Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-18 00:00:00

ideas have long since passed away, and with it,,we
trust, will vanish all remaining objections to the
strict observance of an anniversary which, apart
from its
_religious import, exercises a kindly and
Wholesome influence upon the heart, and prompts
it to acts of generosity and benevolence which
otherwise might not be thought of." It is only as
a Christian season, however, that sucli eharitable
work can continue to attach to it. The two
Catholic cominunities aforesaid make it w religio'us
festival, taking care to have apvropriate services
in their churches, and even adopting the European
custom of decking them with evergreens. Nor are
they likely to have much longer these religious
observances entirely to themselves ; for already are
some of the other Christian bodies-be-ginning to
follow their example. It is further publicly.re-
marked, I see, that " the growing favour with
which Christmas is regarded is worthy of note,
and is due, no doubt, partly to the large accessions
made yearly to the foreign population of the city,
to whom Christmas is the great holiday, and
partly to the increased reverence felt for the day
itself and the beautiful associations connected
with it." I am inclined to believe that it is the
happy influences which it is seen to exert, in the
two Catholic communities, and the connection thus
produced of its Christian propriety in other re-
spects, to which may mainly be attributed this
growing and general regard for this one of the
Christian Church's principal festivals. -
Another phase of religious action is by no means
so agreeable, so orthodox, or so hopeful.- I allude
to this mania which still prevails for religious
novelties and excitements, often the occasion of
most profane, and therefore irreligious exhibitions.
It cannot be a healthy 'state. of things, when
Opera Houses and Theatres are preferred to
consecrated churches and meeting-houses. The
following account of the proceedings referred to,
which I extract from one of the New York daily
papers, furnishes at once a narrative of the case,
and an illustration of its'irifluences

Religious life and the modes of religious worship in
New York have recently assumed a new and somewhat
curious phase. During the financial crisis, and succeeding
it, a religious revival so far affected
.all classes of our
citizens that prayer meetings, public confessions of
repentant sinners,• from Wall-street, from the prize ring
and from the stage, were matters of daily and • nightly
occurrence all over the City, not alone in the churches,
but in warehouses and basements, and everywhere that a
congregation could -bo accommodated.— But now the
inspiration of religious fervour hag fallen upon the lyric
and dramatic stage; and where the divine compositions
of Meyerbeer and Verdi and Rosini delighted the upper
crust of our populition during the week, or the love-and-
murder efforts of the sensation dramatist " split the ears
of the groundhogs" in a minor theatre, songs of praise
and words of holiness are echoed every Sunday evening.
The upper stratum of religious life exudes its super-
abundant feelings of piety with respectable' and decorous
bearing in the fashionable. and elegant Academy of Music,
while the lower stratum does the same- with Cheers,
cat-calls and stamping of feet in the National Theatre
in Chatham-street. The crowd which flocks to both
houses is immense. At the Academy hundreds are turned
away for want, of room every Sunday evening. The
doors are locked when the house is full, and all who
arrive too late are compelled either to adopt the out-of-
fashion practice of going to church, or to reserve their
fervor for another Sabbath—a difficult thing to do in
this impulsive city. At the Chatham-street theatre the
attendance is so large that the door-keepers are obliged
to _select__ the andience, admitting the well clad and
excluding humble piety in seedy garments ; a posse of
police. is required to keep order at the doors, and the
audience express their impatience at the non-arrival of
the preacher, in the usual theatrical fashion, by stamping
and whistling, hail his appearance by a storm of clapping,
and compliment the salient points of his discourse -with
loud applause. Meantime the churches are afflicted with
slim attendance, and it looks as if the clergy, to preserve
i their popularity, would have to abandon the pulpit for
the sta,ge. Time was when such a descent would have
shocked the religious sentiment of the country; and even
now, whatever is left of the strict old Puritans must
move ,uneasily in their graves at the spectacle. Ond
consolation, however, is, that those who advocate tho
claims of the stage to be considered a moral instructor
have now the satisfaction of beholding a practical illus-
tration of their theory.

Now this is anyihing but a sound and healthy
state of things. It is altogether, it is to be feared,:
an affair of excitement, and drainatism, and
display. The crowds who flock to the theatres,
but refuse to go to the churches, for religious
worship and instruction, cannot possibly be in a
desirable religious frame of mind. Then there is
no reverence,—it would be strange if there were,
indeed, in places devoted to the drama, often in
not its purest or decentest forms. Such a profan-
ing and degrading of religion is only calculated to
bring it into contempt ; and: there is only too
much reason to fear that it is really having that
effect.

The Cuban question continues on the tapis,
although nothing. officially is yet done with__ it.
Very, mistaken ideas as to the chances of the
acquisition by peaceful means appear to prevail:
even the Press seems to be ill-informed as to the
feeling regarding it upon the spot, and, in Spain.
I find, for instance, the following statement in the
New York Herald:—" The ruling policy of all
Christendom, in this nineteenth century, is not to
provoke, but to prevent war ; and peace with the
United States is the overrulingnecessity with both
'England. and France. We may depend upon it,
therefore, that any overtures which we may
advance for the purchase of Cuba will be respect-

fully treated, and that if the results do not involve
the acquisition of the island, they will comprehend
a better understanding with all parties concerned
than that which now exists: With these views,
we hope that the bill of Mr. Branch for the discre-
tionary million to the President will, without
unnecessary delay, be advanced into a law of the
land." This last remark has reference to a bill that
is already proposed to Congresi for placing a million
or so of dollars at the President's disposal, for the
purchase of the Island,—a very preposterous idea.
There would seem, in fact, altogether very great
ignorance as to the sentiments of Spain, of the
Cubans themselves, and of France and England,,
which are deeply interested in the matter, what-
ever some people may think. Meanwhile the
agitation of the question, and especially the im-
petus given by the President's Message, has set
the filibusters on the qui wire ; and they are said
to be already laying their plans for some insurrec-
tionary movement, of which to take advantage,
under the banner of the " stars and stripbs."