The New York herald., 1871-10-23
THE FREE METaODIsTs.


Responsc-The Hating Israeliies Convinc ed
Of Their Sin-Serm0n by Rev. A. +. Curry.
The Free Methodists advertise themselves as a
speculiar people,n and they must lot be surprised
therefore, II others consider them so. They also
claim that they are "a live religious denomination y
Yet there apparently less life in them than In almost
any other Christian body in this city Several reasons
might be assigned for this. they noE IN the first
place, denomination at all, but Q number OF NAL
contents separated from the MethodisE Episcopal
Church, who have set up for themselves. They
hold the same doctrines and essential principles
OF faith and sing the same hymns Their denomina-
tonal differences consist 10 pecullarities Of dress
and ritual rather than Of doctrines. They don't
believe organs and musical instruments were ever
designed to take the place Of the human voice In
sounding forth the praise OF God. They therefore
zealously discard all such accompaniments OF
worship Nor DO they believe In what they consider
CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD
In the wearing Of gold ana ornaments Feathers and
owers silks and velvets, plating OF the hatr and
other adornments And hence they dress In the
planest style imaginable. This, like the Society OF
Friends, Is their peculiarly. But gathered
within church the men and boys occupy
one side and the women and girls the op-
posite. This excluslveness is supposed to
prevent Irritation By the young people ana dstrsc-
tion OF thought In all. They hold class meetings
and quarterly meetings, the forefathers OF Meth
odIsm did, and admit the members thereto BY tick.
cts. Hence they claim, In these and In other re-
spects, to be the real simon pure" old fashioned
Methodisss The peculiarly OF their name. sFreen
Metnodists, consists, they aver In their freedom
from sin and from the entanRling snares Of the
world, which, they think, have bound the Christian
Church Of every name save their own In worldly
bondage, from which they cannot escape except by
Aof and "A vin
nation" as they are pleased TO call themselves,
does moi make very rapid headway In this CITY, nor,
indeed, throughout the country. Thev have two
PRsAcHINo STATIONS HERE,
hired halls on Eighth avenue and Twenty fifth
street on tne west SIDE ana o. 2A franc street on
ceed $50. In Brooklyn they have church and one
OF two halls, and larger and more thriving organ
5000 members, and nave college for the educa-
tion OF ministers Rochester, In this State,
iournass m s oi this city IS now President Tney pub
iish weekly paper here for the dissemination of
ment Yesterday OF services to be held on Eighth
avenue and Twenty-nfth street, renorter OF the
e Of hs ray hes s4s
by rum shops, and the other two By tea and cneese
stores The reporter looked about, but saw no sign
OF religious services being held In the neghborhOOd
| lie stepped into restaurant and made inquiry and
was directed TO the northeass corner, where "a
lie soon found the hall and the plain and peculiar
people. There were present, by actual count sixty
-
hymn, "Brother'' sam Irwin, one Of s's
| WUh oRvIILB GARDENERS CONVERTS
was aa
names and amounts were registered, and in flvs
minutes this little band Of believers had subscribed
or the churches OF the city have subscribed for th
object. The pastor, Rev. Mr. Curry, then delivered
Ethan Iai 10 the prophess Of Baa and the people
Israel-"How long halt ye;between two opinions2
the Lord be God follow Him; but II Baal then follow
1 N ~
progress Of ldolatry In Israeli aud the cfrcum
wh a e IA s e % 5
TO the word OF the prophet there was neither dew
nor rain upon the land Tor three and half years
e and fs But any one viii read Gods S
carefully he will see that this world Is to be swep
s,.s ere @ S. dss sa Ss s H1d ofs. Re H rs,
judgments from God for the wlckedness Of the peo
ple dolatry Is the great sin OF this age, as II was
Christ. And as It was then 50 Il is .now--the fev
VINO fear God and keep HIS commandments are &C
Se G 0ses wSaes is Rss asan . q s s
thou he that tr9ubIeth Israel The fearless s
Oa sDe ss Inv sssi nS' in Suosd ss p.1s
% ssSen the % Commandments Of the Lord and tEou has
Followed Baallrnn Here was the real cause Of their
the gathering together Of Bssls priests. $50 o
L.them-the building OF che altars and oner1ng o
aed s as
waxed warm aud eloquent over .5 aaltt N4
fI@hl EIIJAHs VICTORY OF FAITH
fhe 'halelujahsr and 'amens" and ''gOrys'' which
came from che hearts OF his hearers were frequent
and earnest. After praying for Six hours and cut
ting themselves with lances and knives ana leapn0
| upon their altar until 1t was soaked with theil
| own blood there was neither voice nor any Y
| answer, nor any that regarded. As soon, however
! as Elijah had prepared his sacrifice and poured
water on 1t and on the altar and around. 20 tina
there could be no possible chance OF trckery
he prayed TO the God OF Israel and the flre CAME
down and consumed the sacrifice, and tn!
wood and the stones and the dust and licked
signal triumph OF faith--s complete victory OF 70
ligion over idola,ry. And It was the more con
| spicuous because Baal was the god or Ore or tht
| representative or the sun. The people could nj
longer halt between two opinions. Having seoL
4 such remarkable refutation OF their own belief
they fell on their faces and said. "The Lord lie 1.
the God; the Lord, he Is the God." They then sc
i about NE N.aH na ~ M
KILLING ALL THE pAfsE PROPHETS.
Tney lett not one remaining, and for time sd0latr.
received back-set IN Israel The preacher ther
closed with an application OF his subject 70 tn
present age. There Is great deal Of hating be
tween opinions, doublemndedness and hypocrisy
IN the Church. the State, the family and among In
4 0tvtdualA InatAncQa rncited tn