The New York herald., 1873-12-29
Sermons. Good, Bad and Indifferent.

Sermons. Good, Bad and Indifferent.
We have to-day budget Of sermons deliv-
cred yesterday, which are something like the
Babylonian Kings image-partly strong and
partly weak part iron and part clay, and not
even well mixed. Some there are however,
that have the strength and burnish Of the
upper part of that image, so that those who
can digest strong meat, as well as those
who are babes and must be fed on
milk, may find something to suit their intel
lectual and moral appetites. The discourse
by DR.. Storrs on ''Christ, the Wonderful,
is one of thought and of power. Christ, Won
derful in His person, wonderful in the extent
of His influence, in the variety of His teaching
and His example, wonderful in the energy and
penetration of His truth, which touches art
and science and philosophy and music and
architecture; which lifts up and regenerates
individuals and nations, breaks down caste,
unites the race and makes mankind one
brotherhood in Himself. To deny the infu-
ence of Christ in the world to-day would be
like denying ocular science. And the extent
and variety of this influence demonstrate the
divinity of Christ and His ability to do all
that He has promised to His people in this
life and also in the life to come
How strange and contradictory the words
of Mr.. rockingham appear beside those of
DR.. Storrs Mr.. rockingham sees in this
s'Wonderful Man of Nazareth" nothing more
than he sees in other men. Indeed, rather
little less than in some men of the present
day. Christ was not O reformer in the true
sense, because "He never said word to ele-
vate the condition of woman albeit
woman is elevated only where the Word of
Christ is believed and His name is honored.
Christ never spoke word for the abolition of
slavery, whereas we modern men have abol-
ished it. The inference to be drawn from this
| fact, therefore, is that Christ was inferior to
some of us. But where would slavery be if
we obeyed the golden rule or kept the second
| of the two great commandments on which
this insignificant parsonage (according to Mr..
Frothingham) called Jesus declared that the
law and the prophets rested? Of course there
would be no slavery to abolish, and our virtue
in putting it away would be thrown in the
shade. Why, then, asks this preacher do we
celebrate the birth Of Christ? "He is not the
ideal man nor the perfect man," for these are
in the future. But He is the typical man. and
it is the birth of q typical man that we cele-
brate. But man who, according to this
same witness, is not equal to thoroughgoing
abolitionist or woman suffragist of the pres
ent day can hardly be o typical man or
| x,ro~+1y of coyryoa,oorotiov in fha oppaIo of
humanity.
| perfect life-how grand and beautiful it
is perfect man, how noble and symmetri-
| cal he is Such man was He, and such .
life was that which Mr.. Beecher yesterday,
imperfectly though it may be, sought to por-
tray. The end and aim of all the forces and
influences of Christianity are to produce per-
feet man in Christ Jesus and to understand
| Christianity we must understand it in
living forms. The best and most pungent
sermons are the purest Christian lives. Mr..
Beecher thinks that "high spiritual rapture"
has been to very large degree substituted for
the spirit Of Christ in living form. This is,
perhaps, in measure true, but not ''to a very
large degree But nothing truer ever fell
from Mr. Beecher's lips than the statement
that 'the true power of q church is its ca
pacity in the productiveness of men who are
true men in Christ Jesus"
The closing year gave Dr. Ha1 his in
spiration to set before his people the brevity
of human life and the changeableness of all
things earthly; and yet, because these things
are so and men are SO familiar with them, they
can remain unmoved and almost unconcerned
in the midst of the greatest changes. We for
get "what poor evanescent TRANSIENT weak
to everlasting" But 'there is way of maxi
ing our hope, our home and our dwelling in
the Lord" and the Doctor set this way plainly
before his congregation.
Mr.. Talmage traced the analogy between
"the baptism of fire" last December, when his
Tabernacle was burned down, and the spiritual
baptism of fire and Of the Holy Ghost, by
which SO many since that sad event have been
brought through his church to saving
knowledge Of Christ The two baptisms were
alike in their suddenness, in their irresisti-
bility, in their melting influence. We most
heartily agree with Mr.. Talmage that 'the
great want of the Church to-day is thaw,"
and we join with him in prayer for the
descent Of tho Holy Spirit to melt the
hardened hearts Of men.
The Rev. Henry Powers delivered sermon
yesterday very much resembling the feet OF
the image already referred to. No one, we
think, will object to the practical or child
II u
"the whole future of blessing to mankind
and the hope of us oil lie not in the sepul.
chre, no matter how beautiful and costly il
may be, but in tho nursery, even though that
nursery be stable" And because Jesus
saw this in them He said, "Suffer
little children In coma INTO meo Ac