The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-10-10
LYRIC HALL.

soASs'
LYRIC HALL.
Sermon by the Rev. o. b. Frothingham--
Picnic Pfety aud Christian Dovotion-Caut
and Caricature. @r
largo and somewhat fashionable audience It
tended the services of the Rev. o. B. rockingham
yesterday morning. In Lyric Hall, on Sixth avenue
opposite Reservoir Park. Mr.. rockingham has sue.
ceeded in organizing society for his regular sup
port and for tho dissemination of truth and the
advancement Of pure and Undecided regi0n.n The
expenses OF maintaining public worship 1T Lyric
Hall 1t present-including rent PASTORS salary.
music, Sunday school, &c.-amount to something
over ST. 900 per annum. They say the work could be
carried on for much smaller sum, only that
theirs 'being Q Radical Society and the only
one Of Its kind Ia New York. 1t necessarily
encounters weight OF prejudice not to say Of
hostility which can be successfully resisted only
by hearty cooperation ana heavy contributions.
They have building fund which has been realized
by the sale Of church Fortieth street. but which
must not be infrnged upon for current expenses
1t IL determined to make the society not only re-
lglOas out social In It's nature and objects and each
member is accordingly enjolued TO leave his name
and address with the PASTOR who is about to insti
tute "monthly receptions" to be held regularly in
tunity to the members to become acquainted with
each other and consult together upon the plans OF
phianthropic labor.
The services yesterday commenced " 18th the read.
ing OF passages from the Old and New Testaments
including the wen known parable OF the pharlsee
and the publican Then there was musician Orgaff
and quartet choir OF good singers Then the pas.
tor leaned his face down on the large Bible UNDER
went q paroxysm somewhat similar to that which
and pumped hard at himself until his lips emitted
GAsrrNG DEIBBLEs OF Prous ASPIRATION
| which gradually increased until they bee anne an
eloquent torrent Of prayer that rushed straight
Wen composed and wen delivered appeal;
in some way with the idea OF making
stump speech at the Lord, though how or why 1t
let such an impression on ;he nearer it would be
rather difficult to say. The Almighty addressed
as the friend OF the frendIess. the father of the
fa.heress. and the lover OF those who had nobody
else 70 love or be beloved OF, and He was besought
to allow the petitioner and his friends to mngle
was a Cod who did not require an empty prayer nor
an idle ceremony such as the crossing Of ourselves
wh the hands, lie Wanted s only sincerity a% Of ae
! asked to teach us that man may study mere words
no more but Jet ruth b made king and love the
moro music and hymn No. asa, sub-headed
"A Hymn Of Perfect Trust" done
full Justice TO, after which the preacher
commenced truly eloquent discourse on The SUB
ject OF Vital Pletyn He said the word pety is not
in something like distrust, and 1t savors strongly
or cant and hypocrisy; and il ought to be held IN
distrus because IL came originally from the Latin
peopIes-the peoples OF the Roman and Greek
cnurches-whose religion had degenerated into
mere forms and ceremonies But since the word
OUR BRAVE ENGLISH SPEECH
! from those other languages Il has had all the adj
vantages mat good and healthy associations could
give 1t. 1t has meaning that is very good.
and this meaning was given It by the good
! and noble English people. II combines all
| the virtues. Pety IS nothing more nor less
than the love OF God To love GOD with the mind is
TO acknowledge His power ami greatness and glory
with our own reason TO love God with the heart
is to feel warm and spontaneous affection for Him.
with Him when we depart This life, and 10 aspire
toward moral perfection. TO love God with the
strength exert all physical and intellectual
powers In His service. THIS was the meaning of
Christ when He commanded us to love God with all
all our mind end all our heart and all soul and all
our strength and this alone is piety But we are ell
very far of from 1t yet. Who Is God? There is ac-
cording to popular creeds and faiths the large God
and the small God; the harsh God and the tender
God;
THE CRUEL GOD AND THE KIND GOD.
The Pacific Islander believes lie serves God by cut
ting or his little finger and he calls this mutilatlon
OF himself riety. We believe that it pleases Cod
best TO see us preserve all the members OF body
in good working order and put them TO constant and
| vigorous use. In the north OF Europe it was once
tances, to wash the idol in lake, and in that lake
to drown all the priests VINO took part the
mony. we believe N using cows and priests for
ut the person to whom offer them, and thus it is
the nature OF our pety depends entirely ideas
OF God and OF His attributes. II the word piety be
word hard to define what shall we say Of the
word Gods God is the greatest word
tion and OF terror to some OF love and kindness to
others. 1t Is used for cursing and for blessing
comes down TO us laundering through the ages and
Its origin root cannot be found Ia any language
tor 1t Is the only perfectly primitive word known to
the world OF letters To us It means perfection-the
Being OF beings. The Christian Idea OF God-the
idea that rules in all the Christian churches-is that
| God Is person. an individual outside and beyond
4 the world OF reality and OF hlstory-outside OF ev
erything. HIS abode is the circumference OF space.
He lives the confines or time. He does everything
just al we do. He is man raised TO infinite power.
| He
| COMES DOWN wirH SHOCK
| into the world and upsets everything He writes
! book, forms an organization, establishes a church
According TO the Christian idea God Is intensely per-
| sonal and individual In His nature. The real
| God OF Christianity is Christ. He is the repre-
sentative God. the practical God, and Christian
piety centres In him. Christian love OF God Is sim
ply love Of Christ. The books OF Roman Catholic
pety read like love letters and piety oftne ordinary
stamp consists In love OF Christ as person. But
that sort OF pety soon becomes a mere habit and
| almost inevitably runs down into formal
mnto forms rnnrch ana ceremonies sa without the
Fashionable people. worldly people,. aye, even
very bad people, go through these forms
! going into q ballroom or down to supper There
must be vital defect IN the pety that can become
ritual. IL can be easily caricatured and IT always
degenerates into cant ana hypocrisy. IL is the re
| fuge or the hyp0crite. The word piety nowadays
| suggests carcature! Pety has no necessary con-
nection with Gods love. man may be yosy pious
4 and yet be very bad man. Several Instances Of
! truly "hard casesi' who practsed piety were re-
lated by the preacher as having come under his
OF which that OF John Newton the slave trader;
also the OF pious blockaderunner was quoted.
according 70 thIs FORM 9, pe6y religion was one
very small snarel IN the contribution box. while
business put large amount into its pocket. There
is wide dinereuce between p.ety and practice.