand-dollar icture. rs Let us put a case:—Suppose “Manhattan” had a fine genuine “Rembrandt,” the market value of which he estimates at $5,000, and, wishing to sell it, instructs “Strawberry Hill Robins” to sell it by auction. Being unable to attend the sale, with a lesa reliable auctioneer he would put a reserve of, say $4,500 on the picture; but having perfect confidence in'the auctioneer, he says, “I put no reserve on my picture; I leave it to you to do your best and get me the best price you can.” ‘On the day of view the work of the great master is noticed by Mr. Gerard Douw, who estimates the pic- ture at its worth, and to save his time in attending the sale requests the auctioneer to purchase the pic- ture for him, stating he will give as much as $5,000 for it. On the sale day, as fortune would havo it, not a - person is present who can appreciate a Rembrandt. i The ‘‘compsny” have left homes, the walls of which are covered with pictures painted, apparently, with the aniline dyes of modern commerce. Poor Rem- brandt would never be tolerated in such company, and so when the Rembrandt is put up the auctioneer has up-hill work. However, $1,000 is reached, and nothing higher seems possible. ‘The auctioneer hag Mr. Gerard Douw’s order to bid $5,000. What is he todo? Why, clearly, to run the price up to this amount and so sell it. He stands there the agent of the vender, under a contract to do his best and get the highest price, and has nothing to do with the vendee except to extort from him the highest price he is willing to pay. No man can serve two masters; and it would be well tor respectable auctioneers to decline taking or- ders to purchase, as it puts them in a false light; om the other hand, purchasers should attend sales them- selves or employ independent men to bid for the: and, from the experience of ‘‘Manhattan,” it wil clearly pay them to do so. In conclusion I would add that so farfrom the opbare of the auctioneer ‘‘Manhattan” complains of ing “an exposure,” I apprehend it shows he wasan honorable man, and if I was about to sell property of mine by auction that would be the man I should employ if I knew his name. . M. SUICIDE OF DAVID VAN DUZER, AN OLD FRIEND AND CONNECTION OF COMMO» DORE VANDERBILT HANGS HIMSELF IN A FIZ OF MELANCHOLIA, Abrahanr Van Duzer, an old employé of the Staten Island Ferry Company, committed suicide by hanging himself in a woodhouse attached to his residence early yesterday morning. He had been in depressed spirits for some days, but on going to bed Saturday night said to his wife that he felt unusually well, She was awakened several times through the night, and remembers that he was asleep at her side when she awoke between two and three o'clock in the morning. She was osgain awakened about six o'clock, and not finding her husband, called her son John. It had been Van Duzer's cus tom to light the fires in the kitchen and in the front room at about six o'clock. John went to the kitchen and saw the fire lighted and the lamp burning on the table, but his father was nowhere about. He then thought of the woodhouse, and there found his father hanging by the neck. He had thrown aclothes line over the rafter and secured it toabeam. He then stood on a chair and pliced the slip-knot over his head and kicked the chair from under him. The son aut the rope and immediately summoned Dr. W C. Anderson, whose house is opposite the Van Duzer residence, ‘The Doctor tuat the old man had been dead some hours, VAN DUZER'S CAREER. When tne fact of the suicide was made known in Staten Island the old’ residents would not at first be lieve it. Mr. Van Duzer had been associated with the ferry for over thirty years, and batten could not realize that old “‘Abe"’ had taken his own life. He had been a baker, and was engaged with his father in business on Van Duzer street. The old Van Duzer homestead now fronts on Bay street and Richmond avenue, and was occupied by an uncle of Abraham Duzer till a short time ago, When Oliver Vanderbilt started the ferry to Staten Island some thirty-six years ago in opposition to Commodore Vanderbilt’s line, asked Abraham to leave the baking business, and act a6 fireman on the steamer Wave. He did #0, The Com- modore saw in him a faithful and capable man, and asked him to leave Oliver's employ, and take caalag sition of engineer on the Champion, then run: up the Sound to New Haven, He was after transferred to the Traveller. In making out the North Star tour, the old Commoodore wished Abra mam to go out as assistant engineer, His wife wished im to refuse, and he did so, The Commodore then asked him to go out in the Vanderbilt; but all these offers he persistently declined, For twenty-seven years he had been associated with the ferry company, and his wife did not wish him to leave their employ. ‘The Commodore, however, made him chief engineer of the ferry company, and he was assigned to the ferryboat Westfield, On the day of her explosion he had been excused from duty to attend the tuneral of his brother's child, He was engineer on the Weat- field up to Fri st. Commodore Vanderbilt not only manifested an ine terest in Van Duzer on account of his capability ae an engineer, but his uncles (Abraham and David Van Duzer) had married two of the Commodore's siaters, and he himself had married 4 daughter ot the Com- modore's brothe CAUSE OF THE SUICIDE, Mr. Van Duzer’s ngest brother, summoned yesterday from Brook could not account for “Abe's” suicide, Old folks on the ieland last night recalled the fact that the old man’s grandfather, Daniel Van Duzer, committed suicide by shooting himself morning, thirty years ago, in the old homestead. Dr, Anderson said yee terday that he was summoned to attend Abraha, Van Duzer some six yearn aye David, who wi said that . when | had’ a fit of melaucholia, He had — continue in that state f vo year and a hal A he had one time suggested that het pitt bi ily and Super the ferry wer opposed to ted wcovered then, but seemed to out to tall inte old condition last week, The doctor believed that r his {CONTINUED ON NINTH PAGE,) |