The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-06-29

~ 10 tucoAORlcal or OtnerWl6o, tnht alins 70
make men lead holy lives, and yet fails to show
them the model man and the model life, is false
and deceptive. And this is the character of
very much of the pulpit preaching of this day.
1t is substantially as DR.. Curry characterized
it, ''emasculated theology theology of dry
bones. 1t can neither live nor walk before
men. 1t needs the breath of the Lord to put
life into it and to clothe it with flesh and
sinews and to send the vital blood coursing
through its veins. Such a theology will attract
men to-day, as it did eighteen centuries ago,
and it will save them, too
Where, then, shall we look for this theology?
Is it locked up in the iron box of Calvinism,
to be doled out in small doses to the elect and
predestinated few? Is it to be found only in
the writings of Arminius and of Wesley? Or
must we look for it through the long line Of
apostolical Successors and patriarchal legends
Eacn anc all answer II is net with u.s. 1t is
It, in the newspapers, whether secular or re-
ligious it is not contained in creeds or dogmas
or UNCONVENTIONAL systems. 1t is contained in
these two Commandments, upon which hang
all the law and the prophets, namely: Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and soul and mind and strength, and thy
neighbor as myself. And no man can love
God without loving his brother also. Nor can
he love his neighbor as himself without putting
himself in closest sympathy with all mankind,
and feeling their pulses their wants and the
yearnings Of the soul Of the age. And what
does the world want most to-day2 1t wants
not particular dogmas or doctrines taught
by any man, howsoever eloquent so much
as the pure and self-denying life
Of the Lord Jesus Christ Incorporated into its
daily life. This is what men are yearning
for everywhere This is what India and China
and Japan are to-day feeling after, and this is
what is to revolutionize, not only this age and
country, but every other age and land And
is fulfilling his mission by seeking to attract
the masses by sensational appeals has utterly
mistaken his calling. 1t is true spiritually as it
is physically, that wheresoever the carcass is
thither will the eagles be gathered together A
hungry man will go where he thinks he can get
bread without any special or particular invita-
ton to dc So And the Lord has said by the
Seer Of Patmos that He would send famine
upon the land, not q famine Of bread and
water, but Of hearing the Word Of the Lord.
Have we fallen on this time? Has the spirit
ual famine come upon us? The complaints
which we hear on every hand Of religious
decline would seem to indicate that it has.
Let, therefore, those whose especial business
it is to teach the people the Word of the Lord
and to feed them with spiritual food conven-
lent for them see to it that they no longer
offer them husks or stones, but give them the
pure bread and water Of life. Then shall we
see vigorous, manly Christianity prevailing
everywhere, and holy lives shall be the rule
and not the exception among men.
Mansfield Tracy Walworth's Letters.
The letters of Mansfield Tracy Walworth,
offered in evidence on the trial now in prog
ress, show one Of two things-a bad heart or
diseased mind 1t is not easy to understand
why man of talent, culture and education
should write such letters. They are full of
sentiments that are both heathenish and bru-
tai. Every one of his relations, his wife and
children, his father his brother and his sisters,
comes in for o share of his contempt and de-
nunciation By every word that he uttsrs he
shows himself in o most odious light. There
are apparently too much malice and frensy in
upon the mere hypothesis that he was very
bad man. Brooding over his family relations
seems to have rendered him mailman as
well. But though these epistles were the
threatenings of o mailman it is not possible
to separate from them moral responsibility
for his words and acts; nor is it
easy to determine, without more thorough
analysis of the deceased mans character,
the meaning and danger attached to his
threats. At all events he appears to have
lived two lives-that of an amiable man of the
world in the eyes Of the world, and the domes-
tic tyrant in his own family. The dual
character of men, as it is often developed in
cases like this, is among the most remarkable
revelations of human nature. Mansfield Tracy
Walworth's conduct in writing these unmanly
letters may be partially explained on this dual
character hypothesis. Other men have led
lives before the world which the world APP
proved till some circumstance occurred to lay
bare secret life which no one suspected
Men, among the eayest and most openhanded,
have left their wives and children to starve in
obscurity. Philanthropists are sometimes
found who have not learned that charity be-
gins at home Many thresholds are the bar
riers to domestic secrets which it is
best the world should never know. 1t was
SO in this case, and the direful tragedy
which sprung from Walworth's letters-none
of those threatened in these terrible epistles-
tells story which amazes us. 1t is a story
which reveals sad social condition. story