The New York herald., 1870-02-28
The Churches Yesterday.

religious intelligence which we publish this
morning No seotsrian need turn aside be-
cause Of his or her sect being neglected. We
cannot, in fact, recall to mind any Christian
denomination which held divine service in this
city, Brooklyn and adjacent places yesterday,
which is not reported elsewhere In our columns. !.
| Thus 1t Is that the broad catholicism Of the
HERALD takes within its fold all religious faiths,
putting to shame those publications which
catch glimpses OF heaven through sectarian
telescopes, and would bar the road TO Para
disc with toll gates guarded by angels repre-
senting particular denominations.
AT Plymouth church Mr.. Beechsr preached
eloquently on the necessity for "a timely
preparation to meet God in the other life, and
some Of his hearers must have thought that
they had been rather delayed in this work by
those gentlemen who stood at the door of the
tabernacle crying out ''Only pewholders
allowed to enter at present" Silently and,
we trust, with Christian resignation, these uh-
happy mortals who had been unable to bid in
q pew stood by while the elect, some Of whom,
we fear, imagined that that they had paid
price for the first consideration Of the Lord,
entered attired in silks and satins which rustled
even as angels wings, although the angels
within them were somewhat of the earth
earthly These anxious supplicators for divine
grace were no sooner seated than some OF
them engaged in pious conversations about
sociables and the price Of gold, probably
under the impression that because the last
home of the wicked Is paved with good inten-
tons the walls of the spiritual restng-place of
the righteous are covered with fashion plates
and stock quotations. IT such was their idea
we earnestly connre them to read the sermon
of Rev. Henry Powers, who preached at the
Brooklyn Elm Place Congregational church on
''True Independence" The congregation of
this clergyman was large and fashionable, and
the sermon was able and witty. He de-
nounced the fashion and extravaganza of the
day, and declared that the demands of
women for dress upon their husbands and
fathers compelled these to work harder and
longer than they should, and in many cases
reduced them to poverty. The reverend gen.
tleman quite forgot that even this pecuniary
ruin might be frequently effected from purely
religious motives Doubtless many extrava-
giant ladies bear in mind that 1t is easier for a
camel to pass through the eye of a needle than
for rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven,
and so they reduce their male protectors to
poverty for their salvation's sake. Appear
ances are often deceiving; we, there
fore, plead for the women. To some
extent on the same subject Dr. Chaplin
preached at the Church Of the Divine Pater-
nifty He said that life does not consist in out
ward pretensions, or in shows Of dress and
display, at which we fear some Of the sterner
sex groaned inwardly and prayed that their
wives and daughters could be brought to hold
the same opinion before starting on shopping
tour. 1t is singular how popular the subjects
of dress and wealth are with clergymen whose
congregations are of the wealthiest and most
fashionable in the country. Yesterday there
were but two aristocratic churches where these
were not referred to. One was Grace church,
at which DR.. Potter preached on the
authority and observance Of the Sabbath,
denouncing those foreigners who come among
us from Continental Europe. bringing with
them kind of heathenish observance of the
sacred day. The other was the Church of the
Messiah, where the attendance was small,
owing, probably, to the absence of Rev. Mr..
Hepworth. His place was filed by Boston
clergyman, Rev. Mr.. Cudworth, who informed
the congregation that he had heard much
about their singing and desired to ascertain
for himself if they could do as we'll
IT..t
challenged, the worshippers struck up "Far
| from mortal cares retreating," with an energy
| and lustiness that must have been gratifying
to the challenger, and, we pray, acceptable to
| Him in whose praise it was sung. This ex-
| hibition of vocal power over the congregation,
serenely conscious Of its triumph over the Bos-
ton singers, attentively listened to sermon.
sThe match was, we feel assured, worthy Of
| the metropolis.
| Elsewhere the attendance was good and the
sermons excellent. At the Church of the
Strangers DR.. Deems preached on the parable
of the lost sheep. At Lyric Hall the Rev. Mr..
rockingham delivered sermon ON religion,
which word, he said, has three defnitions--one
''to read over" a second Ito bind again, and
| a third "to loosen" He believed in the third
definition, and we should have thought in the
second also, from the facility In which one was
bound again recently whom the reverend gen.
tleman considered 'loosened." At st. Fran
els Xaviers, st. Vincent de Paul, ST. Ste
| phen's and the other Roman Catholic churches
the services were unusually grand and i'm
pressive in view of approaching Lent The
sermons, too, were allappropriate to the occa-
sion. Lent formed also the subject for an able
discourse by Rev. Thomas Gallaudet at st.
AIMS Episcopal church, where in the after
noon the sign-language service for the deaf
mutes was delivered. At the Quakers
church, in Rutherford place, very fashionably