The New York herald., 1872-12-30
Tho Pastors Review or 1874.

There is always more or less Of reverence
and awe connected with last things in life.
The last look or last word OF dear friend or
loving child or parent are remembered longer
and hold fresher and greener spot in the
heart than any other word or look. The last
days OF year or of lifetime bring with them
reflections that no other days suggest. There
is special solemnity in the occasion if the
last day of the year falls on the Sabbath.
Though yesterday was not the last day
Of the year 1872, it was the last
Sunday, and the preachers and pastors
very generally reviewed the religious events
of the year, and drew forth appropriate lessons
therefrom. The attendance in the several
churches was larger than it is ordinarily, as if
some sort of superstition possessed the minds
Of the people that the last Sabbath of the year
ought to be spent religiously. And no doubt
it ought. But not it alone. Every Sabbath
should be SO spent if we would make our lives
q benediction and our influence power among
men.
DIR. Chaplin drew from the closing year
the lesson Of the decay of the outward man,
and urged thereby the renewal Of the inward
man day by day. A year is a large sum to be
taken from the capital of life, and life is
capital that is ever wasting and is not to be
recruited While we may not feel decay in our
selves we are nevertheless reminded that we are
passing away by the whitening hairs and
weakened limbs of our acquaintances of
other days. Decay is real; not to men
only, but to all material things. In
the ordinary business Of life there is no other
account than that Of profit and loss, and in
this business Of living the losses are all on
our side We lose hours, days and years, and
materalism says it is dead loss: there is no
gain. But Pauls common sense (and the
Doctor declared that his epistles contained
more of it than two-thirds of the books in the
libraries Of the world) assured him that there
is solid gain for while the outward man per-
ished the inward man was renewed day by
day. The great lesson, therefore, which DR..
Chaplin drew from the closing year is the COM
pensation by an increase of spiritual life for
the loss Of the material ase4aa
The value Of time and its improvement were
suggested to Mr.. Powers mind as proper
themes for the closing Sabbath's sermon Of
1872. Time, he said, is the twin brother Of
space. It is the most regretted when it is
gone and the least regarded when it is by. It
is always the friend of the virtuous and we'll
disposed, but it is the bitter and tormenting
foe of the vicious and evil-minded. Alas
that this fact is so little remembered or be-
lieved in
Mr.. Northrup was ready, with David, to
thank God for judgment as well as for mercy
during the year. Temporal life, he said, is
the gift of God, and it's value is shown in
longevity, given as reward to the good. In
reviewing the judgments as well as the mer-
cies Of G9d Mr.. Northrop paid an eloquent
tribute to the late Horace Greeley-''s
man who was too great to be Presi-
dent, Yet did not know it; man
who did more for his country than the whole
pack of snarling ours who DETAINED and called
him devil during life, yet who were ready
enough to make saint of him when dead"
The Aeetness Of time, as instanced by the pass
ing year, was made motive for living holer
and better lives in the year to come. Mr..
Hepworth undertook to brush away the false
impression that prevails that Jesus Christ lived
in obscurity and died in ignominy, and to
prove that, on the contrary, He lived in purple
and died right royalty The mode and ar
rangement Of his proofs ore barely indicated
in our sketch, but as the details in the Gospels
are within reach of every one the proofs can
be examined at leisure.
It is fguratively if not literally cor
rect to impute to year q soul. Mr..
rockingham, while he very elaborately
reviewed the social, political and moral events,
not only of the year now closing but Of years
long gone. brought out prominently to view
ssthe soul Of the New Year''-the principle
which shall bring reaction in many Of the
social and religious questions of to-day. Tenn
perance, womans rights, orthodox creeds, re-
Igious revolutions, will be affected by the soul
of 1873. Every year is a prophet. The past
heralds the future. The past is gone
beyond recall The evil that we may
have done. cannot now be undone,
though it may be forgiven, nor can the
good that we have done be improved But
the future is before us, bright and fresh and
virginia., and if we begin 1873 as we did 1872
some may regret IL ere the year closes.
The social practice Of wine-bibbing on New
Years Day was deprecated by Mr. Parker,
who charged it with making hosts of moderate
drinkers, from whose ranks the thousands of
drunkards are annually drawn, and who are
responsible for the fearful category of vice
that fills graves and crowds hell with victims.
These social customs not only affect men, but.