Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-12-22
Hypoorites and Libertines Denounced
From the Pulpit,
BEEcnER AND coLFAx REVIEWED

Sunday, the 5th inst, was a great
day among the sensation clergy in
New York, Boston. Washington and
other cities. The Richardson -McFar-
land murder in New York gave them
q rare text. The following is synop.
sis of the discourse delivered by Rev
DIR, Pullman. in the Sixth Universalis.
Church, New York, The reporter Of
the Herald says:
"At the Church of our Saviour, in
Thirty-ftth street, between Fifth and
Sixth avenues, the Rev. James NJ.
Pullman preached q sermon ON the
alLabsorbing topic Of the Richardson.
Mcfarland tragedy during the morn.
ing service. Because of the unpropi.
tious weather few were present. The
preacher selected his text from Daniel
", 5: "Ih the same hour came forth
fingers of mans hand" One sub.
ject, he said, has in all ages been closely
veiled. Intemperancc in all its forms,
slavery in all its horrors and oppres.
sion with all its abuses we discuss
openly, but the one abuse referred to,
which has more evil in it than all these
combined, is kept away from our
schools, from our churches, from our
libraries aud can only force public
recognition by q public den0umoat
As the Alpine traveller is led through
all the tortuous windiDgs of the gla.
ciers be is reminded by his careful
guide to speak lowly and softly, lest
his voice, producing conclusion in
the atmosphere, will loosen the vast
mountains of snow and ice and pre-
cipitate the avalanche into the valley
below, producing disorder and ruin.
Thus il is with the evil we are consid.
ering. Men may be silent, bnt God
says that the evil shall work to the
surface. 1t has broken out. During
the last week it flashed through the
tube Of pistol in a newspaper Office
and it echoes throughout the land.
Society is agitated, the body polite is
wounded and a clinic must be held
over the injury. The wound must be
probed; social ideas must be re-exam-
ned. just as the sound dies away
clamor setsin Aman has been killed.
Whose fault is ity Answers pour in
from all quarters. But tD voices
reach Us clearly. One iustifes the
killed as q martyr and reprobates the
assassin; the other proclaims the
deeper guilt Of the dead. But all
choose sides instiHotively. l will d.
vide the public voice into three classes
Hirst, the personal friends and ad-
mirers of the deceased, Of whom there
are many Second, those who believe
him TO be innocent of the crimes
charged. Third, those who do not
t,.ink that the deceased merited such /
a terrible retribution.
"ln the first case personal feeling
for friend in suffering is natural |
Ia the second class | enumeratc the
ministers Their acts and eulogics (
were nothing but apologies. An un-
dertone Of excuse pervaded their senti. /
ments and they exhibited q feeling
that there was something TO atone for .
And / believe that something does
need to be explained-that something
does need defence By acting as they
have a stain has fallen upon themselves
aud their profession. The third class
acts upon the advanced class, who
proclaim advanced principles and re-
form. These men sometimes stop at
nothing; they invade the marriage
tic But / won't speak of a lunatic
with respect. not of n man who ad-
vances the idea taat an ola ordinance
must be reformed because il is an old
ordinance, aud who goes for all things
new and against all things old These
phases Of opinion swell the black cur.
rent OF damnation running through
the substratum OF New York society
And here comes up that class Of men
Of strong minds who tell us the sane
tity of the marriage state is foolish
How would society be If wo needed
their advice? But | will not argue
with a mad dog When one attacks
the hoiest of all institutions he cannot
be argued with except with the same
logic as that Of the last ten days. In