The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-22
What the Preachers Talked About
Yesterday.

If there is one thing which more than any
other is made manifest by the preaching Of
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher it is the large, loving,
sympathetic and natural heart of the preacher.
Men and nature furnish him the material for
the greatest proportion Of his sermons, and
the Scripture texts are thrown in to serve as q
basis for his inexhaustible fund of illustration.
careful reader Of Mr.. Beecher's discourses
cannot fail to appreciate the substantial unity
which is shown to exist between natural and
revealed religion. Yesterday his theme was
tho Psychology Of Rejoicing" and the con-
clusion he came to, after an examination of the
subject, is that men who treat Christianity
right will get all the joy out of religion which
the New Testament leads them to expect
And he who takes the Lord Jesus Christ as He
is revealed to us by the Apostles will find God
drawn near to him and find himself brought
into personal relations with God. 'There is q
divine energy in Christ" said Mr.. Beecher,
'.from which there arises divine intercourse
between this divine nature and the human
SOUL" The responsiveness Of human love to
divine love Mr.. Beecher illustrated by the
vibrations of dozen pianos in room to the
touch of one. And, while holding that pain
bearing is part Of the remedial scheme, he
said that, instead of taking back a single word
previous Sabbath, he would recall ''all the
soft words and utter them again in tones Of
thunder, that he might express his horror at
the thought that God had created pain for the
sake of pain, anguish for the sake Of
anguish" This is a strong emphasis upon
what Mr.. Beecher said last week against the
Calvinistic creed, which he dissected and so
effectually disposed Of And from this point
he elucidated and enforced the doctrine of Joy
in religion.
As might be expected from the wide refuta-
ton which Father Gavazzi, the great Italian
reformer, brings with him to our shores, an
immense congregation crowded the Tabernacle
in Brooklyn yesterday to hear him preach.
His theme was justification by fath-not, as
he insisted, Protestant dogma, nor one born
at the Reformation, but one that dates anterior
to Luther-even to the Apostles-and which
was enunciated by Christ himself. "Where
there is no justification by faith" he said,
''there is mock Christianity, and where there
is justification by works there is idolatry,
but no Christianity" But Christ is the great
justifer, and faith is only the secondary instru-
mental cause of it. From this basis the
preacher went on to show our lost moral
estate in Adam and the grand results obtained
through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ of
whom and whose cause Father Gavazzi hoped
his hearers would not be ashamed but whom
they would acknowledge, confess and follow
until they shall be crowned with the crown OF
joy and bliss and love and glory eternal.
The Rev. Mr.. rockingham yesterday paid a
sententious compliment to his brother of
Plymouth church, Brooklyn, when, speaking
of conformity and non-conformity, he re-
marked that "a preacher in Brooklyn stands
in the old place and yet transforms" Look
ing at the hills and the valleys, the mountains
and the plains, the rivulet and the ocean, Mr..
rockingham concluded that 'there is no such
thing as conformity, and those who try it fail. y
And 'non-conformity is simple thing of ne
cessity; it exists where none is intended The
non-conformist is one who steps out Of the
shallow world into the world of deep thought;
out of the world of show into the world Of
substance; out Of the world of technical
Christianity into the world of nationality and
broader views" Bishop Potter yesterday
preached on the necessity and importance of
walking more by faith and less by sight, and
administered the rite of confirmation to num-
Der Of candidates in ST. James Protestant
Episcopal church. The Rev. DR.. Potter de-
manded change in the moral atmosphere ere
we could hope to reform, protect or correct
the fallen ones Of society. He wanted more
disinterestedness among churches, and thought
he could discern the shadows which coming
events cast before them
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