The New York herald., 1871-12-04

Pulpit Doctrines Yesterday. eE
With the approach of Christmas there seems
to have come over our ministerial friends .
solemnity which hardly accords with the iov
that the Saviour's coming originally brought
to the earth or that the commemoration Of
that event should inspire. Nor does it agree
very well with the festivities Of Thanksgiving
through which we have just passed. The
great theme in all the Catholic churches yes
terday was the advent Of the Saviour. The
Rev. Father McNeirny in the Cathedral,
Father McCready in St Stephens and Father
Dwyer in St. Paul's, touched on this
subject. 1t came before them ia the
that attention 10 it which it's promi-
nence as doctrine of the Christian Church
demands. Father Dwyer waxed eloquent
over the terrible realities Of the Judgment
Day, which he portrayed in vivid colors so
that his audience could not mistake his mean
ing. Sketching the different classes who SHALL
stand before the judgment seat of Christ at
last he said :-"On the one hand shall appear
the murderer, the calamniator, the perjurer,
the one who blasphemed and would not 60 to
mass, the young lady that wasted her bedy in
idleness and the round dance, the young man
who in reckless and sinful life found destruc-
ton and an early grave. Drunken children
shall appear by the side of drunken parents.
and among all the infidel who denied
this dictrine and tho atheist who
scoffed at it" Aud then in Ills touching appeal
to the despisers Of the Divine grace and mercy,
he pointedly asked if they did not feel glad that
this great day has mol yet come and for ever
shut them of from repentance and from
heaven. DR.. Ever, in his new ritual Church
of the Holy Light, discoursed also on the
judgment, and said that s'the punishmenis
and rewards in the next world are awarded
in proportion to the wickedness or goodness
of the SOUL Endless life is endless change.
Movement is the order OF existence. Nothing
rests here; nothing can rest in the world Of
spirits" And apropos of this subject, Father
Damen, in the Church of st. John the Evan
gelist, showed from the story Of the Prodgai
and the hearty welcome which his return to
God will evoke.
DR.. Hepworth, in the Church Of the Mes
siah, corrob0rated the Mosaic declaration OF
mans fall by the well-known and demon
strated facts Of hereditary transmission Of cor
rupt minds and bodies from father to son.
Angels will have angelic children, and devils
will have children with devilish impulses.
On this fact the whole Of Darwin's theory is
based. The girl of drunken mother sips
rum as the girl of good parentage drinks
milk. The debauched father pays the penalty
Of his guilt in the shrivelled and puny body Of
his boy. To be born OF crime is to insure .
career Of crime. Five Points fathers and
mothers beget Five Points children. And
ancient history was called in, also, in
support Of this proposition. The Rev.
Andrew Longacre preached on the very
opposite of the sum Of DR.. Hepworth's
theme sin--holness; and showed how it may
be attained by any man who honestly strives
after it. But our blind conceptions Of God,
as shown by the Rev. Mr.. Powers, Of Brook
lyn, to Dr. Richardson's congregation. inter-
feres with our approach to tho mercy seat and
our attainment Of the highest bliss on earth.
He very cmphatically summed up those con-
ceptions in the following stanza which is as
true as il is ludcrous -
The Ethiop God has Etht0p lips,
Black checks and w00lly hair,
Aud inc Grecian God Grecian face
AS Keen eyed, cold and fair.
Mr.. rockingham, as usual, gave himself
good swing around the circle, getting or
few smart things touching the current ortho-
dox theology. sIf there is God He is
here" aud said he, 'ff the account books Of
the world were to be balanced this instant
they would come out square" This is rather
encouraging for some poor fellows who let
their ledger accounts with the Almighty run
on until they know not how much they owe or
are owed But the orthodox folks who want
10 frighten careless young men aud women
Into goodness and virtue make, accord
ing to Mr.. Rockingham, a sad mis-
take when they picture ''aeaven about a
quarter the size of hell, and make the latter
place Of perpetual torment" If men would
give one hour striving for goodness where they
spend one hundred hours striving for gold
they would, he believed, reach a much higher
development We believe so too That is
the misfortune of our race that gold and not
glory is the thing most sought after.
In Christ church protestant EpiscopaD
Bishop Potter yesterday read the Episcopal
letter on ritualism adopted at the late Con-
vcntion in Baltimore, a synopsis OF which was
published in the HERALD at the time. 1t Is q
lengthy document, and, like the famous
"Foley injunction" granted by Judge Barnard,
both sides can find what they want
10 it. Nothing is positively forbidden nor
recommended. II simply says in substance to
the ritualists, "Piease don't 80 too far with
your practices, but IL you keep within the
Prayer Book you shall find warrant there ior
modarafe kind Of auricnlar confession, proper