The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-03-16
against wife for whom In rational moments
he entertains feelings of affection and tender


The Spirit OF the Pulpit.
The general tone of the sermons preached
yesterday was cheerful and catholic. The
brightness OF the day, the activity of business
and all the tokens of opening spring were
probably not without their effect upon thu
ministers OF the Gospel. Mr.. Beecher de-
livered generous discourse upon the sugges-
tive point that ''the memory of the Just is
blessed, but the name of the w;ckad
shall rot" It was natural that man
should desire to be honored and loved
and nothing was more significant to the
mind of the orator than the s.golden Gulf
Stream of love" which annually carries the
hard earnings of thousands of Bridgets in
this country across the ocean to friends and
families. We blessed Francis Xavier for one
of his hymns as we blessed Bunyan for his
Pilgrim Progress" We find the example of
honest industry in men like Goodyear, the
benefactor Of the whole world; Palissy and
Wedgwood, who added beauty to utility, and
Watt, who made the steam engine. AS rule.
too, Mr.. Beecher honored the Bench, for the
time had come when we could speak well of
our judges as honest men, administering
justice and equity.
The death Of Sumner was the subject OF
many reflections Mr.. Talmage saw in the
life of Sumner the hollowness and uncertainty
Of all worldly honors Look how we honor
him, and yet remember how we attacked, con-
sured, caricatured him. Remember how he
was driven across the sea by his maligners,
pursued by the hounds of the political
kennels" Better, Mr.. Talmage thinks,
! ''seek the honors of heaven than
such a life as this. The reverend
gentleman forgets, as we may remind him in
passing, that Summers trade was war that
for every blow he received he gave one, and
that he never was assailed during his life as
vindictively as he himself assailed President
Grant. The Rev. DR.. Haven felt that if there
had not been q Sumner there would never
have been Lincoln. Rev. DR.. Chaplin be-
lieved that never had crusader done his duty
as faithfully as Sumner He was man
whose power was consecrated to the solid
splendor of conviction. Bishop Potter re-
minded his hearers of the insignificance
of fame-that not one man in hundred
millions would be remembered by posterity,
and that there was no true fame except that
laid up in heaven. Rev. Mr.. Norris of the
colored Bethel church, saw in Sumner the one
name which would be written sin lines of gold,
in ink of immortal e1cellency'' as the greatest
man in America.
The temperance crusade attracted much
attention. In the West, said one clergyman.
we were having an Austerlitz, and the women
were compelling the rum dealers to surrender
The only reason that we did not have q
similar "grand demonstration" in Brooklyn
and New York was that we had no woman
like Deborah with faith and courage to
lead the crusade. Rev. DR.. Ferris adj
monished his hearers of the destruc-
tive vice of intemperance, while the Rev.
Father REILLY, at st. James Cathedral, showed
how there were Agars and Ismaels around
us, rendered so by intemperance, and de-
manding our urgent prayers and aid. Rev.
Dr. Chaplin argued that if every place where
liquor was sold was closed the real spring
would not be touched until the Unsuitable
spring in man had ceased to flow. Rev. G. A.
Harris preached on faith, hope and charity,
reviewing at length the women's movement in
the West and believing it could not help be
success; that no ridicule could destroy it.
The remainder of the sermons, elsewhere
graphically reported were devoted to points
of faith, morals and doctrine. AS we before
remarked, the general tone of the pulpit was
cheerful, breezy, hopeful, and marked with
broad and generous Christian spirit.
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