New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-01-14

- na,ure-a life of growing conformity 20 IN
deiiNee ess and truth All good men necessarily tnero
nm'e its side, as feeling the very I've ."
lore en Ioi bcund mn with ts prosperity The effect oi
tnei. o,e;c, accordingly between religion and inh ie
st b. 10 bring good men OF every name into clearly
n,,noupced union and reciprocal knowledge ana appre
cisticn. -
a What has rome before you win not be surprised 10
hear me say that lcci upon The revival OF what may DC
eslisd The church sentiment in these days az OF very
n-ecous aucrry All that j. to be desied in addition ~
stbe sntmeut be somewhat better instructed BY means
Enlargement Of the popular conception ofthe Church
DE- d,;lv meets with tender humane and noble per9ons
bo are hear, sick Of the miserable skepcsm which dogs
rr enrreus literature and theology and who would gia1y
do anything that should prom'1 10 orns oaoa 20.
b has beourto feel the fantes ginmer Of spiritual day
49, in b;s sou knows that without faith IN God hs nan
re- ;; d,d ~ ali dignity and charm, and that we shau
III, Ln N Grasp the shining ideal which has animated
ny .stsi,ed 90 many generations, until we attain
anu cbildjike dooiliy Of mind in regard to divine
-. The only mistake this subject issthat many
w erson, suppose that the end desired is to be at
sS h. social rerogression instead Of advance or by
srgsrizng the old ecclesasticsm instead OF utterly
.tsJoninc II for a more spiritual conception Of the
pnrcb When the Lord came to fulfll the promise of
he earthly Jerusalem he did not proceed to do 50 by
,s5rcanizing that carnal economy nfusing new life
snd sacredpess into its crumbng wal but by turning
AWAY the attention Of his followers to and spirit
nal house which should eventually come down from
God out OF HEAVIER and gaihOr in it, ample bosom oil the
True flock OF the divine shepherd 81 also IN the re'ur
rection we do not find that man is raised IN that ma
tern BODY which had been buried and long since under
gone resolution into It's component esrths and gases ouI
IN a and spiritual and therefore hlcorfuPtole 1'Iy
betting his enlarged soul Accordingly no" wnue we
are looking for resurrection of the churcb ana
for it too with entire confidence We have NJ
to expect in it any formal gulse or as tne
ual auise or that divine spirit of charity which Is com
mon 10 all the churches, and gives to all their solid AMI
sole hold upon public respect One would gladly realize
In aplniug fi-o
l,Iey ,.nurr, But surely we do this best not Nv lie
grading the church into wrnked old cr)ne, for ever
looking back the conquess and cOquees of her YOUTH
and mourning the joys that gone but only by ex
stnc her into "the ever Young and fair reality
which that blessed symbol paints. The word " mother
suggests to the imagination all that most unsesh most
unc0mIlainng and most benefcent in human nature The
mother rQets herself and her interests utterly in zeal
for the welfare of her children She finds her best happ
ness in developing their affections and nascen' sens5ity
in being totally spent for them instead OF bndng them TO
her service She is lost III the love of her offspring and IL
unhappy so long as their bosom' overflow with con
tentment She willingly leaves their discipline and cor
rection and their intellectual growth to the father and
wholly best in quick ening their affections and laying
foundation for enduring happiness OF course no posi-
bic eccesiostcism can fulfill the onr'ng promise OIL ns
symbol 1t is only the true spiritual church. the church
which exists under all ecclesiastical DISCUSSES and becomes
visible only in the good ofe that can pretend for m
rnent 10 do So Were the church utterly divorced in the
porplar estimation from the ecclesiastical pretenson
once fairly elevated to the spiritual conception the days
of its true glory would instantly begin never more to end
ipr of the phrase Mother Church because should
then find mother whose interests inseparably one
with the most various and advanced culture Of her oil
spring and whose total spirit therefore, of mutual
love and tolerance.
The AMERICAN CHURCH.
The American Church the only church which is at all
e0ppruOus with The genius OF pOity is not eccle
siasca FORM but spirit breahed if they will allow
into the old foms II have formal quarrel of
course with the old churches because these formal ecc
siasica differences exactly commensurate with the
needs of its own spiritual unity 1t has purely formal
interests Of its because, being exclusively spiritual
economy and therefore identical with charity or brohery
love in the universal soul of il equally authentcate
every form Pagan and Christian Jewish and Mohamme-
dan which admits Of this spirit in its votary. Every
nation must possess church or a spiritual sub
stance into which the life of heaven may flow because
il is evident that the merely political life Of the
nations is subordinate to interior higher lifes
in fact but the carnal covering clothing of that
life and hence disclans all immediate conguity with the
divine But if every nation must have church or spr
ual substance as everybody must have SOUL il follows
also that this church spiritual substance must be fully
CONNIE usurae with its political form Thus the church in
these United States must dsown every organization which
falls short of political proportions Its doors must
be- at tho very least wide the doors of political
house otherwise shall exhibit the dsreputabe picture
of body larger than its SOUL church less celestial
than its corresponding state As political dimensions
make city Of refuge for all the materially oppressed
of the earth ecclesiastical dimensions must make
us city Of refuge for all the spiritually oppressed Pc
lCay we overlook the native difference of refugees,
absorbing them all alike into own higher nationality.
And of course, therefore enthusiastically show
parialy recognize any of the existing churches
authentic but must elevate them all alike TO higher
spiritual level or unity
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